R Area Air Force

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Map of the Japanese base in Rekata Bay, 1942.

R Area Air Force is the English name for an air unit of the Japanese Empire during the Pacific War in World War II . The flight formations of the R Area Air Force consisted mostly of seaplanes and weresubordinate toboth the Imperial Japanese Army and the Navy Air Force . The unit operated mainly in New Guinea , Rabaul and the Solomon Islands .

The R Area Air Force gained particular fame because its planes flew targeted interference attacks against Allied troops in the Pacific in 1942 and 1943, which earned them the nicknames Washing Machine Charlie and Louie the Louse and thus a great reputation among the American troops. The names were bestowed by the Allied soldiers who fought on Guadalcanal since August 1942 because of the characteristic engine noise of seaplanes that flew at night and dropped smaller bombs to wake the Allies from their sleep. Later, the American soldier broadcaster Radio Cactus also used the names for anti-Japanese propaganda purposes, which helped to spread and popularize them. In the further course of the war, the name was also used generally for individual Japanese aircraft that flew night attacks against the Allies.

prehistory

After the Allies landed on Guadalcanal and the fighting began, the American Seabees were able to build an airfield near the smaller village of Honiara by completing a Japanese runway that was under construction and making the first flight operations possible. Soon transport and bomber planes could land at the new airfield, called Henderson Field . The Japanese defenders on Guadalcanal tried several times in vain to take the enemy tarmac. The first attack occurred near the Tenaru River on August 21 and ended in a Japanese debacle. All further attempts were thwarted by the American soldiers, despite the Japanese superiority. After the failure of the ground offensives, the Japanese commanders began an air campaign against the Allies on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands . The Henderson Field runway was selected as the primary target and an object of severe attack. The purpose of these aerial attacks was to undermine enemy morale and to cause serious damage to American positions. The attacks were flown by A6M Zero fighters from the Japanese carrier associations in the Solomon Sea, who targeted American superstructures and machines on the airport premises, and by G4M Betty and G3M Nell bombers who attacked the airfield from great heights.

First night raids by seaplanes and the origin of the name

Japanese Washing Machine Charlie A6M Zero model R Area Air Force seaplane in Rekata.

In view of the high losses suffered by the Japanese planes from enemy fighters and anti-aircraft defenses , the daytime air raids soon had to be stopped. In the following weeks, however, night attacks by Japanese seaplanes were flown against the American troops near Henderson Field: these attacks caused only minor material damage, as the darkness combined with the mandatory and strictly adhered to darkening of the Japanese pilots the view took possible points of attack. But they could not be repelled by American planes, since no night fighters were stationed on Guadalcanal , and they had a devastating effect. Above all, the psychological pressure that the sleep-robbing, nerve-sapping night attacks inflicted on the Americans played a major role in weakening their morale . Due to the engine noise of the Japanese seaplanes they were soon in Washing Machine Charlie , dt. Washer Charlie or Louie the Louse , dt. Louie the flea renamed.

Course of the attacks

A US veteran from Guadalcanal described the night attacks as follows:

“At around 1am you could hear the Charley ( Washing Machine Charlie ) engine and the guy circled our airfield for about three to four hours, and we kept hearing the engines and never knowing when the pilot was going to drop the bombs. When he ran out of fuel, he dumped the cargoes and returned (to Rekata) only to be replaced by another Charley seaplane. If the second Charley didn't come, we knew that Louie the flea would come: Louie was an airplane that repeatedly launched flares and thus drove us to sleep. In addition, the missiles served as a marker for the Japanese ships cruising in Ironbottom Sound , and they always shot one or two grenades at us. Then morning came and the Japanese threw hand grenades again and we had to go back to the front. "

- Bernard Millot: La Guerra del Pacifico ( The Pacific War ), BUR 2002. The quote was translated from Italian into German.

Japanese seaplane bases

Five Japanese R Area Air Force seaplanes at the base in Rekata Bay on the coast of Santa Isabel Island .

The seaplane squadrons that carried out these attacks consisted mostly of Mitsubishi F1M , allied codename Pete , and Aichi E13A , allied codename Jake . These aircraft were grouped into two units, each belonging to an aircraft mother ship: the 1st squadron belonged to the Kamikawa Maru , the 2nd squadron to the Kiyokawa Maru . These two mother ships were able to accommodate a total of 48 aircraft in early May 1942, but only 34 of the machines were operational. The seaplanes were unloaded on May 3, 1942 by the two freighters at a newly built Japanese seaplane base in the Bay of Rekata , New Ireland . The mother ships were then ordered to Kavieng and the planes stayed at their new bases. In mid-May, the pilots of these machines began to fly night attacks against the American troops on Guadalcanal: the planes dropped 250-kilo bombs or fired flares to deprive the Americans of sleep. In addition to the 34 aircraft on the two ships, around 20 R Area Air Force aircraft arrived in September . The R Area Air Force was a specially formed Japanese unit that was equipped with F1M and should fly reconnaissance flights and raids against the American bases in the Solomon Islands.

An American B-17 bomber was able to inflict a severe blow on the base near Rekata in September 1942, as its bombs were fired by a Japanese patrol boat, Kaibokan no. 35, met on the open sea. The boat sank in a few minutes, along with 54 sailors and seaplane pilots and mechanics who were en route to Rekata.

Japanese defense of the bases

The Japanese base at Rekata is attacked by American dive bombers. Some seaplanes are in the water. In the lower right corner of the picture you can see a Japanese patrol boat .

