merely been dodging the return fire, for his Type 96 fighter was not damaged. Ironically, he believed he had fatally damaged the Catalina, which plunged toward the water. He was credited with a victory, the first of many attributed to the rail-thin, often sickly pilot who would eventually become one of the Imperial Navy’s greatest aces.
Hemsworth and his crew were far from finished. Nishizawa’s gunfire had hit the port propeller, disabling the engine, but Hemsworth used a few tricks of his own to escape. A former commercial pilot with many years of experience, he rolled the heavy seaplane into a steep dive while simultaneously feathering the damaged propeller. Leveling off at minimal altitude, he exited Simpson Harbor in the darkness on one engine.
Throughout the night, Hemsworth held the damaged Catalina aloft, the miles and the hours crawling by while raw fuel leaked into the bilges from bullet holes in the wing tanks. When he reached the Huon Gulf, Hemsworth made a flawless nighttime water landing off Salamaua so that the crew could make temporary repairs to the damaged propeller. At dawn Hemsworth took off using both engines, after which he feathered the bad prop for the remainder of the journey. He could not cross the Owen Stanley Mountains on one engine, so once again he flew the long way around the Papuan Peninsula, this time at an altitude of only fifty feet. Finally, more than twenty-five hours after starting the mission, Hemsworth landed the bullet-riddled Catalina in the harbor at Port Moresby.
LAND-BASED NAVY FIGHTERS also caused trouble for one of the first RAAF reconnaissance missions over Rabaul. On February 6, Flt. Lt. David W. I. Campbell and his crew from 32 Squadron crossed Simpson Harbor at ten thousand feet and noted a fighter taking off from Lakunai. Only four minutes later the enemy aircraft reached the Hudson’s altitude and commenced a gunnery attack. The agile fighter, undoubtedly a Zero, raked the Hudson with machine gun bullets and cannon fire. One shell exploded among a stack of sea markers, polluting the cabin with a silvery cloud of metallic powder; another detonated in the cockpit, severing the little finger from Campbell’s left hand and smashing his wrist. Shrapnel from the same shell also badly injured the copilot, fracturing bones in his left leg and arm and wounding his right hand. In the dorsal turret, Sgt. Geoffrey A. O’Hea returned fire but was himself wounded in the left leg. The only crewmember not injured was Sgt. Gordon Thomson, a twenty-one-year-old native of Manchester, England. Moving from position to position inside the fuselage, he administered first aid to the wounded men and helped Campbell fly the damaged plane. The latter, despite terrible pain and heavy loss of blood, remained at the controls for another three hours before landing safely at Port Moresby. Campbell was later awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross, and Thomson earned a Distinguished Flying Medal.
THE BUILDUP OF air power at Rabaul gained momentum with the arrival of the 24th Air Flotilla, commanded by Rear Adm. Eiji Goto, at the end of January. The transfer of his headquarters from Truk was timed to coincide with the deployment of the Yokohama Air Group, whose fourteen Kawanishi flying boats occupied the former RAAF seaplane facility near Sulphur Creek.
Goto went on the offensive almost immediately. On the night of February 2-3, six flying boats conducted the first attack on Port Moresby. The huge seaplanes dropped twenty-one bombs on Seven Mile airdrome, killing an Australian sergeant but otherwise causing little material damage. Two nights later, nine flying boats bombed the town itself, demolishing a house and two commercial buildings. The Australians, with no fighters and only a few antiaircraft guns, quickly realized that Port Moresby was virtually defenseless.
Meanwhile, less than a week after Goto commenced his bombing campaign, a small flotilla of vessels departed Simpson Harbor and sailed
Hemsworth and his crew were far from finished. Nishizawa’s gunfire had hit the port propeller, disabling the engine, but Hemsworth used a few tricks of his own to escape. A former commercial pilot with many years of experience, he rolled the heavy seaplane into a steep dive while simultaneously feathering the damaged propeller. Leveling off at minimal altitude, he exited Simpson Harbor in the darkness on one engine.
Throughout the night, Hemsworth held the damaged Catalina aloft, the miles and the hours crawling by while raw fuel leaked into the bilges from bullet holes in the wing tanks. When he reached the Huon Gulf, Hemsworth made a flawless nighttime water landing off Salamaua so that the crew could make temporary repairs to the damaged propeller. At dawn Hemsworth took off using both engines, after which he feathered the bad prop for the remainder of the journey. He could not cross the Owen Stanley Mountains on one engine, so once again he flew the long way around the Papuan Peninsula, this time at an altitude of only fifty feet. Finally, more than twenty-five hours after starting the mission, Hemsworth landed the bullet-riddled Catalina in the harbor at Port Moresby.
LAND-BASED NAVY FIGHTERS also caused trouble for one of the first RAAF reconnaissance missions over Rabaul. On February 6, Flt. Lt. David W. I. Campbell and his crew from 32 Squadron crossed Simpson Harbor at ten thousand feet and noted a fighter taking off from Lakunai. Only four minutes later the enemy aircraft reached the Hudson’s altitude and commenced a gunnery attack. The agile fighter, undoubtedly a Zero, raked the Hudson with machine gun bullets and cannon fire. One shell exploded among a stack of sea markers, polluting the cabin with a silvery cloud of metallic powder; another detonated in the cockpit, severing the little finger from Campbell’s left hand and smashing his wrist. Shrapnel from the same shell also badly injured the copilot, fracturing bones in his left leg and arm and wounding his right hand. In the dorsal turret, Sgt. Geoffrey A. O’Hea returned fire but was himself wounded in the left leg. The only crewmember not injured was Sgt. Gordon Thomson, a twenty-one-year-old native of Manchester, England. Moving from position to position inside the fuselage, he administered first aid to the wounded men and helped Campbell fly the damaged plane. The latter, despite terrible pain and heavy loss of blood, remained at the controls for another three hours before landing safely at Port Moresby. Campbell was later awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross, and Thomson earned a Distinguished Flying Medal.
THE BUILDUP OF air power at Rabaul gained momentum with the arrival of the 24th Air Flotilla, commanded by Rear Adm. Eiji Goto, at the end of January. The transfer of his headquarters from Truk was timed to coincide with the deployment of the Yokohama Air Group, whose fourteen Kawanishi flying boats occupied the former RAAF seaplane facility near Sulphur Creek.
Goto went on the offensive almost immediately. On the night of February 2-3, six flying boats conducted the first attack on Port Moresby. The huge seaplanes dropped twenty-one bombs on Seven Mile airdrome, killing an Australian sergeant but otherwise causing little material damage. Two nights later, nine flying boats bombed the town itself, demolishing a house and two commercial buildings. The Australians, with no fighters and only a few antiaircraft guns, quickly realized that Port Moresby was virtually defenseless.
Meanwhile, less than a week after Goto commenced his bombing campaign, a small flotilla of vessels departed Simpson Harbor and sailed
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