NIGHT RAIDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 May 1942, Page 3

NIGHT RAIDS

ABORTIVE ENEMY ATTACKS ON PORT MORESBY •» FLYING-BOATS USED. BOMBS FALL IN JUNGLE. (Special Australia Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 27. The lull in the south-west Pacific air war has been punctuated by the resumption of night raids by Japanese aircraft. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights enemy flying-boats made ineffectual attacks on Port Moresby. The previous night raids on Port Moresby were made more than two months ago. The 'Allied ground defences were alert when Monday’s moonlight raid was made by three flying-boats. Searchlights were used for the first time. Two of the flying-boats were caught in the beams and one is known to have been hit and it is believed unlikely that the aircraft was able to recross the mountain range back to its base. Most of the bombs fell into the jungle. Two flying-boats made a raid on Tuesday. Whether these were the two remaining after Monday’s raid is unknown, but no damage was done. No official statement has been made concerning the base from which the flying-boats operated, but it is believed to have been Rabaul or Lae. Rabaul has been used extensively by the enemy as a flying-boat base. While daylight bombing by the enemy has ceased temporarily, increased Japanese fighter activity is evident. An official announcement that Allied fighters on patrol over New Guinea encountered 16 Zeros and shot down three of them for the loss of one machine follows earlier information that the enemy has been sending up heavy fighter screens at Lae and Rabaul to protect these bases from the constant Allied bombing attacks.