The mission of the U.S. aircraft was specifically to kill Yamamoto, made possible because of United States Navy intelligence decoding transmissions about Yamamoto's travel itinerary through the Solomon Islands area. The death of Yamamoto reportedly damaged the morale of Japanese naval personnel, raised the morale of the Allied forces, and was intended as revenge by U.S. leaders, who blamed Yamamoto for the attack on Pearl Harbor that initiated the war between Imperial Japan and the United States.
The U.S. pilots claimed to have shot down three twin-engine bombers and two fighters during the mission, but Japanese records show only two bombers were shot down. There is a controversy over which pilot shot down Yamamoto's plane, but most modern historians credit Rex T. Barber.
New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands; Yamamoto's planned two-hour flight on April 18, 1943, from Rabaul on New Britain to the small island of Balalae near Bougainville Island
On 14 April the U.S. naval intelligence effort code-named "Magic" intercepted and decrypted orders alerting affected Japanese units of the tour. The original message, NTF131755, addressed to the commanders of Base Unit No. 1, the 11th Air Flotilla, and the 26th Air Flotilla, was encoded in the Japanese Naval Cipher JN-25D, and was picked up by three stations of the "Magic" apparatus, including Fleet Radio Unit Pacific Fleet. The message was then deciphered by Navy cryptographers (among them future Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens[1]); it contained time and location details of Yamamoto's itinerary, as well as the number and types of planes that would transport and accompany him on the journey.
The decrypted text revealed that on 18 April Yamamoto would fly from Rabaul to Balalae Airfield, on an island near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. He and his staff would fly in two medium bombers (Mitsubishi G4M Bettys of the Kōkūtai 705), escorted by six navy fighters (Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters of the Kōkūtai 204), to depart Rabaul at 06:00 and arrive at Balalae at 08:00, Tokyo time.
The U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service (MIS) was made up mostly of Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans). They were trained in interpretation, interrogation, and translation of Japanese materials ranging from standard textbooks to captured documents.[2] Information leading to Yamamoto's ambush was a significant MIS contribution in the Solomons campaign. MIS Technical Sergeant Harold Fudenna translated an intercepted radio message indicating the itinerary of Yamamoto.[2] Although this message was first met with skepticism that the Japanese would be so careless, other MIS linguists in Alaska and Hawaii had also intercepted the same message, confirming its accuracy.[3]
President Franklin D. Roosevelt may have authorized Secretary of the NavyFrank Knox to "get Yamamoto", but no official record of such an order exists,[4] and sources disagree whether he did so.[5] Knox essentially let Admiral Chester W. Nimitz make the decision.[5] Nimitz first consulted Admiral William F. Halsey Jr., Commander, South Pacific, and then authorized the mission on 17 April. These U.S. commanders judged that the benefits of a successful mission included that Japanese morale would be negatively affected by news of Yamamoto's death and that Yamamoto's replacement would be less capable.[6] When the issue was raised that the mission could reveal that the United States had broken Japanese naval codes, the commanders decided the knowledge could be protected as long as the true source of the intelligence was kept hidden from unauthorized American personnel and the press.[7]
The Solomon Islands; Kukum Field on Guadalcanal, the interception flight's base, and the crash-site of Yamamoto's aircraft on Bougainville Island[8]
P-38G Lightnings were the aircraft chosen to carry out the mission.
To avoid detection by radar and Japanese personnel stationed in the Solomon Islands along a straight-line distance of about 400 miles (640km) between U.S. forces and Bougainville, the mission entailed an over-water flight south and west of the Solomons. This roundabout approach was plotted and measured to be about 600 miles (970km). The fighters would, therefore, travel 600 miles out to the target and 400 miles back. The 1,000-mile flight, with extra fuel allotted for combat, was beyond the range of the F4F Wildcat and F4U Corsair fighters then available to Navy and Marine squadrons based on Guadalcanal. The mission was instead assigned to the 339th Fighter Squadron, 347th Fighter Group, whose P-38G Lightning aircraft, equipped with drop tanks, were the only American fighters in the Pacific with the range to intercept, engage and return.
