Ingrid saw that tragic scene as she was about to renew her attack on a Japanese destroyer, which was now in serious distress, with its hull and machinery rooms full of bullet holes. Even though she had seen many of her comrade pilots die during the fighting for the Philippines, the death of one of her female fighter pilots brought sadness to her, but also renewed resolve. Seeing as well that a lone Japanese fighter pilot had
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somehow managed to take off from Lakunai Airfield despite the intense strafing from her P-38N pilots, she abruptly turned her plane around and headed towards that lone, brave Japanese pilot and his Mitsubishi A6M3 ZERO. That Japanese pilot saw her coming at him and tried to point his fighter for a frontal pass. Against a P-38N, that was a bad decision and the Zero was quickly turned into a flying sieve, with its engine trailing black smoke. Its pilot, still too low to parachute out, then decided to ditch his plane in the harbor. Showing some remarkable piloting skills, that pilot managed to keep his ZERO
in one piece and to beach it on the shoreline of the Lakunai Airfield. Lieutenant Junior Grade Saburo Sakai then hurried to jump out of his burning fighter aircraft, swimming to the shoreline with a speed fueled by adrenaline. Once out of the water and standing on the sand and pebbles of the beach, Sakai looked around with disbelief at the scene of widespread destruction around Rabaul. The two light carriers in the harbor were now burning fiercely and were also listing heavily, close to sinking. As for the four heavy cruisers, each of them had been hit by at least one torpedo and by rocket and machine gun fire. A tremendous explosion then swept the harbor and made Saburo Sakai twitch nervously. He then understood that a burning ammunition ship had just blown up. As for the American planes which had caused all that carnage, they were already withdrawing westward, probably towards Port Moresby, pursued by furious but apparently ineffective anti-aircraft fire.
09:24 (PNG Time)
Main tarmac of Wards Airfield
Port Moresby area
Alerted by a radio message from the EC-142E shepherding the returning aircraft of the 99th C.A.G., Major General Kenney and Brigadier General Julian Barnes were waiting on the main tarmac of Wards Airfield when the P-38Ns and RP-38Ns of the Fifinellas started to land one after the other. It quickly became evident to both generals that some of the returning aircraft had been damaged, with one P-38N having to do a belly landing when its landing gear failed to deploy. Thankfully, the pilot of that fighter aircraft was able to walk away from her crashed airplane, to be collected at once by one of the ambulances and fire trucks standing ready to assist. However, the sheer number of aircraft which had been able to return surprised Kenney, who made a remark to Julian Barnes.
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‘’It seems that their casualties were pretty light and not as bad as what I had feared.’
‘’Well, that is only the fighter part of their strike force. Their B-25s may well have suffered much more than their P-38s, sir.’
‘’True! According to Dows’ in-flight report, they lost only one aircraft, a P-38, over Rabaul, but had a number of damaged planes returning to Port Moresby. As for the Japanese losses, they are supposedly heavy but a flight of RP-38Ns were ordered by Dows to do a complete post-strike photo coverage of Rabaul and of Simpson Harbor.
We will have to wait until those photos have been received, processed and analyzed before we wil be able to do an official assessment of this raid.’
‘’I sure can’t wait to see those photos, sir. Aah, I believe that Dows’ aircraft is now landing: it seems to be intact.’
‘’Let’s give her time to taxi her aircraft up to the tarmac, then we wil go speak with her.’
Ingrid Dows aircraft was actually the last one to land, something Kenny appreciated: that showed that Dows gave priority to her pilots, instead of to herself, something not all air commanders he knew did. Eyeing carefully her P-38N as it wheeled around to park on the tarmac, Kenney and Barnes could see at least a half-dozen holes from bullets or pieces of shrapnel in the aluminum skin of her aircraft. Many other aircraft in her unit also bore similar marks of combat: their mission had been no picnic indeed. The ground maintenance crews hurried forward as soon as the engines were shut down and the propellers had stopped spinning. As they went to work assessing the state of the aircraft, Kenney and Barnes came up to Ingrid’s aircraft as she was starting to climb down from her cockpit. Once on the ground, she faced the two generals and came to attention, saluting them. Kenney saluted back before asking his first question to Ingrid.
‘’How did the mission go, Colonel Dows?’’
‘’Rather well, considering the density of enemy anti-aircraft fire, sir. Only one enemy aircraft, a ZERO, managed to take off during our attack but I promptly shot it down. The other aircraft in Lakaina and Vunakanau Airfields were destroyed on the ground. As for the enemy ships, I expect to be able to claim two light carriers, four heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, six destroyers and about fifteen cargo ships either sunk or gravely damaged. I will however wait until after the post-strike air photos of
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Rabaul and of Simpson Harbor have been examined and analyzed before listing my combat claims. As for my unit, we lost one P-38N and sustained varied degrees of damage from anti-aircraft fire to many of my aircraft, including mine. The enemy was slow to react at first, due to the surprise we achieved, but then cranked up some pretty serious volume of ground fire. Also, one of my P-38Ns strafed the Japanese radar station protecting Rabaul and took it out: our EC-142E registered the abrupt cutting off of radar emissions from that station.’’
‘’Your unit has done a great job today, Colonel. Let them rest after they wil write their post-mission flight reports. We will speak again after your post-strike air photos will be ready for analysis.’
‘’My photo specialists wil get on that job right away, sir.’
The trio then exchanged salutes again, following which Kenney and Barnes returned to the jeep which had brought them from their headquarters to the tarmac. As their jeep was rolling, Kenney asked a question to Barnes, who was sitting in the back of the jeep.
‘’So, what do you think, Julian? Did Dows’ report reflect reality or was she embellishing the results of her attack?’’
‘’I would tend to believe her report, sir. The amount of flak damage that her aircraft sustained showed that her unit attacked from low altitude, contrary to what most of our bomber crews do, and braved heavy enemy fire during their attack. I also discretely watched the other arriving female pilots and, while looking sober, they were not shaking with shock or fear and acted professionally: not exactly the myths running around about women in combat being hysterical or crying from fear after a fight.
Hopefully, people around this theater of operations and beyond will start taking those women seriously, sir.’
‘’I hope so too, Julian. I hope so too.’
08:40 (PNG Time)
Monday, September 28, 1942 ‘C’
Command bunker of the First Marine Division
Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
‘’What do you have for me this morning, Roy?’’ asked Major General Alexander Vandegrift, the commander of the 1st Marine Division. The commander of the 1st Marine Air Wing, which was also nicknamed the ‘Cactus Air Force’, Brigadier General Roy
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Geiger, seemed conflicted as he handed a decrypted classified message to the big marine general.
‘’A message received early this morning from Major General Kenney, the commander of the Fifth Air Force, in Port Moresby. In it, Kenney announces that the new 99th Composite Air Group, which is now operating from Port Moresby, attacked Rabaul yesterday morning and caused heavy losses to the Japanese there. The message lists those losses and says that post-strike air photos taken by RP-38Ns prove the extent of those losses, which basically mean that the Japanese in Rabaul have just been emasculated, both in terms of combat aircraft and in terms of heavy warships.
That list of Japanese losses is worth a good look, Bil .’
Vandegrift gave Geiger a bit of a cautious look while taking the message form offered by his air commander.
‘’The 99th Composite Air Group? Isn’t that the new all-female air unit with no combat experience?’
‘’It is an all-female unit, but it is now gaining combat experience at a rapid pace, if I can believe General Kenney...and I do believe him. I know Kenney well and he is no bullshitter. For one, such a successful raid on Rabaul yesterday morning would explain why the Japanese air raid we were expecting around noon hour never materialized.’
‘’Hum, you have a point there, Roy. Let’s see this list of Japanese losses...’
It took only seconds of reading before Vandegrift made a double take.
‘’They sank two light carriers, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, one destroyer and six cargo ships, on top of seriously damaging two other heavy cruisers, seven destroyers and five cargo ships? They also claim to have destroyed on the ground 91
aircraft, plus shot down one Japanese aircraft and destroyed the Japanese fuel reserves at the Lakaina and Vunakanau Airfields? Is that even possible? And all this for the loss of one, ONE aircraft?’’
‘’Kenney says that the post-strike air photos supported those claims, Alex. I would thus tend to believe these claims by the 99th C.A.G.’’
‘’But, how could a bunch of green women produce such a result at such a light cost to them?’’
‘’How? Probably because they are led by our Ace of aces and our most experienced combat pilot, who fought the Japanese in the Philippines both in the air and on the ground. Some of my marines who also fought in the Philippines only swear by her. Now, read the second part of this message: it becomes even more interesting.’
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Vandegrift did so, to then look up at Geiger after a few seconds of reading.
‘’General Kenney is offering to assist us by sending to Guadalcanal parts of his helicopter force from the 99th C.A.G.? But Admiral McCain and Admiral Ghormley will never accept that the Fifth Air Force could assert part of the command authority here.
Admiral Ghormley already refused earlier this month to even host those women on his bases.’’
In response, Geiger shook his head vehemently.
‘’Read that message with more attention, Alex. General Kenney is not trying to sneak in some of his authority here: he is simply offering to support us, no strings attached. While it would still be under administrative command of the Fifth Air Force and the 99th C.A.G., that helicopter unit would come here to provide close air support and medical evacuation support to our marines, with me directing their efforts. This is in essence an American unit coming in to help another American unit while being ready to follow our orders at tactical level. How could that be considered wrong? Please remember that awful Navy directive ordering its ships to NOT travel to Tulagi and Guadalcanal waters and to NOT resupply our marines or provide escort ships to the transport ships destined to Guadalcanal, all that because the Navy deems the waters around us to be too dangerous to risk its ships. As far as I know, that Navy directive is stil in force.’
‘’It is indeed stil in force, Roy.’ said Vandegrift, his jaws tightened by a flash of anger. ‘’My officers are stil shitting bricks on account of that order. It was bad enough that the Navy abandoned us and ran away after we landed here, taking with it most of our supplies, which were still aboard our cargo ships. You know what? Say yes to General Kenney and let’s greet those helicopters with open arms. And if Admiral Ghormley, who is hiding in his office in Noumea day in and day out, doesn’t like that, then tough! Would you refuse to help an Army unit attacked by the Japanese, just because they don’t belong to our chain of command?’’
‘’Hell no! I am sure on the other hand that the Army would not refuse to help a Navy or Marine unit for that same reason. I am going to send a reply to General Kenney, accepting his offer of assistance. Are you going to inform Admiral Ghormley of that, Bil ?’’
‘’And why would I do that, Roy? Did he ask us for our consent to the withdrawal of his ships as they abandoned us? We will treat that helicopter unit as a guest and a
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comrade-in-arms. I know little about helicopters but they may just be the one factor that would help us repel those Japs here on Guadalcanal.’
‘’I fully agree with you on that, Alex. I will keep you posted about anything else I get from the Fifth Air Force.’’
It took less than three hours after that before Geiger returned to Vandegrift’s command bunker with a fresh message.
‘’I just got a new message from General Kenney, confirming what he wil send us as help. On top of sending us twelve helicopters, his heavy transport aircraft will also bring in support equipment, vehicles and anti-aircraft guns, plus will bring in for us fresh supplies of fuel, rations and medications.’
‘’But that’s great!’ exclaimed Vandegrift. ‘’Are there any conditions attached to this support?’’
‘’Only that we treat those women as equals to our marines and do not demean or segregate them, while also letting them use their own tactics, which they recently tested in combat in Papua New Guinea.’
‘’Does that message provide details about what kind of helicopters they are going to send us?’
‘’Yes, it does! We wil get the support of six AH-4 attack helicopters, four UH-2
medium transport helicopters and two UH-1 light liaison and medical evacuation helicopters. An anti-aircraft battery with eight half-track-mounted quad .50 caliber heavy machine guns will also be transported here and will help in the local defense of our airfield. The Fifth Air Force will also send us what it can spare in terms of fuel, ammunition and rations.’
‘’Hell! That’s already a lot better than what the Navy is giving us. I will certainly greet these women with open arms when they will come here.’
08:58 (Tokyo Time) / 09:58 (PNG Time)
Imperial Japanese Navy headquarters
Tokyo, Japan
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, read twice the message received an hour ago from Rabaul, then looked at the big map of the Pacific laid on top of his operations table with a closed expression.
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‘’Our failure to capture Port Moresby earlier on is now proving quite costly for us, gentlemen, while our soldiers on Guadalcanal seem to have problems fighting both the Americans and the jungle there. If we don’t remedy this situation quickly, then we may well risk losing most of the South Pacific...and the war in the long run. Penny-packet efforts will not do anymore. We will have to concentrate all our available forces on reducing Guadalcanal and, most importantly, either destroy or occupy Port Moresby and its airfields.’’
‘’But, Admiral, our army units advancing towards Port Moresby along the Kokoda Trail are now in utter rout, having been hit hard by those new American helicopters.’
replied Vice-Admiral Kondo. ‘’Our army has basically abandoned its effort to take Port Moresby, while our troops on Guadalcanal have failed up to now to take Henderson Field. The Army says that it can’t provide more troops than what they already have sent to the South Pacific.’
Yamamoto’s response to that was made in a harsh tone.
‘’The Army promised a lot...but delivered precious little but excuses. We will thus have to do the work ourselves. If we can’t take and occupy Port Moresby, then we wil crush it and its airfields with bombs and naval shells. We have many heavy units which are based in Truk and which have done little lately. Now is the time to use them and others in one mighty punch at Port Moresby. I thus want an operational plan for such a thrust to be prepared for my consideration as quickly as possible, with a strong air component to act in cooperation with our ships.’’
‘’HAY!’ replied in unison his staff officers assembled around the map table, while bowing to Yamamoto. As Yamamoto was about to walk out of the big operations room, his intelligence officer accosted him and, after a quick bow to him, presented him a classified docket.
‘’Admiral, I have here some supplementary information about the American attack on Rabaul. Due to its content, I preferred to show it to you after you would have spoken to the rest of our staff, sir.’
Yamamoto couldn’t help feel some frustration as he took the file presented by his intelligence officer, a very sharp man who spoke fluent English.
‘’And what could have been so sensitive that my senior staff couldn’t know about, Commander Naguro?’’
‘’It is actual y more embarrassing than sensitive, Admiral.’
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Now frankly confused, Yamamoto nonetheless opened the classified file and started reading the short message pinned to it. It took only seconds for him to look back in shock at Naguro.
‘’American women conducted that raid on Rabaul? Are we sure of that?’’
‘’Yes, Admiral. While the Americans used codewords which our radio operators could not understand, all the voices they heard during the American attack on Rabaul were female voices.’’
‘’But that’s nonsense! The Americans don’t use women in combat.’
‘’That was true before, Admiral, but not anymore. In that docket, you wil find a separate intelligence file about a new female air combat unit that was formed recently and which apparently arrived in Port Moresby only a bit over a week ago. That unit is led by the American Ace of aces, who happen to be a woman and who fought us quite bravely and skillfully in the Philippines, both in the air and on the ground. Most of the information in that file is from American newspaper clips but our agents in Port Moresby heard American and Australian soldiers and aviators there babble in local bars about a bunch of female aviatrixes having arrived with new types of planes, including helicopters.
Our agents also saw those new planes and helicopters as they overflew Port Moresby a number of times and say that they looked both very advanced and formidable. That female air unit is called the ‘99th Composite Air Group’.’
Yamamoto took the time to carefully read the whole file before looking back at Naguro.
