FLIGHTPATH | 57T
he wreckage of a Japanese bomber lies
strewn in jungle on the side of Mount
Bellamy, high in Papua New Guinea’s
mountains. It ended up there after a
combination of circumstances which involved
RAAF Kittyhawks, an Australian spotter nick-
named ‘Golden Voice’, a Japanese fighter es-
cort being taken by surprise, all hinging on the
actions of the bomber’s commander Kawara-
zuka Kunimori, whose remains, and those of
his six comrades, still lie unclaimed in Papua
New Guinea’s jungle. A young Australian dis-
trict officer named Captain Tom Grahamslaw
was eyewitness to the bomber’s demise.
On 9 April 1942, Grahamslaw was ap-
proaching Kokoda on his first patrol, “...I was
within an hour’s walk from the station
when I witnessed the shooting down of a
Japanese bomber by two Australian Kitty-
hawks. The bomber was one of a number
returning to New Britain from a raid on
Port Moresby. They were flying in perfect
formation with Zero cover when the Kit-
tyhawks dived out of the clouds, attacked
the leading bomber, and then darted back
into the clouds with the Zeros in hot pur-
suit. I watched the bomber crash into a
mountain behind Kokoda station. On ar-
rival at the station I found Assistant Dis-
trict Officer Lt Peter Brewer about to de-
part with a small party of native police in
search of the bomber, so I joined him.”
The bomber crashed into the Owen
Stanley Mountains, northwest of the war-
time village of Isurava, on the side of Mount
Bellamy. For years, its identity proved elu-
sive and the subject of debate, although re-
cently the Mitsubishi constructor’s number
- 5194 – was established by examination of a
piece of wreckage. This number identifies
the bomber as a twin-engined G4M1, built in
January 1942, the 194th of 1,200 eventually
built at Mitsubishi’s Nagoya plant.
Grahamslaw had indeed been correct
when he surmised that the bomber was on
its way back to Rabaul, and that it had been
shot down by Kittyhawks. By cross-referenc-
ing Japanese, RAAF and Australian colonial
records, Flightpath is able to present a com-
plete picture of what occurred that day.
The Zero fighters, in fact six of them, as
seen by Grahamslaw that day, were led by Lt
Kawai Shirō whose sole purpose it was to
protect the bombers intent on attacking Port
Moresby. Kawai arranged his Zeros in two
flights, with FPO1c Ōshima Tōru and FPO2c
Sakai Yoshimi as his wingmen. The second
flight was led by Warrant Officer Yosh i no
Satoshi with FPO2c Itō Tsutomu and Flyer1c
Suizu Mitsuo as wingmen. These pilots rep-
resented the Japanese Imperial Navy’s crack
fighter unit, the Tainan Naval Air Group.
The bombers (only later to be code-named
Betty) were from the No. 4 Naval Air Group
(NAG). This was a hybrid unit formed on 10
February 1942 when it acquired aircraft and
crews transferred from the Takao Naval Air
Group. The new unit was allocated the unit
code (and thus tail prefix) ‘F’. Its command-
ing officer, Lieutenant Commander Ito
Takuzo, flew into Truk on 11 February 1942
aboard bomber F-348 in company with F-350
and F-354. (It appears that upon formation,
the new unit replaced the letter ‘T’ for
‘Takao’ to ‘F’, whilst maintaining the num-
bers in the original tailcodes.) This original
batch of G4M1 bombers sported the ‘ku-
mogata’ (cloud pattern) green and brown
camouflage pattern which would later be
discarded in favour of overall green when
No. 4 NAG later acquired new inventory.
Seven G4M1s bombed Port Moresby on
the morning of 9 April 1942 – departing,
unusually, from two different venues. Two
launched from Lae under the command of
FPO1c Miyazaki Kozō, and they rendez-
voused at 0924 hours with Lt Omura Kuniji’s
five bombers originating at Vunakanau, not
far from Rabaul. At 1000 hours nine 75
Squadron RAAF Kittyhawks scrambled
from 7-Mile to intercept them, of which six
attacked the bombers.Forewarning of the attack came from a re-
markable personality named Leigh Vial who,
just prior to the Japanese occupation of Rab-
aul, led one hundred RAAF groundcrew from
the doomed 24 Squadron RAAF to New Brit-
ain’s east coast, from where two flying boats
evacuated them to Townsville. After this res-
cue, Vial, who came to receive the affection-
ate sobriquet of ‘Golden Voice’ was reassigned
to coastwatching duties. Briefed on his new
dangerous profession, he walked to Salamaua
which he reached on 20 February 1942. Along
with a cumbersome teleradio, eight days later
on his thirty-third birthday, he and two locals
established an observation post looking
north-east over Salamaua and Lae. It was
from this fledgling post on the morning of 9
April 1942 that ‘Golden Voice’ radioed “Two
flights of unidentified planes seen head-
ing South at 0948. 7 in ‘V’ formation in the
lead flying at between 8,000’ and 10,000 ft.
3 in ‘V’ formation at 1,000’ lower and two
or three miles behind. Second wave are
smaller planes and look like fighters”.
The 4. NAG bombers were flown in three
staggered flights; the first under the com-
mands of Lt Omura Kuniji, FPO1c Toyama
Norihiro, and FPO1c Sanetori Tadateru, the
second flight under Lt(jg) Ozeki Toshikatsu
and FPO1c Haraguchi Nobuo, and the third
comprising FPO1c Miyazaki Kozō and
FPO1c Kawarazuka Kunimori.
After dropping bombs on the town, the
seven G4M1s, each with a crew of seven, set
a return pace for a north-easterly course
with their Tainan fighter escort behind
and 2,000 feet above them. The sky was
filled with cumulus clouds, affording pro-
tection for a deadly game of hide and seek.
The bomber formation was surprised by the
six RAAF Kittyhawks which attacked be-
tween 1045 and 1050 hours, after they had
approached around cloud cover. Flying Of-
ficer M.D. Ellerton made the first attack in
P-40E Kittyhawk A29-41, conducting a div-
ing port quarter pass developing into anFPO2c Itō Tsutomu pulls away from P/O Arthur Tucker flying
Kittyhawk A29-47 after placing several 7.7mm rounds in his wing.
Itō’s Type 21 Zero carries the red oblique sash of the Tainan NAG’s
First Squadron. [Artwork [email protected]]