BOXART STORY

#82213

The last of the six

Text: Jan Bobek

Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is one of the

most important military commanders

of World War II. He held the key position

of Commander of the Combined Fleet and

was one of the most persistent and influential opponents of war with the US. He was

aware of the military and industrial potential of the USA, as he studied there and later

worked as a Naval Attaché in Washington.

Ironically, he was tasked with planning the

attack on the Hawaiian Islands. As early as

1940 he predicted that a war with the USA

and Great Britain could be successfully

fought for no longer than six to twelve months. For the first half of April 1943, Yamamoto ordered an airborne operation, I-gō,

to improve situation in New Guinea and

in the air battles over Guadalcanal.

Yamamoto personally supervised this operation from Rabaul, accompanied by his

chief of staff, Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki.

To everyone’s surprise and over the protests of his staff officers, he decided to

inspect the Ballale, Shortland and Buin bases in the Bougainville area. The flight was

scheduled for April 18, 1943, with two Betty

bombers from Kōkūtai 705 and an escort of

six Zeros from Kōkūtai 204. On the morning

of April 18, exactly one year after Doolittle’s

raid on Tokyo, Yamamoto and Ugaki flew to

Bougainville Island.

On the American side, Operation Vengeance was in full swing. In fact, the Americans

had managed to intercept a Japanese radiogram with the itinerary of Yamamoto’s

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INFO Eduard

trip. Sixteen P-38 fighters from the 347th

FG were on the way from Guadalcanal. The

two formations met at 9.35 am over Bougainville Island. The Japanese flew higher

than the Americans, who kept low to reduce the risk of being spotted. They had to

climb rapidly, and Lightning was perfect

for that. The bombers flew at 4,500 ft and

the two Zero formations 1,500 ft higher.

Twelve Lightnings provided top cover and

four pilots attacked the formation of eight

Japanese aircraft. They included Doolittle’s

godson, Capt. Thomas G. Lanphier Jr., 1st

Lt. Rex T. Barber, 1st Lt. Besby F. Holmes

and 1st Lt. Ray Hine.

These four attackers crossed the coast at

1,000 ft and climbed toward the Japanese.

Holmes, however, was unable to drop his

tanks and had to briefly disengage from the

fight along with Hine. Thus, only Lanphier

and Barber headed for the bombers. Soon,

however, they had to split up, Lanphier

alone facing one trio of Zeros and Barber

sending Yamamoto’s bomber into the jungle. Holmes and Hine fought off the Zeros

closing on Lanphier. Lanphier hit another

bomber over the jungle, presumably the

one with Ugaki on board. Shortly thereafter,

Lanphier, Holmes and Hine attacked Ugaki’s

bomber again, forcing it to land into the sea

near the coast.

The Japanese escort was commanded by

Lieutenant Takeshi Morizaki with wingmen PO1c Toyomitsu Tsujinoue and Seaman

Sho-ichi Sugita. The other trio was led by

CPO Yoshimi Hidaka PO2c Yasuji Okazaki

and Seaman Kenji Yanagiya. Hidaka was the

first to spot the Americans. However, their

Zeros did not have radios, so he signalled

the danger by waving his wings. Morizaki’s

trio attacked Lanphier and Barber to drive

them away from the descending Bettys.

Hidaka and his wingmen attacked Holmes

and Hine. Hidaka hit the auxiliary tanks on

Holmes’ Lightning, but the American didn’t

notice the damage and eventually dropped

them. Sugita hit the engine of Hine’s machine. Yanagiya flew to Buin Base and fired

into the surface of airfield, alerting the fighters. He later met Hine and shot him down.

Yamamoto did not survive the crash of the

bomber, and the escort pilots took it for

granted that they should be killed in action,

although no one blamed them. Hidaka and

Okazaki were killed in action over Guadalcanal on June 7, 1943, and Yanagiya was

severely wounded in same action. Morizaki

was shot down off Lunga Point on June 16,

1943, and Tsujinoue was killed at Rendova

on July 1, 1943. Sugita, who was to become

one of the Navy’s most successful fighters,

was shot down by Hellcat over Kanoya on

April 15, 1945. The opening part of this legendary encounter was captured in a painting

by Piotr Forkasiewicz, showing Yanagiya

with Barber’s Lightning in the background.

For more details on this Japanese pilot, the

only one of the six to survive the end of the

war, see the text included in our October kit

A6M3 Zero Model 32.

October 2022