‘’Ingrid Dows... I heard about her before, during the battle for the Philippines. By all the accounts I heard, she is a very dangerous fighter pilot and a master air tactician.
Her connection with the dead Canadian time traveler, Nancy Laplante, only makes her more dangerous for us, due to what she may have learned from her deceased adoptive mother. I can see now how the Americans were able to take our people in Rabaul by surprise: Dows probably employed new tactics she learned from Laplante.’’
Yamamoto then looked back at the file for a few seconds, contemplating the newspaper picture taken of Ingrid Dows as she stood in front of her P-40 while fighting in the Philippines.
‘’So beautiful and young, yet so dangerous. This girl has the spirit of a true warrior.’
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19:53 (Washington Time) / 10:53 (PNG Time)
The Oval Office, The White House
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was working late this evening, as it had become too frequent during this war, when his secretary advised him that General Marshall and Lieutenant General Arnold wanted to see him with important news. Roosevelt told her to let them in, then braced himself, in case that those news would prove to be bad ones.
The big smiles harbored by both Marshall and Arnold however reassured him at once.
‘’So, gentlemen, you seem to have some good news for me this evening?’’
‘’Indeed, Mister President.’ answered George Marshal . ‘’We received an action report from the Fifth Air Force, via General MacArthur’s’ Brisbane headquarters, stating that our new 99th Composite Air Group successfully raided the Japanese in Rabaul yesterday, causing them heavy losses.’
‘’The 99th Composite Air Group? Isn’t that the new female unit led by our young Ingrid Dows?’’
‘’That’s the one, Mister President!’ replied Arnold. ‘’Using new tactics and surprise, our girls managed to sink two light carriers, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and seven cargo ships, plus destroyed on the ground nearly a hundred Japanese planes, at the cost of one aircraft lost and a few more aircraft damaged. They also severely damaged two more heavy cruisers and a number of destroyers. Before that attack on Rabaul, their helicopters hit hard the Japanese soldiers advancing on Port Moresby along the Kokoda Trail. Post-strike photos were taken over Rabaul and we received fac-simile copies of them from Brisbane. Here is the file containing those photos and a copy of the post-mission report from the Fifth Air Force, Mister President.’
Roosevelt eagerly took the file presented to him by Arnold and opened it, reading first the post-mission report before looking at the dozen or so black and white air photos in the file. After about two minutes going through the pictures, Roosevelt looked up at the two generals, a wide grin on his face.
‘’This is great news indeed, gentlemen. So, those women delivered on what we were expecting of them?’’
‘’They more than delivered, Mister President.’ replied Marshall. ‘’Lieutenant Colonel Dows also demonstrated in combat the validity of the new air tactics she had
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been proposing, particularly concerning the tactical handling of helicopter units and how they could provide close air support to our ground troops.’’
Roosevelt reminded himself about something, with his smile fading as he looked at Arnold.
‘’And what was the human cost of this success, General Arnold?’
‘’While every life lost is a tragedy, Mister President, our losses yesterday can be described as very light, in view of the results. One aviatrix was killed and three others wounded. All of those three wounded women will of course get the Purple Heart, while the family of the pilot killed will also get a Purple Heart, plus a Gold Star for the loss of their daughter. If I may say so, Mister President, this result fully validates our decision to allow our women to serve in combat with the Army Air Corps.’
‘’I would agree as well on that, General Arnold. I will authorize the award of a Presidential Unit Citation for the 99th C.A.G., for their attack on Rabaul.’
‘’Thank you, Mister President. Those girls richly earned it.’
‘’Talking of earning it, it seems that the refusal by the Navy to even allow them to operate from the Navy bases in Esperitu Santos and Efate was quite a stupid mistake.’
‘’About that, Mister President,’ jumped in Marshall, ‘’the Fifth Air Force stated that they have proposed to the First Marine Division in Guadalcanal to assist it by sending to Henderson Field part of the 99th C.A.G.’s helicopter squadron. While our marines are more than ready to accept that help, Admiral Ghormley, in Noumea, is strongly objecting to that, saying that it would constitute an undue interference to his authority as Commander South Pacific by the Fifth Air Force and the Southwest Pacific Command.’
‘’That Ghormley idiot is at it again?’ spat out Roosevelt, irritated. ‘’He keeps hiding in his office aboard a ship anchored in Noumea Harbor while proving completely ineffective against the Japanese. I am thus overriding his objections about the 99th C.A.G. sending a sub-unit in Guadalcanal. Furthermore, I will have a serious talk with Admiral King about replacing Ghormley as the commander of the South Pacific Theater.
I don’t want deadweights in charge at the front. Can I keep that file, so that I could show it to Admiral King?’’
‘’Of course, Mister President.’’
‘’Then, you are dismissed, gentlemen. Have a good night.’’
‘’You too, Mister President.’ replied Marshall, who then saluted with Arnold before leaving the Oval Office. Once they were gone, Roosevelt grabbed his telephone
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and called upstairs, at the presidential suite, where his wife Eleanor was listening to the radio.
‘’Hello, Eleanor? It’s me! I have here at the Oval Office something that you may like looking at...’
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CHAPTER 14 – THE CACTUS GIRLS
09:15 (PNG Time)
Wednesday, September 30, 1942 ‘C’
‘The Pagoda’, field headquarters of the First Marine Air Wing Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
Brigadier General Roy Geiger, who was watching the sky while standing next to the ‘Pagoda’, the wooden building constructed by the Japanese on a denuded low hill in Henderson Field and which served as his air wing’s headquarters, made a grimace: the sky was covered with low gray clouds which had just delivered half an hour of moderate rain, transforming the airfield into a sea of mud. He then made a remark to one of his staff officers standing next to him.
‘’I hope that this shitty weather won’t stop those girls from the 99th from flying in this morning. Apart from us badly needing those supplies they are supposed to be bringing in, we have our wounded and sick, who are waiting inside, waiting to be evacuated.’
‘’I don’t know, sir. Visibility is pretty crummy right now and they may find it difficult to find the airfield and land here in the present conditions.’
As if to answer their doubts, a signaler then stuck his head out of one of the windows of the crudely-built ‘Pagoda’.
‘’SIR, WE JUST GOT A RADIO CALL FROM THE 99TH C.A.G.: THEY WILL BE
HERE IN FOUR MINUTES.’
‘’At least they found their way to here.’’ said the staff officer in response to that announcement. ‘’Frankly, I have my doubts about the flying skil s of those girls.’
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Roy Geiger gave him a sharp look but didn’t reply to that. He was very conscious that his pilots and staff had a low regard about women flying in combat but the results of the 99th raid on Rabaul should have convinced them to reevaluate their assessment of these aviatrixes. The problem was that they had not, at least not yet. On his part, while not exactly a fan of seeing women fight, either in the air or on the ground, Geiger was ready to give them some slack, especially when considering that their leader was one woman who had more than proven her mettle in combat in the Philippines.
About two minutes later, Geiger started to hear the distant noise of powerful engines coming from the West. Looking in that direction, he was unable at first to spot any airplane, due to the low cloud ceiling. Then, the direction of that noise shifted, as if the newcomers were turning southward. Alarmed by that and fearing that those aviatrixes were deviating away from Henderson Field, Geiger saw another minute later a dot appear through the clouds, in line with the single runway of the airfield and on approach to it.
‘’Here they are! Nice navigating on their part, considering this pea soup.’
He then watched on as the first of eight big aircraft proceeded to land smoothly on the dirt and gravel runway, using only a very short distance to do so and to roll to a near-stop. The size and power of that C-142, which he had never seen before, was truly impressive as he watched it take one of the taxiways leading towards the part of the airfield which had been allotted for use by the 99th C.A.G. As a second C-142 landed, Geiger went to his jeep, parked next to the Pagoda, and sat in it before giving a brief order to his driver.
‘’Let’s go greet those girls in their assigned area, Corporal Studebaker.’
‘’Right away, sir!’
Using a dirt trail which could more correctly be described now as a mud lane, the driver waited until a third cargo aircraft had landed and passed by him before rolling across the runway and then drive towards the large deforested and leveled patch of terrain where there were plans to build a second airfield. Geiger’s jeep arrived there in time to see two M16 halftrack vehicles, each armed with a quad .50 caliber heavy machine gun mount and towing a cargo trailer, rolling out of one C-142 via its wide rear cargo ramp. Their disbelief was then compounded by seeing a bulldozer and a big field forklift unit roll out behind the two nine-ton halftracks.
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‘’Dear God! The lift capacity of these C-142 transport aircraft is simply unbelievable.’’ said Geiger while watching two more M16 halftracks, a truck-mounted backhoe and a grader come out of a second C-142. As for his driver, he was smiling while eyeing the young women driving or manning all those heavy vehicles.
‘’Yeah, and the girls in those vehicles certainly look nice, sir.’
While he should have taken to task his driver for making an inappropriate remark, Geiger had to agree with him.
‘’They certainly are, Corporal Studebaker, but please remember that they came here to fight and support us against the Japanese and not to party with our marines.’’
‘’Uh, understood, sir.’’
‘’Good! Drive to that 2½-ton field van truck which just came out of that third C-142.’’
Obeying at once, Studebaker rolled to next to the big truck, where Geiger flagged the woman driving it.
‘’CAN YOU TELL ME WHO IS THE COMMANDER OF YOUR UNIT? I’M
BRIGADIER GENERAL ROY GEIGER, COMMANDER OF THE FIRST MARINE AIR
WING.’
‘’CAPTAIN SALLY NOLAN IS IN CHARGE OF OUR FIELD SUPPORT GROUP.
SHE IS IN THE JEEP FOLLOWING US.’
‘’THANKS, CORPORAL!’
Geiger then made his driver wait for the jeep following the van truck and signaled to the female officer sitting in that jeep to join him for a discussion. Both jeeps then pulled to a spot out of the way of the vehicles unloading from the C-142s and away from the ear-splitting noise from the cargo plane engines. Both Geiger and the female captain got out of their respective jeeps and met next to Geiger’s jeep. The woman gave an apologetic smile to Geiger while offering her hand for a shake.
‘’Excuse me for not saluting you, sir, but Colonel Dows taught us not to salute in the frontlines, because of the risks from Japanese snipers.’
‘’You commander is a most sensible officer, Captain. So, you are in charge of this ground unit?’’
‘’Only the airfield support part, sir. Our anti-aircraft and security detachments will report to Major Phylis Burchfield, who will be in overall charge of our Guadalcanal detachment. Major Burchfield should arrive in about two hours, with our helicopters
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selected by Lieutenant Colonel Dows to serve here. My sub-unit’s task is to prepare as quickly as I can this part of your airfield for occupation by our helicopter detachment.’
‘’Well, you certainly came wel equipped for the job, Captain. Your inventory of heavy equipment can certainly be described as ‘plentiful’.’
‘’General Arnold was quite generous in his allocation of assets to our air group, sir. That had a lot to do with the experimental nature of our unit.’
‘’By experimental, I suppose that you are alluding to the female nature of your unit?’’
‘’Only partly, sir. General Arnold also provided us with the latest equipment and aircraft in order for Lieutenant Colonel Dows to test and validate new air tactics and unit organizations in combat. In turn, Colonel Dows is due to write recommendations and comments for General Arnold about how successful those new air tactics and organizations proved to be in combat.’
‘’I see! And what is Colonel Dows sending to support my air wing, Captain?’’
‘’You will receive six AH-4 HORNET attack helicopters, four UH-2 STORK
medium transport helicopters, two UH-1 BEE light liaison and medevac helicopters, one battery of eight M16 anti-aircraft halftracks, one security platoon with eight jeeps mounting .50 caliber machine guns on anti-aircraft mounts, plus my field support detachment. Our last two C-142 which just landed are loaded with ninety tons of aviation fuel, ammunition, spare parts, rations and medical supplies destined for your marines, sir. Once unloaded and with your wounded and sick aboard, our C-142s will return to Port Moresby: they would be too vulnerable here to Japanese mortar and sniper fire.’’
‘’Aah, excellent! So, you won’t need any material support from my wing, like medical and food services, for the moment, Captain?’
‘’No, sir! In fact, we brought with us a small medical team of one doctor and two nurses, plus a medical van truck and two field ambulances, which will reinforce your own field hospital. We also have our own mobile kitchen truck, a mobile bakery truck and a field shower unit. You wouldn’t want your marines to be exposed to the ugly sight of naked women washing up in some local pond, sir?’’
That last sentence, said with a malicious smile, brought a grin on Geiger’s face.
‘’I certainly wouldn’t want to hurt my marines’ morale with such a spectacle. On my part, I wil do my best to keep my marines in line, Captain.’
From smiling, Sally Nolan became most serious then.
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‘’Sir, having your marines ogle our women is less of a preoccupation for us than having our women’s professionalism questioned or demeaned, sir. We all enrolled in order to serve our country and we are ready to sacrifice, suffer and die in the process, but we would appreciate if we would be treated as equals rather than as potential field prostitutes. We already have started to suffer losses here in the South Pacific and we simply want our contribution in combat to be recognized, sir.’
Geiger nodded his head in agreement at that.
‘’And I wil do my best to impress that fact on my marines, Captain. Well, I will now let you free to do your job here. I will meet with your Major Burchfield as soon as she will arrive with her helicopters. Thank you again for coming to support my wing, Captain Nolan.’
‘’It’s a pleasure, sir.’’
The two then parted, with Geiger returning to sit in his jeep, where he kept watching the unloading of the C-142s and the work of the women engaged in preparing their base camp. The amount and diversity of their equipment, which included mosquito eradication fumigation units mounted on light trucks and manual chainsaws, with which the women of the 99th proceeded to cut trees in select spots along the treeline, kept making Geiger and his driver jealous.
‘’Chainsaws, sir? Our marines would have killed to have some of those here, sir.’
‘’Well, we had some, but they are gone, along with the rest of the supplies and materiel the Navy had on its ships when they fled the local waters with their tails between their legs.’ replied Geiger, his tone bitter.
11:49 (PNG Time)
Aircraft dispersal and campsite of the 99th C.A.G.’s ‘Cactus Detachment’
Area of the future Fighter One Airstrip
Half a mile southeast of Henderson Field’s runway For the expected arrival of the helicopters from the 99th C.A.G., Brigadier General Roy Geiger was accompanied by Major General Alexander Vandegrift, the commander of the First Marine Division, who was most interested in examining those fabled helicopters, none of which had been seen before in the South Pacific. The sky was still partially cloudy but the weather was now notably better than it had been in the morning
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and the mud around Henderson Field was starting to dry up...slowly. Both general officers kept looking around them at the women still working diligently to prepare their assigned area for occupation under the direction of Captain Sally Nolan. Vandegrift nodded his head in approval as he watched a bulldozer driven by a woman prepare a series of well-spaced aircraft protective revetments, with other women then covering the inside of those revetments with steel planks, commonly cal ed ‘Marston’s Mat’ or ‘PSP’
planking.
‘’Those women certainly know their job, Roy. Our own Seabees10 wouldn’t do much better than them.’
‘’Our Seabees would love to be as well-equipped as these girls, Bill. That makes me even more anxious to see what those ‘helicopters’ look like. Hopefully, they wil make an impression on the Japanese, the painful kind of impression.’
‘’I sure hope so, Roy! Those ninety tons of supplies their C-142s delivered to us this morning did an awful lot of good, that and them evacuating our wounded and sick.’
