JAPANESE FIGHTERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 April 1943, Page 4

JAPANESE FIGHTERS

MANY BEING DESTROYED BY AMERICAN HEAVY BOMBERS DESCRIPTIONS OF RECENT COMBATS. HEAVY RAID ON KENDARI IN CELEBES. (Bv Telegraph—Press-Association— Copyright) ’ (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. Giant Liberators, on reconnaissance flights over enemy bases in the SouthWest Pacific, continue to teach Japanese fighters how dangerous they can be when attacked. Five of twelve Zeros which intercepted a Libeiatoi flown by Captain Charles Whitlock, of New Jersey, were shot down by his gunners over Wewak, in Northern New Guinea, on Saturday. Some days earlier the crew of Lieutenant George Shaffer’s Liberator shot down six out of twelve Zeros over the same area. Captain Whitlock was a college professor before he joined the Army AirCorps. He described the 30 minute battle as the fiercest he had seen. “We were higher over' Wewak, but the Japanese fighters must have been on patrol, because they were even higher,” he said. “They came at us from all around the clock. The first went down in flames into the sea after being hit by three of our guns. The pilot of the second Zero must have been killed, because it went spiralling down out of control and landed plumb in the middle of the town. After three more Zeros had been shot down and others driven off, Whitlock continued his mission. The Liberator was badly holed, and one engine was put out of action, but it got safely home. The Liberators which raided the Japanese aircraft assembly base of Kendari, in Celebes, on Saturday, also encountered strong Zero opposition. “We saw fighters taking off to intercept us,” said the R.A.A.F. group captain who organised the raid. We were soon in a running fight which lasted for a hundred miles out to sea. Because of falling dusk, the advantage was with the Zeros, but five were shot down, and a sixth probably destroyed, out of the twenty which attacked. If the light had been better, we would have bagged a round dozen of them.” This Liberator attack was Kandari’s fourth and heaviest raid of the war. The base was last bombed by Allied planes on February 9. The crew of still another Liberator had a pleasant surprise a few days ago, when they returned to their New Guinea base after setting fire to a 10,000 ton Japanese ship at Kavieng, in New Ireland. Twelve members of the crew were met by the South-West Pacific Air Commander, General Kenney, and decorated with the air medal. The crew were on their first mission together. General Kenney told them: “Keep up the good work and get some more of those Japanese ships./