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gagedincombatwestofBiakIslandwithair-
craftthatwereundoubtedlytheremnantsof
the enemy force the Australians attacked.
TheAmericansclaimedfour‘Zeros’and
two‘Oscars’destroyed,butmadenoother
claimsforprobablesordamaged.SotheAl-
lied claims were for fifteen aircraft de-
stroyedandtwodamaged,whichisinclose
agreementtothethirteendestroyedand
threedamagedconfirmedbyJapanesere-
cords. In some cases, the Australians obvi-
ouslymisidentified‘Zeros’for‘Oscars’,but
wewillprobablyneverknowwhatthetrue
mixofdestroyedfighterswas.
As for the ‘Kates’, it was again a case of
misidentification as there were none in the
area and none listed in the 23rd Air Flotilla’s
orderofbattleinJune1944.The‘Kates’were
‘Judys’ofcourse.Further,wehaveconfirma-
tion from the Japanese records that Gordon
White'sdamaged‘Judy’wasinfactdestroyed.
Hewastheonlypilottomakeadamaged
claim for that type during the day’s combat.
Consequently, his claims for that day were
two‘Judys’andonefighterdestroyed.This
him the only RAAF pilot in the Pacific
areatoshootdownthreeenemyair-
craft in a single engagement.
Gordon White's achievement is a
remarkable feat that is long overdue
forsomerecognition.Healreadyhad
aconfirmedvictoryfromhistime
with3SquadronRAAFintheWest-
ern Desert, North Africa, so that puts
iminveryrarecompanyforaRAAF
ilot with four enemy aircraft de-
troyed. Further, the Australians’
laim of seven fighters and three ‘Jud-
s’isthehighestforasinglecombatby
eRAAFintheSWPA.
Flight Sergeant Bill ‘Happy’ Harnden
astheonlylossfor78Squadronandit
still not known how he met his end.
heknownJapanesepilotlossesonthe
ywereReserveLieutenantTosjio
hikubo,WarrantOfficerOtojiroSak-
uchi and Chief Petty Officer Koshichi
mida. All were from the 301stSentai
of the 202ndKuandflying‘Zeros’.
None of the Japanese records examined
ive any indication as to the fates of any
ther of the Japanese pilots. From the Aus-
ralian records, it appears that possibly
ourfighterpilotslosttheirlivesthatday
nd possibly as many as three of the ‘Judy’
rewmembers.Theextentoftheselosses
illneverbeknownunlesssomelostdoc-
ment is discovered.
It is interesting that the Japanese never
put together a co-ordinated attack, given
they significantly outnumbered the Kitty-
hawksbynearlythreetoone(41to15),
which may have made things very diffi-
cult for the Australians. This is a very im-
portantaspectthathasneverbeenhigh-
lighted before in the meagre material
aboutthiscombat.The78Squadronpi-
lots interviewed weren't even aware of
beingoutnumberedatthetimeduetothe
scattered nature of the combats.
With regard to the fourteen Australian
pilots who returned from the Biak com-fulpilotscongregatedaroundajeepandhad
their photo taken. The happy snaps contin-
ued with the flight leaders and their ground
crews, the service section and so on. Morale
washigh.Theevent,whichcametobere-
ferred to thereafter as 'The Big Do', had such
aprofoundeffectoneveryonethattheywere
still talking about it a couple of months later
when replacement pilots joined the squadron.
Intheofficialrecordof78Squadron,the
pilotsclaimedtohavedestroyedseven‘Os-
cars’ and two ‘Kates’ with a further ‘Kate’
and ‘Oscar’ damaged. An American inter-
ceptoftheofficial23rdAirFlotillalosses
for 3 June over Biak, which are incomplete,
listssix‘Zeros’,three‘Judys’andfour‘Os-
cars’ destroyed, and another three ‘Zeros’
damaged.Nomentionismadeofanydam-
aged ‘Judys’ or ‘Oscars’.
TheJapaneseadmittedtolosingsometen
fighters destroyed and a further three dam-
aged as well as losing three ‘Judy’ dive-bomb-
ers.Towardstheendof78Squadron'scom-
bat, P-47 Thunderbolts of the 340th Fighter
Squadron, 348th Fighter Group, were en-yards(36-46metres).Morestrikeswereob-
served,buttherewasstillnofireorexplo-
sion. Frustrated, Griffith fired again, emp-
tying the ammunition from his three
working guns.
NowNormBlesing,whohadbeenpro-
tectingGriffith'stailthroughoutthepur-
suit,wentaftertheJapanesefighter.He
openedfirewithafulldeflectionshotand
hitthetail.Debrisfellfromthetailandthe
fighterrolledontoitsback.Blacksmokewas
nowpouringfromthestrickenaircraft'sen-
gine as it crashed into the sea.
AstheKittyhawksreturnedtotheirbase
they beat up the Cyclops strip and some
completed victory rolls. One did two victory
rolls. Ground staff emerged from every-
where. Tools were dropped as the men
rushed to the dusty strip. By the time most
oftheaircrafthadlanded,manyofthe
ground crew were milling around trying to
find out the details.
ItwasuptoFlightLieutenantGeorgeIfe,
theintelligenceofficer,totrytomakesense
of it all. That afternoon the fourteen success-
RIGHT:KittyhawkA29-467.This
aircraft did not take part in ‘The
BigDo’,but‘WatchMyForm’
appeared on three diferent 78
Squadron Kittyhawks. This was
the irst one.
BELOW:BFlightgroundcrew
withF/LBobOsment,whois
eighth from the right in the
middlerow,justtotheleftof
the chap with the white banded
hat.Osmentwaslyinghisusual
mount, ‘The Reaper II’, during
the 3 June combat.