history · 17 October 1943 · 82 years ago
US Marine Corps squadrons VMF-214 and VMF-221 conducted a fighter sweep over Kahili Airfield on Bougainville island in the morning. More than 30 A6M fighters of Japanese Navy Air Group 201 rose to defend. VMF-214 pilots would claim 9 Japanese aircraft shot down, while VMF-221 claimed 2; Japanese records would later reveal that only 2 aircraft were lost on this day. The Japanese pilots claimed 3 US aircraft shot down, but the Americans only suffered 2 aircraft lightly damaged and 1 aircraft heavily damaged and written off after its return.
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