FLIGHTPATH|63- Green2F/SgtDonSmyth
- Green3F/SgtIanMacKenzie
- Green4F/ONormBlesing
The first pair of Red Section took off from
Hollandiaataround08:30hoursandallair-
craftwereairbornelessthantenminutes
later. They formed up overhead with Flight
Lieutenant‘Ossie’Osmentsettingcourseup
the coast of Dutch New Guinea for Biak Is-
land(aboutninetyminutesflyingtimeand
roughlytothenorthwest).
AtthewesternendofDutchNewGuinea
(nowWestPapua),almostatthetipoftheVo-
gelkop Peninsula, was the village of Sorong.
There, aircraft from the 23rd Air Flotilla
were readied for an operation against the Al-
lied shipping off the southern coast of Biak
Island.Some22‘Zeros’fromthe301stSentai
of the 202ndKokutai(Ku), a nd possibly oth-
erSentai,andthe381stKutookofftopro-
vide cover for nine ‘Judys’ from the 503rdKu.
They were to rendezvous with ten ‘Oscars’
thatwouldalsoprovidecoverforthe‘Judys’.
It is not known what time the Japanese be-
cameairborne,but,astheirtargetareawasa
similardistancefrombaseastheKittyhawks’
patrolareawasfromHollandia,theypossibly
tookoffaboutanhourlaterthantheAustralians.
‘Smuttee’,thecallsignfor78Squadron,
arrivedoverthepatrolareaalittleafter
10:00 hours in bright sunshine with the cu-
mulonimbus base rising from around 1500
feet to about 12,000 feet. Osment reported
in to fighter director shipLaurel.The
squadron’ssisterunit,75,wasalreadyonits
waybacktoHollandia.
Aroundthesametime,theJapanesewere
well under way and the scene was set for the
forthcoming combat.
Bogies sighted
The Kittyhawks were staggered between
9000 and 11,000 feet in roughly line abreast as
theypatrolledovertheJapenStraitssouthof
Biak.Ataround10:55hours,FlightSergeant
Don Smyth had his attention drawn to AA
bursts at his two o’clock. He identified a couple
ABOVE:Thesuccessful78Squadronpilotstakenonthe
afternoonof3June1944.Fromtheleft,frontrow:F/L
BobOsment(1),F/SgtJohnGadsden(withsilkscarfand
open shirt), F/Sgt Dick Cowley (1), F/O Gordon White (3), F/
SgtJamesHarvey,andF/ORayBarker(1).Backrowfrom
left:F/OGeofGiles(infrontofthewindscreen),F/L
DennyBaker(1),F/SgtClifSmith(1),F/LJohnGriith(2),
F/SgtEdO’Connell(withhandonBarker’sshoulder),F/Sgt
Don Smyth (behind O’Connell), F/Sgt Ian MacKenzie, and
F/ONormBlesing(1).OPPOSITE PAGE:TheartworkontheKittyhawkJohn
Griith (Yellow 2) lew in ‘The Big Do’. The gentleman in
the photo, however, is S/L ‘Curly’ Brydon who went on to
command the squadron.BELOW:USAAF P-47C Thunderbolts similar to or perhaps
theveryonesfromthe340thFSthatattacked the
Japanese formation after 78 Squadron.of bogies about 2000 feet above and immedi-
atelyreportedthem.Nooneheardhisreport,
asapparentlyDon'sradiowasnowunservice-
able,andthesquadroncontinuedthepatrol.
FlyingOfficerGordonWhitethensighted
two bogies, probably the same ones that Don
Smythhadreported,athisthreeo'clockand
some 2000 feet above. He reported these to
Red1,BobOsment,whoapparentlydidn't
initiallyhearhim.Gordonledhissectionin
aturntoportandreportedagain.Now
FlightSergeant‘Mopsy’Gadsden,Red2,
wasreportingabogieatsixo'clocklow.Os-
mentledhissectionintoaclimbingturn.
They dropped their belly tanks. It was on.
AsRedSectionwasinitsturn,a‘Judy’
passedbeneathBlueSectionheadingsouth-
west.Osmentcontinuedhisturnandpulled
back on it. The air was now thick with pilots