Wake Island December 1941 - Japanese aircraft shot down?

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Tim Smith
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Wake Island December 1941 - Japanese aircraft shot down?

#1

Post by Tim Smith » 07 Sep 2007, 17:55

Wake Island, 1941

Does anyone have a breakdown of Japanese aircraft types shot down over or near Wake Island in December 1941?

Hyperwar's article says only seven planes shot down, and 20 more damaged.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Wake.html

It would be great to get a breakdown of these, I'm trying to find out how many were G3M1/2 Nell bombers, and how many were Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros, Aichi D3A2 Vals and B5N2 Kates from the carriers Hiryu and Soryu.

Thanks,

Tim

maxs75
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#2

Post by maxs75 » 08 Sep 2007, 17:07

Tim,
the following is from j-aircraft forum:
21 December
Second Carrier Division Strike, Wake Island
18 Mitsubishi A6M2-21 Fighters "Zero"
18 Aichi D3A1 Dive Bombers "Val"
No Opposition, Unknown Losses

22 December
Second Carrier Division Strike, Wake Island
6 Mitsubishi A6M2-21 Fighters
33 Nakajima Attack Bombers "Kate"
2 Wildcats Rise in opposition, both are shot down
2 Kates Lost, either my AA or fighters (exact cause still in dispute)

23 December
Second Carrier Division Strike, Wake Island
Numbers and Losses Unknown at this time, not exactly sure if Strike Proceeded.
The dive bombers were D3A1 type, not D3A2.

HTH
Max


JoeB
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#3

Post by JoeB » 08 Sep 2007, 19:40

From Cressman "Magnificent Fight", dates on Japan/Wake side of intl date line, downed by VMF-211 F4F-3's except as noted:

Dec 10: Type 96/G3M2/Nell of Chitose Kokutai
Dec 11: 2 of same
Dec 12: Type 97/H6K/Mavis of Yokohama Kokutai
Dec 22: 2 Type 97/B5N2/Kate downed by F4F-3's crews KIA, the third of this Soryu shotai ditched due to damage in the same action, other Soryu and Hiryu Kates were damaged by AA. Soryu Zeroes downed one F4F-3, pilot KIA, and another Wildcat returned with damage that couldn't be repaired in the remaining hours before the second Japanese landing.
Dec 23: A floatplane from Chikuma, type not given, was so badly damaged by AA it capsized on landing.

That totals 8 lost in action altogether.

Cressman reaches those seemingly quite firm and detailed conclusions about Dec 22 based on the Soryu/Hiryu kodochosho's, compared to diaries and immediate postwar reports of VMF-211.

I didn't count up damaged planes but they included a number of G3M's in the early bombings to F4F and AA, carrier planes Dec 22-23 and several other floatplanes Dec 23.

Joe

glenn239
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#4

Post by glenn239 » 08 Sep 2007, 21:51

From Bloody Shambles, pg 160-161

Shot down -

Dec 10th: 1x G3M (Hiroshi Mizokawa)
Dec 11th: 2x G3M (Fumio Sasao, Daisuke Miyazaki)
Dec 22nd: 2 x B5N2

Additional claims - (no apparent confirmation from IJN records)

Dec 11th - 3 x G3M

H6K was flown by Nakano.

First 2nd Carrier Raid OOB was:

33 x Val
2 x Kate
18 x Zero

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Tim Smith
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#5

Post by Tim Smith » 08 Sep 2007, 22:10

Great info, thanks very much to both of you.

If you count the bombers as worth 2 fighters, then the Japanese losses are roughly equal to the American losses of 12 F4F-3 Wildcats (8 of which were destroyed on the ground).

PF
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Re: Wake Island December 1941 - Japanese aircraft shot down?

#6

Post by PF » 18 Jan 2010, 19:02


Sleipnir11
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Re:

#7

Post by Sleipnir11 » 29 Dec 2017, 02:37

JoeB wrote:From Cressman "Magnificent Fight", dates on Japan/Wake side of intl date line, downed by VMF-211 F4F-3's except as noted:

Dec 10: Type 96/G3M2/Nell of Chitose Kokutai
Dec 11: 2 of same
Dec 12: Type 97/H6K/Mavis of Yokohama Kokutai
Dec 22: 2 Type 97/B5N2/Kate downed by F4F-3's crews KIA, the third of this Soryu shotai ditched due to damage in the same action, other Soryu and Hiryu Kates were damaged by AA. Soryu Zeroes downed one F4F-3, pilot KIA, and another Wildcat returned with damage that couldn't be repaired in the remaining hours before the second Japanese landing.
Dec 23: A floatplane from Chikuma, type not given, was so badly damaged by AA it capsized on landing.

That totals 8 lost in action altogether.
The hyperwar link has the following for VMF-211:

Dec 9: G3M2 x1 shot down by Ltjg Kliewer & TSgt Hamilton
Dec 10: G3M2 x2 shot down by Capt Elrod (one might be shot down by AA)
Dec 11 after the first landing attempt: G3M2 x2 shot down by Lt Kinney & Ltjg Davidson
Dec 12: H6K x1 shot down by Capt Tharin
Dec 22: B5N x2 shot down by Capt Freuler (Last two F4F-3s were shot down by an A6M2 shortly after)

Number of available F4F-3s of VMF-211 in Wake (including repairable):
Dec 4: Arrival with 12
Dec 8 AM: Down to 4 due to first wave bombing
Dec 8 PM: Potentially down to 3 as Capt Tharin accidentally damaged 211-F-9 during taxing but recovered right before IJN air strike the next day
Dec 11: Down to 3 as Capt Elrod crash landed 211-F-11 after suffering AA hits when attacking IJN landing fleet (sank destroyer Kisaragi with direct hit of a 100 pounder)
Dec 12: Down to 2 as Capt Freuler damaged his mount while attempting to take off from a crowd of civilian workers gathering in the air strip watching construction of an underground bunker
Dec 22: Down to 0 as being shot down by an A6M2; Ltjg Davidson was killed

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