I'm going to have to lay off the skinning for 1 or 2 weeks starting this weekend so I thought I'd better get these skins done and submitted now. That way they ought to be ready for the Operation Vengeance scenario on the 7th November. I'll finish the build log thread I have been writing on the P-38G when I get some spare time.
On April 13th 1943 the US decoded a Japanese radio intercept giving the flight plan of a forthcoming visit to Rabaul of the commander in chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. A plan was devised to intercept and destroy the Admiral's plane, despite the chance that this would tip off the Japanese that their codes had been broken. So on the 18th the P-38Gs of the 339th Fighter Squadron took off from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal and flew an indirect route at wave top height to the intercept point some 425 miles away. They found their target near Bouganville, two Betty bombers of the 705th Naval Bomb Group with six A6M3s of the 204th Naval Fighter Group for escort. The bulk of the P-38s took on the escorts while the remainder went after the bombers. Yamamoto's Betty dove to low altitude but was shot down by Lt Rex Barber with the loss of the Admiral and everyone on board. The second Betty was also hit but ditched into the sea and its principal passenger Vice Admiral Ugaki survived. One P-38, that of Lt Hine, was lost during the engagement. The rest of the attackers and escorts all returned to base safely.