Vandegrift, watching a jeep mounting a heavy machine gun as it was about to pass by them while patrolling the perimeter of the airstrip, then raised one hand to signal it to stop before walking to it. The three women aboard the jeep straightened up in their seats but didn’t salute him, showing to the marine general that they had been well drilled into the dos and don’ts rules in the frontlines. Stopping near the woman occupying the front passenger seat, Vandegrift then pointed at the carbine she was holding.
‘’I don’t know this model of rifle. Could I examine it, Corporal?’’
‘’Of course, General.’ replied the young woman, who appeared to be quite tall and strong, before removing the curved magazine on her weapon and clearing its chamber before presenting it to Vandegrift, its bolt held back in the open position so that he could see that the weapon was empty. She then spoke as both Vandegrift and Geiger examined with interest the weapon.
‘’This is a Winchester M2 carbine in .357 magnum caliber, sir. It is the standard long arm of our unit and is a selective fire weapon, with a thirty-round magazine. It doesn’t have the range or punching power of the Garand M1 rifle or of the Springfield 1903 but it was specifically designed for rear-area and support units like us. As you can see, it is very light and handy, sir. Our aircrews are also armed with it but use a variant with a folding stock.’’
10 Seabees: Nickname given to U.S. Navy field construction units.
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‘’Very nice indeed. It should prove an excellent weapon for a jungle environment like here, where you normally can’t see the enemy before we see the white of their eyes.
I see that you also wear a revolver. Is that also a standard weapon in your unit, Corporal?’’
‘’Yes sir!’ replied the woman before unholstering her revolver and unloading it for Vandegrift’s inspection. ‘’This is a Colt .357 magnum Master Shooter six-shot revolver with a six-inch barrel, a commercially-available handgun in the United States. It uses the same ammunition as our carbines, which simplifies a lot our logistics. Lieutenant Colonel Dows went for a revolver instead of the Army regulation Colt 1911 .45 pistol because she knew that many of our smaller women would lack the strength to pull the slike of the Colt 1911 open.’
‘’Your commander decidedly sounds like a most practical and wise woman, Corporal. Uh, talking of strength, you do look quite strong for a woman, Corporal. What kind of job, if any, did you have before enrolling?’’
‘’I was a professional wrestler, sir.’ answered the woman, now smiling. ‘’Our unit security officer, Captain Angie Dickinson, is herself an ex-roller-skating derby girl and is one mean, tough woman. Colonel Dows enrolled many professional athletes like me to serve either as security personnel or as ammunition and aircraft ordnance handlers.
You should see the girls of our ordnance ‘tiger teams’, sir: they may not have a sexy body but they could probably crush a male soldier who would prove too adventurous with his advances. By the way, sir, some of our girls are black, while we have a number of Asian-Americans serving as radio intercept operators. Colonel Dows will vouch for the absolute loyalty of all our people, sir.’
Vandegrift, like Geiger, was a bit taken aback by that and gave the corporal a critical look.
‘’Isn’t the Army stil enforcing racial segregation, Corporal?’’
‘’Colonel Dows obtained permission from General Arnold to enlist any woman ready to enroll and having useful skills, sir. Since we are already segregated by sex, we do not further segregate within our air group, sir.’
‘’And your personnel didn’t get in trouble in the United States because of that, Corporal? Mind you, I am no racist but I know how deeply entrenched certain attitudes are.’
This time, the corporal took a couple of seconds to weigh her answer to Vandegrift.
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‘’Just being female military flyers proved controversial in many places in the United States, sir. Some restaurants and shops refused to serve our women because they were wearing slacks instead of skirts. As for our black women and our Japanese-American girls, they have been very selective about where they went and always went around with some of our white women. Despite of all that, we came to the South Pacific to fight and serve our country, sir.’
Vandegrift nodded his head, favorably impressed by the corporal’s answer.
‘’Then, I wil pass a general directive to the marines of my division, telling them to respect all of your women and to forget segregation rules.’’
‘’Thank you, sir. I promise that we wil do our best to support your marines and can vouch that Colonel Dows wil say the same to you.’
‘’And I certainly am anxious to meet your famous commander. Here is your revolver and carbine, Corporal. You may continue your patrol.’
‘’Thank you, sir.’
The jeep then started rolling again, letting Vandegrift talk in private with his air unit commander.
‘’Decidedly, this unit is special in many ways. However, I am favorably impressed by what I have seen of them up to now. Let’s get closer to that camouflaged big truck-mounted command van: I want to check on the time of arrival of those helicopters.’’
‘’By the way, did you notice that they brought a mobile radar unit with them?’’
‘’I did! These girls decidedly have the best the Army Air Force can provide.’
Getting back in their jeep, they rolled to a pair of 2½-ton trucks carrying command shelters and sporting long radio antennas. Both trucks were inside protective earth revetments and were covered with camouflage netting, while two trailers, also camouflaged, were situated a few paces away, with one of them carrying a field generator which was powered up. One jeep armed with a heavy machine gun and manned by three women was parked near the rear of the trucks, evidently tasked with protecting them from intruders. Climbing the short ladder of the van marked as being the command post of the unit, Vandegrift knocked on its door before entering the van.
Inside, he found a young female lieutenant and three other women wearing non-commissioned ranks manning a number of radios and a battery of field telephones.
Despite having been already warned by the corporal on patrol, Vandegrift couldn’t help
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stiffen on seeing that one of the women was clearly of Asian descent. The female lieutenant noticed that and hurried to speak up.
‘’Don’t worry about Corporal Ann Morita, sir: she is our radio intercept specialist and Japanese language translator for our detachment. She is as American as you and me and speaks with a California accent.’
‘’I see! Are you presently listening to Japanese radio communications, Lieutenant?’’
‘’She is, sir. We also have other radio intercept specialists presently flying over Guadalcanal in one of our command and electronic reconnaissance EC-142E aircraft.
By the way, I am Lieutenant Gayle Stevenson, the assistant operations officer of the 777th Helicopter Squadron.’’
Both generals then shook hands with Stevenson before Vandegrift asked another question.
‘’Have you intercepted some Japanese radio traffic of interest to date, Lieutenant?’’
‘’We certainly have, sir. Our EC-142E is presently following on radar a Japanese convoy of six transport ships escorted by four destroyers, which is presently heading towards Guadalcanal. From the exchange of radio communications between those ships and Japanese Army units located to the West of Henderson Field, we could say that those ships are probably intent on dropping supplies and reinforcements around Cape Esperance once darkness will have fallen.’
That information made Vandegrift’s and Geiger’s jaws tighten.
‘’Damn! With our own ships keeping their distances and with our aircraft unable to attack accurately in the dark, we may see yet more Japanese soldiers come ashore tonight.’
‘’They wil most probably come ashore tonight, sir, but they may find out that a hot reception is awaiting them. Our attack helicopters are equipped with night vision devices which allow them to fly and fight in the dark. Six of our AH-4 are soon due to arrive as part of our unit detachment.’
‘’And what kind of armament do your attack helicopters carry, Lieutenant?’
‘’Each of our attack helicopter is armed with one 20 mm cannon and two coaxial
.30 caliber medium machine guns mounted in a small chin turret. They also have a total of seven weapons pylons for bombs, rocket pods, napalm canisters, fuel drop tanks and cluster munitions dispensers, for a maximum ordnance load of three tons.’
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‘’THREE TONS?!’’ exclaimed Geiger, stunned. ‘’That’s more than my SBD dive bombers can carry.’
‘’I know, sir. Our AH-4 are also fast, agile and heavily armored. They should come as quite a nasty surprise to the Japanese, tonight, sir.’
‘’I hope so! We real y can’t afford to have more Japanese soldiers on this island.’’
That was when the woman manning the field telephones spoke up after answering one of the phones.
‘’Lieutenant, our radar has picked up our incoming helicopters and is now guiding them to here. They should be here in about twenty minutes.’’
‘’Excellent! Thanks, Maria.’
Stevenson then opened a drawer next to her and took out eight small booklets. She next gave four booklets each to Vandegrift and Geiger.
‘’Since our helicopters are a novelty in the Pacific, General Arnold had those small user information booklets printed. They will tell you about the basic specifications of each of our helicopter type, their roles, capabilities and how to load troops and equipment aboard them. Please note that, while our two UH-3 we have in our unit will come in to drop extra supplies and ammunition, they will go back to Port Moresby after their unloading: when on the ground, they make really big and juicy targets for enemy fire.’’
‘’That is quite understandable, Lieutenant.’ said Geiger while starting to sift through one of the four booklets given to him. He however quickly strangled on some of the specifications he read.
‘’Your AH-4 has a total engine power of 4,200 horsepower? That’s as much as one of our heavy four-engine bombers. Why use so much power?’’
‘’Because most of that power is used to lift our helicopters in the air and keep it there, sir. Contrary to conventional planes, which use the lift from their wings to fly, helicopters get their lift from their rotors, so need lots of power to fly. Our helicopter designs, which use some design features imported from the future by Nancy Laplante, have a pair of small wings to help unload their rotors when flying in high-speed cruising mode, which in turn helps them go faster and have a better range. You will be able to view from up close our helicopters once they will have landed, sir. You are of course also invited to tour our helicopters, General Vandegrift.’’
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‘’Thank you, Lieutenant. I am real y anxious to examine your helicopters. From what I can read in your booklet, they have some very interesting capabilities which will be most useful to my marines, especially their ability to move troops quickly from point to point, with no need for a landing strip. Right now, moving through the jungles of Guadalcanal is a truly hard and slow task. With your four medium helicopters, I will be able to move a complete rifle company to anywhere around this island within minutes, something that will give us a precious advantage over the Japanese.’
‘’And that is one of the main arguments for using helicopters in a tactical manner, sir. However, since they are slower than conventional aircraft, they have to be careful when flying in areas where enemy anti-aircraft guns are present. That is the main reason why our AH-4 is so heavily armored: to survive enemy anti-aircraft fire while on the attack.’
‘’I can’t wait to show these booklets to my staff officers, Lieutenant: your helicopters wil help us change radically our tactics against the Japanese.’
‘’That is the main reason Colonel Dows sent us here, sir: to give you an edge on the Japanese.’’
‘’And I will certainly thank her once I wil final y be able to meet her in person.’
replied Vandegrift, now feeling quite optimistic about the future of his unit’s situation.
Some ten minutes later, they started hearing the distant noise of engines and propellers approaching. Going out of the van truck with Gayle Stevenson, the two marine general officers peered at the western sky, trying to see the incoming helicopters.
Geiger, having a sharper vision than Vandegrift, spotted first a dozen or so dots far away, flying at fairly low altitude as they approached Henderson Field. A number of aircraft guides then stepped on the PSP-surfaced tarmac area of the field, holding small orange flags. The first to land were two of the biggest aircraft the two marine generals had ever seen, with Gayle Stevenson then commenting on them.
‘’These are our two UH-3 SKYCRANE heavy lift helicopters, sirs. They are extremely useful in helping to unload heavy or outsized items from cargo ships in Port Moresby, thus are in high demand there. For this trip, they are bringing in a total of twenty tons of extra fuel and ammunition for our helicopters.’
Subjugated by the huge size of the two heavy helicopters, Geiger and Vandegrift watched on as a pair of field forklifts rolled to the back of the UH-3s and then entered
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their holds once their rear cargo ramps lowered to the ground, to then roll back out while carrying wooden pallets loaded with either crates or steel barrels.
‘’By the way, sirs, could we ask you to not simply throw away your empty fuel drums? We could use them to help build more revetments and bunkers by filling them with dirt or sand.’’
‘’We often do the same, Lieutenant, but I wil happily give you the empty barrels we wil not use.’
‘’Thank you, sir.’
Then, it was the turn of four UH-2 STORK medium transport helicopters and of two UH-1 BEE light helicopters to land. A collection of light trucks and jeeps then rolled out through the lowered rear ramps of the UH-2, including two Dodge ½-ton field ambulances, making Vandegrift nod his head in approval.
‘’Those two ambulances will certainly prove useful here, Lieutenant. Up to now, we had only jeeps to move our wounded and sick around.’’
‘’And they wil be attached to your field hospital, General, along with our doctor and two nurses who just came in.’
Next to land were six of the meanest-looking machines the two generals had seen, prompting another remark from Stevenson.
‘’Our six AH-4 HORNET attack helicopters, sir. The Japanese should positively hate them after tonight.’
‘’I could see why, Lieutenant. My own dive bomber pilots could easily become jealous of your AH-4s.’
‘’Would you like to go examine them from up close, sirs?’’
‘’Very much so, Lieutenant.’ replied Vandegrift. ‘’Lead the way, please.’’
With Gayle Stevenson walking ahead of them, the two generals soon got close to the first AH-4 as the two women of its crew were climbing down from their tandem seat’s cockpit, using built-in footholds and hand rails. Both aviatrixes, wearing revolvers at their belts and with M2A2 carbines slung in their back, came to attention but refrained from saluting as Geiger and Vandegrift approached them and stopped in front of them.
However, before Stevenson could present them, both marine generals eyed with disbelief the tall brunette who had come down from the copilot-gunner’s seat.
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‘’Miss Hepburn? Is that real y you, here in Guadalcanal?’’ said Vandegrift in a strangled voice, making the actress smile.
‘’It is me, at least the last time I checked, sir. I was dying to serve our country in this war in another way than to play in movies or do war bonds selling tours, so I enrolled in the Fifinellas. Since my good friend Howard Hughes was giving me some private flying lessons, including on his new AH-4 helicopter, and since I am an expert shot, I requested to join as a copilot-gunner on attack helicopters, so here I am, ready to shoot up the Japanese.’
‘’Well, I’l be! My marines will go bonkers when they will learn that the famous Katharine Hepburn is here as a combat aviatrix.’
‘’Wait til they learn that Hedy Lamarr is presently flying over them in our EC-142E, as its electronic warfare officer, sir.’
Geiger’s jaw nearly fell to the ground on hearing that.
‘’Hedy Lamarr, an electronic warfare officer? But does she have any technical qualifications for that job, Miss Hepburn?’
‘’First, please call me ‘Lieutenant Hepburn’ rather than ‘Miss Hepburn’, sir.
Second, Hedy is not only a most beautiful woman: she is also a certified genius and inventor who holds an official patent centered on the concept of radio frequency spread spectrum.’
‘’My God! That is indeed some surprising news, Lieutenant Hepburn.’ said Vandegrift, who then shook hands with Hepburn and with the pilot, young faith Buchner.
‘’Welcome to Guadalcanal, both of you. Hopeful y, the Japanese welcome will not be too harsh.’’
‘’We wil do the welcoming then, sir.’ replied Buchner, who then pointed at her helicopter. ‘’Would you like to have a tour of my helicopter, sir?’’
‘’We certainly would, Lieutenant.’
Before climbing the steps leading up to the gunner’s cockpit, Geiger rapped his knuckles on the aircraft skin of the cockpit section. Instead of the clear sound of thin aluminum sheeting, he got the sound of solid metal plating.
‘’Damn! How thick is the armor on your helicopter, Lieutenant?’’
