A5M Claude in the Solomons (1 Viewer)

[andrewgeorge]

Some time back I mentioned that Saburo Saki was disappointed when he got to Lae in NG and found they had some A5M in addition to A6M. I asked if there was any evidence they actually used A5M in combat and someone replied there was; I forget the specifics.

In the book Savage Skies, Emerald Hell it is mentioned that on the first airstrike by USAAF B-26 on Rabaul, by the 22 Bomb Group A5M fighters attempted to intercept the bombers but failed to do so.

I guess it was not terribly unusual for aircraft not really considered to be first rate to be used in combat by all sides. The USAAF used P-26 in HI after the PH attack, for lack of anything better in sufficient numbers. The RAF used Mohawk IV in India before replacing them with Hurricane II, which by that time were no longer considered to be first rate in the ETO.

It's not the Solomons, but Bruce Gamble's Rabaul series describes several A5M4 sorties out of New Britain in early 1942 based on Allied and Japanese sources.

—From Chapter 6 of "Fortress: Rabaul":

"Although not designed or equipped for night combat, the new arrivals teamed up with the searchlight crews to challenge the Catalinas' nocturnal raids. The first combat occurred on the night of February 3, when two of the five Catalinas that attacked shipping in Simpson Harbor were caught in the beams of the powerful searchlights. One got out of trouble by diving through the volcanic steam billowing from Tavurvur, but the other, piloted by Flt. Lt. Godfrey E. Hemsworth, was held firmly by the searchlights.

Within moments, twenty-two-year-old FPO 1st Class Hiroyoshi Nishizawa darted in behind the Catalina and fired more than one hundred rounds into the main wing, fuselage, and empennage of the big plane. In turn, Nishizawa may have been startled when a stream of bullets and tracer rounds snaked toward him from the Catalina's midsection. Firing a pair of Lewis machine guns from the waist gun blister on the seaplane's port side, nineteen-year-old Sgt. Douglas F. Dick saw the Japanese fighter go into a spin. He claimed a kill and, when other crewmen later confirmed his report, was credited with a "probable" victory.

But Nishizawa had merely been dodging the return fire, for his Type 96 fighter was not damaged. Ironically, he believed he had fatally damaged the Catalina, which plunged toward the water … Hemsworth and his crew were far from finished. Nishizawa's gunfire had hit the port propeller, disabling the engine, but Hemsworth used a few tricks of his own to escape…"

Chapter 6 also describes the interception of RAAF Hudsons over Gasmata, New Britain, by "Claudes" arriving to the airfield from Rabaul. Satoshi Yoshino shot down two Hudsons, which were commanded by John Lerew (sole survivor, escaped capture, returned to New Guinea with assistance of coast watchers) and Graham Gibson (all crew KIA), respectively. Surviving Australian aircrew claimed one Claude and another probable, but damage turned out to be just a few bullet holes to one Claude.

There's more in that book I believe. Seems very well researched.