Photo: U.S. Navy

Photo: U.S. Navy

HISTORY

Cdr. David McCampbell in the cockpit of his Hellcat on board of USS Essex

in the beginning of October 1944. At that time his score stood at 21 kills.

day during one sortie shot down six D4Y Judy

bombers. It took him eight minutes and he spent

360 12.7 mm caliber rounds.

While the American pilots fought the Japanese

aircraft, on that day the Japanese ships were

only attacked by the American submarines.

They fared very well indeed. USS Cavalla hit

Shokaku with three torpedoes and sank her.

USS Albacore hit the new carrier Taiho with

only a single torpedo but a poor execution of

the rescue operations caused the fuel fumes to

accumulate under the deck which later caused a

series of explosions and Taiho sank as well. The

aircraft from the American carriers attacked

the Japanese vessels on June 20, 1944, at the

limit of their range and almost at night. They

sank light carrier Hiyo and two tankers. They

also damaged several other ships. However,

they paid the price by loosing 100 aircraft,

only 20 were shot down in combat tough. The

remaining 80 had to crash land due to the lack

of fuel and the crews were mostly rescued.

The Japanese losses were significantly higher.

The air forces they had gathered during the

whole previous year, were lost in two days. The

remaining Japanese aircraft carriers without

airplanes could not longer play an active role

and in the following battle they were used as

decoy.

Four battles in one

It took place during the Philippines landing

in October 1944. Actually there was a series

August 2023

McCampbell is posing in the cockpit of his Hellcat for a propaganda photograph in the end

of October 1944. By scoring additional 9 kills in a day, he raised his score to 30 victories.

of several naval battles which became to be

known under the common name, the Battle of

Leyte Gulf. The Japanese Navy did not recover

from the preceding defeats but had to react

to the Allied invasion. The Japanese deployed

the old samurai tactics of the feign attack.

The Northern Force, commanded by Vice

Admiral Ozawa, assumed the role of a decoy.

On the paper it looked strong composed of two

battleships, aircraft carrier Zuikaku and three

light carrier Zuiho, Chiyoda and Chitose, however

they altogether carried 108 aircraft only. In the

meantime, the Center Force led by Viceadmiral

Kurita and Southern Force consisting of two

groups led by Viceadmirals Nishimura and

Shima were to approach the Allied invasion

fleet through different passages. They were

at the disadvantage though due to the strict

radio silence and the admirals were unable to

coordinate their actions and each of them acted

individually. Therefore they gradually clashed

with the US Navy in four battles.

The first one took place in Sibuyan Sea. First,

on October 23, 1944, Kurita’s Center Force

was spotted and attacked by the American

submarines USS Darter and USS Dace. They

sank two heavy cruisers and damaged another

one. Then, on October 24, 1944, the Japanese

ships became targets of five waves of the

American carrier-borne aircraft. Those sank

the battleship Musashi and damaged several

other ships. Kurita therefore turned around

180 degrees and started to retreat, and the

Americans took the bait. Musashi’s wreck was

one of the first Paul Allen found. It happened

in March 2015 using his older ship Octopus.

Musashi lies 900 meters deep and Allen’s

expedition discovered that she had exploded

while sinking. The bow stands upright on the

ocean’s bottom and the stern is turned upside

down. The main superstructure and stack lie on

the sides.

Nine kills in one sortie

In the meantime, three waves of Japanese

airplanes from the land bases attacked the

American ships. During their defenses Cdr.

David McCampbell distinguished himself again.

Only in a pair formation, just with his wingman,

he attacked the formation of 60-80 airplanes

approaching the American ships. In the combat,

which lasted an hour and 35 minutes, he shot

down 9 Japanese fighters and two probables.

His wingman, Lt. Roy Rushing was credited with

another six kills. They completely dismantled

the Japanese formation. After the landing

the mechanics did not find any fuel left in

Campbell Hellcat’s tanks and there were two

12.7 mm caliber rounds left for his machine

guns. For this achievement, as well as the

previous success in the Battle of Philippine Sea

four months ago , McCambell was decorated

with the highest American award, Medal of

Honour. The rare success by the Japanese side

was scored by a D4Y Judy dive bomber which

penetrated the defences and suddenly appeared

INFO Eduard

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