3 October 1942
Massive air battle over Luganville - 40 enemy planes shot down, USS Colorado, Copahee hit by torpedoes
Luganville Invasion
USS Ward got another chance to get a sub but missed. There are at least 2 subs prowling close by Luganville.
We faced 5 waves of air attack. Our fighters were dominant in the kill column, but the enemy fighters mostly succeeded in keeping our fighters away from the bombers, so damage was done:
Wave 1: 20 Zeroes, 30 Oscars, 7 Nells, 8 Betties; CAP: 17 P-38, 5 P-40, 32 F4F.
Losses: 8 Oscars, 6 Zeroes, 1 Betty -- 3 F4F
BB Colorado: hit twice
CVE Copahee: hit once. Air ops knocked out, airborne F4Fs land at Efate.
Wave 2: 6 Zeroes, 6 Nells -- CAP: 6 P-38, 1 P-40, 13 F4F
Losses: 3 Zeroes, 1 Nell, 1 F4F
Wave 3: 4 Betties -- CAP: 5 P-38s, 1 P-40, 9 F4F
Losses: 2 Betties (1 to flak) - these guys mostly snuck in.
BB Colorado: hit once
Wave 4: 7 Zeroes, 7 Oscars, 8 Nells, 3 Betties -- CAP: 16 P-38, 4 P-40, 4 F4F
Losses: 5 Zeroes, 5 Oscars, 6 Nells -- 1 F4F
(7 bombers attacked Copahee and missed)
Wave 5: 6 Oscars, 3 Nells, 6 Betties -- CAP: 10 P-38, 1 P-40
Losses: 2 Oscars, 1 Nell (flak)
(8 bombers attacking Warspite, Colorado, and Copahee; all missed)
Total losses: 15 Oscars, 14 Zeroes, 3 Betties, 8 Nells, 5 F4F
We also lost a Hudson near the Shortlands that was trying to attack a PB and got bounced by Oscars.
In spite of this resistance, our amphibious boats hit the beach and started unloading--that will continue overnight. Bombers from Efate and Noumea hit the enemy troops to support the landings--no enemy fighters intervened in that. Copeahee and Colorado are retiring due to the damage. Copahee isn't hit that badly, but Colorado's flooding is critical and she has enough engine damage that she's almost dead in the water. Breaking them off is breaking up our destroyers, which makes me a little nervous due to the number of enemy subs around.
Thailand
40 Oscars swept the battlefield south of Raheng, driving off 5 fighters we had there. The next sweep was 87 planes, fortunately no one was there to see that. But after that we sent in our raid, 12 medium bombers escorted by 6 P-40s, and a second wave of 8 Hurricanes and 12 B-25s. Losses were pretty bad, 2 P-40s, 3 B-25s and 6 Blenheims; we got 2 Oscars.
China
In spite of reassigning nearby fighters to the same command as the bombers, the bombers flying near Foochow did not receive escorts. 1 Wellington was shot down by Zeroes.
CENTPAC
The last enemy troops at Hilo have been eliminated. A few thousand at Lahaina to go and Hawaii will be clear.
Reinforcements
7th BG/9th BS arrives at Aden - 12/12 B-24s, headed to India, then Burma