The Japanese bases in Rekata Bay could not be defended by fighter planes because of the lack of airfields, although the bay was within range of the Japanese machines in Rabaul . In view of the operations of the American pilots of Henderson Field from against the Japanese bases, many were in Rekata aircraft guns installed and two air defense companies, with machine guns were equipped. The flak positions ran along the beach, while the military quarters were built between dense palm groves . The two anti-aircraft companies were reinforced by special anti-aircraft troops from the R Area Air Force in November , and the number of cannons also grew. In Rekata mainly triple guns of the Type 96 25 mm were installed, but also heavier guns such as Type 88 75 mm cannons . In addition, two Japanese corvettes crossed the coast, which could also contribute to the defense of the base with their anti-aircraft guns.

American air raid on March 29, 1943

In the course of the fighting around Guadalcanal, no air raids against the seaplanes in Kavieng were carried out due to the longer distances and the expected air defense. Only after the situation in the Solomon Islands had finally stabilized with the evacuation of the Japanese troops from Guadalcanal ( Operation Ke ) on February 1, 1943, General Alexander M. Patch demanded an air strike against the Japanese bases at Kavieng and Rabaul. The aim of the attacks was to shut down the Japanese bases for good in order to prevent further reconnaissance and attack flights by the Japanese seaplanes. The Washing Machine Charlie planes flew more in spite of the US victory still nocturnal nuisance raids against the Allies on Guadalcanal. The first air raid was planned for March 29, 1943: Eight P-38 and eight F4U Corsair planes were to carry out a combined attack on Rekata, but ten of the American planes had to turn back halfway due to a lack of fuel. The six Allied aviators, five P-38s and one Corsair, were able to destroy six flying boats at dawn and caused serious damage to the structures of the base and flak positions. On the return flight, a P-38 was badly damaged by a collision with an enemy destroyer , but the pilot was able to steer the machine back to Henderson Field. This devastating American air raid destroyed six of the nine seaplanes in Rekata: thus the activities of the Washing Machine Charlie machines were finally stopped. Only one American gunner was killed during this mission by enemy flak hits.

consequences

Destroyed Japanese seaplanes in Rekata. Two RNZAF pilots can be photographed with the destroyed aircraft.

More attacks

Additional air strikes against Rekata Bay and R Area Air Force scouts were flown in July and August 1943. In each of the two attacks, an American SBD Dauntless was shot down by the enemy air defense. The Japanese base, however, was almost completely destroyed, nine flying boats sank and three more seaplanes were intercepted and shot down on their return flight via Savo . Rekata Bay was evacuated by the Japanese in September 1943 as a result of these attacks. Further American air raids against the large Japanese port base of Rabaul, whose runways were used from November 1943 for air strikes against American troops on Bougainville , took place in February 1944 ( Operation Hailstone ). Carrier planes and bombers took part in this blow, by which several Japanese war and transport ships could be sunk. Further attacks took place during 1944 and 1945, but several squadrons of Japanese aircraft in Rabaul remained active until April 1945.

War tourism in Rekata

In 1943, 1944 and 1945 the deserted bay became a souvenir shop for American flying boat pilots. The pilots collected whatever they could find: license plates of Japanese cars and trucks from the base, shrapnel or helmets, cartridges and forgotten notebooks, or they directly butchered the abandoned seaplanes in search of memorabilia and trophies. In 1943, a military intelligence team flew to the bay to investigate the crashed enemy aircraft. On February 15, 1944, this team stated in a CEAC ( Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report ) message that a total of fifteen enemy aircraft had been found in Rekata Bay: 7 F1M2s of the R Area Air Force , 2 A6M Zero fighters, 3 G4M Betty Bomber, 2 E7K Alf and an E13 Jake. All machines were just skeletons. While the Japanese themselves had probably removed the engines from the machines and transported them away, numerous Hinomarus and markings had been removed from the wreck by Allied looters. A New Zealand PBY Catalina landed in Rekata on August 28, 1945, a few days before the Japanese surrender , to look for the remains of the aircraft. One man of the crew was reported missing - presumably he was attacked and killed by a crocodile while visiting a wreck .

Nowadays there is a small taxiway near Suavanau . Two Japanese aircraft skeletons from Washing Machine Charlie are still lying in the shallow water in front of the former base.

further reading

  • Bernard Millot: La guerra del Pacifico. (Original title: La guerre de Pacifique. ) BUR, Montreuil, 1967; Chapter Guadalcanal .
  • Richard B. Frank: Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. Penguin Books, Washington DC, 1992.
  • C. and A. Cooper: War in Pacific Skies , Zenith Press, Washington DC, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7603-3932-9 .
  • Robert Leckie: Strong Men Armed: the US Marines against Japan. Da Capo Press, Washington DC, 2010. ISBN 978-0-306-81887-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Bernard Millot: The Pacific War , 2002, p. 335.
  2. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.
  3. ^ Robert Leckie: Strong Men Armed: the US Marines against Japan , 2005, p. 49
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n C. and A. Cooper: War in Pacific Skies , 2003, p. 62
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Pacific Wrecks, Japanese air raids on Henderson Field
  6. ^ Robert Leckie: Strong Men Armed: the US Marines against Japan , 2005, p. 49
  7. ^ Bernard Millot: The Pacific War , 2002, p. 335
  8. ^ Robert Leckie: Strong Men Armed: the US Marines against Japan , 2005, p. 50
  9. ^ Robert Leckie: Strong Men Armed: the US Marines against Japan , 2005, p. 82
  10. ^ Richard Frank: Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account Of A Landmark Battle , 2003, p. 197
  11. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.
  12. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.
  13. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.
  14. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.
  15. ^ Robert Leckie: Strong Men Armed: the US Marines against Japan , 2005, p. 51
  16. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.
  17. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.
  18. ^ Robert Leckie: Strong Men Armed: the US Marines against Japan , 2005, p. 195
  19. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.
  20. ↑ Pacific Wrecks , Rekata Bay.