NARRITIVE
OF ACCOUNT:
Major Volcansek and Lt. Reid were delayed in take
off because of a flat tire while taxiing to the strip.
They caught up at Munda, the rendezvous point, at
0830 while the others had been circling for at least
15 minutes. The rendezvous was made with twenty-four
(24) SBDs and a course set toward the south end of
Ganongga I. After passing this point, one of the dive-bombers
was seen turning back. The rest continued and passed
between Treasury I. and the Shortlands before making
the NE turn toward Bougainville. They paralleled the
southern shore line but well inland until just before
reaching the strip then turned almost 90° to take
a SE course paralleling the strip but a little south
of it to hit at the A.A. positions along the shore
there.
One
division was at 16,000 feet and the other at 14,000
ft., Major Volcansek's covering the leading bombers
while McLean's division covered the second group.
They both did a good job of cover, scissoring all
the way and went down to 4,000 ft. as the dive-bombers
made their runs. The A.A. was fairly accurate but
light and the bombs were observed to drop, covering
the target area extremely well, only one bomb was
seen to hit just on the shore. Four ships, apparently
DDs, and one larger ship were observed in the harbor,
and a bomb exploded very close to one of the DDs but
if any attacks on the other ships wore initiated,
they were not observed by the cover.
Two
of the ships were south of the strip and the others
to the north. Three or four fires were seen to start
in the shore installations. The heavy bombers attack
of the strip was coordinated closely with the dive-bombers
as the B-24s had struck just a few minutes before
the SBDs and a fight was in progress near the Shortlands.
Our pilots saw at least four (4) aircraft hit the
water but they were too distant to identify them.
They report being followed by an estimated ten (10)
"Tonys" but except for a few "bursts",
attempting to suck our cover out of position, the
enemy did not close. The enemy fighters trailed almost
to Vella Lavella. An unidentified plane seemed to
explode in the air and Lt. Reid explains how he flew
right through the debris and remembers seeing a very
bright blue object. A "Tony" was observed
diving with, and on the tail of an F4U-1 but it looked
as If the Corsair was opening the gap slightly during
the period of observation.
A
pilot was seen to bail out of a P-40 on a bearing
of 270° off west end of Vella Lavella about 35
miles. Lt. Hughes tried to draw the attention of the
section leader to the fact that the pilot in the chute
was apparently being strafed but he failed. The action
was too far back to make their aid practical as it
was a perfect trap because of at least six Zeros above.
As
they approached Kolombangara they saw what was apparently
a gun duel between Arundel I. and Kolombangara I.
A fire was reported in the woods at the North end
of the Vila strip. The bombers were escorted to Munda
and our fighters then preceded to Ruby base where
they pancaked at 1115.
Return
to 23 September, 1943 War Diary
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