339th Squadron Commander Major John W. Mitchell, already an ace pilot, was chosen to lead the flight. For better navigation, Mitchell asked for a navy compass, which was provided by Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Luther S. Moore and installed in Mitchell's P-38 the day before the attack. All of the P-38 fighters mounted their standard armament of one 20mm cannon and four .50-caliber (12.7mm) machine guns, and were equipped to carry two 165-US-gallon (620L) drop tanks under their wings. A limited supply of 330-US-gallon (1,200L) tanks was flown up from New Guinea, sufficient to provide each Lightning with one large tank to replace one of the small tanks. The difference in size put approximately 1,000 pounds (450kg) greater weight on one side of the aircraft, but the tanks were located close enough to the aircraft's center of gravity to avoid serious performance problems.
Eighteen P-38s were assigned the mission. One flight of four was designated as the "killer" flight, while the remainder, which included two spares, would climb to 18,000 feet (5,500m) to act as "top cover" for the expected reaction by Japanese fighters based at Kahili. A flight plan was prepared by the Command Operations Officer, Marine Major John Condon, but this was discarded by Mitchell who thought the airspeeds and time estimates were not best for intercepting Yamamoto.[9] With several of his pilots assisting, Mitchell calculated an intercept time of 09:35, based on the itinerary, to catch the bombers descending over Bougainville, 10 minutes before landing at Balalae. He worked back from that time and drew four precisely calculated legs, with a fifth leg curving in a search pattern in case Yamamoto was not seen at the chosen point. In addition to heading out over the Coral Sea, the 339th would "wave-hop" all the way to Bougainville at altitudes no greater than 50 feet (15m), maintaining radio silence.
339th Fighter Squadron personnel of the mission. Back row (l to r): Ames, Graebner, Lanphier, Goerke, Jacobson, Stratton, Long, Anglin. Front row (l to r): Smith, Canning, Holmes, Barber, Mitchell, Kittel, Whitakker. Not pictured: Hine (MIA).
Although the 339th Fighter Squadron officially carried out the mission, 10 of the 18 pilots were drawn from the other two squadrons of the 347th Group. The Commander AirSols, Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, selected four pilots to be designated as the "killer" flight:
A briefing included the designated cover story for the source of the intelligence stating it had come from Australian coastwatchers,[7] who supposedly had spotted an important high-ranking officer boarding an aircraft at Rabaul. Several historians say that the pilots were not specifically briefed on the identity of their target,[10][11] but Thomas Alexander Hughes writes that Mitscher told the assembled pilots it was Yamamoto, to "provide additional incentive" to the fliers.[12]
The specially fitted P-38s took off from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal beginning at 07:25 on 18 April. Two of the Lightnings assigned to the killer flight dropped out of the mission at the start, one with a tire flattened during takeoff (McLanahan) and the second when its drop tanks would not feed fuel to the engines (Moore).
In Rabaul, despite urgings by local Japanese commanders to cancel the trip for fear of ambush, Yamamoto's airplanes took off as scheduled for the trip of 315 miles (507km). They climbed to 6,500 feet (2,000m), with their fighter escort at their 4o'clock position and 1,500 feet (460m) higher, split into two V-formations of three planes.
Mitchell's flight of four led the squadron at low altitude, with the killer flight, consisting of Lanphier, Barber, and spares Besby F. Holmes and Raymond K. Hine, immediately behind. Mitchell, fighting off drowsiness, navigated solely by dead reckoning (speed and compass heading). This has been called the longest-distance fighter-intercept mission of the war.[13]
Mitchell and his force arrived at the intercept point one minute early, at 09:34, just as Yamamoto's aircraft descended into view in a light haze. The P-38s jettisoned the auxiliary tanks, turned to the right to parallel the bombers, and began a full power climb to intercept them.
