Bougainville/Solomons close to Australia

[alchemysa]

My father was a pilot (Flight-lieutenant) in the Australian Airforce (RAAF) in WW2. I think he was flying Kittyhawks out of Bougainville when the Japanese surrendered. He died about 6 years ago at 91 years old. When the war finished he was offered a pilots job with the relatively new airline, Qantas. But mum said no, he'd been away long enough, so he went back to school teaching in dusty country towns!

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[alchemysa]

An interesting story (I think) to add to my previous post.

Just before WW2 my father was a newly minted school teacher. His special subject was maths. He was VERY good at it. When he joined the RAAF he wanted to be a pilot. An officer who took a shine to dad said, "Look son, if you want to be a pilot you better FAIL the maths component of the entrance exam or they'll make you a navigator!" So of course dad happened to 'fail' the maths test, but not quite so badly as to miss out on becoming a pilot. (That takes quite some mathematical skill I think!)

So I guess that means the really smart guys were the navigators. And perhaps they were the bravest ones too. Sitting in a tight space doing calculations, knowing that your life totally depends on the skill of others, takes a special kind of cool.

 

[J35]

Also, an interesting area in that part of the world called "iron bottom sound".
Had the previlage about ten years ago to take part in VJ 50 year celebration aboard USS Carl Vinson... we took more than a dozen WWII aircraft aboard including corsairs and deck launched them for a fly-by in Hawaii. Looked like slow motion compaired to modern jet aircraft using catapults.

mark

Google BB56 for a good read on Iron Bottom sound and a little Battle ship history. History was made there!!!

 

[dmccarty]

I am pretty sure I have posted this link before but others might not have read the history. The link is about a mission in the Bougainville/Solomons area in WWII. It is a long read but a very worthwhile read. :thumbsup:

Wings of Valor II- Jay Zeamer and Joseph Sarnoski

Later,
Dan

 

[284 International]

My grandfather was a flight surgeon during the war, and somehow wound up all over the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland at the very early part of the hostilities. He told me stories, several times, about the remarkable abilities of the Japanese aircraft. They would fly from wherever their bases were (Bougainville, aircraft carriers, etc) to attack the Allied forces. The defending Spitfires would take off and battle the attackers until out of fuel. The Japanese would attack them on the ground, and then fly home, having run the defending fighters out fuel, after long over-water flights both going and coming.

He rejoiced over the eventual appearance of the P-38, and the ability it gave the air force to not only defend against raids at a distance, but actually take the fight to their opponent's soil. He spent a large portion of the war in New Guinea and the Solomons after they were occupied. I have always wanted to take his diary and retrace his path from Australia through the islands and end in the Philippines.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My grandfather was a flight surgeon during the war, and somehow wound up all over the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland at the very early part of the hostilities. He told me stories, several times, about the remarkable abilities of the Japanese aircraft. They would fly from wherever their bases were (Bougainville, aircraft carriers, etc) to attack the Allied forces. The defending Spitfires would take off and battle the attackers until out of fuel. The Japanese would attack them on the ground, and then fly home, having run the defending fighters out fuel, after long over-water flights both going and coming.

He rejoiced over the eventual appearance of the P-38, and the ability it gave the air force to not only defend against raids at a distance, but actually take the fight to their opponent's soil. He spent a large portion of the war in New Guinea and the Solomons after they were occupied. I have always wanted to take his diary and retrace his path from Australia through the islands and end in the Philippines.

Wow! What a remarkable story! I have read quite a bit on the air war in WWII, and I never heard anything like that, although knowing what I know about the Japanese Zero, it all makes sense. The Zero had amazing long range capabilities and was extremely agile. The Spitfire, a superb aircraft, simply wasn't built for long range.

 

[284 International]

I loved to hear all of his stories about the war, more than he liked to tell them, I am sure. A family friend was John Foley, who actually had a song written about him and his exploits as a ball turret gunner on B-26 medium bombers, shooting down enough Japanese aircraft to be an ace. He eventually served in B-24s as well, in Europe, after a domestic publicity tour. Some may know the song, titled "Johnny got a Zero."

Many of their stories seemed to be unusual or uncommon information, and not mentioned, general, in the popular histories. I wish I had been old enough to remember more of what they said. It is almost enough to write a moderately sized book as it is! I could never get enough of airplane stories as a child.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I loved to hear all of his stories about the war, more than he liked to tell them, I am sure. A family friend was John Foley, who actually had a song written about him and his exploits as a ball turret gunner on B-26 medium bombers, shooting down enough Japanese aircraft to be an ace. He eventually served in B-24s as well, in Europe, after a domestic publicity tour. Some may know the song, titled "Johnny got a Zero."

Many of their stories seemed to be unusual or uncommon information, and not mentioned, general, in the popular histories. I wish I had been old enough to remember more of what they said. It is almost enough to write a moderately sized book as it is! I could never get enough of airplane stories as a child.

Same here. I was born in 1938, and was obsessed with airplanes. In those days, when you heard the sound of engines, everyone ran outside to see what kind of plane it was. I still recall an incident, I was about 5 years old...I saw a plane fly overhead; a parachute opened and I watched the pilot drift down to the ground and saw the plane plow into the ground off in the distance. Of course I ran inside to tell my folks, and got all of this "yeah, right, sure you did" brush off, thinking it was BS story from an imaginative kid. The story was in the next morning's paper, and I recall them telling me that I was right after all. It was a P-38 as I recall.

A few years back, early one Saturday morning, I was reading the newspaper when I heard the unmistakable sound of piston engine aircraft. I ran outside, and saw a B-25 and two Texans headed North. My neighbor met me outside; he heard the engines also. He told me that he was a sheet metal specialist in WWII; he served in the Solomon Islands and it was his job to repair the damaged aircraft. He told me several interesting stories; I guess there were plenty of damaged planes, so he was pretty busy.

 

[mjarrels]

The great Marina Island turkey shoot took place in this part of the world also. I think we shot down about 360 airplanes and only lost about 60?
Trains and airplanes, nothing cooler.

mark