Montgomery launched from the Solomon Sea 160 mi (140 nmi; 260 km) southeast of Rabaul. By early 1944, American aircraft production had risen to unprecedented levels while thousands of young airmen were coming out of the flight schools and undergoing training conducted by veterans of the Pacific War. The Lighting’s turbocharged engines allowed it to reach high altitudes, and it offered considerably longer range, enough to reach Rabaul from forward airfields in New Guinea. Radio intercepts indicated that damage to Japanese aircraft on the ground had been significant. The carrier planes attacked in a light rain and managed to sink one destroyer and inflict damage on several others and a pair of cruisers. Media in category "Bombing on Rabaul, 1943" The following 16 files are in this category, out of 16 total. McGee, William L. (2002). American fighter pilots had gained considerable experience and were now able to beat the Japanese in the air. Halsey used Montgomery's ships as well as TF 38 in a double carrier strike against Rabaul on 11 November. They attempted to maintain a standing fighter force of 100 to 200 planes, flying replacements down from Truk to supplement those lost in the air and to ground attack. Rabaul had been captured by the Japanese during the Battle of Rabaul earlier in February. The Allies of World War II conducted a bombing of Rabaul in November 1943 at the major Japanese base. MacArthur, who had operational control over the Solomons and the Bismarck Archipelago, concluded (with the encouragement of General Kenney) that instead of fighting a costly battle to capture Rabaul, the installation should be bypassed and “left to dry on the vine.” Its surface lines of supply would be cut off by the Navy while the city itself was neutralized by air attack, a decision with which Halsey concurred. Kenney officially took command of the Allied Air Forces on August 4. Simpson Harbor—captured from Australian forces in February 1942—was known as "the Pearl Harbor of the South Pacific" and was well defended by 367 anti-aircraft guns and five airfields. One of the most famous B-17s of the war was “Alexander the Swoose,” a B-17 that was assembled from parts of several wrecked Flying Fortresses. [9]Chikuma, was slightly damaged by several near-misses. All women and children had been taken off the island of New Britain in early December with the exception of those women who would be taken Prisoner-of-War and shipped back to spend over 3 years in Japan. The B-17s continued operations against Rabaul whenever enough airplanes could be patched together for a mission. In early 1944, Rabaul became the target of heavy bombing raids. Captain Harl Pease’s airplane lost an engine while en route to the target, but the veteran pilot, who had flown with the 19th Bomb Group in the Philippines, continued on three. Meanwhile, Admiral William F. Halsey’s SOPAC forces were advancing northwestward through the Solomons from Guadalcanal and preparations were being made to combine the two areas of operation under MacArthur’s command. The harbor area was defended by an estimated 43 coastal guns and 20 searchlights according to the US Strategic Bombing Survey. Aircraft and aircrew replacements for the American squadrons were practically non-existent. The 3rd Bombardment Group, more popularly known as the 3rd Attack Group, operated both A-20s and B-25s, and its pilots soon became expert at low-altitude attack. Bombing missions were spasmodic, in part due to the weather. Two Flying Fortresses were shot down, including the one carrying General Walker. Heavy bomber crews reported hits on at least two Japanese vessels and secondary fires on shore. On October 5, Fifth Air Force bombers began a three-week sustained bombing campaign on Rabaul in an effort to interrupt the flow of Japanese supplies to both New Guinea and Guadalcanal, where the Marines were having a difficult time. They would fly 11 more missions before the month was out, operating as medium bombers since Thirteenth Air Force had yet to convert large numbers of its B-25s into strafers. An additional B-17 group, the 43rd, arrived in Australia in the late spring but wasn’t ready for combat for several weeks. The battleships Washington and South Dakota and assorted cruisers had been transferred to the Central Pacific to support the upcoming invasion of Tarawa. “Pappy” Gunn entered the picture when he engineered the “transfer” of a dozen North American B-25 Mitchell bombers from the Netherlands East Indies Air Force to the 3rd Attack Group. The naval guns guarded Simpson Harbor and its shipping and the three airfields of Tobera, Lakunai, and Vunakanau. The Bombing of Rabaul in February and March 1942 occurred when allied forces launched counter-attacks against the Empire of Japan base at Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.Rabaul had been captured by the Japanese during the Battle of Rabaul earlier in February.. The whole idea of aerial bombing is to put as much high explosive onto a target as possible, but the B-26s’ limited bomb loads greatly reduced their effectiveness. This idea is probably due, at least in part, to the writings of historian Samuel Eliot Morison, who held the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and who wrote with a definite pro-Navy slant. Eight B-25s were shot down by AAA or Japanese naval fighters, or crashed attempting to return to base. Admiral Halsey requested that the Fifth Air Force B-25s hit the airfields