The tanks on Holmes's P-38 did not detach, and his two-man element turned back toward the sea. Mitchell radioed Lanphier and Barber to engage, and they climbed toward the eight aircraft. The nearest escort fighters dropped their own tanks and dived toward the pair of P-38s. Lanphier immediately turned head-on and climbed towards the escorts while Barber chased the diving bomber transports. Barber banked steeply to turn in behind the bombers and momentarily lost sight of them, but when he regained contact, he was immediately behind one and began firing into its right engine, rear fuselage, and empennage. When Barber hit its left engine, the bomber began to trail heavy black smoke. The Betty rolled violently to the left, and Barber narrowly avoided a mid-air collision. Looking back, he saw a column of black smoke and assumed the Betty had crashed into the jungle. Barber headed towards the coast at treetop level, searching for the second bomber, not knowing which one carried the targeted high-ranking officer.
Barber spotted the second bomber—carrying Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki and part of Yamamoto's staff—low over the water off Moila Point, trying to evade an attack by Holmes, whose wing tanks had finally come off. Holmes damaged the right engine of the Betty, which emitted a white vapor trail, but his closure speed carried him and his wingman Hine past the damaged bomber. Barber attacked the crippled bomber, and his bullet strikes caused it to shed metal debris that damaged his own aircraft. The bomber descended and crash-landed in the water. Ugaki and two others survived the crash and were later rescued. Barber, Holmes and Hine were attacked by Zeros, with Barber's P-38 receiving 104 hits.[14] Holmes and Barber each claimed a Zero shot down during this melee, although Japanese records show that no Zeros were lost. The top cover briefly engaged reacting Zeros without making any kills. Mitchell observed the column of smoke from Yamamoto's crashed bomber. Hine's P-38 had disappeared by this point, presumably crashed into the water. Running close to minimum fuel levels for return to base, the P-38s broke off contact, with Holmes so short of fuel that he was forced to land in the Russell Islands. Hine was the only American pilot who did not return. Lanphier's actions during the battle are unclear as his account was later disputed by other participants, including the Japanese fighter pilots. As he approached Henderson Field, Lanphier radioed the fighter director on Guadalcanal that "That son of a bitch will not be dictating any peace terms in the White House", breaching security and endangering the code-breaking program. Upon landing, one engine quit from fuel starvation. He immediately put in a claim for shooting down Yamamoto.[15]
Aftermath
Yamamoto's ashes return to Japan at Kisarazu aboard battleship Musashi on May 23, 1943Yamamoto's state funeral, June 5, 1943
The crash site and body of Yamamoto were found on 19 April, the day after the attack, by a Japanese search-and-rescue party led by army engineer Lieutenant Tsuyoshi Hamasuna. The crash site was located in the jungle north of the coastal site of the former Australian patrol post and Catholic mission of Buin (which was re-established after the war several kilometers inland).
The retrieval party noted Yamamoto had been thrown clear of the plane's wreckage, his white-gloved hand grasping the hilt of his katana, his body still upright in his seat under a tree. Hamasuna said Yamamoto was instantly recognizable, his head tilted down as if deep in thought. A post-mortem of Yamamoto indicated two bullet wounds, one to the back of his left shoulder, and a separate wound to his left lower jaw that appeared to exit above his right eye. The Japanese navy doctor examining Yamamoto's body determined the head wound killed Yamamoto. These more violent details of Yamamoto's death were hidden from the Japanese public, and the medical report whitewashed, this secrecy "on orders from above" according to biographer Hiroyuki Agawa.
