FLIGHTPATH | 59G4M1 bombers head back for Vunakanau against a backdrop of Rabaul’s
volcanoes in 1943. These are from the 705th Naval Air Group (NAG), one of the
groups to replace No. 4 NAG after it returned to Japan. The latter unit eventually
lost more than fifty G4M1s to combat and operational accidents. Their losses
were so severe they were sent back to Japan in late September 1942 to reform.A rare photo of two Port Moresby defenders, Kittyhawks
A29-28 and A29-31 (Ex ‘Black 186’) seen at Archerfield in
March 1942 prior to their northwards deployment. In the
background are 22nd Bombardment Group B-26
Marauders with striped tails applied in Hawaii en route
to Australia. [Buzz Busby collection]ing front quarter run; after one short burst
the bomber returned fire but then lurched
out of formation. P/O Arthur Tucker in A29-
47 made a beam attack developing into stern
quarter attack on this doomed bomber,
leading with tracers, then fired three short
burst and one lengthy one into the forma-
tion leader Lt Omura Kuniji.
The seven bombers banked starboard,
however Kawarazuka’s aircraft kept turning
more steeply than the others, and lagged
badly before entering an ultimately termi-
nal starboard diving turn, and ploughing at
high speed into the jungle below. Another
Zero then distracted Tucker, hitting his Kit-
tyhawk’s wing in several places.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the
day is reflected by the fact that the Tainan
fighters were caught unawares by the RAAF
interception. Notwithstanding considerable
expenditure of 3,500 rounds of ammunition,
Kawai’s Zeros were unable to prevent the
loss of the starboard kamo ‘sitting duck’. In
addition the RAAF pilots’ accounts appear
to suggest that Kawai’s men were not par-
ticularly sharp in their attacks, nor in deter-
ring the Kittyhawks. The uncharacteristic
incident truly marks one of the rare occa-
sions upon which Tainan Naval Air Group
fighters arrived late at the scene and put up
an ineffective defence.
Lt(jg) Ozeki Toshikatsu returned to Lae
safely, landing there after Kawai’s six Zeros.
The other five bombers meanwhile cruised
back to Vunakanau, touching down there at
two o’clock that afternoon. Back at Lae and
inside the rudimentary wooden shack which
represented the operations centre, the Tain-
an pilots claimed two enemy fighters de-
stroyed plus one probable. At Vunakanau the
bomber crews claimed one Kittyhawk shot
down, having used a total of 275 x 20 mm and
1,312 x 7.7 mm rounds of defensive ammuni-
tion. In fact, the RAAF lost no fighters that
day, although two of their aircraft were slight-
ly damaged. The Kittyhawks in return claimed
two bombers and one Zero shot down. While
they too overclaimed, alongside the Japanese,
at least one of these claims was a genuine kill.Epilogue
We return now to Captain Tom Grahamslaw
who finally made it to the crash site mid-
morning, the day after the crash on 10 April- “At nightfall we pitched camp at 6,000
ft, without having discovered any trace of
the crashed bomber. The following morn-
ing we met a Village Constable who was on
his way to Kokoda to report that he had ac-
tually seen where the bomber crashed.
With the Village Constable as guide we
climbed another mountain (Mount Bel-
lamy) and found the remains of the bomb-
er and its crew at approximately 7,000 ft.
We made two discoveries which we felt
would be of major interest to Army intelli-
gence. The first was a code book with Eng-
lish numerals. The other was an excellent
map of the Territory and northern
Queensland. The part, which related to
North Queensland had several ringed
markings on it, we thought had some spe-
cial significance to the enemy. Another
interesting find was a machine gun,
which appeared to an exact replica of the
Lewis gun held at Kokoda station (we sub-
sequently found that its parts were inter-
changeable with the station gun). Our first
action on return to Kokoda was to dispatch
two police runners overland to Port Mo-
resby with the code book and map.. .”
Over the next few months, No.4 Naval Air
Group came to be all but wiped out in the
New Guinea/ Solomons theatre of opera-
tions. It became known by the Japanese as
“the hard luck unit”. On 25 September
1942, the unit’s few survivors, including
their six remaining bombers, made their
way back to Kisarazu, Japan, to regroup. In
only seven months of combat, the ill-fated
unit had lost two commanders in quick suc-
cession, six squadron leaders, and over forty
crews with approximately fifty bombers
shot down or written-off.
In October 2003, the crash site was sched-
uled for an investigation by the Japanese
Ministry of Health & Welfare to recover
crew remains. Their visit caused a landown-
er dispute that in the end placed the wreck
off limits. Thus the remains of F PO1c K a-
warazuka Kunimori and his six comrades
still lie on the side of Mount Bellamy.