May 2018May 2018May 2018 FLYPAST 43FLYPAST 43FLYPAST 43FLYPAST 43Rabaul captured
At Truk, the IJN had turned its
attention south during January.
Formations of Nells and Mavises
flew several bombing missions
against the two airfields at Rabaul,
Lakunai and Vunakanau. The
former was the civil aerodrome
adjacent to Rabaul and used by
Wirraways. The latter was a newly
constructed runway on an open
expanse of kunai grass 15 miles
southwest of Rabaul, and home to
the Hudsons.
On two occasions the Japanese
bombing was deadly accurate, with
a Wirraway and Hudson destroyed
at Vunakanau and others damaged.
This was the softening up of
Australian defences in preparation
for the invasion of Rabaul.
Perhaps wary of the initial failure
at Wake Island, Fourth Fleet called
on the services of four fleet carriers- two-thirds of the mighty force
that had attacked Pearl Harbor
several weeks earlier.
Starting on January 20, the carrier
air components flew four days of
strikes over Rabaul, mainland New
Guinea and surrounding islands.
The Zekes quickly despatched the
Wirraway force on the first day and
two Catalinas were shot down.
The Zekes also destroyed much
of a large civilian transport fleet
based at Lae and Salamaua which
had serviced nearby goldfields in
the mountains, ending a halcyon
decade of civil aviation in New
Guinea.
Two ancient three-inch anti-
aircraft guns which defended
Rabaul succeeded in shooting
down a Nakajima B5N Kate flying
a bombing mission against land
targets. Five other carrier aircraft
(three Aichi D3A Vals, a Zeke and
another Kate) were lost during
these operations, mainly as a result
of damage from small arms fire.
The appearance of this
overwhelming air power, in
conjunction with the landing of
Japanese army troops on the night
of January 22, had a Blitzkrieg-
like effect on the Australian army
garrison which was decisively
routed after just a day of fighting:
Rabaul was captured intact.
The fleet carriers were urgently
needed elsewhere, and Japanese
carrier-borne aircraft would not
take part in operations in the
area again until the Battle of the
Coral Sea in May. The Japanese
were keenly aware of the need to
establish land-based air power
at Rabaul and large numbers of
engineers went to work upgrading
Lakunai and Vunakanau. In the
next few days the only air cover was
provided by the Kiyokawa Maru’s
floatplanes.
Flying from Port Moresby, the few
available Hudsons began regular
reconnaissance flights over Rabaul
while Catalinas flew night bombing
raids against the occupied New
Guinea port.based at Lae and Salamaua which
had serviced nearby goldfields in
the mountains, ending a halcyon
decade of civil aviation in New
Guinea.aircraft guns which defended aircraft guns which defended
Rabaul succeeded in shooting
down a Nakajima B5N
a bombing mission against land
targets. Five other carrier aircraft
(three Aichi D3A
another
these operations, mainly as a result
of damage from small arms fire.overwhelming air power, in
conjunction with the landing of
Japanese army troops on the night
“...these were impressive results and
demonstrated the quality of IJN fi ghter
pilots, many of whom were veterans of
combat over China”Above
A painting of an
H6K4 ‘Mavis’ of the
Yokoham Ku fl ying
over New Guinea
waters. These aircraft
retained their pre-war
silver paint schemes
until mid-1942 after
which they appeared
in overall green.Left
The white circle
indicates the
stencilling ‘F-11’ on
a damaged ‘Zeke’
drop tank. Although
the fi nal digit, ‘2’,
is missing, this was
the tail code of the
A6M shot down on
February 28, 1942.