June 26, 1943
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

SATURDAY, 26 JUNE 1943

ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force) Sixteen bombers and 28 fighters fly 7 attack, weather reconnaissance and photo missions to Kiska and Little Kiska, starting fires. Intense machine gun fire damages four P-38's.

SOUTH PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Thirteenth Air Force) During the night of 25/26 Jun, B-24's pound on Ballale Airfield and bomb the Poporang-Buin-Faisi area. P-38's strafe the Rekata Bay area.

U.S. Army: MacKechnie Force, now assembled at Morobe where supplies have been amassed, starts movement by water to staging area at Mageri Point, 15 miles northwest of Morobe, in preparation for amphibious assault on Nassau Bay.

USN: Laid down at Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation is Liberty Ship SS George H. Himes.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Fifth Air Force) During the predawn and early morning hours, nine B-17s and four B-24s from 43rd BG bomb the Rabaul area including Vunakanau Airfield and harbor and Lae. Over the target, J1N1 Gekko (Irving) night fighter pilot Shigetoshi Kudo shot down B-17F "Taxpayers Pride" 41-24448 pilot Captain Donald D. McEachran (MIA, one survived) crashed near Mount Varzin and B-17E "Naughty But Nice" 41-2430 pilot 1st Lt. William J. Sarsfield, Jr. (MIA, one survived) crashed in the Baining Mountains. Midday, B-25's hit Lae Airfeild and Salamaua town. In the early evening B-25's bomb Penfoei. Lost is F-4 Lightning 41-2137 (MIA).

IJN: Japanese air deployed from Buin to defend the central Solomons against Allied attacks is ordered back to Rabaul. Over Rabaul, J1N1 Irving nightfighter pilot Shigetoshi Kudo uses his oblique upward firing 20mm cannons to make three firing passes and shoots down B-17E "Naughty But Nice" 41-2430 pilot 1st Lt. William J. Sarsfield, Jr. ( (MIA, one survived) and B-17F "Taxpayers Pride" 41-24448 pilot pilot Captain Donald D. McEachran (MIA, one survived). Kudo fired a total of 164 rounds to down both bombers.

References
Kodochosho, 251 Kōkūtai, June 26, 1943