My yesterday's friend was literally packed with posts about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But I rarely write about the same thing that everyone else is about, I am more interested in facts that few people know about. Therefore, yesterday I did not pay attention to the well-known event. But now it is worth dwelling on another episode, directly related to Pearl Harbor, but much less "promoted". Moreover, his 75th birthday falls on today.
So, on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese dealt a second powerful blow to the Americans. This time, their targets were the Philippine airbases of Clark and Iba, where the main forces of the American Army Aviation of the Far East Region (Far East Air Forces - FEAF) were based. Although the airbases were already well aware of the Pearl Harbor disaster and received a categorical order from Washington to prevent its recurrence, the Japanese managed to inflict a heavy defeat on the FEAF in just one raid and destroy half of its combat strength.
By the beginning of the war, there were 220 American combat aircraft on the Philippine airfields, not counting naval aviation, including 35 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, 107 Curtiss R-40 Warhawk fighters (of which 94 were serviceable), 26 fighters Seversky R-35, 18 Douglas B-18 Bolo bombers, 12 outdated Boeing R-26 Pishuter fighters, 11 Curtiss O-52 Oul scouts, eight North American A-27 Texan light attack aircraft and three relatively old bomber Martin B-10. In addition, there were 12 other "writers" of the Philippine Air Force.
Beginning at 8.30 am on 8 December, several dozen Warhawks flew from Clark, Iba and the small Nichols fighter airfield to patrol. But after spending almost two hours in the air, the pilots did not find any enemies. There were no alarming messages from the radars either. Between 10.30 and 10.45 the fighters landed, running out of fuel. Technicians without much haste began to prepare them for a new flight, and the pilots got into their jeeps and drove to the cafeteria for breakfast. At 1100 hours on Clarke, where 17 "flying fortresses" and almost all other bombers were based, the order was received to inflict retaliation on the Japanese island of Formosa in the afternoon. The planes began to fill up with fuel and suspend bombs.
At this time, a Japanese air armada of 80 G4M bombers, 26 G3M bombers and 85 Zero fighters was already approaching the Philippines from Formosa. At 11.30 it was spotted by the radar of the Iba air base, however, the operators incorrectly determined the course of the enemy aircraft, reporting that they were heading for the capital of the Philippines, Manila, or for the Cavite naval base. Another radar soon also spotted the enemy, but its personnel decided that the Japanese were moving towards the Bataan Peninsula, where the bases, warehouses and coastal fortifications of the American army were located.
Having received these conflicting reports, the airfields decided to cover all three alleged targets of attack with fighters, but at the same time, there were no more combat-ready interceptors left to cover the airfields themselves. At about noon, the three Warhawks took off from Clark, Iba and Nichols again and flew towards Manila and Bataan. However, the Japanese were not there. And at 12.27, the ground observation posts visually discovered that two large groups of aircraft were approaching Clark. At the airbase sirens howled, pilots and technicians rushed to the aircraft, and anti-aircraft gunners to the guns, but it was too late. At 12.30 bombs fell on the hangars and the airfield.
The first wave was G3M, which bombed from a great height - about 6,000 meters. At this height, the airfield anti-aircraft guns did not reach them. Following them, 27 G4Ms also bombed from a great height. In total, 636 60-kg high-explosive fragmentation bombs fell on the airfield. With such a quantity of dropped ammunition, the accuracy of the bombing did not play a special role, the entire airbase was covered with a continuous "carpet".
And as soon as the smoke from the explosions cleared away, Clarke was attacked from low-level flight by 34 Zeros. Japanese pilots fired anti-aircraft crews from cannons and machine guns and finished off planes that were not destroyed by bombs. The pilots of the surviving Warhawks bravely tried to take off under fire. Bypassing the funnels, they taxied to the runways, but only four fighters managed to get off the ground and the Japanese "cut off" all of them during the climb.
Seven minutes after the bombing of Clark began, the same story repeated itself on Iba. This airfield was attacked by 53 G4Ms, dropping 486 60-kg and 26 250-kg bombs, and then "ironed" 51 "Zeros". True, there 12 "Warhawks" managed to take off and engage in battle, but the forces were too unequal. The Americans lost four more fighters, the rest fled. Having completely destroyed the airfield, the Japanese with the remaining ammunition destroyed the nearby radar and flew away to celebrate the victory.
In the meantime, the planes circling uselessly over Manila and Bataan were ordered by radio to urgently fly to the rescue of the airbases hit. The pilots rushed towards Iba and Clark at full throttle, seeing numerous columns of black and gray smoke rising into the sky ahead. But they were late, by the time of their arrival the Japanese were no longer nearby.
As a result of the airstrikes, more than a hundred American aircraft were destroyed, including 12 Flying Fortresses, 44 Warhawks (36 of which were on the ground) and about 50 other types of aircraft, including almost all P-35s. Five more "Fortresses" were damaged. Three of them were never restored, and two were somehow repaired. They decided to evacuate them to Australia, but during the flight, both cars crashed. The casualties, according to some American sources, were 80, and according to others - "about 90" killed and 150 wounded. The Americans claimed that while repelling the raid, they managed to shoot down seven Japanese aircraft, but the Japanese deny this.
Thus, the Japanese air raids on December 8, 1941 are another strong nail in the coffin of Mark Solonin's theory about the alleged impossibility of inflicting heavy losses on the enemy in aircraft during raids on his airfields.
The splash screen features a drawing by a contemporary American artist depicting Clark Air Base shortly before its defeat by the Japanese.
Warhawks at Clark Air Force Base.
B-17 and A-27 at the same airfield. The "Flying Fortresses" located in the Philippines had not yet been painted in protective colors by the beginning of the war.
US Air Force P-35 and P-40 fighters from Iba and Clark airfields. Below is one of the outdated P-26 fighters that the Americans handed over to the Filipinos.
Japanese bombers G4M and G3M, which participated in the raids on the Philippines in December 1941.
P-35 fighters destroyed on the Iba.
Iba airfield with damaged and abandoned American aircraft during the retreat. It looks very similar to Soviet airfields with abandoned aircraft, which the Germans were very fond of filming in the summer of 1941.
Destroyed on the Clark Warhawk.
The remains of a B-18 bomber bombed in the same place against the background of a damaged hangar and an abandoned refueling tanker.
The Japanese pose at the P-35 captured at the Iba airfield.
Another Japanese man near the downed Warhawk.
A snapshot of the bombed Clark airfield taken from the cockpit of a Japanese bomber.
Drawing from the memory of a Japanese pilot who took part in the bombing of Clark.
