| Show 1 ff l- l lM M I j t f witness witness Story S SI I Jap Planes l Downed ino in l I r rL L I o Clash as I I m S. S Won Biggest Air Victory of Wart Wars War s t t Guadalcanal on August 24 Nip Craft Destroyed in 10 Minutes AKK RK LEE LEET I 1 T SEA WITH THE U. U S. S FLEET OFF THE SOLOMONS c- c Dela Delayed ed UP Three more American naval pilots fought way ay into the winged circle of aces today as the United States gs biggest air victory of the war against Japan six r six nety-six enemy planes were downed in a flung far battle Slover over Guadalcanal island and at sea over our task sk force seven c of the enemy were shot down by navy fliers 21 1 s and army pilots and by antiaircraft i I Our losses were eight I ing three bf whom hom annes y plane losses in the two- two 1 e of Midway were esti- esti at t BOO OO most of which made landings on the water but s was the greatest number ot down by our planes and andt t til tal 1 bag was nearly as big bigGerman German erman losses in a single I ring the battle of Britain nemy now has lost more moreo 10 o planes in the battle of since August 7 Day ay for U. U S. S as as a field day for our pilots t Ur tir dive-bombers dive and torpedo mixed it successfully with T emy my the former bagging latter one feature of w ii encouraging Itle itie was that Japanese pilots 3 inferior to those 14 ious lOUS flights over the Pacific i. i Ir planes continued to show t funeral pyre traits j 19 into flames and crashing Lit t t by even a few bullets ching ng from the ships ship's bridge ur fighter lighter pilots shoot down mes ines and antiaircraft downe down lur fore e in an packed action-packed 10 es as they broke up an 80 SO- Con Continued nu d on Page Paje Two Column One t 96 Jap Planes Downed In Solomons Solo Battle r Continued from tram Page Pae One plane enemy formation attacking our ships five Fifty-five enemy planes plane s plunged into int the water trailing g l long plumes of ot smoke or exploded or or disintegrated in midair Setting the pace for tor our navy fighting pilots were Machinist Donal E. E Runyan 29 Crawfordsville Crawfordsville Crawfords- Crawfords ville Ind whose wife now lives in La Jolla CaL Ca Lieutenant H. H M. M Jensen St. St Paul Minn and Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieu Lieu- tenant J. J G. G Carlton Starkes whose wife lives in Memphis Tenn Each brought his total number of ot plane victims to five which constitutes constitutes constitutes con con- an ace ranking Runyan was credited with four Japs today bringing his total to which eight eight which was believed to have made him the navys navy's top ranking combat pilot Starkes and Jensen i each total six Runyan's story of ot fight follows I led my division into the Jap dive-bombers dive 1 10 miles mUes from the ship I saw at a aleast least 50 enemy planes in four grou groups s escorted by 12 12 type 00 navy fighters Describes Air Battle I went in after the tail man man in inthe inthe the first group of ot Japs He went down flaming Then Zeros hopped me from above but I kept on after the dive I figured I had to get them if possible before they reached the ship The Zeros m made de several passes at me but I stuck on the dive dive bombers bombers and sent another another another an an- other down in flames By this time the Japs were stringing out into a a. line Une to dive While I was shooting down the second dive-bomber dive two Zeros goton goton got goton on me and we tangled in a dog dog- fight I lined up one and shot He exploded in my The other Zeros Zero's bullets were whizzing past and I spun down to feet Dive-bombers Dive were plunging past me and I got on one and dove with him He fell off flaming I got a shot at one more Zero before the fight ended and he dove toward the water smoking But Buthe he didn't crash and might have reached home I Downed 27 Planes While I was attacking the bombers others were hitting them too and they were f falling off behind be be- behind hind me one after another Our squadron got a total of 27 enemy planes and we lost one pilot Except for the other fellows in my division Id I'd have been in the drink many days ago Our division division divi divi- sion got a total of nine planes to to- to day Runyan n shot shor dow down two enemy dive bombers over Guadalcanal on on August 7 and one torpedo bomber and one Zero the following day y 1 Nv 1 j i Lieutenant Louis ouis Bauer Phila Phila- delphia captain capt ln of Runyan's squadron got got kot ofie bomber div dive bomber in today's fight ng on him after a a dive and sending him crashing into the sea in flames He also ran a a. Z Zero ro into the sea after another pilot had punctured its gas tanks Lieutenants Jensen and Starkes who got three each in the Guadalcanal Guadalcanal Guadalcanal Guadal Guadal- canal battle attIe of August 7 repeated those performances today Jensen with Starkes as wingman jumped the group of ot Jap dive bombers behind the squadron that Runyan hit Jensen had this Ten Zeros were up there when n we hit the dive bombers after r diving feet onto them The Th e Japs were in a tight V formation I hit the tail tall man on the right t of the V In the first pass and in inthe inthe i ithe n the same pass hit the last plane plan e on the left Both of them burst burs t into flames one exploding right t In front of StarKes who had t to o leap leapfrog over the burning plane The Japs strung into line and andI I stayed behind and worked them over one after another The rear rea r seat man was firing but caused me no trouble One more mor fell flaming and I was directly behind another when I saw tracers whizzing whizzing whizzing whiz whiz- zing past from Zeros behind me I dived to where I blacked out in the pull The battle was almost over by then Always Good Pickings This is Lieutenant Starkes' Starkes story I T r followed Jensen onto the dive bombers and saw him knock two off easily That's one thing about Jens He always leads you to where theres there's good pickings I 1 m made de runs on on dive bombers I and got one on my fourth pass and another on my fifth I saw sawa a aZero Zero on another Grumman's tail and raced over and got on the Zeros Zero's tail I held the trigger down and saw the Zero fly into my bullets He caught fire and andell fell ell into the sea Then an another Zero jumped me and I got down to the water fast The Thee third pilot in Jensens Jensen's division division divi divi- division sion Ensign John Kleinmann Kissimmee Fla got two dive bombers Destro Destroyed ed Two Japs Ensign F. F R. R Cash Register of Bismarck N. N D D. said I r think Im I'm the guy whose tail Starkes got the Zero off of if you get what I mean Before that I shot down a couple of Japs myself myself myself my my- self at the beginning of the fight I caught a Zero in a climb He dived from to feet with me behind and the pilot was gradually losing control although the he plane was not burning At the pilot jumped although although al- al though hough he had no parachute as far faras faras faras as I saw I went back upstairs and saw sawa a Japanese sitting sit sit- ting ing all by itself It must have been een a big shot watching the battle battle bat- bat tle le or a photo plane My tracers clipped through his engine and he spun in flames Saved by U. U S. S Flier My guns were empty and two Zeros jumped me I turned into one and bluffed him into running away The other got on my tail and was shooting me when Starkes got him off Ensigns Ensigns' Mark ark High Pock Pockets ts Bright Anderson Ing Inq and JI Harry rry March Jr Washington D D. C. C Were among four American pilots who shot down eight Japanese torpedo planes March related It took us quite a while to get them hem About three minutes I think They were flying very close to the he water so close that one of ot our pilots pilots chased One into the sea sea sea- just flew right down on top of him ilm and the Jap flew lower and crashed into the water We shot down the rest |
