USAAF
5th AF
8th FG
36th FS
H Sakaguchi 2004
Ditched May 17, 1942
Mission History
Took off from 7-Mile Drome to intercept A6M2 Zeros of the Tainan Kokutai attacking Port Moresby.
Bland fired into the side of one of the Zeros, and saw his traces enter the
enemy's engine and fuselage.
He was then fired on by another Zero, and his engine failed, forcing him to land into the sea off Pyramid Point, across from Bootless Bay, 100-150m from shore, in 1m of water, nosing over in the crash. The pilot was wounded when his head struck the gun site. Villagers picked him up and returned him to base at 7-Mile. The machine guns were salvaged during the war, but the 37mm canon was abandoned.
Wreckage
Wreckage includes
the engine, wing and portions of the nose, including 30 caliber
gun
tubes.
Harumi Sakaguchi
dived the wreck in 2004:
"The engine was still
there on the engine not having been souvenired by divers. My
guess, is that the plane came back from a mission or training;
about to land; but something prevented it from completing normal
landing and the plane ditched. What
was interesting was that way the engine was found, the plate
was upside down."
References
36th FS History, Frame 418
Thanks to Edward Rogers for Bland's mission report
P-39
Mission Report
