Whirlwind - Barrett Tillman [62]
After beating up on Bennington’s Corsairs, Kanno turned for Matsuyama, nursing a damaged aircraft. But he clashed with some Yorktown Hellcats intending to strafe his field. Though missing part of one aileron, the ever-aggressive Kanno bent his throttle toward the Americans. He fired at the lead F6F, missed and overshot. Lieutenant Bert Eckard jockeyed stick and rudder and pressed the trigger. He did not miss.
Kanno’s George erupted in flames. He steered away from land and went over the side, barely in time to pull his ripcord. He landed injured but safe.
Meanwhile, twenty Japanese fighters from Ozuki and other army fields scrambled to join the growing melee. It was a come-as-you-are event with mixed units and aircraft types, including a fast Nakajima Frank flown by one-eyed transport pilot Sergeant Yukio Shimokawa. They tangled with a like number of Hornet Hellcats, and from there it turned to hash. The Oscars and Franks overlapped the combat area with some of Genda’s Georges, resulting in a widespread, even more confusing, dogfight.
Lieutenant Yoshishige Hayashi’s 407th “Heavenly Punishment” squadron clashed with Essex’s new fighter outfit. VF-83 shot up Matsuyama, firing rockets into decoy targets—wrecked aircraft staked out to soak up American ordnance. The Hellcats did well against the defenders, claiming six and probably downing as many.
Additionally, elements of the 407th and 701st “Imperial Restoration Unit” engaged in a grueling twenty-five-minute fight with Hornet’s fighter-bombers. Six Hellcats never returned; one ditched and another was jettisoned with severe damage. Three VBF-17 pilots died and three were captured. Conversely, four of Genda’s fliers were killed, including Lieutenant (jg) Yukihiro Watanabe, who had forecast his death three days earlier.
The Japanese survivors returned to Matsuyama by mid-afternoon, some having flown twice. When Captain Genda tallied the squadron reports he announced a day’s bag of fifty-two Americans. The star was Kanno’s section leader, Chief Petty Officer Katsue Kato. He laid claim to nine kills, all accredited by headquarters. Actual American losses in air combat were fourteen, including those damaged beyond repair.
In turn, the carrier pilots reported sixty-three kills during the multifaceted Kure mission. Genda’s wing lost fifteen Georges and a recon plane while other units lost nine more. Thus, the air battle was resolved twenty-five to fourteen in favor of the attackers, but the margin was nowhere as lopsided as either side believed.
Attacks on Kure Harbor
While the air battles wound down to their violent conclusions, Task Force 58 lofted 158 Helldivers and Avengers at Kure Harbor, escorted by 163 Hellcats and Corsairs. It was a massive enterprise: 321 planes, or nearly as many as the Imperial Navy had put over Pearl Harbor.
Bunker Hill’s Commander George M. Ottinger was strike coordinator for the main attack, which offered a variety of targets. The mission was briefed to hit Kure’s fuel storage tanks and other installations, but Ottinger had authority to redirect squadrons to more lucrative targets.
Task force intelligence officers had warned of 160 heavy-caliber AA guns in the target area and hundreds of smaller weapons. It was no exaggeration. As Bunker Hill’s fliers approached Kure, the sky erupted in a mottled kaleidoscope of flak bursts: the usual black amid red, yellow, green, and even purple. The variety represented different batteries using specific colors to spot their bursts.
Flying ahead of the other Americans, Ottinger surveyed the sprawling harbor. When he saw warships anchored, he radioed new instructions: half of the bombers were to attack the men-o’-war. But moments later, when he discerned the full picture, he ordered all Helldivers and Avengers to hit the biggest ships. It was a Navy bomber’s paradise: seventeen combatants, including three battleships and four carriers.
“Bunky” Ottinger’s crews took pride of place as the first strikers over the target, picking the juiciest