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Another Warhawk in a remote tropical location |
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7th Fighter Squadron 49th Fighter Group Based at Batchelor Field, Australia's Northern Territory from March to September 1942 Peanuts was assigned Squadron number 24 and was flown by Les Johnson, who is seen pre-flighting the aircraft from the cockpit with his back turned to the camera. Johnson was a Java veteran who had evacuated the oncoming Japanese invasion just in the nick of time, and then survived his combat tour with the 7th FS. This aircraft was one of those which participated on the Japanese 25th April 1942 enemy raid - the most belligerent attack flown to date by the Takao Kokutai over northern Australia. All three of the unit's chutais, led by Lieutenant-Commander Goro Katsumi, headed for RAAF base Darwin escorted by fifteen Zeros. Katsumi's decision to pick the Australian commemorative military day - ANZAC day - to show off his new reinforcements was not an unhappy co-incidence. The urbane Japanese commander was sufficiently wily to understand the significance of the day and chose it accordingly. Takao's dispatch sheets show that three Bettys turned back with mechanical trouble, leaving twenty-four for the attack. Despite the Zeros, the Takao formation was hit by about forty-five P-40E-1s from both the 7th and 9th Fighter Squadrons. In a running fight which lasted half an hour, four Bettys were downed. Three more were badly damaged, one later ditching short of Kupang. A final commentary on this Anzac Day mission is that one of the three Bettys which had turned back early was lost when it ditched in Dili Harbour. The same Takao bombers returned to Darwin two days later, this time their sixteen bombers were covered by twenty-one Zeros. The 49th would have a fight on their hands for many more months . . . OUR HERITAGE SERVICES PRODUCTS HISTORICAL PHOTOS CONTACT US LINKS
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