Yamamoto's Last Flight, by Stan Stokes Picture courtesy of the Original Aviation Art Gallery on the Web. Click on the picture for additional information. At 8 am on April 18, 1943 sixteen P-38s of the 339th Fighter Squadron took off from Guadalcanal on a nearly 400 mile long deliberate attack, made to look like a chance encounter, that would catch the architect of Pearl Harbor as his transport bomber approached Bougainville in. the southwest Pacific. The target was Admiral Isoruko Yamamoto. The Americans had broken the Japanese code and discovered that Admiral Yamamoto was scheduled to inspect some forward bases within just four days. A plan was quickly put together. The flight was only possible by using P-38s, because of their long range capability, with new design oversize add-on fuel drop tanks. There were to be two groups. The first group would consist of six 'attack' planes and the second would consist of twelve 'covering' planes. As two of the 'attack' planes aborted, the the final flight held a total of sixteen P-38s. Major John Mitchell was named to lead the flight. He would be responsible for navigating the entire group to the target. They flew an indirect route low over the water to avoid radar detection. At 9:30 am the Japanese flight, comprised of two 'Betty' bombers and six 'Zero' escorts, was spotted. The two P-38 groups broke up into their respective responsibilities and four P-38s flown by Capt. Thomas Lanphier, Lt. Rex Barber, Lt. Besby Holmes, and Lt. Ray Hine closed for the attack. The air battle lasted just four minutes with both bombers down in flames as well as three Zeros claimed as downed. The lone American lost was Lt. Hine who's plane did not return. Credit for the 'Betty' bomber carrying Yamamoto was officially shared between Lt. Rex Barber and Lt. Thomas Lanphier although many historians believe Barber deserved full credit for the downing. Interestingly the Americans could not announce that Yamamoto had been killed because it would have tipped off the Japanese that the Americans had broken their code since there was no other way the Americans could have known that Yamamoto was aboard one of the planes shot down. Listed below are all the members of this famous flight: Maj. John Mitchell Capt. Thomas Lanphier Lt. Rex Barber Lt. Besby Holmes Lt. Ray Hine Lt. William Smith Lt. Doug Canning Capt. Louis Kittel Lt. Gordon Whittiker Lt. Roger Ames Lt. Lawrence Graebner Lt. Delton Goerke Lt. Julius Jacobson Lt. Eldon Stratton Lt. Albert Long Lt. Everett Anglin For some great information on who deserves the credit click here. Maj. Mitchell and Capt. Lanphier (USAAF photo taken after the raid)

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