in advance of the carrier attacks, but bad weather forced them to turn back. A few days later, on March 25, V Bomber Command was further reinforced with the arrival of several Martin B-26 Marauders of the 22nd Bombardment Group. Pease and his crew had flown a reconnaissance mission the previous day from which they returned with an engine shut down. But neutralizing Rabaul itself was still his major concern. One volcano to the side (Tavurvur ) and one in the harbour (Vulcan ); both are 'active,' the one to the side is very active still. Liberators also replaced the B-17s in the 43rd Bombardment Group, bringing V Bomber Command heavy bomber strength to three full groups of long-range B-24s. Captain K.D. V Bomber Command claimed three transports, three destroyers, and 113 other vessels sunk. The Japanese warships fought back with a vengeance both with their antiaircraft guns and heavy naval ordnance, which they fired into the water to cause waterspouts in an effort to knock the low-flying bombers into the water before they got into strafing range. The Bombing of Rabaul in February and March 1942 occurred when Allied forces launched counter-attacks against the Empire of Japan base at Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. Most of the production of military aircraft, especially bombers, was allocated to units in training for operations in the European theater. The B-17s of the 19th Group began offensive operations from Australia on February 23, 1942, and flew about a dozen missions by April 1, of which half were directed against the Japanese installations around Rabaul. Walker elected to ignore Kenney’s instructions and made a noon attack, flying into a hornet’s nest. Subject: RE: The Bombing of Rabaul, November 11, 1943 Rabaul is an interesting area. A benefit of bombing from such low altitudes was that Fifth Air Force planes were able to achieve far greater accuracy than their counterparts in Europe, which were forced to drop their bombs from altitudes much higher than ever conceived in the pre-war Army Air Corps. Reconnaissance photographs revealed seven destroyers, a tender, and 20 merchant vessels in the harbor. Unfortunately for the United States, in 1941 time was on Japan’s side. Marine Major Gregory Boyington led a fighter sweep of 76 airplanes over the stronghold, but the Japanese failed to rise to meet them in large numbers. After its return, TF 38 retired to the south without being detected. U.S. Navy task forces equipped with fast Essex-class carriers were setting sail out of San Diego and Pearl Harbor for fast-moving strikes on Japanese positions all through the Central Pacific. The Bombing of Rabaul, November 11, 1943. thehistoryguy10 Uncategorized November 11, 2020 November 11, 2020 1 Minute. The crew had worked for hours to get another airplane ready for combat and had not arrived at Moresby until midnight. But there’s NEVER been anything like THIS before. With five airfields and extensive anti-aircraft batteries, the navy fliers considered it a hornet's nest. A second group, the 7th Bomb Group, operated out of Australia for a time but was suddenly diverted to India immediately after the fall of Java. JAPANESE BOMBING RAID ON HORN ISLAND 14 MARCH 1942 . The Hudsons managed to escape before Japanese troops landed on January 23. This young crewman of a US Navy “Dumbo” PBY rescue mission has just jumped into the water of Rabaul Harbor to rescue a badly burned Marine pilot who was shot down while bombing the Japanese-held fortress of Rabaul. Rabaul—on the island of New Britain—was one of two major ports in the Australian Territory of New Guinea. The four dromes had 166 protected revetments for bombers and 265 for fighters, with additional unprotected dispersal parking areas. Damage to Japanese airfield surfaces was easily repaired. This young crewman of a U.S. Navy “Dumbo” PBY Catalina rescue mission has just jumped into the water of Rabaul Harbor to rescue a badly burned Marine pilot who was shot down while bombing the Japanese-held fortress of Rabaul. One of the military problems for the American airmen attacking Rabaul was that no matter how many Japanese airplanes they destroyed in the air and on the ground, the enemy could replace them within a matter of days. Before the war, General Kenney himself had developed small 27-pound fragmentation bombs designed to float to earth beneath parachutes. Truk itself lay close enough to Japan that single-engine fighters could be flown in from the home islands. Raid on Rabaul on 2 November 1943 as told by Dick Walker. The base was the most heavily defended target in the theatre, and losses were sometimes relatively heavy with three or four aircraft lost in a raid. Initial pre-invasion bombing of Rabaul, and the loss of RAAF defence. Navy carrier planes struck Rabaul again on November 11. Armistice Day 1943 is history that deserves to be remembered. Previous plans had called for MacArthur’s forces to focus their attention on driving the Japanese out of New Guinea and gaining control of western New Britain once Admiral Halsey’s South Pacific Forces had captured Bougainville. But V Bomber Command commander Brig. His decision paid off in spades. The parafrag bombs were very effective against parked aircraft. Unfortunately, cracks were discovered in the nose landing gear of several of the airplanes, and the bombers were grounded until they could all be inspected and repaired. Those raids were but the latest in a series of attacks