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January 26-29: furballs over Mingaladon

continued from part 6

There now began a four-day air superiority battle in which the Japanese fighter units returned again and again to Mingaladon airport, hoping to wipe out the Allied air defenses and smooth the way for the Japanese 33rd Division that was fighting its way into Burma.

January 26: The 50th Sentai set out for Rangoon with 23 fixed-gear Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate" fighters, approaching Mingaladon airport at 6,000 meters at 11:40 a.m. Tokyo time. Over Moulmein, they were spotted by British observers, so the enemy was alerted. A dozen Allied fighters were already in the air and bounced the Nates in pairs. "The fight was difficult," the Japanese pilots reported, but they attacked quickly and managed to shoot down four of the Allied fighters certain and six more possible, while losing one of their own.

This was the Number Three aircraft in the 2nd Chutai, caught over the north shore of Bay of Martaban at 12:10 p.m. as the 50th Sentai was heading for home. He went down in a plume of black smoke. Possibly he was shot down by Bob Neale, who claimed the rearmost of the Nates as they were heading out over the bay. Another of the Japanese fighters was damaged by a P-40 and had to make a high-speed landing back at the home field, further damaging the aircraft but without injury to th epilot.

As for the Allied pilots, this was the combat in which Cokey Hoffman of the AVG was shot down and killed. Moose Moss was also shot down but managed to make his way home again. Bunny Stone of RAF 17 Squadron was forced down with some damage to his Hurricane.

January 27: Aerial reconnaissance showed that "34 small planes and 11 large planes" were still at Mingaladon, so that night four heavy bombers of the 62nd Sentai bombed the field. One was lost to the guns of Bunny Stone, with seven crew killed in the crash. (Two days earlier, the 62nd Sentai moved to Nakon Sawan in Thailand to begin transition training for the Ki-21-II heavy bomber--Sally-II, in Allies nomenclature. It's not clear if this was the type of aircraft flown on January 27.)

January 28: General Obta ordered both of his fighter sentais to attack. The 77th left Lampag with 27 Nates; the 50th set out from Nakhon Sawan with 10 planes. The Tomahawks were waiting for them at 5,000 meters (another account says 7,000 meters). Squadron leader Capt. Matsuda of the 2nd Chutai was shot down. Lt. Yamamoto from the same squadron was attacked by two Tomahawks; his plane on fire, he strafed the airfield and dove into Jack Newkirk's Tomahawk on the ground. He received a citation to honor his sacrifice. His body, says the Japanese account, was found and buried by "the local people." Warrant Officer Kitsaka of the 77th Sentai was also shot down, while the 50th Sentai escaped without loss.

The Japanese pilots claimed 15 Allied fighters certain and 5 possibles. Actual Allied losses: two Tomahawks forced down, with both pilots surviving. For their part, the AVGs claimed 6 Nates shot down.

January 29: Major Yoshioka led the 77th Sentai back to Mingaladon, this time at 7,500 meters. There were 20 Nates in the formation, coming over the target at 5 p.m. Tokyo time. They were met by an estimated 20 enemy fighters, causing the Nates to go into a defensive circle, in and out of the clouds. (Called a Luftberry Circle in the west, this defensive maneuver allowed each plane to defend the tail of the one in front.) In the ensuing furball, both sides wildly overclaimed. The Japanese pilots reported that they were attacked by six Hurricanes, of which they claimed 5 shot down at the cost of four Japanese pilots lost in combat: Sergeants Nagashima, Kanda, and Kojima, and Warrant Officer Nagashima. One of them--probably Nagashima--had made a suicide dive on Mingaladon, aiming for but missing the Blenheim bombers in the dispersal area. (See the Japanese artist's rendering to the left.)

The Allied pilots were even more optimistic, claiming no less than 14 Nates destroyed in the melee. They had one or two aircraft force-landed, with no pilots killed. (A Buffalo pilot was killed in a flying accident that day.)

Summing up a hard week

For the past four days, therefore, the Japanese fighter units were claiming a grand total of 19 Allied aircraft shot down. (Actual Allied losses were 3 planes, with two of the pilots surviving.)

For their part, the Allied pilots were claiming a total of 22 victories. Actual Japanese losses were indeed severe: 8 planes together with their pilots. The 77th Sentai had taken the worst of it: in six weeks of combat with the AVG and RAF, Major Yoshioka had lost one-third of his force--a dozen planes and a dozen pilots. The Japanese "concluded that the Tomahawks were much superior in speed and firepower [to the Nates], and always had the altitude advantage, leaving the Japanese fighters always at a disadvantage."

Tidying up problems on the ground

By January 30, the Japanese 33rd Division had advanced to the Salween River, where "the fight was very harsh." The infantry commanders asked General Obata for assistance, and the emphasis was accordingly shifted to army cooperation flights. The the air force (probably the 8th Sentai, medium bomber) attacked Martaban town and bombed enemy facilities there. The British evacuated the town next day, leaving its airfields to be occupied by the Japanese air forces.

Meanwhile the JAAF 7th Base Group was dispatched to Moulmein to begin the reconstruction of Mudon airport south of town, formerly an RAF dispersal field. The 4th Ground Group landed at Bangkok and was sent forward to assist in this work, but the roads were so bad that they could not begin work at Moulmein until February 16.

Continued