WAR OVER THE PACIFIC |RAAF
74 http://www.britainatwar.comRAAF|WAR OVER THE PACIFIC
attacked and set on fire the 300-ton
(270-tonne) Japanese ship Nanyo Maru
and forced it aground on the coast of
Timor – the first action in this theatre.
Patrols of the sea-lanes around Timor
continued and at the end of December
four aircraft moved to Ambon on
Seram Island on the north of the
Banda Sea, as the southward surge of
the Japanese continued.Guerrilla Unit Resupply
On January 11, 1942 No.2 Squadron
mounted its first offensive sorties
of the war when the Ambon-based“He used his cannon well and one burst put
the turret guns out of action. The aircraft
became more difficult to handle when
another burst from the Zeros put my port
engine out of action”RIGHT
A 2 Squadron RAAF
Hudson warming its
engines up prior to a
sortie in 1942.
(AWM)BELOW
A formation of 2
Squadron Hudson
IIIAs over northern
Australia. The nearest
aircraft was later
shot down attacking
a Japanese ship.
(VIA J W BENNETT)Hudsons attacked an enemy invasion
force northeast of Celebes (now
Sulawesi), when a cruiser was hit and
two floatplanes shot down. However,
by the next day the Japanese had
fighter cover Mitsubishi A6M Zeros
that shot down Hudson A16-46,flown by Flt Lt Parker Hodge, and
A16-12. The latter, flown by Fg
Off Peter Gorrie, was seen to catch
fire after the fighter attack and spin
into the sea from 12,000ft (3,650m).
Hodge had managed to ditch, but
only Plt Off Ted Howard survived72-78 RAAF BAW SEPT2019.indd 74 8/15/2019 9:03:47 AM