‘’Thick enough to stop heavy machine gun slugs, sir. It is made of an outer sheet of tempered armor steel over a thick plate of hardened aluminum, the best armor combination to stop projectiles while keeping the weight low. The cockpits, engines compartment, fuel tanks and vital hydraulic lines are protected by that type of armor,
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while the canopies are made of bullet-resistant tempered glass. This translates into quite a lot of weight, which explains why our engines need to be so powerful. On the other hand, my AH-4 can carry more ordnance than our average medium bomber, thus can make the Japanese suffer quite a lot with a mix of cannon, machine guns, bombs, rockets, napalm canisters and cluster munitions dispensers.’
‘’And what are exactly those ‘cluster munitions dispensers’, Lieutenant Buchner?’’
‘’Cluster munitions dispensers are basically long boxes fil ed with ejection tubes containing a variety of sub-munitions. Each sub-munition is about the size and weight of a 60 mm mortar bomb. On overflying a zone where the enemy is hiding, we trigger our dispensers, which then eject via compressed air their sub-munitions in a quick, timed sequence. Once out of their tubes, spring-loaded airbrake petals open up, slowing the sub-munitions down and making them point downward as they fall. The 300 bomblets can thus form a carpet of explosions and shrapnel covering a surface of up to 600 feet by 150 feet, causing near-certain wounding or killing to anyone inside that zone. That concept came from the future, like the general design of our helicopters, and we already verified their lethality when we attacked the Japanese advancing along the Kokoda Trail, near Port Moresby.’
‘’Gee, I can’t wait to see the Japanese here on Guadalcanal have a taste of these dispensers.’ said Geiger. Gayle Stevenson, who had walked away while Faith Buchner was giving her guided tour, then returned with a woman wearing the rank insignias of a major. The latter stopped at attention near the two marine general officers and spoke up to them.
‘’Sirs, I am Major Phylis Burchfield, the commander of the 777th Helicopter Squadron. I wil lead my unit’s detachment on Guadalcanal.’
In response, both Geiger and Vandegrift shook hands with her while presenting themselves.
‘’Major General Alexander Vandegrift, commander of the First Marine Division. I am most happy to have your unit here. I was told that a Japanese convoy carrying supplies and reinforcements is approaching Guadalcanal and will arrive after dark. Will your helicopters be able to hit them effectively at night?’’
‘’We certainly can, General. Attacking at night wil also impede greatly the Japanese gunners on the destroyers escorting those transport ships, thus will help us avoid heavy casualties on our side. If you were planning to hit that convoy with your
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own SBD dive bombers during daytime, then be advised that one carrier escorted by destroyers is following some 300 miles behind that convoy and is providing it with fighter cover. The radars on our EC-142E detected a patrol of four aircraft, probably fighters, flying above that convoy. The convoy is presently some 160 miles from Guadalcanal and should arrive near Cape Esperance at around one or two in the morning.’
Geiger then made a quick mental calculation, with the result not being to his taste.
‘’Damn! That carrier is beyond the combat radius of my WILDCAT fighters. If my SBDs would attack it, they will have to do it without fighter escort. Could your air wing provide us with some extra fighter cover, Major?’’
‘’We would love to do so, sir, but we would then need to base some of our P-38Ns here in Henderson Field. Unfortunately, while South Pacific headquarters accepted to let my helicopters land here, the Navy is still refusing to allow our aircraft to operate from Guadalcanal, saying that this area is not part of General MacArthur’s jurisdiction. Lieutenant Colonel Dows is however suspecting that the real reason for the Navy’s refusal to let us operate from here is the same as why it refused to let our aircraft land in Espiritu Santo and Efate: it doesn’t want to see a female unit on its bases in the South Pacific.’
Those words made both Geiger and Vandegrift furious, with the latter kicking out in frustration a small pebble near him.
‘’THOSE NAVY IDIOTS! I HAVE HAD ABOUT IT WITH THEM! First, they flee away while taking our supplies and equipment with them, then order their ships to not enter the waters around Guadalcanal. Now, they would refuse some precious help just because you are a female air unit?’’
Roy Geiger, who was as pissed off as Vandegrift, thought for a moment before making a suggestion to his marine commander.
‘’What if we let the P-38s from the 99th C.A.G. land here on the pretext that they needed to refuel after escorting these helicopters to here? They could then be able to escort my SBDs for one strike before returning to Port Moresby.’
Vandegrift instantly smiled on hearing that.
‘’That could work! Major Burchfield, how fast could some of your P-38s get here and land to quote refuel unquote?’
Burchfield, harboring a malicious smile, looked at her watch before replying to the marine division commander.
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‘’That’s funny, sir: ten of our P-38Ns are presently over Guadalcanal, having escorted in my helicopters. They were due to escort our two UH-3s back to Port Moresby once they would be finished unloading. I can warn them that the unloading is taking longer than expected and that they should land here to refuel. How fast could your SBDs be ready to leave on a strike mission?’’
‘’Roy?’’ asked Vandegrift while looking at his air commander.
‘’Well, since we are always on a rather high level of alert, my SBDs are already full of fuel and would only need to be loaded with bombs. My pilots could take off in less than forty minutes.’
‘’And how many operational SBDs do you have available right now, sir?’’ asked Phylis Burchfield.
‘’Nineteen at last count. Four more SBDs are presently down for repairs.’
Burchfield then looked at Gayle Stevenson.
‘’Call Lady Hawk and tell her that she can land with her fighters and that an escort job is in the works.’
‘’Right away, Major!’
As Stevenson ran back to her command post van, Geiger smiled to Burchfield.
‘’So, we will final y get to meet the famous Lady Hawk?’’
‘’Correct, sir. She will relish this opportunity to pull out her tongue at the Navy and to help your marines. Remember that her deceased husband was a marine and was killed in the Philippines while she was fighting the Japanese on the ground. She has a lot of respect for the Marine Corps.’’
‘’And we wil certainly return that respect to your women...all your women. Well, I better go drive back General Geiger to the Pagoda, so that he could prepare his dive bomber squadron for a mission. Come on, Roy!’
Once the two generals were gone in their jeep, Major Burchfield went to see Sally Nolan, who was supervising the unloading and the refueling of her helicopters.
‘’Sally, have our ground crews ready to refuel our ten P-38s and to arm them with three-inch rocket pods: they are going to escort out marine SBD dive bombers on an anti-ship mission.’
‘’We should be finished unloading in at most ten minutes, Major. I will have our fuel trucks get ready to come forward.’
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‘’Excellent! After our P-38s will have been refueled and will fly out, concentrate our ground crews into arming our AH-4s with five-inch rockets, cluster munitions dispensers and napalm canisters: they may have a ‘shake and bake’ mission late tonight. On my part, I will go brief our helicopter crews and tell them to go rest in advance of a night combat mission.’
About seven minutes later, the first of eight P-38Ns started landing on Henderson Field’s runway, to then use the taxiway linking it to the area occupied by the helicopters of the 99th C.A.G. The two remaining P-38Ns which had escorted in the helicopters stayed over the airfield and departed once the two big UH-3s had taken off to return to Port Moresby. As soon as Ingrid Dows’ fighter aircraft had stopped on the PSP-covered tarmac and shut down its engines, Phylis Burchfield went to talk to Ingrid as she was climbing down from her aircraft.
‘’Our refueling teams wil start refueling your fighters at once, while our mechanics will check them out. Are you going to want to carry rockets for your escort mission, Colonel?’’
Ingrid nodded her head at that.
‘’Four of our girls wil carry three-inch rocket pods: Florene Miller; Caro Bayley; Betty Clark and Virginia Disbrow. Me and the three remaining pilots will stay in pure interceptor mode: we will have to shoot down a few Japanese fighters during this mission. Can I have a jeep to drive me quickly to the ‘Pagoda’? I would like to confer with Brigadier General Geiger in order to coordinate our mission together.’
‘’You certainly can, Colonel.’ answered Phylis before turning around and whistling out loud while making signs to the nearest security patrol jeep. That jeep then sped to near the P-38N before coming to a stop to let Ingrid jump in it. The female driver then sped away towards the low hill on which the headquarters of the First Marine Air Wing stood.
Three idle marine fighter pilots sitting on the benches lining the outer walls of the
‘Pagoda’ watched Ingrid’s jeep approach at high speed, a black woman at the wheel and two white women also in it.
‘’Hey! Look at that: a nigger girl here in Guadalcanal.’ said one of the pilots, who was from Mississippi. Another pilot, who was from Maine, threw him a critical look.
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‘’If she was wil ing to come here and fight, then I don’t care what color that girl is, Lomax.’
‘’But the Army is supposed to be segregated.’ objected the said Lomax.
‘’Maybe you guys in the South care about that but I don’t. We have enough on our hands fighting the Japanese without also fighting each other.’
The incoming jeep soon stopped in front of the Pagoda, near the three pilots. One of the three women on board, a very beautiful and very young woman, then stepped out of the jeep and entered the wooden building at a hurried pace, followed by the eyes of the three male pilots.
‘’Wow! She’s quite a looker.’ remarked Lomax, attracting another acerbic reply from the pilot from Maine.
‘’Yes, but she also wears the rank insignias of a lieutenant colonel, so I would be careful what I would say in her presence if I were you, Lomax.’
‘’Her, a lieutenant colonel? That can’t be: she’s stil a teenager.’
The female sergeant sitting in the jeep then cut in with a warning tone in her voice.
‘’That was Lieutenant Colonel Ingrid Dows, our Ace of aces, who has 73 air victories to her credit, so I would suggest that you behave around her, mister.’
Lomax was about to fire back a retort at that but the pilot from Maine took hold of his right arm.
‘’Calm down, Lomax, and start thinking with your brain, instead of with your ass.’
‘’Hey, I’m not in the habit of letting a woman telling me what to do.’
The third pilot, who had a higher rank than Lomax, then spoke up.
‘’You better shut up right now and stop saying stupidities, Second Lieutenant Lomax, before I report you to Major Galer. Maybe you should go back to your tent now.’
Understanding that this ‘suggestion’ was more like an order, Lomax got up with a grumble and walked away towards the tent camp of his squadron, situated some 200
meters away. The captain who had last spoken then got up as well and went to the jeep, where he smiled to the female sergeant while presenting his right hand for a shake, which she took.
‘’Hi! I’m Captain Phil Caldwel , from the VMF-224 Marine Fighter Squadron. I fly a F4F WILDCAT. To what unit do you girls belong?’’
‘’I am Sergeant Ann Morrow. We are from the 99th Composite Air Group, a new, all-female air combat unit presently based in Port Moresby. Our detachment was sent
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here to support your marines on this island. However, we will stay here on Guadalcanal for only a few weeks before returning to Port Moresby.’
‘’I see! Uh, don’t take my question wrong but I thought that black service people had to serve in segregated units, yet you have at least one black woman in your unit.’
‘’Well, our unit is already segregated on the basis of sex, so Colonel Dows convinced General Arnold to let her enroll women of any ethnicity in her new air unit. Be aware that we also have a Japanese-American girl from California here in our ranks, who serves as a radio intercept operator and Japanese language translator. She’s a really nice girl and is completely loyal to the United States, so could you please tell your comrades not to shit on her when they will see her, sir?’’
‘’Alright, I wil pass the word, Sergeant. And, by the way, welcome to Guadalcanal.’
‘’Thank you, sir!’
Having little to do at the moment and finding it pleasant to talk with this pretty young woman, Caldwell switched to a more mundane conversation with her, while the black woman driving the jeep kept to herself, having learned in her youth in Alabama to not insert herself in a conversation between two white people unless invited to.
A bit over fifteen minutes later, Ingrid came out and returned to her jeep.
Caldwell stepped aside to let her sit in the vehicle and was about to salute her when Ingrid stopped him with a sign of one hand.
‘’No saluting in the frontlines, please, Captain.’’
She then gave a short order to the driver.
‘’Let’s go back to the detachment’s operations van, Private Wil is.’
‘’Yes ma’am!’
As the jeep drove away, Caldwell returned to sit on the bench, next to the pilot from Maine.
‘’Well, this place could become a bit more pleasant with those women around, don’t you think, Roger?’’
‘’They are certainly like candies for the eye, Phil. It however remains to see how they wil adapt to this hel hole.’’
Just as he said that, their squadron leader, Major Robert Galer, stuck his head out by one of the windows of the Pagoda and shouted at them.
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‘’GO GET READY TO TAKE OFF, MEN: WE ARE GOING OUT ON AN
ESCORT MISSION.’
‘’Oops! Time to earn our doe.’ said Phil ip Caldwel while getting up from his bench.
Once her jeep stopped next to the detachment’s operations van truck, Ingrid got out of it and thanked Morrow and Willis before entering the large tent sitting next to the truck and which served as a briefing place. In it, she found her seven fighter pilots waiting for her instructions on their incoming mission. Not wasting time, she went at once to the map board set on a tripod and faced her pilots.
‘’Alright ladies, here is the latest poop. The marines wil start taking off in some twenty minutes with nineteen SBDs, which is all the dive bombers they have in operational order right now, plus fourteen WILDCAT fighters and seven Navy TBF
torpedo-bombers. Brigadier General Geiger and I agreed on the need to attack both the incoming troop convoy and the carrier providing it with air cover. Since the Japanese troop convoy is within range of the marine WILDCAT fighters, they will escort fourteen of the SBDs in an attack centered on the troop-carrying transport ships. The five remaining SBDs and the seven Navy TBF AVENGERS will be escorted by us and will attack the carrier JUNYO.’’
Ingrid then looked directly at Captain Florene Miller, the leader of Gold Flight.
‘’Florene, you and your three pilots wil attack the destroyers escorting the JUNYO, using your three-inch rockets, so that they don’t interfere with the attack by our SBDs and TBFs. Me and Shirley, Irene and Claire will stay high, in case some Japanese fighters manage to launch in the air before our attack begins or if we encounter a fighter cover over the carrier. Our EC-142E will guide both of our attacking groups to our objectives and will jam the Japanese radio frequencies. The weather over those Japanese ships is described as moderate, so we can expect to see Japanese fighters in the air. Remember your tactical classes I gave you: do not engage in dogfights and use to the maximum diving attacks and frontal gunnery passes while keeping your speed high. As well, I intend to have two of our UH-1 light helicopters be guided by our EC-142E to waiting stations near the locations of the two enemy groups of ships, ready to fish out of the water any of our aircrews which may get shot down. The latest positions, course and speed of the two enemy groups has already been marked
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on this map. Prepare your navigation maps, then get in your planes and be ready to taxi to the Henderson Field runway. Let’s move, girls!’
12:03 (Solomon Islands Time)
Bell UH-1 BEE light helicopter
In the air over the sea, northeast of Henderson Field To say that Captain Juanita Redmond was nervous as the Bell UH-1 BEE light helicopter she was in flew away from Henderson Field would have been an understatement. While not actually scared, her mission she was in today with Major Phylis Burchfield and Captain Betty Haas, who were piloting her helicopter, promised to be very risky indeed. Basically her helicopter was tasked with taking a loitering station over the sea some 400 miles away to the North-northwest, under radio and radar guidance from the EC-142E command and electronic surveillance aircraft loitering to the Northeast of the Solomon Islands. There, they would stand by to respond and help any American flyer who would be shot down during the incoming attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier and its escorting destroyers. Another UH-1 BEE, piloted by Lieutenant Virginia Shannon and Second Lieutenant Patricia Chadwick and with Nurse Sally Burghoff aboard, was due to leave Henderson Field in about half an hour, in order to go take a waiting station near the anticipated interception point with the Japanese troop convoy, which was much closer to Guadalcanal than with the interception point of the Japanese aircraft carrier.
