Kyro flew a P-39 "Sisu" (Finnish for guts) with the 41st Fighter Squadron. He flew this mission against a Japanese gun emplacement in Shaggy Ridge. This was the only know mission in New Guinea when the P-39 used as dive bomber.

Dive Bombing Mission to Shaggy Ridge
"We had another interesting mission that I noticed in Forgotten Fifth, A flight of P-39's from Tsilli-Tsilli had been given an order to dive-bomb a Japanese gun position that was given Australian ground troops some difficulty in the Finesterre mountains. I was on that mission. It was interesting.

The bomb rack on the P-39 was used to carry belly tanks, we had never had any dive bombing missions - only strafing missions. When ever we went down close to the enemy, we would drop our belly tank. In this case, we were asked to follow an Australian reconnaissance airplane, a Wirraway, something like our T-6, and he was going to point out this gun emplacement was giving the Australian Army a real tough time.

The wirraway dived at this canopy of trees, and we could not see anything down there. We got into a rotating pattern, taking terms to dive bomb the area, and we did.

A day or so later, we got a message that we had silenced the gun! And the Aussie commander wanted to present our command with a sword. But, we had no way of getting the sword, so we never did. The history mentions liquor being distributed as a gift to the squadron from the Aussies, I never got any of that liquor!"

Biography of William Arvi Kyro (Kyro's father)