Whirlwind - Barrett Tillman [132]
Nevertheless, the 11th Air Force pressed ahead. With more assets dribbling into the neglected theater, the command prepared a maximum effort on September 11. A dozen Mitchells and eight Liberators attacked shipping and facilities, claiming five vessels sunk or damaged and thirteen interceptors downed. Both figures were exaggerated, but the American losses were real enough: seven B-25s destroyed and two B-24s lost when they landed in Russia.
An operational summary called September 11 “the most disastrous day for the Eleventh Air Force.” Flying in the Aleutians weather factory was bad enough—sometimes nearly as many missions aborted as got through. But heavy Japanese defenses forced a rethinking. The new air commander, Major General Davenport Johnson, suspended Kurils missions for five months.
That summer the Japanese began paying more attention to their northern flank. In August the Imperial Navy established the Northeast Area Fleet, responsible for Hokkaido and the Kurils. Three months later some 260 army and navy aircraft were based in the region but the number steadily declined. By the spring of 1945 it was reduced to twenty army and navy aircraft with some 27,000 men.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy began attacking the Kurils with “Empire Express” missions by Fleet Air Wing Four, commanded by ascerbic, erratic Captain Leslie Gehres, who insisted on using Catalina patrol planes like B-17s. In December 1943, Catalinas initiated night bombing and reconnaissance missions over the Kurils, replaced in February 1944 with faster, better-armed Ventura bombers.
When AAF operations resumed that month, the 11th Air Force’s offensive arm largely comprised two squadrons: B-25s on Attu and B-24s on Shemya. Additionally, two P-38 squadrons occasionally provided long-range escort.
Even after resuming Kurils missions, AAF emphasis was on reconnaissance—both photographic and radar mapping. Specially equipped Liberators periodically deployed from distant Colorado Springs while electronic “ferret” B-24s snooped for Japanese radar installations.
Offensive missions accelerated in the summer of 1945, with AAF and Navy aircraft occasionally operating together. On June 9, Army bombers covered a naval force bombarding the Kurils (almost a monthly event), but Japanese fighters intercepted the B-25s. Two Mitchells veered over Soviet territory, both being shot down with one crew killed.
The 11th Air Force logged its last bombing missions and final combat losses in June 1945. By then Fleet Air Wing Four had grown to five squadrons flying Consolidated Catalinas and Liberators plus Lockheed Venturas and Harpoons.
The fliers who made the long, perilous “Empire Express” runs possessed a special kind of motivation. They were unheralded, consigned to a secondary (some said tertiary) campaign, forced to operate with pitifully small forces. But for two years they plied their trade despite all that nature and the Japanese Empire could muster against them. In perhaps no other air operations of World War II did survival constitute such a victory.
Appendix B
JAPANESE AIRCRAFT
BY ALLIED CODE NAMES
(DATE OF FIRST FLIGHT)
Betty Mitsubishi G4M Isshikirikk (Type 1 Land Attack). Navy twin-engine patrol bomber, typically with 7-man crew. 1939.
Fran/Frances Yokosuka P1Y Ginga (Milky Way). Navy twin-engine attack/reconnaissance bomber with 3-man crew. 1943.
Frank Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Gale). Army single-engine, single-seat fighter. 1943.
George Kawanishi N1K Shiden (Violet Lightning). Navy single-engine, single-seat fighter. 1942.
Irving Nakajima J1N Gekko (Moonlight). Navy twin-engine, two-seat night fighter. 1941.