With their flight due to take close to two hours, Juanita did her best to slow her pulse by reviewing the content of her medical kit bag, then by watching the sea they were flying over. Thanks to the radio headset she was wearing, she could hear the occasional short calls from the air controller aboard the EC-142E giving them course corrections and updates on the relative positions of the enemy ships. Her UH-1 was going to actually stay away from the path of the Japanese troop convoy and its fighter cover by flying well off to the West of it, until it would get to their assigned loitering station. As with all air operations led by Ingrid Dows, the separate American forces were going to time their departures and attacks so that they would hit the Japanese simultaneously and thus preserve surprise until the last minute. Despite her confidence in Dows’ competence as an air combat leader, Juanita stil expected for her services as
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a nurse to be called on today, as a Japanese carrier escorted by destroyers could not be described as ‘easy targets’.
After two hours and twelve minutes of flying, her UH-1 reached its assigned waiting station under the guidance of the EC-142E. Seeing that the sea was calm, Major Burchfield decided to land on the surface in order to put her engine at idle power and thus save fuel, helped in this by the two large floats equipping the helicopter. Thankfully, Juanita was fairly resistant to seasickness, thus was not affected by the balloting of her helicopter once it was sitting on the waves. Then, some fifteen minutes later, they got a new radio call from the EC-142E.
‘’Gold Bee One, from Oracle One, Package Alpha is about to hit the jackpot.
Stand by for possible calls for help, over.’
‘’Gold Bee One, acknowledged, out.’ replied Phylis Burchfield, who then powered back up her Pratt & Whitney radial engine and took off from the sea surface.
‘’Time to tango, girls!’
Some 25,000 feet above the sea and twelve miles away from the Japanese carrier and its four escorting destroyers, Ingrid visually swept the sky, searching for any Japanese fighter which could have been flying as cover above the JUNYO. Not seeing any, she then got on the radio and sent a general message to her female pilots and to the aircrews of the SBDs and TBFs she was escorting.
‘’All Alpha aircraft, from Lady Hawk: the sky is free of enemy fighters. You may start your attack now, over.’
She then got in succession three separate acknowledges: one from her P-38N flight leader, one from the marine SBD dive bomber group and one from the leader of the Navy torpedo bombers. With no opposing enemy fighters to deal with, Ingrid then dove with three of her pilots on the four destroyers escorting the JUNYO, intent on strafing them with her heavy machine guns in order to neutralize as many of their anti-aircraft gunners as possible and so make it easier for the SBDs and TBFs to conduct their attacks. The combined fire from her eight .50 caliber heavy machine guns, amounting to close to a hundred heavy slugs per second and with Ingrid’s aim helped by the stream of tracer bullets from her guns, quickly started decimating the Japanese anti-aircraft gunners, who stood in open-air, unarmored gun mounts. Walking her fire along the length of the destroyer she was targeting; she completed her first pass with a rain of
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slugs aimed at the ship’s bridge and at the forward five-inch gun turret. Ingrid was rewarded by the sight of one TBF AVENGER, flying very low and aiming at the carrier JUNYO, which was able to cross the path of the destroyer without being fired at. That, in her mind, was the essence of a fighter pilot’s true usefulness: to assist friendly aircraft, ships and troops on the ground. Looking quickly around her as she regained altitude after her dive, she saw that her P-38 pilots, despite being still fairly raw, were doing a more than respectable job of their own while strafing the destroyers. Her four P-38Ns armed with five-inch rockets had taken a lead ahead of the low-flying TBF torpedo-bombers and were now firing their rockets in the flanks of the unlucky JUNYO. Those rockets, whose warheads were in essence five-inch naval gun shells, easily pierced the hull of the Japanese carrier and exploded inside, devastating its aircraft hangar and also taking out many of the anti-aircraft guns of the JUNYO. The carrier was already in serious trouble when six torpedoes from the TBF AVENGERs slammed into its port flank, raising huge geysers of seawater. Five one-thousand-pound bombs launched by the SBD dive bombers then bracketed the Japanese carrier, with one managing a direct hit on the JUNYO. However, that lone bomb proved devastating, as it fell through the open forward aircraft elevator and exploded deep inside the ship. With its forward bomb magazine pierced, a huge explosion then broke the JUNYO in two while sending out a powerful blast wave. Unfortunately, that blast wave caught the SBD which had dropped that faithful bomb as it was recovering from its dive. Parts of the plane’s stabilizers and vertical rudder were ripped off, making the SBD nearly impossible to control. The pilot of that dive bomber, by an impressive demonstration of flying skills, managed to regain some control of his plane and to not splash down into the sea. Lieutenant John Carver however understood that he was not going to continue flying for long and turned towards the South while calling for help on his radio.
‘’Mayday! Mayday! This is Blue Six: I am heavily damaged and will need to ditch soon, over.’
To his relief, the female voice of the air controller aboard the EC-142E command and surveillance aircraft answered his call at once.
‘’Blue Six, this is Oracle One. Fly south and as much away from the enemy ships as you can. Angel One wil now head towards you, over.’
‘’Thank God for angels!’ replied Carver, unintentionally turning his reply into a pun. His left side aileron then gave up and flew off, reminding him of how damaged his
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poor aircraft was. His SBD started going down into a spin but again, by a miracle, he managed to level off his plane just before he was about to hit the water.
‘’BRACE FOR IMPACT, FRED!’ he shouted to his rear gunner a few seconds before the belly of his SBD touched the water. Keeping the nose of his aircraft up for as long as he could, John Carver slid for a couple of seconds over the surface of the sea before the nose of the SBD hit the water, brutally braking the aircraft and causing Carver’s head to hit hard his instruments dash. The SBD was already in the process of sinking by the time Carver’s rear gunner, Corporal Elie Shomron, shook him hard.
‘’COME ON, JOHN! WAKE UP! WE ARE SINKING!’
Not getting any reaction from Carver, Shomron bent over the unconscious pilot and undid his seat harness, then pulled him up with the strength of despair, then pulled the inflation chord of both Carver’s floatation vest and of his own vest. Both men then burst at the surface as their SBD disappeared in the depths of the South Pacific. Making sure first that Carver’s head was above water, Shomron then looked quickly around him to assess their situation. He was not too pleased to see that they were less than one mile from one of the Japanese destroyers: way too close for comfort for him. However, he regained hope on seeing after a minute a tiny dot approaching while flying low over the water: the rescue helicopter must have seen their SBD crash. By then, his pilot was slowly regaining consciousness but was obviously still under shock.
‘’Wha...what happened? Where are we?’
‘’We were able to get out of our plane before it sank and we are now taking a bath in the Pacific.’
‘’My...my head...hurting like hel .’
‘’No wonder, John: you kissed your instrument panel hard.’’ replied Shomron, who then noticed blood coming out of Carver’s ears, which was not a good sign. Elie debated for a second about using or not his signal pistol to help guide the rescue helicopter to him but decided against: that could also attract the Japanese’ attention to him. It was now up to the crew of that helicopter to be sharp.
‘’I SEE TWO YELLO DOTS ON THE SURFACE, AT ONE O’CLOCK!’
‘’I SEE THEM TOO! GET AS CLOSE TO THEM AS YOU CAN AND THEN
LAND ON THE WATER, BETTY. JUANITA, GET READY TO GREET PASSENGERS.’
Phylis Burchfield then left her copilot’s seat and went into the cabin to slide open the right-side door, then sat on the ledge after hooking a safety line to a handrail. Their
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helicopter was only a few meters from the two American flyers floating at the surface of the sea when a frightening ‘WOOOSH’ was heard, followed by the splash of a shel in the water some 200 meters behind the UH-1.
‘SHIT! THAT DESTROYER SPOTTED US! BETTY, CALL FOR FIGHTER
SUPPORT WHILE WE FISH THOSE GUYS OUT.’’
‘’ON IT!’
Now concentrating solely on rescuing the two airmen, Phylis ignored the few shells which followed, each other closer than the previous one. One of the men then shouted to her.
‘’MY PILOT BANGED HIS HEAD HARD. HE MAY BE SUFFERING A COMMOTION.’
‘’THEN, WE WILL PULL HIM OUT FIRST. GET HIM NEXT TO OUR RIGHT-SIDE FLOAT AND I WILL THEN PULL HIM OUT. JUANITA, GIVE ME A HAND FOR
THAT: THAT GUY LOOKS QUITE BIG AND HEAVY.’
As the three women concentrated on saving the two male aviators, they didn’t notice at first as no less than three P-38Ns dove on the Japanese destroyer shooting at the UH-1
BEE, raining .50 caliber slugs on it and basically turning it into Swiss cheese, piercing hundreds of holes in its thin hull plates and piercing as well its steam boilers, high-pressure steam pipes and its three main gun turrets. One of the torpedoes stored in the deck torpedo tubes was then triggered by a slug and exploded, in turn initiating the three other 610 mm heavy torpedoes in its mount. The powerful explosion then broke the destroyer in two, with both halves sinking in less than two minutes.
Aboard the UH-1, Juanita started treating John Carver as soon as he was aboard and on the stretcher laid on the floor of the cabin, as Phylis helped Elie Shomron to climb in. The moment both aviators were safely inside, Phylis slid the side door closed and shouted an order at the pilot.
‘’THEY’RE IN! TAKE OFF AND HEAD TO HENDERSON FIELD AT BEST
SPEED, BETTY.’
Haas did not reply to that, instead pushing her radial engine to maximum power and pulling her UH-1 off the surface of the sea before turning it southward. Phylis looked with concern at Shomron while patting his shoulder in a friendly manner.
‘’You’re okay, Corporal? Any wounds?’’
‘’None, ma’am, but I am worried about my pilot.’
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‘’Captain Redmond is a qualified nurse, Corporal. Your pilot wil survive.’’
‘’How long before we get to Henderson Field, ma’am?’’
‘’About two hours. Juanita, will your patient need to be medically evacuated out of Guadalcanal?’’
‘’I am afraid so, Major: he suffered a severe head commotion and I am not sure that the marines’ field hospital is equipped for that kind of condition.’
‘’Then, I will call in advance to arrange a quick evacuation by air from Henderson Field. Corporal, to where do your unit normally sends its wounded for treatment?’’
‘’To Espiritu Santo, ma’am: there are two Navy field hospitals there. If the cases prove too serious, they are then flown to Australia.’’
‘’Then, I wil call to arrange a quick refueling stop in Henderson Field, following which we will fly your pilot to Espiritu Santo.’
‘’You have the range to fly that far, ma’am?’’
‘’Yes, we do, but it will be near the end of our autonomy and we will thus need to refuel in Espiritu Santo before returning to Henderson Field. You will of course step out at Henderson Field before we leave with your pilot for Espiritu Santo.’’
Elie Shomron then looked with sadness at John Carver.
‘’Hopefully, you will be able to save him: he is a good man and an even better pilot.’
‘’We wil do everything humanely possible for that, Corporal.’
16:11 (Solomon Islands Time)
Henderson Field, Guadalcanal
Brigadier General Roy Geiger watched with pride and happiness as his pilots were landing back from their mission against the carrier JUNYO, some two hours after his other pilots had returned from their own successful mission against the Japanese troop carriers. For the loss of three SBDs and two WILDCATS, his force and the women of the 99th C.A.G. had sunk the JUNYO, two destroyers and all six of the troop transport ships, thus eliminating the immediate threat from the possible landing of more Japanese troops on the island tonight. Of his eight downed aviators, five were now declared missing and presumed dead, while three more had been fished out of the sea by the rescue helicopters of the Fifinellas. As the last of the planes from the strike mission
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against the JUNYO was landing, Geiger spotted the dot of the approaching UH-1
carrying the two airmen of the SBD downed near the JUNYO.
‘Those helicopters decidedly proved to be a godsent for us today. We should get a few of them for the Marine Corps...and fast!’ he thought before going to his jeep, parked in front of the Pagoda.
‘’Let’s go to our field medical station, Corporal.’ He ordered to his driver, who simply nodded his head before starting his engine and putting his jeep in gear. They arrived near the small medical complex of tents just before the UH-1 landed next to it.
Getting out of his jeep, Geiger went to the divisional surgeon, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Meredith, who had been waiting for the arrival of the helicopter.
‘’You are going to check on Lieutenant Carver, Doc?’
‘’Yes, General! I want to make sure by myself that Carver’s commotion is severe enough to justify his air evacuation at once to Espirito Santo. It is important to not move severe commotion cases more than needed. If I deem that Carver must go, then I will accompany him to Espiritu Santo, to ensure that he gets quick treatment there.’’
‘’I agree with you on that, Doc. By the way, what do you think of those helicopters as life savers for our wounded?’’
‘’That they are worthy of their nickname of ‘Angels’, General. If we had a few of them in the two preceding months, we could have saved many of our men. I can’t believe that the Navy doesn’t have at least some of them yet.’
‘’That’s probably something I wil have to write about in my next letter to the Corps Commandant. Ah, I see a fuel bowser truck from the 99th approaching to refuel their helicopters. These women decidedly are proving to be quite efficient, both in the air and on the ground.’
Both men had to shield their faces with their hands when the UH-1 landed, spraying dust and mud around with its rotors. Once the helicopter’s engine was shut off, Geiger and Meredith went to it in a hurried pace. As the marine surgeon examined Lieutenant Carver, Geiger shook hands with Phylis Burchfield and Betty Haas.
‘’Thanks a lot for your heroic rescue, ladies.’’
‘’We only did our duty, General.’ replied Phylis, making Geiger nod his head.
‘’Yes, but you did it in exemplary fashion, Major. I wish that I could keep your unit here for good.’
‘’I suspect that General MacArthur would object to that, along with Lieutenant Colonel Dows, sir. Our air group is quite heavily involved right now in helping to push
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back the Japanese around Port Moresby and, without bragging, we are making a marked difference there with our planes and helicopters. However, I will talk with Colonel Dows to see if she would be ready to loan you the long-term services of two of our UH-1 helicopters, to help you with rescue and medical evacuation work.’
‘’That would indeed be fantastic, Major. Please keep me posted on that matter.’
‘’I wil , sir.’
Meredith then spoke up, his expression most sober.
‘’Carver will need to be evacuated at once, General. His case is quite serious.’
‘’Then, let’s do that! Corporal Shomron, you may climb out now: I would like to listen to your post-mission report. I was told that your SBD actually sank the JUNYO, right?’’
‘’Correct, sir. Lieutenant carver’s bomb went right through an open aircraft elevator and exploded deep inside the JUNYO, touching off a magazine and blowing up that carrier, sir.’
Geiger nodded his head at that.
‘’Then, it is even better that you were saved by this helicopter, Corporal. I wil ask you to go pass a quick physical check here at the medical station before going back to report to your squadron leader.’
‘’Yes sir!’
The bowser truck from the 99th C.A.G. was already starting to refuel the AH-1 as Shomron went inside the medical station for his checkup. Less than six minutes later, the helicopter was back in the air, with Lieutenant Colonel Meredith aboard, and headed southeast towards Espiritu Santo. Geiger watched it go for a moment, then went back to his waiting jeep: he was going to have to write quite a few action reports and messages during the hours to come.
22:08 (Solomon Islands Time)
Admiral Yamamoto’s cabin, battleship YAMATO
Truk Harbor, Caroline Islands, Central Pacific Admiral Yamamoto was about to undress and go to bed when someone knocked on the door of his cabin, which was in reality a large suite.
