MacArthur's Grim Reapers Stormtroopers - Lae to Rabaul
Stormtroopers MacArthur "Grim Reapers"
After the Pacific War broke out in December 1941, most of the US air force stationed there was defeated in the battles for the Philippines and Java. At the time, new units were hastily imported from the United States to stop the Japanese expansion towards Australia. One of these was the 3rd Assault Group, which eventually gained the meaningful nickname of the "Grim Reapers".
The traditions of the creation of the 3rd assault group date back to 1918. For most of the interwar period, it was called the Third Assault Group, and although it was formally renamed the "bomb group" in 1939, in practice it remained an assault group. Three squadrons of the formation (13th, 89th and 90th BS) were trained on A-20 Havoc aircraft, and the fourth (8th BS) on A-24 Banshee, a military version of the US Navy SBD Dauntless dive bomber. Aviation.
In the chaos of the first weeks of the war, it was decided to throw the 3rd assault group into battle in the Pacific Ocean, but without most of the aircraft (all A-20s were stopped in the country where they were supposed to patrol the coast in search of enemy submarines) and without senior officers (who were to be used to form a new unit). So when the future Grim Reapers arrived in Australia at the end of February 1942, they brought only a dozen A-24s with them, and the most senior officer was a lieutenant. On the spot, their aircraft were commanded by Colonel John Davis, the commander of the destroyed 27th bomber group, which lost its A-24s in the battles for Java. Shortly thereafter, Davis took over the entire 3rd Assault Group, with his officers taking command positions in three (of the unit's four constituent) squadrons.
The worst news came from New Guinea. In March, the Japanese captured the bases at Lae and Salamaua. Only the Stanley Owen Mountains separated them from Port Moresby, the last Allied outpost north of Australia. Colonel Davis grouped all A-24s into one squadron (8th BS) and threw them into the battle for New Guinea. The 3rd Assault Group made its first sortie on April 1, 1942, flying six A-24s, dropping a modest five bombs on the Japanese base at Salamaua.
On the same day, Colonel Davis received (according to another version of events, appropriated) brand new Mitchell B-25Cs intended for the Dutch aviation, with which he equipped two squadrons (13th and 90th BS). A few days later, on April 6, 1942, he led six aircraft in a raid on the Gasmata airfield on the south coast of New Britain. It was, in fact, the first sortie in the history of the B-25. Since the distance from Port Moresby to the target was 800 miles (nearly 1300 km) in both directions, the planes took only four three-hundred-pound bombs, but still managed to destroy 30 Japanese bombers on the ground.
During the campaign in Java (February 1942), Davis met a man named Paul Gunn, a man of legend. The former US Navy mechanic, pilot and flight instructor was 42 when the outbreak of the Pacific War found him in the Philippines, where he worked as a private airline pilot. The US Army immediately confiscated the three C-45 Beechcraft he had flown and placed him in their ranks as a captain. Over the following weeks, Gunn, known as Pappy due to his age, made daring flights in an unarmed Beechcraft, evacuating military personnel from the Philippines. When a Japanese fighter jet shot him down over Mindanao, he arrived at Del Monte Airfield, where, with the help of a team of mechanics, he repaired a damaged B-17 bomber that he used to evacuate them to Australia.
rescue from captivity.
When Davis became commander of the 3rd assault group, Gunn made an attempt to increase the combat potential of the A-20 Havoc aircraft, on which the fourth squadron of this unit, the 89th BS, was re-equipped. Donald Hall, then a squadron leader, recalled: “Our aircraft were equipped with four 0,3-inch [7,62 mm] straight-line machine guns, so we had relatively little firepower. However, the most serious limitation at this stage was the short range of the A-20. The situation changed significantly when a 450 gallon fuel tank was installed in front of the bomb bay. To compensate for the reduction in bomb load caused by the fuel tank taking up space for them, "Pappy" Gunn converted the A-20 into a true attack aircraft, additionally installing four half-inch [12,7 mm] machine guns in the nose. plane, in the place where the scorer used to sit. So the first streifer was created, as this type of aircraft was called in English (from the word strafe - to shoot). In the initial period, Gunn upgraded modified A-1 rifles dismantled from decrepit P-20 fighters.
Before the A-20 went into battle, on April 12-13, 1942, "Pappy" Gunn took part in the 13th and 90th BS expeditions to the Philippines. Operating from Mindanao, ten Mitchells from both squadrons bombed Japanese cargo ships in Cebu harbor for two days (two were sunk) before being forced to retreat. In the end, General George Kenny - the new commander of the US 5th Air Force - impressed by the modifications that Gunn made to the aircraft of the attack group 3, appointed him to his headquarters.
Meanwhile, Mitchelle 13th and 90th BS, after returning from the Philippines to Charters Towers in northern Australia, attacked Japanese bases in New Guinea over the next months (refueling at Port Moresby along the way). Both squadrons suffered heavy losses - the first on 24 April. On this day, three crews of the 90th BS left for Port Moresby, from where they were supposed to attack Lae the next day. Having reached the coast of New Guinea, they lost their bearings. At dusk, when they ran out of fuel, they dropped their bombs into the sea and launched it near Mariawate. Some bombs got stuck in the bomb bay of the Nitemare Tojo piloted by 3rd Lieutenant. William Barker and the plane exploded as soon as it hit the water. The crews of the other two vehicles (“Chattanooga Choo Choo” and “Salvo Sadie”) returned to Chartres Towers the following month after many adventures. Later, several aircraft of the XNUMX attack group and their crews were lost during solo reconnaissance flights on the other side of the Stanley Owen Mountains, crashing into the jungle due to notoriously severe weather conditions or becoming victims of enemy fighters.
