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Steamed_Banana
Staff Sergeant
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- Sep 29, 2025
Ok a quick update, and then I'm going to get into a summary of the bomber losses during this first period (May-June 1942).
First a revision. I found two more P-39s which were shot down by Zeros. So that ends up being 28 lost the A6Ms.
I'm going to reiterate the summaries from the first page, with the correction. Plus new stuff in blue.
The Summary of action for the Allies in this period of May and June 1942 indicates that they lost 188 aircraft - 59 Airacrobas, 37 Dauntlesses, 26 Wildcats, 15 Devestators, 15 B-25s, 12 B-26s, 10 A-24s, 4 PBYs, 4 Hudsons, 3 B-17s, 2 P-40E Kittyhawks (RAAF), and 1 F4 Lighting (P-38 Recon plane)
Of the Airacobras lost, 28 were lost to mishaps and accidents (about half of these were lost in ferrying accidents while they were being moved in to the area) 28 were shot down by Zeros. This adds up to 56. Another 2 were destroyed on the ground, 1 crashed after a collision with a G4M.
Of the Wildcats lost 7 were shot down by Zeros, 14 were sunk with their carrier (or had to ditch due to carrier damage), and 5 were lost to accidents (mainly getting lost and / or running out of fuel).
Breaking down Allied bomber and other aircraft type losses:
TBD Devastators - (15) One to accident, one unknown, 13 lost when Lexington sunk (? / A / Sunk (13) )
SBD Dauntlesses (35) 10 to Zeros, 19 sunk with Lexington, 4 to accidents, 1 to friendly AA (Z / A / A / Z / Z / Z / Z / Z /Friendly AA / Z / Z / Z/ Z /A /A/ Sunk (19))
A-24 Banshee - (10) 5 Strafed, 5 to accidents (Strafed / Strafed (4) / A / A / A/ A / A )
Lockheed Hudsons- (4) 4 to accidents (A / A / A / A)
PBY Catalinas - (8) 4 to Float Planes, 2 strafed, 2 accidents (2 to Float planes, 1 strafed, 1 accident / Shot down by "Pete" float plane / Shot down by "Jake" float plane / Strafed / A )
B-25 Mitchell - (15) 11 to Zeros, 1 to float planes, 3 to accidents (Z / A / Float Planes / A / Z / A / Z / Z / Z / Z (6)*)
B-26 Marauder - (9) 6 to Zeros, 1 to float planes, 3 to accidents (Float Plane / Z / Z / A / A / A / Z / Z / Z / Z)
B-17 Fortress - (3) 1 unknown and 2 accident (A / ? / A / )
* A disastrous unescorted raid on 25 May
"Accident" can mean navigation error, disappeared, ditched, crash landed on a beach etc. etc.
The Summary of action for the Japanese in this period indicates that they lost 132 aircraft - 41 Zeros, 35 Kates, 21 Vals, 7 Bettys, 6 Claudes, 5 Petes, 4 Mavis, 1 Alf, 1 Jake, 1 Slim, and 10 Unknown types.
Of the Zeros lost, 14 were shot down by Airacobras, 3 were destroyed on the ground by Airacobras, 7 were shot down by Wildcats, 3 by US Bombers, 15 were Sunk or had to ditch due to damage to an aircraft carrier, and 1 was lost in an accident.
So the raw data says 28 vs 14, or 29 to 17 if we count destruction on the ground. But there is a little more going on in the details. There were several fights where no fighters were lost on either side, and we can judge which of the two types prevailed based on the outcomes vis a vis bombers. A couple of times the Airacobras were able to successfully fend off the A6Ms of the Tainan Ku and protect the bombers, with no fighter losses and in some cases no bomber losses either. I'd call that a successful mission for the Airacobras.
Breaking down Japanese bomber and other aircraft losses:
Pete - (5 / 6) 3 to Wildcats, 2 to SBD, 1 to SBD (Strafed) (SBD (Strafed) / SBD / W / W / W )
Mavis - (4) 3 to Wildcats, 1 to Hudson (W / W / W / Hudson)
Kate - (30) 14 Sunk or Jettisoned, 12 to Wildcats, 2 to SBDs, 2 to Accidents, (A / A / Sunk with Shoho (10) / W (7) / W / K / SBD / SBD / W / W / W / W / Jettisoned (4))
Val - (21) 10 Ditched or Jettisoned, 5 to AA, 6 to Wildcats (A / W / AA / AA / W / W / AA / AA / W / W / W / Ditched (6) / Jettisoned (4))
Alf - (1) 1 to Wildcats (W /)
Betty - (6) 4 to AA, 2 to Airacobras (AA (4) / Airacobra (2))
Pete is a floatplane fighter, Alf is just a floatplane. Jake is also a floatplane (with only a tail gun!). Mavis is a great big four engined flying boat with a crew of ten.
