Fly Past

30 FLYPAST October 2018

WORLD WAR TWO PACIFIC RADAR HUNTING

headed west, crossing the isthmus

to Makassar Strait and the Dongala

peninsula. The latter’s radar was

not heard on approach and the

crew spent two hours thoroughly

searching the area.

Crew members in the nose turret,

nose, waist positions and tail turret

scanned the jungles with binoculars

for the camouflaged radar arrays,

but to no avail. With no luck, and

hitting the time to fly back to the

east, the crew moved on to search

for the Lemo site.

This time, though, they found

it and made several runs. On the

last, the bombardier dropped seven

260lb ‘frags’ with instantaneous

fusing; but despite using his Norden

sight they hit 200ft short.

Two days later Field Unit 13 had

another crack at the Lemo site. Ted

Collins joined the crew of ad hoc

Ferret 44-41025 for this, as well as

an effort to locate the Japanese radar

at Boengkoe. These radars, along

with the elusive Dongala example,

were opposite Balikpapan, which

was scheduled for an invasion in

six weeks.

No signals were heard over the

Molucca Sea en route to the target

area. The B-24J flew direct to Lemo

and spent two hours trying to find

and suppress the radar. A broken

cloud layer covered the region at

between 2,000 and 3,000ft, so

the pilot lowered the

bomber’s altitude.

With the aircraft

highlighted against

the cloud layer,

Japanese gunners

saw the attacker and anti-aircraft

artillery greeted the Liberator.

Undeterred, the crew made ten

separate runs from 500-1,500ft,

dropping ten 260lb fragmentation

bombs and five 100lb napalm tanks

on the site – but three of the latter

appeared not to detonate. So, four

additional strafing attacks were

made as damage could not

be confirmed.

With all weapons expended and

nothing heard from any radar, the

crew headed for home. On the way,

even though the aircraft was low

on fuel, the radar site at Boengkoe

came up for a few minutes and was

targeted as a parting shot.

Nosing ahead

James Alderman started to view B-25

’983 as ‘his’ and, commanding his

own detachment, decided to modify

her. He noted: “Since bombardiers

were not used... [the pilot dropped

the bombs] the RCM equipment

could be moved up to the nose.

“The antenna would be in front of

the propellers and radar signals from

any area forward of the plane would

be less distorted by them. Also, the

view from the bombardier’s position

was much better and there was a

0.50-cal machine gun in case there

was anything to shoot at.

“The retractable antenna was

mounted on a piece of one-inch steel

pipe that was extended several feet

below the bottom of the

plane when in

operation. It was located just in front

of the nose wheel.”

Modification work such as this

reflected the initiative and

ingenuity of Field Unit 13 personnel

as they continually worked to

increase effectiveness.

On May 30, Ferret ’983 was near

Balikpapan, Borneo, when her left

engine blew a piston. The pilot

mistakenly thought the engine had

caught fire and smothered it with

carbon dioxide, which fouled the

ignition wiring enough to shut

it down.

To make up for the dead engine,

power was increased on the right-

hand unit, but before long the added

demand caused the right side to blow

a piston too. The co-pilot, who had

more experience, persuaded the pilot

to try to restart the then dried-out

left engine. B-25 ’983 then limped to

a recovery airfield at Sanga, an island

in the Sulu archipelago northeast

of Borneo.

Constant repairs

Alderman worked long hours

removing the RCM equipment from

’983. He installed it into another

squadron B-25J, ’958 (most likely

43-27958), which flew her first

mission on June 6.

Three days later it was ready for

another sortie, but while moving

too quickly on a wet taxiway the

pilot skidded into a parked aircraft,

damaging ’958 beyond repair.

Alderman was back where he’d

started. He mused to his father about

his constant repair work: “The

biggest difference

Right

Smoke rising from the

Cape Tekoe, Celebes,

radar site after a fi ring

pass by an Australian

Beaufi ghter in November

1944. HOCKEN COLLECTIONS,
      UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Below

An Imperial Japanese

Navy Type 11 radar at

Signal Hill, Balikpapan,

Borneo, July 1945. Bob

Unwin is likely the fi gure

standing left; of the three

radars he investigated

in the area, this was

the most intact. HOCKEN

COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY

OF OTAGO