that actually commenced in the spring of 1942, shortly after Japan occupied New Britain. Nine airplanes returned to Moresby in formation, and three others followed as stragglers. New Zealanders also operated a squadron of Lockheed Ventura bombers. Without a dependable rear-area base to back it up with supplies and reinforcements for the air squadrons stationed there, Rabaul was practically out of the war. Two days after the landing Admiral Mineichi Koga sent a large cruiser force down from Japan to Rabaul in preparation for a night engagement against Halsey's screening force and supply ships in Empress Augusta Bay. COMAIRSOLS was a dual command made up of Army and Marine Corps squadrons, along with some New Zealand units. In the annals of military history magazines, this is one of those moments. The Australians tried to restrict Rabaul's development soon after its capture by a bombing counter-attack in March. Reportedly, 367 anti-aircraft weapons defended Rabaul (192 Army, 175 Navy) by late 1942. I knew that the role of the New Zealand Fighter Wing's Warhawks changed in March 1944 from fighter patrols and fight The attack plan was twofold: three groups of modified B-25 strafers, a total of 107 airplanes, would go in low and hit the airfields at Rapopo and Vunakanau in a strafing and parafrag bomb attack. Kenney temporarily removed the group from operational status and put it back into training to sharpen the crewmen’s skills. Commanded by Rear Adm. Alfred L. Montgomery, it consisted of the carriers Bunker Hill, Essex and Independence. Later estimates of more than 100 Japanese airplanes destroyed in the ground attacks were believed to be conservative. It was a highly dangerous mission for the aircrews, and jeopardized the carriers as well. Although Nimitz originally intended to invade and occupy Truk, the decision was made to bypass it. The low-level attacks were directed at the airfields, but the Fifth Air Force braintrust was waiting for just the right opportunity to send the B-25s after Japanese shipping at Rabaul. Lakunai had an all-weather runway of sand and volcanic ash, and Vunakanau was surfaced with concrete. These sets provided from 30–60 minutes early warning of an attack. Other pilots claimed hits that threw smoke and debris into the air. Aerial reconnaissance photographs indicated that Japanese fighter strength at Rabaul had risen dramatically to almost 150 aircraft between October 1 and October 11, so Kenney ordered the Fifth Air Force to mount an attack to take them out. On the first mission, one airplane crashed on takeoff and smashed into two other B-24s. Damage to the Japanese forces at Rabaul were as follows: six cruisers damaged, four heavily. Henebry strafed and bombed a freighter, then his Mitchell was hit by fire from a cruiser. With the bombing of Rabaul and the sinking of the Herstein the men and women left in Rabaul were effectively cut off from Australia. At midnight on October 22, six Fortresses from the 63rd BS took off from Port Moresby behind six from the 64th BS/43rd BG. Benn had come to Australia as Kenney’s aide, but immediately after their arrival his boss relieved him of the assignment and gave him a squadron in the recently arrived 43rd Bombardment Group. Chapter 3 - Invasion. The plans stipulated that as soon as AIRSOLOMONS aircraft were in range of Rabaul they would assume responsibility for the target, while V Bomber Command would turn its attention elsewhere. Dust and smoke obscured the airfield after the attack, but the men of the 3rd estimated that they had destroyed between 15 and 25 airplanes on the ground while group gunners claimed three air-to-air kills. The weather was still bad enough that day to force the P-38s to turn back and the B-24s to divert to other targets, but the B-25s dropped down to the wavetops and went beneath the weather. In spite of fighter opposition and antiaircraft fire, B-26 losses were surprisingly low; only three Marauders were lost in combat between April 24 and July 24. Japanese carrier-based aircraft struck Rabaul for the first time on January 20, 1942. During the Bombing of Rabaul, the Fifth Air Force mounted a concerted campaign to render the Japanese bastion in the South Pacific ineffective. On the night of October 23, Benn and selected crews from his squadron dropped down and went into Simpson Harbor at wave-top altitude. On November 5, Fifth Air Force B-24s hit shore positions while 97 U.S. Navy carrier planes went after Japanese shipping in Simpson Harbor. Nine of the 80 P-38s were also lost.[4]. The low-flying B-25 pilots opened fire on the antiaircraft guns, then swooped over the rows of parked airplanes and covered them with tiny but deadly parachute bombs. Chapter 2 - Softening Up. The package of .50-caliber machine guns in the nose and skip bombing techniques were not the only aspects of the gunships that made them such effective weapons. Rabaul lay close enough to the Japanese supply base at Truk that single-engine fighters could be delivered by air, and aircraft destroyed by Allied bombs could be easily replaced within a day or so. The Allies of World War II conducted an air attack upon a cruiser force at the major Japanese base of Rabaul in November 1943. Although the B-17 had been designed for strategic bombing, the Flying Fortresses were plagued with maintenance and supply problems. If they proved effective, others would be similarly converted. 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