Fly Past

THE INEVITABLE

A

fter the Pearl Harbor attack

in December 1941, Japan’s

aerial campaign in the

South Pacific gets little coverage.

But once the theatre erupted into

fierce conflict with the Battle of the

Coral Sea in May 1942, followed

by the Guadalcanal campaign, the

struggles are well chronicled.

From December 8, 1941 until

March 9, 1942, however,

a peculiar aerial

campaign

developed

between

the air arm

of the Imperial

Japanese Navy (IJN)

and the Royal Australian

Air Force (RAAF), with daily

combat. In contrast, there was

just one day of fighting on land

and a complete absence of naval

engagements.

Also peculiar was that

immediately after Pearl Harbor the

main aggressor in the South Pacific

was the RAAF, not the Japanese!

But the resources available to the

Australians were meagre indeed.

Burdened with urgent operational

needs elsewhere, the only Allied

force available to send to the

territories of Papua and New

Guinea was a detachment from the

RAAF’s 24 Squadron at Townsville,

Queensland. From this base ten

Commonwealth Aircraft Wirraways

and several Lockheed Hudsons

arrived at Rabaul, the main port

and commercial centre of New

Guinea, by mid-December.

Derived from the North American

Harvard family, Wirraways were

essentially armed trainers, but in

the absence of modern fighters it

was hoped they could provide some

defence against the likes of flying

boats. The Hudsons, militarised

airliners, would serve very usefully

in the armed reconnaissance role.

The RAAF believed these types

could also serve in a strike capacity,

and the handful forward-deployed

at Rabaul were grandly termed an

‘Advanced Striking Force’. The

Wirraways and Hudsons joined

the existing RAAF force in the

region, comprising around a dozen

Consolidated Catalinas

of 11 and 20 Squadrons

based at Port Moresby.

To the north of New Guinea

was the Japanese ‘Mandated

Territory’, a vast area of Central

Pacific islands appropriated from

Germany at the end of the Great

War. Its key base, Truk – home to

the IJN’s Fourth Fleet – lay 800

miles (1,287km) directly north of

Rabaul.

Offensive air power here

comprised a sizeable force of

Chitose Kokutai (Ku – air group)

Mitsubishi G3M2 Nell bombers

and Yokohama Kokutai Kawanishi

H6K4 Mavis flying boats. Both

types boasted impressive endurance

and could easily haul bomb loads

to Rabaul.

During December the

expected Japanese raids on

Rabaul failed to occur because

the Fourth Fleet was busy

with two operations in the

Central Pacific. The first was

the seizure of Guam, which was

accomplished easily by December

10.

The second was Wake Island,

where the first attempt to take the

coral atoll was repulsed – one

of the few Japanese

defeats in the first

months of the

Pacific War.

Success required

the support of

two of the fleet

carriers diverted

during their

return voyages

after Pearl

Harbor.

Left

Artwork depicting

Chitose Ku A5M4

‘Claudes’ patrolling

Rabaul in late

January 1942.

May 2018 FLYPAST 41