October 5, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

MONDAY, 5 OCTOBER 1942

(11th Air Force): Six B-24s, three P-38s and three P-39s abort a bombing, weather, and photo mission over Kiska due to weather.

INDIA AIR TASK FORCE (IATF): The 9th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy) returns to Karachi from Lydda, Palestine.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): B-25s attack a convoy off Buna, lost is B-25D "Battlin' Biffie" 41-29701; A-20s hit AA positions at Sanananda Point and bomb the village of Sanananda; B-17s bomb airfields at Buna. Six B-17s bomb Vunakanau Airfield and are intercepted by Zeros. Several are damaged. Lost is B-17E Flying Fortress 41-9196 (MIA).

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA: B-17F "Aztec's Curse" 41-24457 bombs Gizo on Ghizo Island.

USN: The Buin-Faisi-Tonolai Raid. USS Hornet (CV-8) carrier planes strike Buin-Tonolei and the Shortland-Faisi area. F4F Wildcat piloted by Lt. Cdr. H. G. Sanchez and F4F Wildcat Lt(jg) W. V. Roberts Jr. escort SBD Dauntless from Henderson Field and TBD Devastators on a mission to bomb Japanese shipping in Tonolei Harbor then flew 20 miles south to Faisi in the Shortland Islands where they strafed two lines of Type 97 / H6K5 Mavis flying boats moored in Tuha Channel at Shortland Harbor Seaplane Base. Sanchez estimated there were ten and they claimed four destroyed. He noted they did not burn and speculated they had not been fueled. Less than an hour later, the main strike by TBF Avengers arrives and destroyed or damaged a number of ships in Shortland Harbor and were intercepted by up to eleven Type 2 floatplanes / A6M2 Rufes but either due to bad weather or good fortune very few were able to engage the Avengers with none lost.

SBD dive bombers from VS-3, VS-71 and VMSB-141 from Henderson Field target a Japanese convoy and damage destroyers Minegumo and Murasame 150 miles off Guadalcanal.

IJN: Two U.S. Navy carrier planes strike Shortland Harbor Seaplane Base, strafing attacks result in the loss of three badly damaged Type 97 / H6K5 and a single Type 0 / E13A Jake destroyed.

PBY Catlina sinks Japanese submarine I-22 near Indispensable Strait, Solomons. USS Trigger (SS-237) damages Japanese transport Shinkoku Maru, 31°40'N, 142°06'E.

U.S. tanker Camden, torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-25 the previous day and abandoned, is taken in tow by tug Kenai see 10 October 1942).

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): C-47 Skytrains from 21st Troop Carrier Squadron (21st TCS) and 22nd Troop Carrier Squadron (22nd TCS) begin the air lift of Australian Army Australian Army 2/10 Battalion, 18 Brigade plus U.S. Army engineers and anti-aircraft gunners from Milne Bay to Wanigela Airfield.