history · 21 May 1943 · 81 years ago
4 US B-17 bombers attacked Vunakanau Airfield and Rapopo Airfield at Rabaul, New Britain. Pilot Senior Flight Petty Officer Shigetoshi Kudo and observer Lieutenant (jg) Akira Sugawara, in the J1N reconnaissance aircraft equipped with experimental aerial burst bomb launchers, shot down B-17E bomber "Honi Kuu Okole" (Major Paul Williams) and a unnamed B-17F bomber (Captain Joseph Geddes); it was this particular J1N aircraft's first combat.
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