NARRITIVE
OF ACCOUNT:
.....The
two divisions were scrambled at 1515, because of a
bogey headed toward Vella Lavella. Capt. Newlands'
division failed to make contact, although they were
on station, over Vella Lavella.
.....Major
Gordon's division sighted the bogey about 1540 Lt.
Wilson probably saw them first, but failed in his
attempt to attract the loader's attention as he started
a left turn away from the bogey. Wilson and Foster
were in a bad position far out on the right, so Wilson
slid in across Gordon and Morris in an attempt to
scissor with them but had lost too much altitude to
accomplish this. Foster, who was then closest to the
15 Zeros which he estimates were coming in, was being
shot at so he turned into them firing and dove out.
He then climbed back to rejoin the fight, but seeing
what he thought was a Zero on the tail of 3 Corsairs,
he kicked over hard and went after the Zeros but the
Jap did a split "S" and got away. He then
found 3 Zeros on his tail so he tried a chandelle
to come back at them, but they had the altitude advantage
so he dove under the flight, turned hard right, and
started home.
.....He
confirms that Lt. Wilson's (1) and Major Gordon's
(2) by seeing the three (3) Zekes hit the water, burning
as they fell.
.....Lt.
Morris estimates seeing 12 Zekes and saw them at the
last minute coming in as they started their turn away
from the bogey. He was hit during this turn but attempted
to shoot a Zero off Gordon's tail after completing
the turn. Loss of hydraulic pressure caused a malfunction
of his guns, so he headed for home. Upon arriving
over the base he found that his emergency CO2 system
was also shot away, so, not being able to use flaps
or landing gear, he parachuted safely and was picked
up by boat.
.....Lt.
Wilson estimated seeing 16 Zeros cooing in at them
while they were in the turn. Having lost so much altitude
in his skid, and being unprotected he decided to climb,
and then saw Zekes above and four below. He singled
out one of those and gave it a long burst observing
it burst into flames before he went into a cloud with
a Zero on his tail. When he came out he saw no more
Zeros, so he headed home. He saw three planes crash
in the water and a Corsair (probably Foster) headed
in the same direction.
Major
Gordon dove when he found the Zero on his tail, then
came back up into the fight firing good bursts into
Zekes (2) which he observed to smoke and head down.
He also observed the three Zekes crash.
Combat
Report of Major A. M. Gordon:
....."Sighted
about 10 bogeys at about 1530. At that time we had
about 17,500 ft. The bogeys, when I first saw them
were at about 30,000 feet and were on our tails. Morris
and I were headed south and Wilson and Foster were
on our left. Morris and I scissored two or three tines,
then when a Zero got on his tail I dived down and
out. When I climbed up and rejoined the fight I got
good bursts into three planes that hit the water.
One of them I saw before, spinning down evidently
out of control. My hydraulic system was shot away;
I had about 3 holes in each wing, and 4 in the tail.
My air speed was also shot away."
Combat
Report of 1st. Lt. R. W. Wilson
.....Time
1515, 13 September, 1943. "First sighted bogey
at 22,000 feet and we were heading straight at them
at 10,000 feet. The flight was over Kundurumbangara
Point or a little toward Kolombangara. There were
from 12 to 18 Zekes and we had 4 F4Us. Division leader
turned away from them as he did not see than and my
radio wouldn't work."
.....They
hopped us from behind, and I did a left turn and climbed
up and saw Zekes all over and saw 4 below us and made
a run on one, which I really raked over and saw fire
coming off left side of engine. There were others
shooting at me, so I kept in my dive and finally came
to a cloud and climbed up thru that to 21,000 fleet,
where I came out and saw no more Zekes. While I was
in my dive I saw three planes splash into the water
and later investigated two of the oil slicks."
Return
to 13 September, 1943 War Diary
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