So from this, my analysis (for what little that is worth!) is that both the Wildcat and the Zero were pretty devastating (about equally so) against enemy bombers and recon / seaplanes etc., and were less effective at protecting their own (this was at least in part because both fighter types were more heavily committed to CAP than to fighter escort during the carrier duel). The Kate was particularly vulnerable and I would say already totally obsolete by this point. Only the excellent Japanese torpedoes made it still viable as a weapon, but losses were unsustainable. The SBDs legend about functioning as a fighter is at least partially true - when faced with slow bombers and seaplanes (but that counts!). Ironically the A-24 (which is the same aircraft as an SBD) was having all kinds of problems but so far mainly accidents - I think this points to training. The Airacobra was not much of a threat to Japanese bombers. Most of the land based / Allied medium bomber losses were during unescorted missions, in part because of the limited range of the Airacobras. Airacobras were able to protect friendly bombers when they were in the vicnity, though sometimes at a cost as we'll see when I get into the individual missions. The big seaplanes (Catalina and Mavis) were highly vulnerable though I think later in the campaign they got better at hiding in clouds etc.. The Japanese seaplanes and seaplane-fighters (Pete) managed to cause some problems for the Allies. Accidents and random mishaps seemed to be a big problem for the Allies, somewhat less so for the Japanese though carrier ops were still very risky and difficult.
Zeros accounted for 27 Allied bombers, plus 7 Wildcats and 28 Airacobras.
Japanese Seaplanes (mainly Petes but also Jake and Alf) accounted for 6 Allied aircraft (2 medium bombers and 4 Catalinas)
Wildcats accounted for 25 Japanese bombers and seaplanes, plus 7 Zeros
SBDs accounted for 6 Japanese aircraft (7 if you count strafing)
Airacobras accounted for 2 Japanese bombers, plus 14 Zeros, plus another 3 Zeros strafing.
Hudsons accounted for 2 flying boats
If I made any mistakes in calculation by all means correct me, this was a bit confusing to tally up. There are some 'unknown' losses on the Japanese side after Shoho was sunk and Shokaku damaged, I think that accounts for the missing Kates but I'll double check in the morning.
I didn't find evidence of the Airacobra strafing raid on the Japanese seaplanes in the summaries but I'm going to go through page by page and look for that tomorrow.
First a revision. I found two more P-39s which were shot down by Zeros. So that ends up being 28 lost the A6Ms.
I'm going to reiterate the summaries from the first page, with the correction. Plus new stuff in blue.
The Summary of action for the Allies in this period of May and June 1942 indicates that they lost 188 aircraft - 59 Airacrobas, 37 Dauntlesses, 26 Wildcats, 15 Devestators, 15 B-25s, 12 B-26s, 10 A-24s, 4 PBYs, 4 Hudsons, 3 B-17s, 2 P-40E Kittyhawks (RAAF), and 1 F4 Lighting (P-38 Recon plane)
Of the Airacobras lost, 28 were lost to mishaps and accidents (about half of these were lost in ferrying accidents while they were being moved in to the area) 28 were shot down by Zeros. This adds up to 56. Another 2 were destroyed on the ground, 1 crashed after a collision with a G4M.
Of the Wildcats lost 7 were shot down by Zeros, 14 were sunk with their carrier (or had to ditch due to carrier damage), and 5 were lost to accidents (mainly getting lost and / or running out of fuel).
Breaking down Allied bomber and other aircraft type losses:
TBD Devastators - (15) One to accident, one unknown, 13 lost when Lexington sunk (? / A / Sunk (13) )
SBD Dauntlesses (35) 10 to Zeros, 19 sunk with Lexington, 4 to accidents, 1 to friendly AA (Z / A / A / Z / Z / Z / Z / Z /Friendly AA / Z / Z / Z/ Z /A /A/ Sunk (19))
A-24 Banshee - (10) 5 Strafed, 5 to accidents (Strafed / Strafed (4) / A / A / A/ A / A )
Lockheed Hudsons- (4) 4 to accidents (A / A / A / A)
PBY Catalinas - (8) 4 to Float Planes, 2 strafed, 2 accidents (2 to Float planes, 1 strafed, 1 accident / Shot down by "Pete" float plane / Shot down by "Jake" float plane / Strafed / A )
B-25 Mitchell - (15) 11 to Zeros, 1 to float planes, 3 to accidents (Z / A / Float Planes / A / Z / A / Z / Z / Z / Z (6)*)
B-26 Marauder - (9) 6 to Zeros, 1 to float planes, 3 to accidents (Float Plane / Z / Z / A / A / A / Z / Z / Z / Z)
B-17 Fortress - (3) 1 unknown and 2 accident (A / ? / A / )
* A disastrous unescorted raid on 25 May
"Accident" can mean navigation error, disappeared, ditched, crash landed on a beach etc. etc.
