24/08/42:RAAF 75°and 76°Sq vs Zeros

[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

There is a good account of the events at Milne Bay on 24 August 1942 in David Wilson's, The Decisive Factor 75 & 76 Squadrons - Port Moresby and Milne Bay 1942 (pp.130-4). The same author has this to say in his history of 75 Squadron RAAF - Seek and Strike 75 Squadron RAAF 1942- 2002 (p.64).

The Japanese claimed 14 P-39s and one P-40 destroyed and 'not confirmed' one P-40 and five P-39s, as well as a B-17 and a 'Lockheed' destroyed on the ground, all the Zeros returned safely. No P-39s were present at the battle. Fourteen G3M 'Nell' bombers had taken off from Rabaul at 0735 for Milne Bay, but were turned back by bad weather.
These exaggerated figures for Japanese claims of enemy destroyed and probably destroyed were taken at face value by the Japanese staff and have been repeated as fact in post-war Japanese histories of the units concerned. The claims were, and remain laughable, but had a serious result, as Japanese headquarters believed the effectiveness of their pilots and aircraft were many times greater than they were in reality.

Col.