Fortress Rabaul by Bruce Gamble Read Free Book Online Page A

wings—was fairly effective, and the Imperial Navy pilots were thoroughly trained. Their favorite tactic was to single out an enemy aircraft and overwhelm it with superior numbers.
    When the Rei-sens appeared over Rabaul at 1248 that afternoon, two Wirraways were already airborne on routine patrols. Three others scrambled from Vunakanau, and three more attempted to take off from Lakunai, but the Aussie crews were at a terrible disadvantage. Displaying what David Selby later called “desperate gallantry,” they rose skyward like so many gladiators to face the Japanese.
    Only two of the Wirraways at Lakunai actually got airborne. The engine on Bruce Anderson’s plane faltered, and he crashed-landed on the runway, injuring both himself and Plt. Off. Colin A. Butterworth in the legs. Thus a total of five Wirraways took off to join the two already on patrol.
    Seven underpowered fighters—nothing more than glorified trainers—would face 109 of the Imperial Navy’s best.
    The Rei-sen pilots did not wait for the Aussies to get organized. “ There could be only one conclusion to this fantastically uneven combat,” wrote Selby after witnessing the action from his perch atop the North Daughter.“There was a puff of white smoke from the cannon of a Zero, a red flash as the shell found its mark on one of our planes, and before the boom of the explosion floated down to us a Wirraway was screeching earthward, angry red flames and black smoke pouring from it.”
    The first to die were Flg. Off. John C. Lowe and his observer, Sgt. Albert C. Ashford. Both were twenty-six years old when their Wirraway spiraled into the waters off Praed Point.
    In the other patrolling Wirraway, the two crewmen were a study in contrasts. The rear seat observer, Plt. Off. Albert George Claire, was eight years older than the pilot, Sgt. George Albert Herring, and outranked him by several pay grades. But Herring, who had turned twenty-one only the day before, was a capable pilot. When a swarm of Zeros fired on the Wirraway, hitting both men in the legs and mangling the plane’s tail, the aircraft went out of control. At the last possible moment, Herring regained control of the spinning fighter and bellied in at Lakunai. Both men were pulled to safety moments before Zeros swooped down and strafed the crumpled Wirraway, destroying what was left of it.
    Several miles to the south, Sgt. Charles F. Bromley and his observer, Sgt. Richard Walsh, took off from Vunakanau and were still clawing for altitude when six Zeros attacked them over Blanche Bay. The two Aussies never stood a chance. Bromley, only nineteen, was killed instantly by a bullet to the head. Walsh evidently tried to jump just before the Wirraway hit the shallows near Praed Point, but his chute did not fully deploy.
    Of the two Wirraways that took off successfully from Lakunai, one was flown by Sgt. William O. K. Hewitt, who had dashed to a parked plane and gotten it started while Flg. Off. John “Jack” Tyrrell manned the rear gun. After getting airborne and working his way up to nine thousand feet, Hewitt spotted a formation of enemy planes attacking the wharves at Rabaul. He turned toward them, but before he could get into a firing position, he saw a Zero heading him off from above. Pulling up in a hard, climbing turn, Hewitt tried to meet the Japanese fighter head-on, but his anemic Wirraway could not sustain the climb and stalled.
    For a few seconds the Aussie fighter hung almost motionless in the air. Hewitt was completely vulnerable, and the Japanese pilot immediately took advantage. Pieces of Hewitt’s unarmored plane flew off as bullets and cannon shells ripped through the little Wirraway. One 20mm shellexploded in the cockpit, severing hydraulic lines and wounding Hewitt in the left knee.
    The Wirraway pitched over, nosing down so abruptly that the negative g-forces lifted Jack Tyrrell completely out of his seat. Flailing as he fell, he grabbed for the D-ring of his parachute and