Warrant Officer Kenji Yanagiya was a 24-year-old fighter pilot in Kōkūtai 204, flying the Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero. On April 18, 1943, he was assigned to a group of six Zeros tasked with escorting two Mitsubishi G4M Bettys carrying Admiral Yamamoto and his entourage on an inspection tour to Bougainville. They took off at 06:00 Japanese Standard Time from Rabaul, taking up position in two V-formations at Yamamoto’s 4 o’clock, some 500 metres above the Bettys. They were led by Lieutenant Morisaki, and Yanagiya flew alongside P.O. 1/C Tsujinoue, F 1/C Sugita, CPO Hidaka and P.O. 2/C Okazaki. Yanagiya had been assigned plane No. 169. The weather was clear and the flight proceeded smoothly.
After a while Bougainville came into view and they continued toward its southern tip. After about ten minutes they could see their destination — the IJN Ballale Island airstrip — and began their approach. Then, without warning, several aircraft appeared from the direction of Shortland Island to the south. Flying low, their green camouflage made them difficult to spot against the jungle below. They were soon identified as American P-38 Lightnings. The escorts dropped their external tanks and climbed to intercept.
Morisaki wagged his wings and dived to protect the transports. Some P-38s went straight for the Bettys while the rest tried to keep the Zeros occupied. Outnumbered by more than two to one, Morisaki’s group could not keep them away. Yanagiya watched helplessly as one Betty crashed into the jungle and the other splashed into the sea. The Americans then turned back southward. Yanagiya dived toward the airfield and fired a short burst to alert the base — which had not been informed of the inspection visit, as only senior officers had been privy to the itinerary.
Seething with anger, Yanagiya calculated that the Americans had come from Guadalcanal and would cruise low to conserve fuel on the return leg. Heading in that direction he soon found a lone P-38 flying at 12,000 feet. Undetected, he climbed another 1,000 metres above it, then dived and fired a precise burst, every shell finding its mark. The P-38 went down toward the sea trailing heavy white smoke. It was the only American aircraft lost in the entire operation. Yanagiya and all five of his fellow pilots survived the attack, and they were not held responsible for the loss of the Yamamoto flight — their six fighters had been vastly outnumbered by sixteen Americans.
On June 7 the same year Yanagiya’s group was sent on a bombing raid against the Allied airfield on Russell Island. During the action he sustained injuries to his right hand and leg. Managing to limp back to base he made a belly landing. He was operated on and his hand had to be removed, ending his active service. All five of his fellow escorts from the Yamamoto mission were subsequently killed in the war, leaving Yanagiya the sole survivor. Haunted by shame, he kept silent about the events of April 18, 1943, until a documentary writer, Akira Yoshimura, approached him for an interview some thirty years later in the mid-1970s. Yanagiya died on February 29, 2008, at the age of 88.
On April 18, 1943 — exactly one year after Doolittle’s famous B-25 raid on Japan — Major John W. Mitchell led a group of P-38 Lightnings on a very special mission. Among them was Lieutenant Rex T. Barber, a 24-year-old pilot who that day flew a P-38 called “Miss Virginia”, the personal plane of Robert Petit, borrowed for the occasion. At the mission briefing they were told that a coastwatcher had spotted an important Japanese high-ranking officer boarding an aircraft at Rabaul and that their task was to intercept his flight. This was a lie, designed to conceal the fact that the Americans had cracked the Japanese military codes and could read their messages. Barber, together with Captain Thomas G. Lanphier Jr., Lt. Jim McLanahan and Lt. Joe Moore, would attack the G4M1 Bettys carrying the prominent passenger, while twelve other P-38s would escort them and fend off any enemy fighters.
Beginning at 07:25 they took off from Kukum Field at Guadalcanal, flying low over the sea on a circuitous route to approach Bougainville from an unexpected direction and avoid detection. McLanahan had to abort due to a tyre puncture and Moore due to a faulty fuel feed. They were replaced by Lt. Besby F. Holmes and Lt. Raymond K. Hine, who had been held in reserve. They arrived at the planned interception point at 09:34, a minute ahead of schedule. Shortly after, the enemy flight — two G4M1 Bettys and six escorting A6M3 Zeros — appeared right on time.
Mitchell ordered the group to drop their external fuel tanks and the kill flight to attack while he led the others to provide cover. Lanphier led the group in a climb toward the target. At the same moment they were spotted by the enemy escort, who dropped their tanks and dived to intercept. Lanphier made a tactical decision and turned directly toward the incoming Zeros, while Barber banked left and went for the Bettys. He came in behind the first and poured fire into its right engine, fuselage and tail. When he hit the left engine the plane began streaming black smoke, rolled heavily and Barber narrowly avoided flying straight into it. The Betty crashed into the jungle.
Barber then spotted the second Betty, already under attack by Holmes and Hine. Holmes hit the right engine, which emitted a white vapour trail, but in doing so he and Hine overshot the target. Barber moved in and raked the fuselage, sending pieces flying — one of which struck his own aircraft. The Betty descended and made a crash landing on the water.
Mission accomplished, they turned for home. Only later did they learn that it had been the famous Admiral Yamamoto — the architect of Pearl Harbour — that they had shot down and killed. After the mission a controversy arose when Lanphier claimed that it was he who had downed Yamamoto’s plane. It was not until the 1990s that Barber’s achievement was officially recognised. Barber later served in China against the Japanese, scoring further victories, was shot down and subsequently rescued by the Chinese resistance. He continued to serve until 1961 and died at his home in 2001 at the age of 84.
In the morning of April 18, 1943, Admiral Yamamoto boarded his aircraft, a Mitsubishi G4M1 Model 11 — called Betty by the Americans — at Rabaul. He flew in aircraft 323. A second Betty, aircraft 326, carried Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki and part of Yamamoto’s staff. They were travelling on a tour to inspect Japanese air units participating in Operation I-Go, which had begun on April 7, 1943. The tour would also serve to boost Japanese morale following the disastrous Guadalcanal Campaign and its evacuation during January and February.
Escorted by six A6M3 Zeros they departed towards Balalae Airfield on an island near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, a flight of 507 kilometres. They climbed to an altitude of 6,500 feet, with their fighter escort positioned at their 4 o’clock and 1,500 feet higher. The flight was uneventful until they were almost within sight of Balalae. Then, suddenly, a force of enemy fighters appeared. One of them attacked Yamamoto’s plane 323 and poured fire into its right engine, fuselage and tail. When the left engine was also hit the plane began trailing black smoke, rolled over and crashed into the jungle.
The following day, April 19, a Japanese search and rescue party led by army engineer Lieutenant Hamasuna found the wreck. Yamamoto’s body had been thrown clear of the aircraft. He sat in his seat — originally positioned in the cockpit behind the pilot and co-pilot — beneath a tree, slouching as if in deep thought, his katana still clutched in his white-gloved hand. He had been struck by two bullets, one in the shoulder and one to the head. The latter had killed him instantly.
The news of Yamamoto’s death was not made public in Japan until more than a month later, and came as a profound shock to the nation. The Americans spread a cover story that civilian coastwatchers in the Solomons had observed Yamamoto boarding a bomber and relayed the information by radio, concealing the fact that they had broken the Japanese military codes.
