Martin Caidin novel question

[NickM]

YEARS ago--hell, DECADES ago, I read a few WW2 novels by Martin Caidin (yeah, I know) but there was an incident in one that I have wondered if it was inspired by real life events. It was 'Whip' (I think) about a squadron of early B25 gunship in New Guinea. In one of the sequences, the squadron is attempting to land in a 'secret airfield behind enemy lines', but the first aircraft is ambushed and destroyed by Japanese infantrymen.
So then, given how fluid and unpredictable New Guinea's landscape and weather could be, did an allied aircraft ever get attacked on the ground by Japanese infantry?


Thanks, ahead of time.


NM

[RSwank]

I think the novel was "Whip" which, I believe, had a "secret" airfield:

https://www.rambles.net/caidin_whip76.html

There actually was a secret airfield:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsili_Tsili_Airfield

but no mention about it being attacked by Japanese infantry. :-(

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Tsili Tsili was no more secret than any other airfield built in the jungle, and was "behind Japanese lines" compared to the Japanese positions on the coast.

If the story has an historical background, I think Wau airfield is a better candidate. Used as a base by Australian commandoes to harass Lae and Salamaua, supplied by air for months, it still was not secret and Japanese infantry actually tried to take it in January-February 1943 and actually fired on it at the peak of the battle. Still no B-25 landed there, and there was no ambush on landing aircraft.

[NickM]

Thank you for all who replied;


I figured given the peculiarities of New Guinea's terrain, 'something' had to kind of fit the bill.

[Leendert]

I wonder if with some imagination the author had the "secret" airfield at Marilinan in mind.

Although not used by B-25s as such, it sometimes was a waypoint where the bombers would join their fighter escorts for the mission at hand.

Leendert

[Buckeye30]

Hi Leendert. p.175 here outlines the decicion to develop Marilinan as an interim airfield but eventually opting for the advanced field at nearby Tsili-Tsili. No mention of B-25s landing though.
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/IV/AAF-IV-6.html


A map of the Gulf shows the proximity of both strips.
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF...s/AAF-IV-9.jpg


Regards
Nick

[bearoutwest]

May have been using the landings at Aitape (north coast of New Guinea) - Operation Persecution - as a loose reference. The landings at Aitape (and Hollandia) were secret leap-frogs to the west of Wewak. Air campaigns against Wewak and Rabaul airfields had decimated Japanese air power, and the landing at Hollandia was to secure Allied airfields on the way to the Philippines. Aitape was the flank guard between the main effort at Hollandia and the "trapped" (or bypassed) Japanese garrison at Wewak.
The landings took place late April 44. Fighter strip prepared in a few days (though water logged in heavy rain), bomber strip took several months due to the high water table. Japanese counter-attack across Drinimour River occurred around mid-July (from memory) - about the time bomber strip available to light use. Don't recall when B-25s first arrived. My own research followed the RAAF Beauforts,
Seems to coincide - very loosely - with the Caidin story and the usual amount of fictionalisation (at least Whip was fictional... and an enjoyable enough read).


...geoff

[NickM]

Thank you to all who continue to reply; I know that Caidin often played pretty lose with the facts but anyway.
Just so we have an approximate time the story took place, most of the book was set before the Battle of The Bismarck Sea, which was in fact the final battle in the book.