In Japan, Yamamoto's killing became known as the "Navy A (kō) incident". It raised morale in the United States and shocked the Japanese, who were officially told about the incident only on 21 May. The announcement said that the admiral was killed in April while directing strategy on the front lines and had "engaged in combat with the enemy and met gallant death on a war plane."[16]
Norman Lodge, an Associated Press correspondent in the South Pacific, found out what had happened and filed a detailed story about the mission on 11 May which said the United States had been tracking Yamamoto for five days before the shoot-down, but U.S. military censors prevented the story from going out.[17] At this point, U.S. officials had not disclosed anything about the operation, and the American public first learned of Yamamoto's death when the 21 May Japanese statement was covered in the news.[16] The Japanese account was augmented by American writers noting that Yamamoto's purported claim that he would dictate peace terms to the United States from a seat in the White House was now sure not to happen.[16] Roosevelt was quoted as saying "Gosh!" on 21 May upon supposedly learning the news from reporters about the Japanese announcement.[18] Over the next couple of days there were stories in the U.S. press speculating that the Japanese announcement was a cover for Yamamoto having committed hara-kiri because the war was not going well for the Japanese.[19][20] Then on 31 May Time magazine ran separate stories several pages apart, one which reported the Japanese announcement and one which related how Lanphier and his P-38 pilots on Guadalcanal had shot down three Japanese bombers over Bougainville and then flown home wondering if they had killed "some Jap bigwig" in the bombers.[21] However, the Japanese did not draw any conclusions from this.[22]
Regardless of any cover story, intelligence officials in Great Britain were upset by the operation; not having suffered the Pearl Harbor attack themselves, they did not have the same visceral feelings towards Yamamoto and did not think that killing any one admiral was worth the risk to Allied codebreaking abilities against Japan.[23] Indeed, Prime Minister Winston Churchill protested against the decision to go ahead with the operation to Roosevelt.[24]
The American public did not learn the full story of the operation, including that it was based on broken codes, until 10 September 1945 after the conclusion of the war, when many papers published an Associated Press account.[22] Even then U.S. intelligence was frustrated because they wanted to keep the secret longer as they were still debriefing Japanese intelligence officers and feared knowledge of the code-breaking would rush those officers into shame-driven suicide.[22]
Although the aircraft wreckage has been heavily scavenged by souvenir hunters, parts of the fuselage remain where it crashed. The site is on private land. Access was previously difficult as the ownership of the land was disputed.[8] However, as of 2015[update], it is possible for visitors to gain access to the site by prior arrangement.[27]
Although Operation Vengeance was notable for its target, there has been controversy about who shot down the admiral's aircraft. The issue began immediately after the mission when the U.S. military credited Captain Thomas Lanphier with the kill. Lanphier claimed in his report that after turning to engage the escort Zeros and shooting the wings off one, he had flipped upside down as he circled back towards the two bombers. Upon seeing the lead bomber turning in a circle below him, he came out of his turn at a right angle to the circling bomber and fired, blowing off its right wing. The plane then crashed into the jungle. Lanphier also reported that he saw Lieutenant Rex Barber shoot down another bomber which also crashed into the jungle.
From the report, U.S. intelligence assumed that three bombers had been downed because Lieutenant Besby F. Holmes claimed the "Betty" that crashed into the sea. None of the remaining pilots were debriefed after the mission because no formal interrogation procedures existed on Guadalcanal at that time. Likewise, Lanphier's claim of the kill was not officially witnessed. Many of the mission's other pilots were skeptical of the official U.S. Army version. Six months later, unauthorized details about the operation leaked into the press. In October 1943, an issue of Time magazine featured an article about Vengeance and mentioned Lanphier by name. An outraged U.S. Navy considered it a serious breach of security. As a result, Major John Mitchell's nomination for the Medal of Honor was downgraded to the Navy Cross; this was the same award subsequently presented to all the pilots of the killer flight.
