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Little item from my friend doing P-39 research:
7 P-39s escort 7 A-24s on an anti-shipping strike to Buna summer 1942. Flying at 9,000 feet, 3 Zeros going the opposite direction at 11,000 feet spot them and peel off in an attack. Descending dogfight ensues until Zeros break off at 4,000 feet. P-39 pilots make no claims, report no losses among themselves or A-24s, which they catch up to as they make their bomb runs on a convoy of one large and four small vessels escorted by one warship which they identify as a destroyer. The flight home is uneventful, with no further enemy contact. They confirm one bomb hit on the large ship, which seems to inflict no serious damage, and six broad misses. A-24s do not report any interception by Zeros on the way to the target and mention no dogfight. Report attacking one 1,500 ton-class cargo ship in a convoy of four 100-ton class coastal vessels and one subchaser escort. AA fire downs one A-24 during the dive. This plane releases its bomb as it spins out of control and crashes into the sea. No parachutes. It's bomb falls far from the convoy. Five bombs bracket the large cargo vessel in a close pattern and one strikes the ship amidships. This ship is left on fire, dead in the water, heeled over and in a sinking condition. As they recover from their dives, the A-24s are hit by Zeros. Two are shot down immediately, crashing in flames into sea. Two more survive long enough to make it to the beach where they crash land and the crews are observed to escape into the bush. A fifth is badly damaged but manages to make it to an emergency strip where it crash lands. Only one returns home. The next day 4 B-25s go out to bomb the convoy but find no sign of it. Nor do they see any debris or oil slick in the area of the A-24 attack. They were to have a P-39 escort but it never shows up. They are intercepted by 6 Zeros which circle them, then fly parallel to them for a few minutes performing slow rolls before departing without making any attempt to attack. The B-25s sweep up the Buna coast until they spot 6 beached barges being unloaded. They bomb and strafe these, destroying them and the cargo offloaded onto the beach. They report moderate AA fire, with one B-25 being holed several times and the bombardier and co-pilot wounded. There is no fighter opposition. The 6 P-39s dispatched as escorts report the B-25s are not at the rendevous point so they proceed on a sweep of the Buna coastal area, discover Japanese unloading 5 barges and strafe them, leaving all burning. They also strafe supplies stacked on the beach and tents observed under trees just inland from the beach, making repeated passes until expending all their ammunition. There is no anti-aircraft fire. As they are departing they observe 9 Zeros patrolling the beach at 6,000 feet but these make no aggressive moves and maintain altitude. If you were an intelligence officer evaluating these reports, what would you make of them? Chris Mark |
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