GUADALCANAL ...

[Digger]

Island of Fire has the 67th arriving 9 or 10 August IIRC.
Plenty of Photographic evidence as well, P-39's a plenty on Lady in the early days, how did they get there?
only one way, long range flying aka belly tanks or as Bell liked to call them centre line tanks.

Last edited by Digger on Fri Aug 08, 2014 6:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[mike furline]

Island of Fire has the 67th arriving 2 or 2 August IIRC.
Plenty of Photographic evidence as well, P-39's a plenty on Lady in the early days, how did they get there?
only one way, long range flying aka belly tanks or as Bell liked to call them centre line tanks.

When you say P-39's, do you mean P-400's?

[Mark Allen M]

Island of Fire has the 67th arriving 2 or 2 August IIRC.
Plenty of Photographic evidence as well, P-39's a plenty on Lady in the early days, how did they get there?
only one way, long range flying aka belly tanks or as Bell liked to call them centre line tanks.

2 August, 1942? How does that happen when US Marines didn't land on the island until 7 August, 1942. Henderson Field was very much in Japanese hands up until at least 6 August, 1942. Are your referring to somewhere else on the island that P-39's/P-400's could have landed? News to me. Not saying it didn't happen just never heard of it until now. There's no question P-39's/P-400"s were assigned to Guadalcanal and yes there are plenty of photos around, but not too sure the date you refer to. Hmm! interesting indeed.

[Digger]

Sorry I meant 9 or 10, typo, was getting late.....

was both P-39D's and P-400's with no loses enroute. Some mechanical issues in Santo with one a/c left behind but the remaining

7 a/c completed the trip touching down while fighting around the strip - which was not called Henderson until later - the P-39's were

put into combat almost immediately providing ground support with their cannons proving very accurate and destructive on the enemy.

[Mark Allen M]

Thanks Peter, those dates sound more logical. I shall need to do a bit of research to see what there may be on P-39's operating in and out of Guadalcanal. Interesting indeed.
Below is a P-40F with either the 44th or 68th FS, 13th AF which operated out of Guadalcanal in June 1943. Apparently the P-40F's were rather uncommon for the area? Notice the bullet hole (or possibly a vent?) Source Charlie Flick US Militaria forum

[Digger]

My Pleasure Mark

great pics and great debate.

I am biased in regards to the P-39 and the major contribution it made to the war in the Pacific. Another fan once described the early days of the war like this

"all the yanks had were workhorses, the Cobra's and early Hawks, these had to hold the Japanese until all efforts could be combined, by the time the popular aircraft
arrived most of the work was done". Historically he was correct, the P-39 with all its faults has been the unsung hero of the Pacific war. The Russians proved that and quite ironically the Pacific war was not a high altitude war, well not like the ETO.

If you look at most of the early aces in the SWP, they scored their earlier kills or some cases became aces on the earlier birds. My P-39D was used in the pre war games. She came to grief before she could get to the Canal. In any case her sister ships made it and helped stop the Japanese by destroying supply barges, troop landing vessels etc etc. The air combat over the canal was equally important at both high and low level.

[Tom Moungovan]

Just down the road past the Lunga Powerhouse and school on the Canal, there's a little museum called Beticama. On the property is an SBD and a P-39 or P-400.

What was written about the Bell's contribution there is correct. During Bloody Ridge, a major Japanese offensive to take Henderson Field, the Marines were in danger of being over run at one spot. A call went out to the airfield and a few of the mid-engined machines took to the air and were able to strafe and kill several hundred of the enemy. This served to blunt the effort and subdue the battle.

[Digger]

Very True but lets not forget the one special thing about the P-39.

whenever it rained the airfield usually became a bog that grounded most other types for take off, but not the mighty P-39, she was specifically
designed to operate in rough conditions and flew many missions while all others sat redundant on the ground.

[Mark Allen M]

Peter I wonder if a few of these P-39's may have been with the group you stated were first to arrive on Guadalcanal. Fascinating to hear about this bit of Guadalcanal history. I've had these photos for a good while and cannot recall where I found them. Sorry folks no source to post.


USAAF P-39 Bell Airacobra being unpacked and assembled at Amberley in March 1942


USAAF P-39 Bell Airacobra being unpacked and assembled at Amberley in March 1942


USAAF P-39 Bell Airacobra being unpacked and assembled at Amberley in March 1942


Photo states P-39's at Townsville Dec 4, 1942


Photo states P-39 under repair with the 29th air service group May 1942

[gemmer]

I believe the P-400s/P-39s that went to Guadalcanal were assembled in New Caledonia.
The P-39 in the foreground of the second pic is a P-39F and to my knowledge, there were no P-39Fs at Cactus. The a/c in the fourth pic is a P-400.

Duane

[Invader26]

My father was a flight fitter in the RAAF and helped assemble those aircraft [along with P-40's] at No 3 Aircraft Depot [3AD] at Amberley...He also worked on A-20's/B-25's [gun nose conversions]

[Digger]

gemmer is correct, first P-39's to land at the canal came via New Caledonia and or Christmas Island via the New Hebrides.

Another little tid bit about the P-39's operating out of Santo was that when assemble either in New Caledonia or Christmas Island many still retained the pre war markings of yellow and red crosses and nose bands. This was a key clue for myself in locating the crash site of our P-39 as the nose was still on site and retained the red band and red cross.

Amberley is a very interesting piece of Australia war effort, if you notice in some of the pics the mismatch of parts on some aircraft. This was because some a/c were damaged in the unpacking process and so became a source of spares, hence the different colour door on the N marked Cobra in Townsville. As a side issue, its probably a good chance that some of these aircraft ended their days in the Queensland bush or costal waters as the coastline north of Townsville became known as the cobra coast with many wrecks still to be found, although some efforts have been made to recover what pieces can be used again, many relics lay where they crashed or landed when lost and out of fuel.