[ RAAF Squadrons ]

This Squadron was first formed on the 14th July 1943 and based at Camden, New South Whales. It was under the temporary command of Flight Lieutenant R. S. Osment until the 14th August when Squadron Leader G. F. Walker took over the commanding officer.

On the 3rd June, 1944 one of the most outstanding combat successes of the New Guinea Campaign was achieved by 78 SQN. It was during a patrol over Biak Island that approximately twelve Oscar aircraft with three Kate's were spotted five to ten miles from Mokmer Strip. The Kittyhawks were led into a diving attack from the sun and conflict ensued. The result was seven Oscar's and two Kate's destroyed, with one Oscar and one Kate damaged. This was achieved for the loss of one Kittyhawk (A29-401), piloted by Flight Sergeant W. H. (Happy) Harnden, who bailed out when his aircraft was shot-up but unfortunately his parachute did not open. This was the largest number of Japanese aircraft shot down in a single conflict by any R.A.A.F. unit during the war.

The pilots are listed below.

The following individual reports are from the Aviation Historical Society of Australia Journal

Red 1    Stern attack made on a dark green mottled Kate closing to 50 yards. One crew bailed out.

Red 2    Attacked Kate previously set on fire by Red 1. Both saw Kate hit the water in flames.

Red 3    Made a stern attack on an Oscar from 200 to 50 yards. It started to smoke and pieces were seen to fly off the tailplane. Claimed as damaged. Another stern attack on an Oscar, 100 to 50 yards range. Aircraft caught fire in the port wing. The pilot bailed out and the Oscar crashed into the sea.

Blue 1    Stern attack on an Oscar, closing to 50 yards, blew off most of the port wing and it crashed into the sea. Kate attacked from above and astern. Flames visible in cockpit and engine, and one of the crew bailed out. Made a head on attack on a Kate, pieces flew off the cowl and wings, claimed as damaged.

Blue 2    Fired a short burst with 15° deflection at Kate destroyed by Blue1.

Blue 3    Attacked an Oscar from above and behind but it evaded the first burst by skidding. My second burst covered the cockpit and port wing root. The third burst set the aircraft on fire and it crashed into the sea.

Blue 4    Saw Red 1 shoot down a Kate and Blue 1 shoot down an Oscar and Kate. Fired a short burst at a Kate that was already burning.

Yellow 1    Made a diving rear quarter attack closing to 80 yards on an Oscar. It caught fire on the first burst.

Yellow 2    Stern attack on an Oscar from 500 yards to 30/40 yards. The aircraft flamed and went into the sea. Made a stern attack on an Oscar, following him through evasive maneuvers, scoring hits on wing roots and fuselage. Green 4 joined in on the attack and with a full deflection shot hit the tailplane and the Oscar crashed into the sea.

Yellow 4    Fired a three second burst at an Oscar in a stall turn, scoring hits behind the cockpit, it crashed into the sea. Made a stern attack on an Oscar, firing two bursts, scored hits on an Oscar that disappeared into clouds. This one was later attacked by two Peters and crashed into the sea.

Green 1    Attacked Oscar, destroyed by Yellow 1, scoring hits in short burst. Second Oscar evaded an attack by half rolling and diving away. 15° rear attack made on an aircraft shot down by Blue 3. Some hits scored.

Green 2    Observed Red 1's attack on Kate, saw the aircraft hit the water.

Green 3    Observed aircraft shot down by Red 1 hit sea. With Blue 2 covering section at 7,000.

Green 4    Observed four aircraft hit the sea.

The enemy fighters only made two attacks on the Kittyhawks, in pairs from astern, but the Kittyhawks evaded them on diving. One Kate fired at Red 1 from the observer's position. The Kate's could turn inside the Kittyhawks but did not seem to know what to do when attacked from above. The Kate's color schemes were described as very dirty gray-green, dark green and dirty black, while the Oscar's were a dark brown or blotched brown. One was very worn with the natural metal showing through quite prominently. Cowley, White, Baker, Smith, Griffiths, and Barker were credited with Oscars, Griffiths also shared one with Blesing. The Kates were shot down by Osment and White. Damage credits went to White, a Kate, and Cowley, an Oscar. A twin engined bomber, probably a Lily, was seen heading west but it was not pursued. The Kittyhawk which was lost, A29-401, was piloted by F/S W.H. Harnden. He was last seen with two Oscars on his tail and was reported by the crew of a destroyer to have bailed out but his parachute failed to open.

