Re: FAA Corsair Squadrons. claims
 

Reading Adlams book it appears that FAA tactics were to fight in pairs, within four plane flights, this seems this shows the reason so many kills are shared.

regards

Keith

Re: FAA Corsair Squadrons. claims
 

Bruce & Keith,

Concerning the Bigg-Wither claim, as Keith points out, the BPF did not operate any aircraft on the 29th (per Hobbs). Air strikes and CAPs were launched on both the 28th and 30th. The latter date is the likely one for Bigg-Wither's kill as, according to Hobbs, on that day "... 130 CAP sorties were flown, from which fighters shot down a Japanese shadowing aircraft ..." No further details are given. This is the only air claim mentioned for either day.

Regards,
Tom

Re: FAA Corsair Squadrons. claims
 

Cheers Tom. The only thing is that this Kate isn't a "shadower". Bigg-Wither doesn't know what it's doing when he comes across it while on a strike. Maybe a mistake about it's purpose but still a victory.

regards

Keith

Re: FAA Corsair Squadrons. claims
 

Is the identification of Bigg-Wither's victim as a Kate certain?

If not, perhaps it was a C6N Myrt - they were being operated as shadowers by (IIRC) 762 Kokutai flying out of Formosa.

Perhaps another way to go about this would be to try to find out what the Japanese losses actually were (yes, I know, very difficult).

Just some food for thought...

Re: FAA Corsair Squadrons. claims
 

The "Kate" identification probably could be faulty, a Myrt would be more likely and easily misidentified. Perhaps it was lost? Bigg-Wither is flying over Maizuru which means the aircraft wasn't shadowing the fleet but maybe it was heading for the nearest airfield? As you say Japanese records would be great, but it seems these are difficult to access.

regards

Keith