The controversy did not subside after the war because of the testimony of the surviving Japanese escort pilot who witnessed the mission. Zero pilot Kenji Yanagiya, who had been in Yamamoto's fighter escort, told Mitchell he might have been responsible for the loss of Hine because he had heavily damaged a P-38 (escorting another Lightning that had not dropped its fuel tanks), although neither he nor any of the other Zero pilots had claimed a P-38 that day. The cause of Hine's disappearance is still officially undetermined. Yanagiya also affirmed that none of the escorting Japanese fighters were shot down, stating that only one was damaged enough that it required a half day of repair at Buin. These details contradicted Lanphier's claim for a Zero. Likewise, Japanese military records confirmed that only two Mitsubishi G4M bombers had been shot down on the day. Eventually, Lanphier and Barber were officially awarded half credits for the destruction of the bomber that crashed into the jungle, and half credits to Barber and Holmes for the bomber that crashed at sea. Several ground inspections of Yamamoto's crash site have determined that the path of the bullet impacts validated Barber's account because "all visible gunfire and shrapnel damage was caused by bullets entering from immediately behind the bomber," not from the right.[28]
Subsequently, Barber petitioned the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records to have his half credit on the bomber shared with Lanphier changed to a whole credit. In September 1991, the Air Force History Office advised the board that "enough uncertainty" existed in both Lanphier's and Barber's claims for them both to be accepted; the board's decision was split on Barber's petition. Secretary of the Air ForceDonald Rice ruled to retain the shared credit. Barber then applied to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to have the ruling of the Secretary of the Air Force overturned and the opposing claims re-investigated, but the court did not intervene.[citation needed] Military historian Daniel L. Haulman, who was a member of the US Air Force panel that reviewed the case in 1985, stated in 2024 that after reviewing new evidence, "I have become convinced that, despite the panel decision and the subsequent Rice decision, credit for shooting down Yamamoto's plan really should go to Rex Barber."[29]
In May 2006, Air Force Magazine published a letter by Doug Canning, a former pilot of the 347th Fighter Group who flew on Operation Vengeance (he escorted Holmes back to the Russell Islands). Canning, who was friends with both Lanphier and Barber, stated that Lanphier had written the official report, medal citations, and several magazine articles about the mission. He also claimed Barber had been willing to share the half credit for shooting down Yamamoto until Lanphier had given him an unpublished manuscript he had written, claiming he alone had shot down Yamamoto's plane. Canning agreed that Barber had a strong case for his claim citing the testimony of Yanagiya who saw Yamamoto's "Betty" crash 20 to 30 seconds after being hit from behind by fire from a P-38. Likewise, the second Betty carrying Ugaki crashed 20 seconds after being struck by aircraft fire. Canning stated categorically that the P-38Gs flown that day did not have aileron boost to assist in turning (as did later models), making it physically impossible for Lanphier's aircraft to have made the 180 degree turn fast enough to intercept Yamamoto's plane in less than 30 seconds.[30] The Air Force later disqualified Lanphier's claim for shooting down a Zero in the battle, meaning that Lanphier lost his "ace" status as his total number of air-to-air kills dropped from five to four.
In spite of criticism from Barber and other surviving pilots from the mission, Lanphier continued to claim credit for downing Yamamoto until his death in 1987. Most newspaper obituaries reporting Lanphier's death credited him with killing Yamamoto. Barber continued to contest Lanphier's claim, mainly in military circles and publications, until his death in 2001.[31]
Lieutenant Julius Jacobson, another pilot on the mission, remarked in 1997, "There were 15 of us who survived, and as far as who did the effective shooting, who cares?"[31] Rice commented in 1993, "Historians, fighter pilots and all of us who have studied the record of this extraordinary mission will forever speculate as to the exact events of that day in 1943. There is glory for the whole team."[31]
Legacy
The Yamamoto killing has been the subject of extensive historical and legal discussion in military, political and academic circles.[32][33][34][35][36][37]
Following the 2020 killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, the Yamamoto killing was cited by senior U.S. officials as a precedent.[37][38] Various major media and noted pundits also singled out the Yamamoto killing as the relevant comparison,[37][39][40][41] including The New York Times, who reported that the Yamamoto killing was "the last time the United States killed a major military leader in a foreign country" prior to the Soleimani killing.[42]
1 2 Maffeo, Steven (2015). U.S. Navy codebreakers, linguists, and intelligence officers against Japan, 1910–1941: a biographical dictionary. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p.493. ISBN9781442255647. OCLC914224225.
