The Burma Banshees

Burma (today’s Myanmar) during the Second World War may have seemed like a less significant battleground. On the Allied side, however, a total of one million soldiers from several nations were eventually deployed on the Burmese front. In 1942, the Japanese at first sought to maintain transportation links between their conquered territories in China and Burmese Rangoon (today’s Yangon). Burma was to serve as a sort of buffer zone protecting further conquered areas in Southeast Asia. Before long, however, the Japanese, supported by armed forces of various puppet regimes, began to attempt an invasion of India, which ultimately did take place, though in a limited form.

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BOXART STORY

Burma (today’s Myanmar) during the Second

World War may have seemed like a less significant

battleground. On the Allied side, however, a total

of one million soldiers from several nations were

eventually deployed on the Burmese front.

In 1942, the Japanese at first sought to maintain

transportation links between their conquered

territories in China and Burmese Rangoon

(today’s Yangon). Burma was to serve as a sort of

buffer zone protecting further conquered areas

in Southeast Asia. Before long, however, the

Japanese, supported by armed forces of various

puppet regimes, began to attempt an invasion of

India, which ultimately did take place, though in

a limited form.

After the fall of Singapore, the British had no

intention of allowing a disaster on such scale, and

they exerted maximum effort to defend India and

to retake Burma. During 1942 and 1943, however,

they had little success on the battlefield, and

stabilization did not come until 1944.

This Sisyphean task would not have been possible

without the support of air units. At the beginning

of the fighting in Burma, the Japanese faced only

a few dozen British aircraft from No. 221 Group RAF

and a small contingent of “Flying Tigers” from the

legendary American Volunteer Group (AVG).

The situation gradually improved, and by

the autumn of 1943, under the command of the

South-East Asia Air Command led by Air Chief

Marshal Sir Richard Peirse, there were 48 RAF

squadrons and 17 American squadrons deployed.

By mid-1944, the number had increased to 64 and

28 respespectively. The primary tasks of these units

were supplying ground troops, conducting bombing

and ground-attack missions, providing fighter

escorts, and carrying out patrol operations. Aerial

reconnaissance was of course an indispensable

part of operations, but aircrews were also assigned

duties such as spraying insecticides to improve the

living conditions of soldiers on the ground.

It may not be surprising that the British

14th Army fighting in Burma, nicknamed

“The Forgotten Army,” was considered “the the most

air-minded army that ever existed.”

By 1944, the Japanese Army air units in the

region were already significantly weaker in

numbers, and their aircraft lagged behind those of

the Allies. Nevertheless, Japanese pilots remained

dangerous opponents, as they mostly faced

smaller, isolated engagements and did not suffer

the extensive, devastating aerial battles that their

naval comrades experienced around places such

as Rabaul or the Marianas.

One of the American fighter units that reinforced

other combat formations in the region was the 80th

Fighter Group. Activated in February 1942, it arrived

in India by sea in May 1943 and was assigned to the

10th Air Force. Initially it was equipped with P-40s,

and in 1944 it transitioned to the P-47 Thunderbolts.

One part of the 80th FG, the 459th FS, equipped

with twin-engine P-38 Lightnings operated

largely independently from the rest of the group

and in 1945 was reassigned to the 33rd FG. If this

separate squadron is excluded from the group’s

tally, the core of the 80th F, consisting of the 88th,

89th, and 90th Fighter Squadrons together with

group headquarters, achieved 44 confirmed aerial

victories, with 4 more aircraft probably destroyed

and 27 damaged.

During its operations, the 80th Fighter Group

wrote off approximately three hundred P-40 and

P-47 aircraft, and twelve of its pilots went missing

in action. The only ace of the 80th FG flying single-

engine fighters was 1st Lt. Samuel Eugene Hammer

of the 90th FS, with five victories. Flying a Curtiss

P-40 in March 1944, he scored two Ki-49 Helen

heavy bombers, and in December of the same year

he added three Ki-44 Tojo fighters while flying

a Thunderbolt.

Striking white skull drawings soon appeared on

the noses of the Curtiss P-40s of the 80th FG, giving

the group its nickname, the “Burma Banshees.”

This name was reinforced by some pilots and

mechanics who mounted air-driven sirens under

the aircraft, producing a characteristic wailing

sound. According to Celtic legends, the banshee,

a female spirit, emits a terrible ear-piercing wail.

Gareth Hector’s artwork portrays an aerial

combat scene involving four pilots of the 89th FS

on May 17, 1944, after they had bombed a bridge

near Kamaing. They were attacked by about

a dozen Ki-43s of the 204th Hikō Sentai. In the

fierce dogfight, Lt. Philip R. Adair claimed two

Oscars shot down, Lt. Thomas E. Rogers claimed

one more and another one damaged, and Lt. Joel

A. Martinez claimed two damaged. Two American

aircraft were damaged and one pilot was injured,

but both P-40s made it back to base. The Japanese

suffered no losses and after the engagement

claimed four P-40s shot down.

Lt. Philip R. Adair ended the war with three

confirmed victories and three damaged aircraft to

his credit. His aircraft is the one depicted on the

box art.

Illustration: Gareth Hector

The Burma Banshees

Text: Jan Bobek

INFO Eduard

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November 2025