The following journal was written by L.A.C W.L Burns R.A.A.F.   (copyright)

During the next three months the Squadron was preparing for overseas operations. Stores, aircraft and personnel were getting together. Training flights and maintenance were being carried out.

    F/Sgt. S. Smethurst was killed while on a training flight in aircraft A29-406. His aircraft crashed near Narellan, N.S.W.

October 28^th.1943 Was a closed camp in preparation for our embarkation. Trucks and stores left Camden at 6pm. October 29^th. to join a special train at Campbelltown, which took us to Glebe Island Wharf via Annandale and Pyrmont. We went aboard our ship named “Karsik” which was a small Dutch ship of some 3,000 tons.

October 30^th. We left the wharf early in the morning pulled out by the Tugboat “Gamecock” and made our way down the harbor under the bridge by 7:20am and through the heads Heads by 8:00am.

    Manly and Harbord beaches could be seen as we made our way north, escorted by 4 Corvettes, two in front of our ship and one on each side. Many Flying Fish and Porpoise could be seen with an occasional Whale, as our ship sailed on. Newcastle was sighted at about 4:00pm.

    During the evening we were issued with lifejackets, emergency rations, and a parcel from the A.C.F.

    We sailed on for a couple of days without seeing land, but an occasional plane would circle overhead to check us out.

November 2^nd. We arrived at Brisbane at about 4:00pm and a sick person was put ashore. (I think it was one of the crew). The ship received sealed orders, and sailed up the coast past the Glasshouse Mountains until darkness. Next morning we found that our convoy had increased in size, for there were many ships to be seen.

November 3^rd. Showers were set up on the deck of the ship using salt water pumped from the ocean, with the use of saltwater soap we managed to keep ourselves clean.

    During the evening a Musical Concert was held on the ship, and was very enjoyable.

    Jack Boothby and I became friendly with the Dutch Engineer who took us below deck to the engine room, and through the propeller shaft, which was very interesting. The engine was a triple expansion steam engine. (the same steam being used 3 times to drive the ship) We also had a go at shoveling coal into the furnaces.

November 4^th. The ocean became very, very rough, breaking over the ship from bow to stern, many of the fellows became sick, and had to stay down below deck.

November 5^th. We were now sailing through the lovely Whitsunday Islands, the scenery was beautiful, water was calm and dark blue.

    We finally arrived at our next port of call, Bowen, Queensland. The ship had to take on coal, so we were given leave for the day and night until 11:30pm. We were warned not to say anything about our movements, or where we came from. The Post Office was out of bounds so no letters could be sent home. To fill in the day I went swimming in the baths, and the picture theatre in the evening. I could still feel the motion of the ship on the shore.

November 7^th. We set sail again and at 5pm entered the port of Townsville but did not remain long.

    The ship received more sealed orders from a vessel sent from the shore. We left Townsville with a huge number of ships, I found out later from the engineer that our ship “Karsik” was the Flag Ship of the convoy.

    We sailed for a long time, and must have entered a cyclone for the sea became very rough breaking over the ship continuously from bow to stern causing it to pitch and roll. At times, one could not see the other ships of the convoy. The Corvettes were bobbing about like corks. They traveled up and down convoy hour after hour crossing in front of and behind our ships. Finally we arrived at Cairns, North Queensland, where some of the convoy remained.

    We left Cairns, and Australia sailing on to New Guinea, it took 2 days to reach Milne Bay, New Guinea. The bay was strewn with wrecks of ships and barges. We anchored and spent the night on deck.

    The land was very rugged, and it was raining, the clouds came down to edge of the water. From the mountains to the shore many waterfalls could be seen.

    We left the next morning, and during assembly were told that we were going for the most forward area of the operations instead of Woodlark Island. (our original destination)

    The Island we finally arrived at was Kiriwina Island, not before having a scare one night at sea. Our ship was being shadowed by what all thought to be a Japanese aircraft, but luckily for all it was a Catalina aircraft of our own side. We made the trip from Milne Bay to Kiriwina Island unescorted, so maybe the Catalina was checking us out.

November 13^th. We came ashore, set up camp, dug trenches etc. and settled in. Luckily we did this in fairly quick time, because before many days had passed the Japanese began bombing the Island at night. On one occasion there was a heavy bombing raid, the search-lights and Ack Ack picked them up, but the shells from the Ack Ack guns bursting overhead fell back onto our camp site causing some damage to the tents by tearing through them. Luckily our trenches were dug.

    The Squadron was now under the command of the American Fifth Airforce, which is part of No. 9 Operational Group, controlled by 73 Fighter Wing R.A.A.F.