‘’ENTER!’
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One of his senior staff officers then opened the door and stepped inside before coming to rigid attention and saluting.
‘’A message from Rabaul, concerning the troop convoy headed to Guadalcanal and about the carrier JUNYO. Unfortunately, it is bad news, Admiral.’
Taking the message offered to him and reading it quickly, Yamamoto did his best to keep a neutral expression but still showed some frustration as he looked up at his staff officer.
‘’Our troop convoy destroyed and the JUNYO sunk, and this well before they were within sight of Guadalcanal? How could the Americans know so precisely how to find and then strike our ships? Even their vaunted radars don’t have enough range to detect ships further than a few dozen miles? And I was not aware that the Americans had P-38s and especially helicopters in Guadalcanal.’
‘’How the Americans were able to spot and locate our ships is still a mystery to us, Admiral. Maybe American submarines on patrol spotted them. As for helicopters, the only place they were recently signaled in the South Pacific was around Port Moresby, where they are being operated by that newly arrived all-female air unit.’
‘’That same female unit which operates P-38s and which savaged Rabaul only a few days ago...’ noted Yamamoto while frowning. ‘’Decidedly, those women are turning out to be real pests. This is yet another reason why we need to fumigate that nest of hornets...fast! I want the preparations for Plan ‘Ka’ to be accelerated, Commander. I want this ship and the other ships of this task force to be ready to sail out of Truk no later than tomorrow night.’
‘’HAY!’ replied the commander while bowing to Yamamoto before leaving his cabin.
01:38 (Solomon Islands Time)
Friday, October 02, 1942 ‘C’
Patrolling AH-4 HORNET attack helicopter
Flying low over the west bank of the Matanikau River West of Henderson Field, Guadalcanal
Their helicopter had barely started flying over land, having made a discrete night approach from the sea, when Katharine Hepburn, sitting in the copilot-gunner’s seat of
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the Hughes AH-4 HORNET, spoke up to Faith Buchner, who was piloting their helicopter.
‘’Slow down further, Faith: I am getting lots of thermal human signatures on my cameras.’
‘’Already? We just crossed the coastline. What are you seeing?’’
‘’I have over a hundred men deployed around some kind of defensive position near the mouth of the Matanikau. Some are in what appears to be bunkers made of trees and dirt.’
‘’Alright, I am slowing down to seventy miles per hour. Mark that position on your map.’
‘’...Done! You can now continue up the west bank of the Matanikau River.’
‘’Let’s hope that the Japs don’t have anti-aircraft guns in this sector: at our present slow speed and low altitude, we make a nice, loud target. Thankfully the night is quite dark: they will have problems aiming at us accurately.’
‘’True! I... WAIT! I now see what looks like tanks, hidden a bit behind that defensive position.’
‘’Tanks? Our marines wil certainly be interested in knowing about them. How many are there?’
Hepburn, pivoting her remotely-controlled chin gun turret, which mounted their thermal cameras and low-level light night vision scopes, took a few seconds before answering.
‘’...four...five... I can see five of them, hidden among the trees. I can also see a Jap standing next to one of the tanks: those things appear to be quite small, about the size of our own marines’ M5 light tanks. I am now marking their position on my map.’
That was when some of the Japanese on the ground, alerted by the rotor and engine noises from their helicopters, started firing their rifles and machine guns at the sky.
However, they obviously were aiming blind, as their fire proved to be wildly inaccurate.
‘’Oops! Time to find a quieter spot, Faith. Too bad that I can’t fire back at them right now.’
‘’Well, we are supposed to be on a reconnaissance mission, not a strike one, Katharine.’ replied the petite Faith Buchner, who took up some speed in order to leave that zone and to continue their reconnaissance of enemy positions along the west bank of the Matanikau River, which ran some four miles west from Henderson Field and presently constituted the frontlines in this sector.
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During the next few minutes of flying over the jungles along the west bank of the Matanikau, the two women were able to fairly accurately map the dispositions of the Japanese on the ground, locating in particular the positions of half a dozen small artillery howitzers dug into firing positions a few hundred meters west of the river. Once they stopped seeing Japanese thermal signatures along the Matanikau, Faith decided to turn eastward and fly along the southern flank of the American defensive perimeter of Henderson Field. While she expected to spot nothing more than a few isolated Japanese or American patrols in the dense jungle and difficult hilly terrain in that sector, Faith was surprised when Katharine spoke up, alarm in her voice.
‘’Hey, I can see long files of thermal signatures apparently following along some jungle trail running east-west. With the numbers I see, those are not mere patrols.’
Checking quickly her map and then looking southward towards Mount Austen, in reality a group of prominent hills and plateaus to the southwest of Henderson Field, in order to confirm her position in the dark, Faith frowned as she felt some foreboding.
‘’But we are over a mile south of the defensive perimeter of Henderson Field.
Our marines didn’t signal any sizeable Japanese force south of their lines.’
‘’Well, I can see hundreds, if not thousands of thermal signatures snaking in single file in the jungle below us and advancing eastward. Continue on this heading, Faith: I want to see where the head of that column is.’’
‘’Okay! I am also slowing down again, so that you can more easily spot those Japanese. In the meantime, I will radio back to our detachment and signal this.’
Activating her radio microphone, Faith then used a collection of prearranged codewords to describe what they had found.
‘’Black Widow Nest, this is Stinger Three, important message, over.’
‘’Go ahead, Stinger Three.’ replied within two seconds Lieutenant Gayle Stevenson, who was on night watch duty in the operations van of their detachment.
‘’Black Widow Nest, I am now flying eastward over the jungle, about one mile south of the perimeter held by Jarhead Five and I am detecting hundreds of ant signatures advancing eastward along what looks like a jungle trail, over.’
That message obviously startled Stevenson, who took a few seconds before responding.
‘’Stinger Three, can you confirm the most eastward point of advance of that contact, over?’’
‘’We are in the process of finding that out, Black Widow Nest. I will contact you back once we will have that information, out.’’
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Faith then slowed down her AH-4 further and spoke to Katharine, whose seat was forward and lower than her own seat in the armored cockpit section of their helicopter.
‘’Katharine, we are to find the easternmost point of advance of that Jap column. I will fly slower in order to facilitate your observation job. Guide me, so that I could veer left or right and stay over that trail.’
‘’Got it! Veer to one o’clock now.’
As the two women did their reconnaissance work, Gayle Stevenson jumped on the field telephone linking her operations van with the command bunker of the First Marine Division, where a marine captain answered her call.
‘’Captain Ritter, division command post!’
‘’This is Lieutenant Stevenson, at the 99th detachment’s operations van in Fighter One. One of our patrolling helicopters just spotted a long column of Japanese soldiers advancing eastward along jungle trails about one mile south of the perimeter portion of the Fifth Marine Regiment. It is now trying to find out how far east that column has advanced at this point. Our helicopter also signaled that there were hundreds of Japanese soldiers in that column.’
The voice of the young marine officer then reflected skepticism as he replied to Gayle.
‘’Your girls must be mistaken, Lieutenant: none of our patrols saw Japanese soldiers in that sector, nor did the local natives report anything south of our lines.’
Gayle refrained with difficulty her frustration then: too many marines here in Henderson Field stil didn’t take the women of the detachment seriously despite what they had accomplished to date.
‘’Well, your marines and the natives don’t have thermal cameras and night vision goggles, Captain, while our helicopters do. You better take this sighting report seriously.’
‘’Alright, I will report your sighting once Colonel Pate will get back in the morning.’
The marine officer then put down his receiver, cutting the communication and leaving Gayle looking angrily at her own handset.
‘’What an idiot!’
Putting down her receiver, she then mulled for a few seconds what to do next.
Unfortunately, Ingrid Dows had returned during the day to Port Moresby with her P-38Ns, as she needed all of her fighters and bombers there in order to push back the
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Japanese threatening the allied lines there. In exchange, before leaving, Ingrid had come to an accord with Major General Vandegrift, in which she had offered to the marine commander the help of two of her giant C-142A cargo aircraft in order to shuttle on a daily basis fresh supplies from Espiritu Santo and Efate to Guadalcanal. However, even though Vandegrift had warmly accepted that offer, they were still waiting for an answer from the Navy that would authorize the C-142As to pick up the mountains of stores which had been piling up on its airfields in the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. That was only the latest demonstration of the timidity, not to call it defeatism, and staffing incompetence shown by Admiral Ghormley and his command staff at South Pacific Headquarters. In Gayle’s opinion and that of the officers of the First Marine Division, the Navy headquarters in Noumea were in urgent need of some serious command reshuffling. What she couldn’t know was that she and the marines were not the only ones to be running out of patience with Ghormley and his subalterns. Gayle finally decided to go wake up Major Burchfield: even if the marines didn’t decide to act on the warning from Faith Buchner, her helicopter detachment still could do something about it.
When Faith Buchner landed her AH-4 back at Fighter One at around two thirty in the morning, she saw two C-142As in the process of landing at night on the grass strip assigned to the Cactus Detachment, helped in this by the infrared beacon lights used by the 99th C.A.G., in conjunction with the night vision goggles used by the flight crews during night takeoffs and landings. While perfectly visible and bright through night goggles, those infrared lights were completely invisible to the naked eye...and to the Japanese.
‘’It looks that we are landing back at the same time as our scheduled nightly supply milk run from Port Moresby, Katharine. We will have plenty of fuel, ammo and rations for our operations here.’
‘’Yeah,’’ replied without enthusiasm the actress turned combat aviatrix. ‘’We will be eating plenty while our marines here are at less than half rations. Just thinking about that is cutting my appetite.’’
Her acerbic remark was enough to cool Faith’s good humor despite the sight of the cargo planes.
Faith was still rehashing that subject when she climbed down from her cockpit and walked with Katharine towards the briefing tent of their detachment. Inside the tent,
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both went to the detailed photo-map of Guadalcanal pinned to a cork board mounted on a tripod, where they were debriefed in detail by Gayle Stevenson, who took some extensive notes in the process. Once that was done, Faith decided to change the subject with the operations officer.
‘’Gayle, we just saw our two C-142As land ahead of us with supplies from Port Moresby for us. Katharine then made me remember that our marines in Guadalcanal are at half-rations and have been so now for two months. Shouldn’t we help our marines at least a bit by cutting our own individual rations, so that we could give some of our food to our marines?’
Stevenson, far from rejecting outright her proposal, became both sober and thoughtful before replying.
‘’You do realize that we have less than 200 women in our Cactus Detachment, while there are over 12,000 marines fighting in and around Henderson Field? Even if we gave half of our rations to the marines, that would still only represent a drop in the bucket.’
‘’Then, can’t we go get the supplies the marines were supposed to get from Esperitu Santo and Efate and bring them here on our C-142s? Even two planeloads a day would represent a dramatic improvement on the situation here, no?’’
‘’It would, but the Navy has yet to authorize us to go pick up supplies there.’
‘’And would those Navy rear-echelon motherfuckers refuse to let us move those supplies to Guadalcanal if we arrive with a requisition order signed by Major General Vandegrift?’’ shot back Katharine Hepburn. Struck by that idea, Gayle Stevenson quickly smiled to the actress.
‘’Katharine, you’re a genius!’’
‘’No I’m not! Hedy Lamarr is!’
‘’True, but I stil find your idea to be great. Let’s go see Major Burchfield to present to her your idea.’’
14:12 (Solomon Islands Time)
Marine Air Depot Squadron, Espiritu Santo Naval Base New Hebrides, South Pacific
It had been a fairly quiet day for the personnel of the Marine Air Depot Squadron, so the clerks and duty officer inside the warehouse were surprised when a marine
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colonel walked in, accompanied by a female army air force major. The quartermaster officer hurried to greet the arriving colonel at the service counter of the warehouse, saluting him at attention.
‘’Colonel Pate, sir? We were not expecting you here today, since we have no transport planes available right now to carry supplies to Guadalcanal.’’
‘’Well, you now have four cargo planes here, big ones, Lieutenant.’ replied the bespectacled Randolph M. Pate. ‘’Here is a requisition request signed by Major General Vanderbilt, asking that all available supplies that can fit aboard departing planes be loaded in the C-142s of Major Betty Huyler, present to my right. We came in today with four C-142s but you can expect at least two C-142s a day to show up, depending of course on the weather, to load supplies for the First Marine Division. What? You seem to have a problem with that, Lieutenant?’’
‘’Uh, not with me, sir.’ replied the young officer, looking embarrassed. ‘’The problem is that our warehouse is presently less than half full, sir.’
‘’WHAT?’’ exploded the marine colonel. ‘’I WAS TOLD A MONTH AGO THAT
ALL SUPPLIES FOR THE FIRST MARINE DIVISION WOULD BE STORED HERE, UNTIL THEY COULD BE BROUGHT TO GUADALCANAL. YOUR WAREHOUSE
SHOULD BE AS FULL AS AN EGG RIGHT NOW.’
‘’Er, it was, sir, until two weeks ago. That was when the chief of supplies for the South Pacific, in Noumea, decided that simply storing those supplies here would be a waste and allowed some of the Navy units in Espiritu Santo to come and serve themselves.’’
For a moment, the poor lieutenant thought that Pate would simply draw his pistol and shoot him on the spot. The marine senior officer, controlling his fury with difficulty, threw daggers with his eyes at the quartermaster officer.
‘’So, our marines are slowly starving on Guadalcanal while fighting the Japanese and the Navy just decided to appropriate our supplies, Lieutenant? I want to see the message from Noumea authorizing such a despicable move, NOW!’
‘’Yes sir!’ said the junior officer before running to his office. Pate then looked at Betty Huyler while shaking his head.
‘’Those fucking ghouls from the Navy: coming here to steal our supplies while my marines are slowly starving.’
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Colonel Pate and Betty Huyler were still waiting at the counter when a Navy lieutenant-commander entered the warehouse, followed by eight sailors pushing empty cargo plates. Pate immediately stared hard at the Navy men as they approached the counter and challenged their officer while he was still a few paces away.
‘’STOP IT RIGHT THERE, LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER! WHAT DO YOU
THINK THAT YOU ARE DOING HERE, IN MY DIVISION’S SUPPLY WAREHOUSE?’’
Struck by the fury in Pate’s voice, who was senior to him by two ranks, the navy officer stopped at attention and saluted him before answering in a less than assured tone.
‘’But, sir, I came to get some fresh supplies for the Navy’s Officers’ Mess, as authorized by Captain Reston, the Navy head of supplies for the South Pacific.’
‘’The Navy’s Officers’ Mess? THE NAVY’S OFFICERS’ MESS?! YOU WANT
TO TAKE MY SUPPLIES WHILE MY MARINES ARE STARVING AT HALF-RATIONS
ON GUADALCANAL? GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE BEFORE I SHOOT YOU LIKE
THE STRAY DOG YOU ARE. THE SUPPLIES HERE BELONG TO THE FIRST
MARINE DIVISION AND THE NAVY HAS NO BUSINESS STEALING THEM.’
‘’Uh, yes sir!’ said the navy lieutenant-commander, who saluted again before walking out in one mighty hurry, followed by his sailors and their cargo plates. Instead of laughing at that scene, Betty Huyler could only shake her head, disgusted by what had been happening here in Espiritu Santo.
‘’My God! What kind of bastard could authorize such a misappropriation of supplies at the expense of men who are fighting the Japanese in the jungles of Guadalcanal?’’