↑ Haulman, Daniel L. "The Man Who Shot down Yamamoto". Air & Space Forces. Vol.107, no.March/April 2024. pp.48–53. ISSN0730-6784.
↑ Douglas S. Canning (May 2006). "Who Shot Down Yamamoto?". Air Force Magazine. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
↑ Press conference transcript: "Senior State Department Officials on the Situation in Iraq," Special Briefing, January 3, 2020, Office of the Spokesperson, U.S. Department of State, retrieved September 26, 2021; "SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: ...Secretary Esper... said that Soleimani was developing plans to attack diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region, and so this is a defensive strike. ... * * * QUESTION: The decision to take [Soleimani] out wasn’t necessarily a way of removing this... threat that you were talking about in these different countries and these different facilities – but it’s a way to mitigate it in the future?... SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: It slows it down. It makes it less likely. It’s shooting down Yamamoto in 1942."
↑ Ian W. Toll: "Before Soleimani, there was Yamamoto. But the history is very different." January 12, 2020, Washington Post, retrieved September 26, 2020; "The U.S. military’s targeted killing of... Qasem Soleimani... was not unprecedented. A famous antecedent occurred during World War II, when U.S. forces targeted a senior Japanese admiral by shooting down his aircraft in the South Pacific. Lately the episode has been mentioned amid the debate over justifications of the Soleimani strike..."
↑ Lowry, Rich: Where Does Admiral Yamamoto Go to Get His Apology?" in "Politics & Policy," January 6, 2020, National Review, retrieved September 26, 2020; "Before there was Qasem Soleimani, there was Admiral Yamamoto... If it was wrong to kill Soleimani, it was wrong to kill Yamamoto—just as barbaric and illegal, just as damnable an 'assassination.'"
Isoroku Yamamoto was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II. Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the early years of the Pacific War and oversaw major engagements including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. Yamamoto was killed in April 1943 after American code breakers identified his flight plans, enabling the United States Army Air Forces to shoot down his aircraft.
Kamikaze, officially Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to destroy warships more effectively than with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by kamikaze attacks.
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place 4–7 June 1942, six months after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank J. Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondō north of Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare", while naval historian Craig Symonds called it "one of the most consequential naval engagements in world history, ranking alongside Salamis, Trafalgar, and Tsushima Strait, as both tactically decisive and strategically influential."
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle was the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, attacking over the horizon from aircraft carriers instead.
The Doolittle Raid, also known as Doolittle's Raid, as well as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japanese archipelago. Although the raid caused comparatively minor damage, it demonstrated that the Japanese mainland was vulnerable to American air attacks. It served as an initial retaliation for the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was planned by, led by, and named after Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle. It was one of six American carrier raids against Japan and Japanese-held territories conducted in the first half of 1942 as part of the undertaken strategy.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:
The Aleutian Islands campaign was a military campaign fought between 3 June 1942 and 15 August 1943 on and around the Aleutian Islands in the American Theater of World War II. It was the only military campaign of World War II fought on North American soil.
The bombing of Rabaul in November 1943 was an air attack conducted by the Allies of World War II upon a cruiser force at the major Japanese base of Rabaul. In response to the Allied invasion of Bougainville, the Japanese had brought a strong cruiser force down to Rabaul from Truk, their major naval base in the Caroline Islands about 800 miles north of Rabaul in preparation for a night engagement against the Allied supply and support shipping. Allied carrier- and land-based planes attacked the Japanese ships, airfields, and port facilities on the island of New Britain to protect the Allied amphibious invasion of Bougainville. As a result of the Rabaul raids, the Japanese naval forces could no longer threaten the landings. The success of the raid began to change the strongly held belief that carrier-based air forces could not challenge land-based air forces.
Matome Ugaki was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, remembered for his extensive and revealing war diary, role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and kamikaze suicide hours after the announced surrender of Japan at the end of the war.
Colonel Rex T. Barber was a World War II fighter pilot from the United States. He is best known as a member of the top secret mission to intercept the aircraft carrying Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in April 1943.