November 13^th. to 17^th. Out aircraft did patrol and escort duties as well as bombing and strafing Japanese positions in the Ring Ring and Gasamata areas New Britain and around Kiriwina Island. All bombing by the Squadron was assessed as excellent, all bombs falling on target. The Squadron was later congratulated on their success of the Gasamata mission.

December 18^th. Aircraft A29-407 crashed on landing due to brake failure, causing the aircraft to run off the strip.

December 19^th. Top cover given to Vultee Vengeance aircraft of 24 Squadron, when an attack was made on a bridge over Anwek River and the Gasamata Strip. Aircraft A29-403 crashed on takeoff when the undercarriage collapsed.

December 20^th. Offensive sweeps were made from Roebuck Point to Cape Comoran and adjacent areas with success.

December 21^st. Top cover given to Boston Bombers from 22 Squadron on a bombing and strafing mission to the strip at Cape Hoskins. Later the same day our Squadron strafed aircraft, buildings, and radar installations on Cape Hoskins Strip silencing all Japanese defenses.

December 26^th. Offensive sweeps were carried out over New Britain, from Cape Hoskins to Labolau Island. Barges, bridges and buildings being strafed and bombed with success.

December 27^th. Similar missions were repeated from Cape Goltz to Lobolau Island.

December 28^th. to 31^st. Bad weather prevented any real activities, although an attempt was made to attack an enemy destroyer, this was later called off due to the bad weather.

January 1^st. 1944. Our aircraft scrambled to intercept enemy aircraft reported to be returning Rabaul, but no aircraft could be sighted.

January 2^nd. Offensive sweeps again made over northern and central New Britain, no enemy aircraft located but barges were strafed. This was the last operation carried out from Kiriwina Island.

    We left Kiriwina Island, thank goodness (being a coral island it was white and glarey) and the aircraft would stir up the coral dust whenever they took off or landed.

    Some of the trees on the island were of good size, but the humidity made our clothing in the kitbags mouldy, to help prevent this we had to air everything every day.

January 7^th. We left Kiriwina Island on the Liberty Ship “James D. Doty” for Lae, New Guinea. We arrived safely at 5:00pm January 8^th. 1944, and settled into a staging camp for the night.

January 10^th. With the ship unloaded, we left Lae at 10:00am for Nadzab in the Markham Valley, arriving at our camp site at approximately 12 noon.

    The camp site was more or less swap and Kunai Grass, infested with Scrub Typhus and rats, however we soon had it in order.

    The track form Lae to Nadzab was littered with wrecks of guns, trucks and destroyed planes. The valley itself has steep mountains on all sides, with ever hanging clouds, quite nice to look at.

January 13^th. The work never stopped upon arriving, setting up camp, servicing our aircraft, and doing everything that needed to be done in a forward area such as this.

    The Squadron was still with American Fifth Airforce but was now part of No. 10 Operational Group, under the control of 78 Fighter Wing R.A.A.F.

    The Squadron assisted the 7^th. Division A.I.F. by bombing and strafing the Japanese, down the Bogadjim Road and again at Shaggy Ridge. The Squadron made a sweep through the 7^th. Division A.I.F. area early in the morning but bad weather prevented any targets to be seen. Later the weather lifted allowing operations to continue. Japanese supply dumps were bombed at Erima Plantation south of Madang, all bombs falling in the target area.

    Erima Plantation was one of the most important enemy staging points for supplies and ammunition destined for the Ramu Valley areas through the Bogadjim Road.

January 14^th. The same mission was repeated to prevent supplies reaching the Sio District on the coast of the Huon Peninsula, where they could be transported by barge to Japanese depots. This was the first direct support the 7^th. Division had received from the air.

January 15^th. This morning, just after finishing breakfast we had our first strafing raid by the Japanese.

    They came across the mountains from the north of the valley at tree top level with guns blazing, you could see the pilots. We had no time to get to our trenches, so we just hit the ground and hoped for the best.

    They were after the American “Thunderbolt” aircraft on the strip that had arrived the day before. The raid damaged quite a few of the aircraft, however 3 planes were shot down by our Ack Ack and 1 was blowing smoke as it headed up the valley.

    George Harrison dived into a cement mixer and hurt his knee when Corporal Littlehales pulled him out. George was our only casualty for that morning, and after this he was called “The Mouse”.

    We set off for our strip which was about half a mile from our camp site to put up our aircraft in case of more action, but it must have been a hit and run raid as no more enemy aircraft could be found. Later that evening we could hear bombs being dropped some distance away, and was placed on “Red Alert”.

I will be adding more information in the near future about 78 SQN.