‘’The kind worthy of a court-martial.’ answered Pate just before the quartermaster officer ran back out of his office and returned to the service counter, to then present a document to Pate.
‘’Here you go, sir: this authorization was signed by Navy Captain B. Reston, chief of Navy supplies for the South Pacific Theatre.’’
Taking the document and reading it, Pate was about to tear it to pieces but reassessed his move in time, instead folding it and pocketing it: it was going to be useful as a piece of evidence for the complaint which was going to be sent to the Commandant of the Marine Corps and to the Joint Chiefs.
‘’Consider that document as null and void from now on. As of today, the supplies in this warehouse will be exclusively for the First Marine Division and will be brought by
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air to Guadalcanal on the planes of the 117th Transport Squadron of Major Huyler.
Understood?’
‘’Completely, sir. Uh, what do I do if the Navy sends other people and try to take part of my supplies, sir?’’
That earned him a hard stare from Pate.
‘’You have a pistol, do you? Your men have weapons, don’t they?’’
‘’Yes, sir!’
‘’Then, shoot the bastards who will still try to take my supplies by force. The Navy’s Officers’ Mess... What a load of crap! Now, show me the manifest of what you stil have inside your warehouse.’’
‘’Right away, sir!’
The poor lieutenant took only seconds to get a clipboard on which was attached a thick document and to pass it to Pate, who started to read through it at once.
‘’Uh, where are your transport planes, sir, and how much can they carry?’’
‘’I have four Fairchild C-142A transport planes right here, at this airfield,and they can each lift fifty tons on the trip Espiritu Santo to Henderson Field.’’ answered Betty.
That made the young lieutenant nearly strangle himself with stunned surprise.
‘’FIFTY TONS EACH! JESUS CHRIST!’
‘’We won’t need Jesus for that job, Lieutenant: we already have other high-priority tasks for him.’ replied Betty with a straight face, making Pate nearly break into laughter.
‘’Major, that was a real y good one. I wil have to remember it.’
21:41 (Solomon Islands Time)
Henderson Field, Guadalcanal
Major General Alexander Vandegrift and Brigadier General Roy Geiger were positively ecstatic as they watched pallets after pallets of supplies, rations, fuel and ammunition being unloaded from the four C-142s which had just landed in Henderson Field, helped in that task by the two big field forklifts of the 99th Cactus Detachment and by about all the trucks available to the First Marine Division.
‘’This feels like Christmas Day to me.’’ exclaimed the joyous Vandegrift, making Colonel Randolph Pate, who stood at his side, nod his head.
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‘’Our men certainly deserved all this, sir. Uh, by the way, I found out about something rather despicable while at the Marine Air Depot.’
Pate then took out the document he had obtained in Espiritu Santo and gave it to his division commander while explaining what he had found out. Both Vandegrift and Geiger stared back at him, first with disbelief, then with outrage.
‘’Those fuckers! I wil have this Navy Captain Reston’s skin for this. By the way, Randolph, while you were gone to Espiritu Santo, Major Burchfield’s attack helicopters went to the south of our defensive perimeter and poured sixteen tons of napalm over the jungle trails where Japanese soldiers had been spotted last night, then emptied their cannons and machine guns on the survivors. I believe that, in the process, we just eliminated at the least one Japanese regiment that was in the process of penetrating our south flank.’
‘’But that’s great! This should provide our men with some hard-earned respite from the action.’
‘’It does, but there is stil a lot of work to do here on this Hell of an island.’’
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CHAPTER 15 – TURNING AWAY A NEMESIS
The Japanese super-battleship YAMATO leading a line of battleships.
15:52 (Central Australia Time) / 16:52 (Papua New Guinea Time) Wednesday, October 7, 1942 ‘C’
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Consolidated PBY-5A CATALINA Flying over the Arafura Sea, 490 miles northeast of Darwin Captain Arthur Bayley’s PBY-5A amphibian patrol flying boat had been in the air for over six hours already and Bayley and his seven aircrew members were starting to feel fatigue from their long flight as they were flying over the Arafura Sea, sandwiched between New Guinea and Northern Australia. The most interesting things that they had seen to date during this flight had been a couple of Japanese freighters and tanker ships, which they had reported back by radio to their base in Darwin. Bayley was about to decide to turn around and head back to Darwin when his copilot, Lieutenant Gordon Sims, stiffened and froze as he was pointing his binoculars towards the sea.
‘’Arthur, I have a large group of ships navigating towards the Southeast in fleet formation. They are at our eleven o’clock, about 22 miles away.’
Looking in that direction through his cockpit’s windshield, Bayley effectively saw fourteen ship wakes. Feeling excitement chase his fatigue, he started turning his amphibian towards those ships.
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‘’This is no merchant convoy, Gordon. Harry, get on the radio and call Darwin to signal a fleet of fourteen warships sailing towards the Southeast and situated forty nautical miles northeast of Tanimbar Island. More to follow.’
As his radio operator sent that message, Bayley decided to approach that fleet, which had to be Japanese, from its starboard aft flank, in order to be less conspicuous, and used to the maximum the cover of the scattered clouds in the sky to mask his approach.
His precautions seemed to pay off, as he was able to get to a few miles of the fleet without apparently being spotted...yet. Using his own binoculars, he then scrutinized the ships in that fleet, ready to identify them by type and class. What he saw made him swear to himself.
‘’Bloody Hell! This must be the whole Japanese Combined Fleet! I count eight battleships and heavy cruisers, including the YAMATO and the MUSASHI, escorted by six destroyers. Harry, send another message to Darwin and request an acknowledge.
We have eight battleships and heavy cruisers, including the YAMATO and MUSASHI, and six destroyers, heading southeast at about 21 knots, 42 nautical miles from the northern tip of Tanimbar Island.’’
‘’On it, sir.’
Praying that his radio operator would have the time to send this crucial message before he could get spotted by the Japanese, Bayley scanned quickly the sea and the sky around him with his binoculars. Less than a minute later, he saw something else on the horizon to the Northwest, following in the tracks of the fleet of heavy units. As he was turning in that direction to get closer and thus be able to better identify those new ships, his radio operator spoke to him on the intercom.
‘’Message sent and acknowledged, sir.’
‘’Excellent! You may soon have yet another message to send: I have spotted a second group of ships following behind those battleships and heavy cruisers.’
‘’Blast! Somebody is in for some severe hurt, sir.’
‘’Exactly, Harry. Our job is now to make sure that the Japanese won’t benefit from the effect of surprise. I am now starting to better distinguish those new ships...
Jesus! I can now see three aircraft carriers and two battleships, plus six destroyers, all heading Southeast. Send this at once, Harry, while I try to better identify those carriers.
Gordon, keep an eye out for enemy fighters.’
‘’On it!’ replied his copilot, now quite nervous...for good reasons.
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Bayley, who had flown to within fifteen miles of the carrier group, was about to ask his radio operator to send yet another message when Gordon Sims shouted out a warning.
‘’FIGHTERS DIVING ON US FROM TEN O’CLOCK!’
‘’Shit! HARRY, SEND THE FOLLOWING: CARRIERS KAGA, HIRYU AND
SORYU, ESCORTED BY BATTLECRUISERS KONGO AND HIEI, FOLLOWING THE
JAPANESE BATTLE FLEET.’
Not waiting for Harry to respond, Bayley then veered hard to the left, just in time to avoid the first burst of fire from the leading Japanese fighter. He however knew too well that his time was now pretty much up: a CATALINA amphibian had very few chances of surviving an encounter with a bunch of ZERO fighters. He was however resolved to make it as hard as possible to those ZEROs.
‘’ALL CREWS TO OUR MACHINE GUNS, EXCEPT FOR HARRY. HARRY, CONTINUE REPEATING YOUR LAST MESSAGE UNTIL YOU RECEIVE AN
ACKNOWLEDGE.’
Bayley then abruptly reversed his turn, again avoiding mostly another enemy burst, with only a couple of bullets piercing the tip of his left wing.
‘’MESSAGE SENT AND ACKNOWLEDGED! DARWIN...’
The poor Harry Blakeley never had a chance to finish his sentence, as the third burst of cannon and machine gun fire from the Japanese fighters pierced the thin aluminum skin of the amphibian and killed him while also destroying his radio set. His heart now in his throat, Arthur Bayley did the impossible to avoid most of the enemy fire by flying erratically, thus becoming a hard to predict target. However, his luck ran out after a terrifying forty seconds, when 20 mm shells pierced the cockpit, killing him and gravely wounding Gordon Sims. With one engine on fire and its two pilots taken out, the amphibian then fell out of the sky in an uncontrolled spin while trailing flames. The leader of the Japanese fighter flight which had intercepted the PBY-5 nodded his head in respect while watching the Australian plane go down: that aircrew had shown commendable courage and skill while faced with an overwhelming opponent.
On the battleship YAMATO, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto lowered his binoculars, now feeling frustration: he had probably just lost the advantage of surprise for his planned attack on Port Moresby, an advantage he had counted a lot on. After nearly a whole year at war, he doubted that the enemy would still show indolence or negligence when armed with an advance warning of his approach. Yamamoto then thought with
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some bitterness that his most dangerous adversary in the days to come would probably be a certain young woman who had already proven to be way too clever to his taste.
20:25 (Papua New Guinea Time)
Headquarters of Fifth Air Force, Wards Airfield Two and a half miles north-northwest of Port Moresby Papua New Guinea
Alerted by a field telephone call from Major General George Kenney, Ingrid arrived by jeep at the modest building housing the headquarters of the Fifth Air Force in Wards Airfield and nearly ran inside. A young duty officer directed her at once to the main operations room of the headquarters, where she found Major General Kenney, Brigadier General Julian Barnes and Colonel Richard Conway. Saluting the trio on entering the room, Ingrid then went to the big map table around which the three senior officers stood. She noticed at once the preoccupied expressions on their faces.
‘’Something wrong, General?’’
‘’Definitely, Ingrid.’ replied Kenney while handing her a message. ‘’We just got an urgent warning about a grave threat to us. This message arrived from Australia some forty minutes ago. Here it is.’
Ingrid, taking the message offered to her, read it quickly before looking back up at Kenney.
‘’It seems that Admiral Yamamoto has decided that he needs to throw the kitchen sink at us, General. Our raid on Rabaul must have annoyed him quite a bit.’
‘’That is most probably why most of the Japanese Combined Fleet is heading our way from the Celebes, Ingrid. I have asked all our wings and group commanders to join me here as quickly as possible, so that we could discuss how we will face such a massive threat.’
‘’Sir, if I can go by this message, the Japanese wil be on top of us in at most a day. We thus have only hours to react to this and position our air assets so that they could best counter this threat. Do you mind if I call my command post and pass on some preliminary orders to my unit while we wait for the other unit commanders, General?’’
Colonel Conway, the operations officer of the Fifth Air Force, was about to object to that but an imperative gesture from Kenney cut him off.
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‘’I believe as wel that we have no time to waste. Go ahead, Ingrid.’
‘’Thank you, General. I won’t be long.’
Going to the battery of field telephones sitting on a table next to the entrance door, Ingrid called her command post, getting her deputy, Major Evelyn Sharp, on the line.
‘’Evelyn, we have a big emergency on our hands. Basically, most of the Japanese Combined Fleet is heading our way, coming from the direction of the Celebes, and will cross the Torres Strait in less than ten hours. We still have to decide on our response to it here at Fifth Air Force headquarters but I want you to immediately send a
‘Critic’ message to our Cactus Detachment. I want our attack helicopters, along with their ground servicing crews and a good stock of five-inch and three-inch rockets and their launcher pods to fly back immediately to Durand Airfield, where they will get ready for an emergency combat redeployment. Also, put the whole air group on alert for upcoming anti-ship operations and have Aline Rhonie take off in her EC-142E, to go take a surveillance station west of the Torres Strait, near the Australian coast, so that it can track the Japanese fleet and spot any incoming Japanese air raid towards Port Moresby. I will call you back once we will have formulated an action plan here. Please impress on our girls that we have only hours to react to this threat.’
‘’I wil get my whip out, Ingrid.’ replied the veteran flyer in a sober tone.
‘’Thanks, Evelyn!’’
Putting back down the telephone receiver, Ingrid went back to the map table, where Kenney gave her an inquisitive look.
‘’Something tells me that you already have something cooking inside your head, Ingrid. Am I right?’’
‘’You are, sir. Basically, our biggest priority at first will be to strip these incoming Japanese battleships from their air cover. With no air cover to protect them from our bombers, those battleships will thus become much more vulnerable to our air attacks.
For that reason, I believe that our first task would be to either sink or render inoperable for flying operations those Japanese aircraft carriers following behind their battle fleet.
Although the Japanese air assets based on land around the Celebes and Sumatra will be a factor to consider, those carrier-borne fighters and bombers will have to be taken out first, in order to make it easier for our bombers to strike those battleships and heavy cruisers.’
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‘’I agree with your logic on this, Ingrid. However, those carriers are screened by two battlecruisers and six destroyers and also possess themselves some very serious anti-aircraft artil ery. Striking them wil not be an easy task.’
‘’But it is a task that we must accomplish, sir, as quickly as possible and at any cost. I have a plan forming in my head about how to do that, sir.’
‘’I’m listening, Ingrid.’
‘’Thank you, General. Basically, I intend to send in the next hour my attack helicopters towards the Torres Strait, in order to establish an operations station on one of the islands just off the Queensland, from where they will then launch surprise night attacks against the Japanese carriers.’
Colonel Conway immediately looked at her with disbelief.
‘’Attacking carriers at night with helicopters? That’s completely crazy, Colonel Dows.’
‘’So crazy that the Japanese will not expect that, mister. My attack helicopters are equipped with thermal cameras and night vision goggles and are able to fly and attack in complete darkness, plus can carry a heavy ordnance load of up to three tons each. If handled well, they should be able to hurt very badly those three carriers and, at a minimum, make them unable to launch or retrieve aircraft. I will also use one of my two EC-142E flying command post and electronic reconnaissance aircraft to both track the Japanese fleet and guide in our aircraft helicopters. My second EC-142E will in the meantime stay on standby here, ready to take the relay from my first EC-142E. As soon as we will gain a good picture of the disposition of the Japanese fleet, I will then launch my fighter-bombers and medium bombers, which can all operate efficiently at night, contrary to most of the other aircraft of the Fifth Air Force. I would thus reserve those other aircraft as second line and third line defensive assets. Operations in depth, along with surprise and good command coordination, will be key to our success in this operation.’
Both George Kenney and Julian Barnes nodded their heads, impressed by her plan, with Kenney saying so.
‘’Colonel Dows, you should be wearing the stars of a brigadier general, at a minimum, with such a keen operational and tactical sense. I am buying your plan, lock, stock and barrel. Proceed with your unit plans as you just stated them: your unit will be my spearhead while I organize my other air units as second and third waves of attack. I will also call General MacArthur and General Sir Thomas Blamey, so that they could
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prepare our land forces and the little naval forces we have to face this Japanese threat.
Unfortunately, our Navy is stil very weak in this sector and we won’t be able to count on our own battleships and cruisers before at least a couple of days. Now, go and do your magic, Colonel Dows.’
‘’Thank you, General.’ said Ingrid before saluting Kenney and running out of the operations room. Brigadier General Julian Barnes watched her leave, admiration glinting in his eyes.
