First Victories by P-38s Over Japanese Aircraft

[FinishForty]

August 9, 1942: Two P-38 Lightnings of the 343rd Fighter Group were near the end of a long patrol when they intercepted and shot down two Japanese "Mavis" flying boats. These were the first combat victories for P-38s, which went on to shoot down more than 1800 Japanese aircraft during the war, more than any other aircraft type.

[R Leonard]

Originally Posted by FinishForty

August 9, 1942: Two P-38 Lightnings of the 343rd Fighter Group were near the end of a long patrol when they intercepted and shot down two Japanese "Mavis" flying boats. These were the first combat victories for P-38s, which went on to shoot down more than 1800 Japanese aircraft during the war, more than any other aircraft type.

More like
". . . which went on to be credited with shooting down 1700 Japanese aircraft during the war, more than any other USAAF aircraft type."

USN and USMC F6F and F4U drivers for those two types were credited with more; F6Fs with 5,163 and F4Us with 2,138.

[FinishForty]

Credits, 1700 or 1800- USAAF, yes- thanks for the clarification.

[Jim Oxley]

Just to put things in perspective, here are the US claims totals for the Pacific (according to an article in Flight Journal Feb 2001, p. 32)

F6F Hellcat 5,156 victories
F4U Corsair 2,140
P-38 Lightning 1,694
F4F/FM Wildcat 1,006
P-40 series 706
P-47 Thunderbolt 697
P-51 Mustang 296
P-39 Airacobra 243

[JoeB]

Originally Posted by FinishForty

August 9, 1942: Two P-38 Lightnings of the 343rd Fighter Group were near the end of a long patrol when they intercepted and shot down two Japanese "Mavis" flying boats.

Again, first credited, not first actually scored. The combat report of the Toko Air Group shows that only one 'Mavis' was slightly damaged in the tail. The P-38 pilots also admitted the a/c disappeared into cloud.

An unfortunate aspect of this case, historiographically speaking, is that Brian Garfield's "The Thousand Mile War" cites the USSBS interview of Capt S Ito, commander of the Toko AG flying boat detachment, to describe a mission where Ito was present and two of his a/c downed by P-38's, so this is used as a 'both sides' source by others. But Ito did not say that in the interview. He gave the losses for the whole deployment as only operational and due to bombardment. And in fact he referred to a case where US fighters attacked but only slightly damaged one of his a/c, and the USAAF fighters only claimed to have engaged enemy flying boats in the Aleutians that one time. He just didn't recall the date, but the Toko AG reports make clear this incident matches the P-38 claim.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/...JO/IJO-23.html

The first P-38 victory over Japanese a/c which shows up as a loss was Sept 28, 1942. A float Zero was claimed over Kiska by Maj Milton H Askins, 54th FS and one was lost per Japanese reports.

Joe