Lieutenant Colonel Besby Frank Holmes was an American fighter pilot who in April 1943 took part in Operation Vengeance, a notable American wartime effort to kill Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who had planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. Holmes was awarded a Navy Cross for his role in the mission, and later earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal.
Thomas George Lanphier Jr. was a Panama-born American colonel and fighter pilot during World War II who was first given sole credit, then later partial credit shared with Rex T. Barber, for shooting down the plane carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander in chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Most modern historians discount his version entirely, giving Barber the whole credit for the kill.
The United States Air Force's 347th Rescue Group is an active combat search and rescue unit assigned to the 23rd Wing at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.
The Pacific War is a series of alternate history novels written by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen with Albert S. Hanser. The series deals with the Pacific War between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan. The point of divergence is the decision of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, to take personal command of the 1st Air Fleet for the attack on Pearl Harbor, rather than delegate it to Adm. Chūichi Nagumo.
Warrant Officer Kenji Yanagiya was a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Zero fighter aces who fought the Battle of Solomon Islands in October 1942 – June 1943. He is best known as the only escort fighter pilot of the Yamamoto mission to have survived the war.
Operation I-Go was an aerial counter-offensive launched by Imperial Japanese forces against Allied forces during the Solomon Islands and New Guinea campaigns in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Taking place from 1–16 April 1943, Japanese aircraft—primarily from Imperial Japanese Navy units under the command of Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto and Jinichi Kusaka—attacked Allied ships, aircraft, and land installations in the southeast Solomon Islands and New Guinea. The goal of the operation was to halt the Allied offensives to give Japan time to prepare a new set of defenses in response to recent defeats in the Guadalcanal campaign and in New Guinea at Buna–Gona, Wau, and the Bismarck Sea.
The neutralisation of Rabaul was an Allied campaign to render useless the Imperial Japanese base at Rabaul in eastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Japanese forces landed on Rabaul on 23 January 1942, capturing it by February 1942, after which the harbor and town were transformed into a major Japanese naval and air installation. The Japanese heavily relied on it, using it as a launching point for Japanese reinforcements to New Guinea and Guadalcanal. Throughout the Solomon Islands campaign, neutralizing Rabaul became the primary objective of the Allied effort in the Solomons.
John William Mitchell was an officer of the United States Air Force, a flying ace and the leader of Operation Vengeance, the mission to shoot down Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. He served in World War II and the Korean War.
Kakuichi Takahashi was a dive bomber pilot officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. He is best known for leading several strikes against the United States Navy during the Battle of the Coral Sea, where they sank the carrier Lexington, the oiler Neosho and the destroyer Sims, and damaged Yorktown. He was killed in action during the final stages of the battle.
John Pomeroy Condon was a highly decorated aviator in the United States Marine Corps with the rank of major general. He distinguished himself successively during World War II and Korea and completed his career as commanding general, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in October 1962.
Davis, Donald A. (2005). Lightning Strike: The Secret Mission to Kill Admiral Yamamoto and Avenge Pearl Harbor. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN0-312-30906-6.
Hall, R. Cargill (1991). Lightning Over Bougainville. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN1-56098-012-5.
Hammel, Eric (1992). Aces Against Japan: The American Aces Speak. Pacifica Press. ISBN0-935553-43-6. Contains interview with Besby Frank Holmes.
Hammel, Eric (1996). Aces Against Japan II: The American Aces Speak. Pacifica Press. ISBN0-935553-14-2. Contains another interview with Besby Frank Holmes.
Canning, Douglas S. (2006). "Who Shot Down Yamamoto?, letter". Air Force Magazine. Vol.89, no.5. Arlington, VA: Air Force Association. pp.7–8.
Hampton, Dan (August 11, 2020). Operation Vengeance: The Astonishing Aerial Ambush That Changed World War II. New York: William Morrow. ISBN978-0062938091.
Kahn, David (1996). "Chapter 17: The Scrutable Orientals". The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet, Revised and Updated. New York: Scribner. pp.595–601. ISBN0-684-83130-9.
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