‘’This girl is going to end up one fine day with four stars on her shoulder pads.’
23:29 (PNG Time)
Thursday Island, Cape York
Northern tip of Queensland
Australia
Captain Martha Lawson,
leader of Black Flight, 777th
Helicopter
Squadron,
looked
around after she had climbed
down from the cockpit of her AH-4
at the trees and low hills around
the fresh water reservoir she had
landed next to.
‘’Nice little place. I wouldn’t mind spending some vacation time here one fine day.’
The noise of the two UH-3 heavy transport helicopters and one UH-1 light helicopter which had accompanied her six AH-4 attack helicopters, and which were now also landing around the water reservoir, then reminded her that she was on no vacation period. This place had been selected because it was well positioned for her helicopters to easily cover the waters of the Torres Strait, which separated the northeast tip of Australia from Papua New Guinea and also because it was within easy reach from her helicopters, being only some 560 kilometers from Port Moresby and its airfields complex.
This was meant to become the forward operating base for her attack helicopters bent on attacking the approaching Japanese fleet, now a mere seven hours from sailing through
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the Torres Strait. With luck, the six AH-4s of Captain Isabel Madison were going to join her here in a few hours, after scrambling out of Guadalcanal to return to Port Moresby.
Martha Lawson was directing her women as they quickly established their operating base, dispersing their reserves of fuel and ordnance and using camouflage nets to hide the few vehicles they had brought in, including a small radio van based on a modified Dodge ½-ton truck, when a black sedan car stopped on the road next to the area they were in. One man in Australian Army tropical uniform came out of the sedan and walked towards Martha, who went to meet him halfway to the road.
‘’May I do something for you, Lieutenant?’’
The man eyed with some skepticism her officer’s rank insignias before answering her.
‘’You may, miss. I am Lieutenant Paul Westing, of the Australian Coast Guard.
Who are you and why did you come here with those...things?’’
‘’First, you may call me ‘Captain’ instead of ‘miss’, Lieutenant. Second, those
‘things’ are attack helicopters and we came to establish a temporary forward operating base here, in order to attack a Japanese fleet approaching the Torres Strait and threatening Port Moresby.’
‘’The Japanese are coming here?’ asked the rather old lieutenant, who was probably a reservist, apparently alarmed by her explanation. Martha shook her head while feeling some exasperation grow in her.
‘’No, they are not coming here, Lieutenant: they are merely going to transit the Torres Strait on their way to Port Moresby.’
‘’But this could attract a Japanese attack on this island, Captain.’’ objected the Australian, a reply which irritated Martha to no little degree.
‘’Lieutenant, we are at war and my women are going to risk their lives soon while attacking a Japanese battle fleet. So, excuse me if I find your worries about this island rather lame, if not to say cowardly. Our move to here was authorized by Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey. If you have a problem with that, feel free to go discuss it with him if you wish so. However, in the meantime, I would appreciate if you would stay out of the way and don’t start spreading panic around this island. If you wil now excuse me, I have more important things to take care of.’
Leaving the flabbergasted Australian standing where he was and pivoting around, Martha then went back to her helicopter and assembled her five other aircrews and her copilot-gunner, Lieutenant Betty Fames, around her.
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‘’Alright girls, we are now at our new forward operating base and our EC-142E
has a solid fix on the present location, direction of travel and speed of the Japanese fleet. As soon as our mechanics will have refueled our helicopters, we will depart for our first attack run against the Japanese carriers. Study your maps and check out your helicopters in the meantime. Our UH-1 will be on standby here for search and rescue operations if any of us have to ditch into the sea, so make sure that your pocket radio beacons are functional before taking off. The refueling should take about twenty minutes, so try your best to relax in the meantime. That’s all for the moment, girls.’
As the women of her flight dispersed, Martha walked to the radio truck of her detachment, to go update the information they had on the Japanese fleet. With five-inch rockets as their main armament and with the night to cover her approach, her helicopters should be able to disable or significantly damage the lightly armored Japanese carriers, which were also loaded with volatile aviation gasoline. As for the Japanese battleships and heavy cruisers, that was another matter, which was why that job had gone to the P-38Ns and B-25NGs of their air group.
23:36 (PNG Time)
99th C.A.G. first attack wave
Approaching the Torres Strait from the East
Ingrid, using her instruments, night vision goggles and directions from her onstation EC-142E, was leading a first attack wave composed of sixteen other P-38Ns and of fifteen B-25NGs, the latter ones armed with torpedoes and five-inch rockets. With a quarter moon and partially cloudy sky, the night was quite dark: conditions in which no Japanese fighter would dare take off, especially since most of them didn’t even have a radio set. On the other hand, Ingrid had extensively trained her pilots to fly at night and their aircraft had both night vision goggles and thermal cameras. Thus, night was the perfect time for her to attack while minimizing the risks from enemy action. She then received a brief radio message from the radar air controller aboard the EC-142E on station some sixty kilometers behind and well above her.
‘’Oracle One to Lady Hawk: the big bul ies are now 23 nautical miles ahead of you and are still heading east. Turn on Heading 290 to start taking position on the port flank of the enemy, over.’
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‘’Turning now on Heading 290 and starting a slow descent to 20,000 feet. To all Fifinel as, turn and follow me.’
Both Teresa James and Helen Richey, as the respective squadron commanders of this attack wave, acknowledged her order on the radio. The special infrared marker lights fixed to the tails and wingtips of the P-38Ns and B-25NGs in turn helped their pilots follow their leader in this turning descent.
Still guided at intervals by directives from the EC-142E, Helen Richey and her fifteen medium bombers were soon flying low and heading directly at the enemy battleships, while Ingrid stayed high with her fighter-bombers. The ships’ wakes were now clearly visible in her night vision goggles, appearing like long phosphorescent white horizontal trails at the surface of the sea. Estimating the distance to the enemy at being around four miles, she gave a brief order on the radio.
‘’All Hell Raiser girls, go down to 150 feet, open your bomb bays and arm your torpedoes. Be careful about staying level while near the water.’
With her own copilot, Lieutenant Lillian Epsberg, watching closely their altitude and nose angle of attack while holding her own control column, Helen gradually descended to 150
feet and lined up her plane on the massive dark silhouette of the YAMATO, calculating at the same time her deflection angle for her torpedo shot. She then gave a second radio command.
‘’From Hell Raiser leader, go down to eighty feet, line up on your targets and release your torpedoes when ready.’
Now as tense as a steel bar and concentrating on her target while Epsberg took care of keeping their bomber level and at the right altitude, Helen dropped her torpedo once she was less than 600 yards from the Japanese flagship.
‘’TORPEDO AWAY! LADY HAWK, YOU CAN DIVE NOW! My aircraft!’’
Retaking full flight controls from her copilot, she started climbing at a slow rate while aiming at the superstructures of the YAMATO.
‘’GUNS, GUNS, GUNS!’
Pressing the triggers of both her eight forward-facing .50 caliber heavy machine guns and of her fixed nose 75 mm cannon, she sent one 75 mm armor-piercing shell and over a hundred heavy slugs per second towards the open decks and superstructures of the super-battleship, imitated in turn by her bomber pilots after they had released their torpedoes against their respective targets. That deluge of projectiles swept dozens of
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Japanese sailors manning the anti-aircraft guns and superstructures of the four battleships leading the Japanese fleet. Helen’s B-25NG medium bomber then roared past the YAMATO, barely highter than its main mast and not having been fired at yet. A happy yell came a few seconds later from the tail gunner of Helen’s bomber.
‘’A HIT! OUR TORPEDO HIT AT THE LEVEL OF ‘A’ TURRET. TWO MORE
TORPEDOES HIT THE YAMATO.’
‘’Heck, three torpedoes out of four, at night? That’s some very nice shooting from our girls.’ said Lil ian Epsberg, making a happy Helen nod her head.
‘’It certainly is, Lil ian. What helped us is that the Japanese ships were not doing any evasive maneuver and were not firing at us. In daylight, this would be a completely new bal game.’
‘’What do we do now?’’
‘’We do as we planned in Port Moresby: we come back at a shallow dive against the starboard side of the YAMATO and pepper it with our rockets and guns.’
At that exact moment, Ingrid and her usual wingman, the young but talented Shirley Slade, were diving steeply at the YAMATO, aiming at her port-side superstructures and anti-aircraft gun mounts. She first fired off the twelve five-inch rockets she was carrying in two rocket launcher pods hooked under her wings, then fired a long burst from her eight .50 caliber nose machine guns before pulling the nose of her aircraft up to recover from her dive, imitated by Shirley Slade. Nine of the twelve rockets, which were each the equivalent of a naval five-inch gun shell, exploded against the superstructures of the battleships, while her heavy slugs mangled open gun mounts, destroyed searchlights and generally turned the unarmored superstructures into Swiss cheese. As she regained altitude quickly, she looked around her to evaluate the damage her fighters and bombers had inflicted on the enemy. From what she could see right now, all four enemy battleships had sustained a minimum of one torpedo hit, plus many rocket hits, while the four heavy cruisers had been peppered solidly by her P-38Ns. There was still a lot to be done but this was also only the first attack tonight. It remained to be seen how successful her helicopters would prove to be against the Japanese carriers.
23:50 (PNG Time)
Armored bridge of the IJN YAMATO
438
‘’WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? WHO FIRED AT US?’’ shouted Admiral Yamamoto when he stepped on his armored command bridge, having just been brutally awakened in his day cabin, situated close to the bridge, by the rough shake from torpedo hits. His night duty bridge officer, quickly bowed to him while answering him.
‘’Enemy aircraft, sir! One group launched torpedoes at us, while another group dived on us and fired rockets and guns at us. We absorbed a total of three torpedo hits under our armored belt and are taking in some water but are not in danger of sinking.’
Looking first outside through the armored portholes of the bridge and seeing only darkness, he then looked back at his bridge officer.
‘’An air attack, in such a dark night? How could that be possible, especially when considering that the enemy fire seemed to be accurate?’
‘’From what our watchmen saw, those planes were a mix of P-38 fighter-bombers and B-25 medium bombers, sir.’
‘’P-38s and B-25s...that sounds a lot like what those pests of American female pilots fly. But how could they find our fleet like this in the middle of the night?’’
‘’They must have employed a radar picket ship, sir. Unfortunately, our electronic equipment is still unable to detect, much less jam, the latest models of American radars.’
‘’Humph! Get me a damage assessment, quickly, and check if our aircraft carriers were attacked as well.’
‘’Hay!’
The duty officer barely had time to get to an intercom box before the giant battleship shook again, while the flashes of light from multiple explosions against the starboard superstructures of the YAMATO briefly illuminated the inside of the bridge.
‘’THE ENEMY AIRCRAFT ARE BACK!’ shouted rather needlessly one junior officer as Yamamoto had to grab on to a steel pipe in order not to lose his balance.
23:56 (PNG Time)
Lead AH-4 attack helicopter
On approach from aft of the Japanese aircraft carrier KAGA Two hundred nautical miles north-northwest from Thursday Island Western entrance to the Torres Strait
439
Martha Lawson smiled to herself as she observed in the distance ahead of her the fireworks from thousands of anti-aircraft tracer shells being fired in no particular direction at the sky, and this following multiple flashes on the horizon indicating powerful explosions.
‘’Too late, Mister Jap: our girls are now gone...at least those girls. Keep wasting your ammo like this.’
As she was approaching the big fleet carrier KAGA from the rear at about the level of its flight deck, followed by her wingman, Lieutenant Zelda Lamer, Martha was able to see through her night vision goggles that the aft third of the carrier’s deck was covered with dozens of aircraft with their wings folded, ready to be launched at dawn, as per usual Japanese practice. She then activated her radio microphone, contacting her other helicopters, which were separated by pairs in order to approach simultaneously the three Japanese carriers, the KAGA, SORYU and HIRYU, which were sailing on parallel courses, level with each other.
‘’Black Widow Five leader to all Black Widow Five callsigns: the flight decks of the enemy carriers are covered with parked aircraft. Take some altitude and switch to napalm for your first pass.’
Betty Fames, her copilot-gunner, heard her and acknowledged out loud that order.
‘’Switching to napalm canisters.’
Martha then made her AH-4 jump up by about a hundred meters, enough to be safe from the fireball from her napalm canisters but still low enough to ensure a very accurate delivery against the big carrier. She then remembered herself that the KAGA had over 36 anti-aircraft guns, enough to rip apart her AH-4, thus kept sharp as she took extra speed while approaching the enemy carrier.
‘’The gunners on that big bathtub must be quite nervous and jittery by now, Betty.
Be ready to hose them down if they get too trigger-happy.’
‘’I’l be happy to make them behave, Martha.’ replied Fames with some bravado, doing her best to hide the fear gripping her. Concentrating on the view she had of the approaching carrier through her night vision goggles, Martha then pressed the trigger that would make her two 600-liter canisters filled with napalm drop off her pair of stubby wings. As her incendiary canisters fell towards the flight deck of the KAGA, Martha shouted to Betty.
‘’FIRE AT WILL, BETTY!’
440
Betty Fames, who was only waiting for that order, immediately fired her 20 mm cannon downward at the VAL dive bombers, KATE torpedo-bombers and ZERO fighters covering the flight deck of the nearly 44,000-ton carrier, peppering a dozen aircraft with 20 mm explosive shells as the AH-4 was zooming over the carrier. The fuel contained in those aircraft then started to spill on the flight deck and over the bombs loaded under the KATEs and VALs Betty hit. Then the two canisters full of napalm incendiary mixture hit the flight deck and burst open, with fuzes then igniting the petrol jelly. Martha saw two huge fireballs envelop the aft section of the carrier behind her AH-4 as Betty shouted aloud while pointing quickly her cannon towards the small navigation bridge of the KAGA, which they were about to pass by.
‘’RIGHT SALUTE!’
She had time to fire half a dozen 20 mm shells at the bridge before they flew away, chased by some wildly inaccurate anti-aircraft gunfire. Martha couldn’t see it but her wingman, Zelda Lamer, proved to have the luck of beginners, with one of her napalm canisters falling through an open aircraft deck elevator before bursting in flames inside the main aircraft hangar, filled with aircraft and dispersed pieces of ordnance. As Martha was turning around and going down to near the sea surface in order to deliver a rocket attack on the Kaga, the bombs and gun ammunition on the aircraft now burning on the flight deck started cooking off in a string of spectacular explosions and tracers’ fireworks.
‘’WOW! THAT SUCKER IS TOAST, TRULY!’ exclaimed Betty Fames, not having expected such a quick success. While Martha Lawson was equally stunned by that result, she still kept a cool head.
‘’Betty, fire our five-inch rockets at the waterline: turn its hul into Swiss cheese!’’
‘’Your desires are my orders, Grand Poopa!’
Betty then fired in one massive salvo their twelve five-inch rockets. Aimed towards the mid-body waterline of the KAGA, six of the rockets hit and exploded against the starboard side of the carrier’s hul , two rockets hit at the waterline, creating large holes in which water started rushing in, while the four remaining rockets exploded in the water, away from the hull. However, those underwater explosions were enough to buckle in a couple of the hull plates, creating more water leaks inside the ship. For good measure, Betty sprayed the flight deck-level anti-aircraft gun platforms with her two .30 caliber machine guns as Martha flew past the wounded KAGA. Quickly looking in turn at the SORYU and at the HIRYU, which were flanking the KAGA, Martha saw that those
