NARRITIVE
OF ACCOUNT:
.....Our
mission was greatly handicapped because of the assignment
of aircraft. A scramble just prior to the scheduled
strike cover take off time, caused a great deal of
confusion in the pilots being given planes as they,
pancaked from the scramble. Major Gordon’s medium
cover division was assigned aircraft last and they
were delayed so that they were never able to join
up as a division. Lt. Leach could find no one to join
up on and was too late at the rendezvous point. Being
at 20,000 feet over the north end of Choiseul, and
learning of contact being made on ahead, he decided
it was not the place to be alone and returned to base.
He was fired on by A.A. on return from Vovke Cove,
Kolombangara and has gun position at that point spotted
as in the NW end of the cove.
.....Lt.
Witt was also alone at the North end of Choiseul 27,000
ft. at 1125 but he could find no one to join up on
or could he find bombers to escort. so he was returning,
to base he received a radio message from Sirius Base
for the crash boat to search for a pilot, reported
in the water so he decided to help. He found no one
but did see the long narrow yellow object that had
been reported so many times previously in the water
around Kundurum Pt. and identifies it definitely as
a piece of board, presumably from the side of a house
painted yellow.
.....Major
Gordon and Lt. Wilson were joined by Major Sapp who
made a very late take off when he could not start
his ship. As they climbed, Major Gordon found he would
have to return because his oxygen system failed. Sapp
and Wilson continued on. They could not find the bombers
nor could they contact any bogeys. They did observe
clouds of smoke or dust rising from the Kahili Airfield
and many fires including what looked like a large
oil fire on Ballale. Lt. Wilson reports seeing the
smoke cloud over Kahili at 1127.
.....Lts.
Jones, Hobbs and Turner, of Major Sapp's division,
were together going to the rendezvous point but Lt.
Turner became separated shortly after joining up with
the bombers. He continued on alone and reports seeing
no bogeys at 30,000 ft. over Kahili. He saw bombs
dropping off shore of the strip and saw the oil fire
on Ballale as he returned escorting the bombers as
far as Ganongga I. Jones and Hobbs stayed together
and escorted the bombers over the target at 24,000
ft. They saw no intercepting aircraft and observed
the bombs hitting on the West side of the field and
in the water at the end of the strip. They came back
with the bombers and Lt. Hobbs saw, one of then turn
out of the formation, make a 360° turn and then
continue on, so he escorted this lone ship.
.....Major
Volcansek's division was robbed of the division leader
when he had engine trouble near Bougainville. His
wingman, Lt. Reid, accompanied him back to Vella Lavella;
from which point the Skipper proceed alone while Reid
turned to rejoin the mission. He returned to 30,000
ft. over Ballale and could observe a fire on the West
side of the strip at Kahili. He was having trouble
with his high blower so dropped to 25,000 ft., from
which altitude he saw four Haps below. Lt. Reid picked
out one that appeared to be straggling and he made
a high side pass at him, tailing in he saw his tracers
hitting from nose to tail. As the Zero attempted protection
by turning toward his flight, Lt. Reid hit him with
more lead and this time he flamed and was observed
to explode when he hit the water. Williams and Craig
of this division both returned to base because of
the formers engine trouble. They had made no contact.
Combat Report of Lt. W. 0. Reid
....."After
returning with Major Volcansek to friendly territory
and making sure his engine was OK, I returned towards
Bougainville. I climbed to 30,000 ft. and cruised
around Ballale looking for some Zeros. The bombers
had already passed over and were out of sight when
I arrived. I couldn't see anything and my motor was
missing so I went down to 25,000 and started doing
small "S's" towards home. I picked up 4
Haps coming back from chasing the bombers at about
10,000 ft. One of them was out by itself, so I dove
out of the sun onto his tail and fired a long burst
and then pulled up into a chandelle and saw him go
into the water and explode.
.....My
gas was getting fairly low and I was by myself, so
I headed for Munda and pancaked."
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to 15 September, 1943 War Diary
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