The Summary of action for the Japanese in this period indicates that they lost 132 aircraft - 41 Zeros, 35 Kates, 21 Vals, 7 Bettys, 6 Claudes, 5 Petes, 4 Mavis, 1 Alf, 1 Jake, 1 Slim, and 10 Unknown types.
Of the Zeros lost, 14 were shot down by Airacobras, 3 were destroyed on the ground by Airacobras, 7 were shot down by Wildcats, 3 by US Bombers, 15 were Sunk or had to ditch due to damage to an aircraft carrier, and 1 was lost in an accident.
So the raw data says 28 vs 14, or 29 to 17 if we count destruction on the ground. But there is a little more going on in the details. There were several fights where no fighters were lost on either side, and we can judge which of the two types prevailed based on the outcomes vis a vis bombers. A couple of times the Airacobras were able to successfully fend off the A6Ms of the Tainan Ku and protect the bombers, with no fighter losses and in some cases no bomber losses either. I'd call that a successful mission for the Airacobras.
Breaking down Japanese bomber and other aircraft losses:
Pete - (5 / 6) 3 to Wildcats, 2 to SBD, 1 to SBD (Strafed) (SBD (Strafed) / SBD / W / W / W )
Mavis - (4) 3 to Wildcats, 1 to Hudson (W / W / W / Hudson)
Kate - (30) 14 Sunk or Jettisoned, 12 to Wildcats, 2 to SBDs, 2 to Accidents, (A / A / Sunk with Shoho (10) / W (7) / W / K / SBD / SBD / W / W / W / W / Jettisoned (4))
Val - (21) 10 Ditched or Jettisoned, 5 to AA, 6 to Wildcats (A / W / AA / AA / W / W / AA / AA / W / W / W / Ditched (6) / Jettisoned (4))
Alf - (1) 1 to Wildcats (W /)
Betty - (6) 4 to AA, 2 to Airacobras (AA (4) / Airacobra (2))
Pete is a floatplane fighter, Alf is just a floatplane. Jake is also a floatplane (with only a tail gun!). Mavis is a great big four engined flying boat with a crew of ten.
So from this, my analysis (for what little that is worth!) is that both the Wildcat and the Zero were pretty devastating (about equally so) against enemy bombers and recon / seaplanes etc., and were less effective at protecting their own (this was at least in part because both fighter types were more heavily committed to CAP than to fighter escort during the carrier duel). The Kate was particularly vulnerable and I would say already totally obsolete by this point. Only the excellent Japanese torpedoes made it still viable as a weapon, but losses were unsustainable. The SBDs legend about functioning as a fighter is at least partially true - when faced with slow bombers and seaplanes (but that counts!). Ironically the A-24 (which is the same aircraft as an SBD) was having all kinds of problems but so far mainly accidents - I think this points to training. The Airacobra was not much of a threat to Japanese bombers. Most of the land based / Allied medium bomber losses were during unescorted missions, in part because of the limited range of the Airacobras. Airacobras were able to protect friendly bombers when they were in the vicnity, though sometimes at a cost as we'll see when I get into the individual missions. The big seaplanes (Catalina and Mavis) were highly vulnerable though I think later in the campaign they got better at hiding in clouds etc.. The Japanese seaplanes and seaplane-fighters (Pete) managed to cause some problems for the Allies. Accidents and random mishaps seemed to be a big problem for the Allies, somewhat less so for the Japanese though carrier ops were still very risky and difficult.
Zeros accounted for 27 Allied bombers, plus 7 Wildcats and 28 Airacobras.
Japanese Seaplanes (mainly Petes but also Jake and Alf) accounted for 6 Allied aircraft (2 medium bombers and 4 Catalinas)
Wildcats accounted for 25 Japanese bombers and seaplanes, plus 7 Zeros
SBDs accounted for 6 Japanese aircraft (7 if you count strafing)
Airacobras accounted for 2 Japanese bombers, plus 14 Zeros, plus another 3 Zeros strafing.
Hudsons accounted for 2 flying boats
If I made any mistakes in calculation by all means correct me, this was a bit confusing to tally up. There are some 'unknown' losses on the Japanese side after Shoho was sunk and Shokaku damaged, I think that accounts for the missing Kates but I'll double check in the morning.
I didn't find evidence of the Airacobra strafing raid on the Japanese seaplanes in the summaries but I'm going to go through page by page and look for that tomorrow.
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