Pacifica Military History Free Sample Chapters.pmd

Free Sample Chapters 203
The Val was a carrier bomber with an operational range of
approximately 275 miles—enough for a carrier bomber under most
circumstances, but not even close for filling in as a land-based bomber
under conditions that held sway on August 7, 1942, in the region under
attack by the Allies. There was no provision in the airplane’s design for
an auxiliary fuel tank—no way to eke out significant extra miles.
Moreover, the land-based Vals in the 2d Air Group’s inventory carried
only two wing-mounted 60-kilogram bombs, and not a 250-kilogram
centerline bomb. If they attacked Allied ships off Tulagi, there was very
little hope that their bombs would sink any, or even cause very much
significant damage.
There was to be no fighter escort. The 2d Air Group’s own Zero
squadron was equipped with short-range Zero interceptors that could
not fly even as far as the short-range Vals, and there seemed to be no
point in dispatching an escort of only six Tainan Air Group long-range
Zeros, which is all the veteran land-based fighter group had left on
operational status at Lakunai Airdrome.
Nine 2d Air Group Vals under the command of the hikotaicho, Lt
Fumito Inoue, began launching at 1030.
*
About the only outside Allied combat organization that could provide
assistance to the Guadalcanal invasion force was MajGen George
Kenney’s Allied Air Forces, which had several groups of bombers and
fighters based in New Guinea, mostly around Port Moresby. It was no
mean feat for the embattled U.S. Army Air Forces in the Southwest
Pacific Area to provide the needed assistance, but provide it did. B-26
medium bombers flown by the V Bomber Command’s 22d Medium
Bombardment Group attacked Lae during the day to keep Imperial Navy
bombers and fighters from being shifted to Rabaul to take part in strikes
against the invasion fleet at Guadalcanal. And at 1220, thirteen 19th
Heavy Bombardment Group B-17 heavy bombers based in Australia
and refueling at Port Moresby attacked Rabaul’s Vunakanau Airdrome.
Leading the strike was LtCol Richard Carmichael, the veteran
commander of the 19th Bomb Group.
The attack on Vunakanau was not the least bit altruistic. Allied
intelligence had surmised that 150 Imperial Navy fighters and bombers