Pilot  PO1 Misao Sugii
Crew  ? (KIA)
Crew ? (WIA)
Ditched  May 7, 1942

Aircraft History
Built in February 1942 at Mitsubishi Nagoya No.3 Works.

Mission History
One of twelve Bettys that took off from Rabaul during the Battle of the Coral Sea. This bomber was flying the last position of the formation (no. 2 of 2 position of 3rd Shotai in 2nd Chutai).

At 3:06pm, they attacked Admiral Crace's task force with torpedoes at 1,000 and 1,500 yards, then machine gunned the ships. Timely and skillful handling enabled HMAS Australia to avoid two torpedoes which passed particularly close, and USS Chicago avoided three well-aimed torpedoes. Three Bettys were lost over the target, including leader Lt. Kuniharu Kobayashi commanding the lead bomber.

The six remaining aircraft returned to Vunakanau Airfield, five with damage. On the return flight, one force landed at Lae Airfield, and this bomber ditched at Deboyne Lagoon, off Panaeati Island. Aboard was one crewman dead and another seriously wounded.

Wreckage
In July 1942, an Australian Technical Reconnaissance Party investigated the lagoon and photographed wreckage. Likely, they salvaged the aircraft to nearby Panaeati Island, and removed parts for study.

Today, only the center section wreckage remains on the beach.

References
Mitsubishi Type 1 Rikko "Betty" Units of World War 2
Royal Australian Navy, 1942-1945 vol. II (1st edition, 1968) G. Hermon Gill, mentions this attack:
"Admiral Crace continued towards the China Strait to ensure being to the westward of enemy vessels which might proceed south through the Louisiade Archipelago. Twenty-six minutes later, at 3:06 pm, the first attack on the force was made by twelve two-engined land-based navy bombers . It was 'most determined but fortunately badly delivered'. Torpedoes were dropped at ranges of between 1,000 and 1,500 yards, after which the aircraft flew on and fired on the ships with machine-guns and cannon. Timely and skillful handling enabled "Australia" to avoid two torpedoes which passed particularly close, and "Chicago" also cleverly avoided three well-aimed torpedoes. Five of the aircraft were shot down [Lundstrom notes in The First Team (p 262) that four were lost (+ one ditched at Deboyne? ER)]. ["The Campaigns of the Pacific War" (p. 53) says 10 of the torpedo aircraft were shot down, and quotes the war diary of 25th Air Flotilla as one of its sources.]

A few minutes after this attack, at 3.16 p.m., 19 heavy bombers attacked Australia from astern and up sun at a height of about 18,000 feet. Bombing was accurate. Some twenty 500-lb bombs, and several smaller, were dropped in a pattern with a spread of 500 yards, and the flagship was straddled in all directions, with her upper decks drenched with spray, though only superficial damage was suffered from bomb fragments. Casualties in the squadron as a result of these attacks were two fatally wounded in Chicago, and seven others slightly injured. These aircraft had only just gone when three more, flying at 25,000 feet, dropped bombs close to Perkins.

Crace later reported:
"It was subsequently discovered that these aircraft were U .S. Army B-26 from Townsville, and they were good enough to photograph Task Group 17.3 a few seconds after "bomb release", thus proving beyond all doubt that they had attacked their own ships. Fortunately their bombing, in comparison with that of the Japanese formation a few moments earlier, was disgraceful!" p. 49-50 [ Crace complained to Leary about the attack, and Leary replied that he had plans to improve army recognition of naval vessels. But the army air commander under General MacArthur insisted that there had been no bombing of Crace's force, declined the plans and prohibited further discussion of the matter. (Morrison, vol IV, p. 39.]"

Thanks to Alfred Weinzierl, John Douglas, Jim Lansdale, Osamu Tagaya, Bill Bartsch and Edward Rogers for additional information.

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Betty

S 10 42
E 152 23

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