_BGen Francis P. Mulcahy, Commander Air Solomons, at right, at his
headquarters at Munda. On the left is Army Air Force Col Fiske Marshall
and 1stLt Dorothy Shikoski, an Army nurse who flew with Marine
transport squadrons during medical evacuations._]
In addition, there were some 44 close air support strikes using ad hoc
forward air control and tactical air control parties from Mulcahy’s
command. This was a significant step in the evolution of the air
control system that eventually formed the air-ground team for the
Marines. Close air support missions were planned in detail the day
prior to execution. The requested missions went to Mulcahy and, if he
approved, they then were forwarded to Guadalcanal, the Russells, or
Segi Point for scheduling. The next day these aircraft reported to a
rendezvous point and contacted an air support party on the ground which
used radio, lights, smoke, or air panels to direct the strike. General
Mulcahy commented that the use of aircraft close to the frontlines
“proved to be impractical” with accuracy.
The R4D Skytrains of MAG-25 delivered 100,000 pounds of food, water,
ammunition, and medicine that was the Northern Landing Group’s only
source of supply at times. This support prompted one Marine raider to
ask that the air drop containers be combat, or spread, loaded as on one
occasion they recovered 19 of a 20-container load drop and “only later
discovered the missing drop contained medicinal brandy.” Air drops of
supplies went to the other ground forces as well, throughout a campaign
fought in difficult, trackless, terrain.
On 25 July, a massive strike consisting of 66 B-17 and B-24 bombers
in concert with naval gunfire ships struck at Lambetti Plantation,
followed by an 84-plane strike on antiaircraft artillery positions at
Biblio Hill. This was coordinated with the final drive to take the
campaign’s main objective, Munda airstrip. The Japanese continued to
delay the 43d Infantry Division and another strike followed on 1 August
by a 36-plane attack of SBDs and TBFs, protected by some 30 fighters.
After the capture of Munda Point, General Mulcahy moved his command
from Rendova to Munda airfield to set up strike and fighter control
at Kokengolo Hill. In a Japanese-built tunnel that Navy Seabees had
cleared of debris and dead, Mulcahy was able to conduct round-the-clock
operations. The first fighters assigned to Munda landed at 1500 on
14 August. While safe, the Seabee-cleared shelter was also hot and
smelled of its former dead occupants. On 15 August, Mulcahy sent
VMF-123 and -124 fighters from Munda and Segi fields to cover the
Vella Lavella landings, during which they claimed 26 Japanese aircraft
downed. On this day, VMF-124’s First Lieutenant Kenneth A. Walsh began
a streak that would eventually earn him the Medal of Honor for shooting
down 21 Japanese aircraft. After accounting for three aircraft over
Vella Lavella, he brought his Corsair back to Munda Field with 20mm
holes in the wings, several hydraulic lines cut, a holed vertical
stabilizer, and a flat tire.
From 16 through 19 August 1943, the Japanese shelled the airfield in
the day and bombed it at night. The artillery threat was eliminated
with the capture of Baanga Island, but the air raids continued with
intermittent bombing and strafing through the fall. From then, until
the establishment of airfields on Bougainville three months later,
Munda Field was the scene of intense activity as planes landed and took
off to strike at Rabaul and Japanese shipping which were first trying
to supply, and then evacuate, ground forces. Many barges were destroyed
in the withdrawal that took some 9,400 Japanese off Kolombangara.
Admiral Halsey believed that 3,000 to 4,000 other Japanese were killed
during these evacuations.
[Illustration: _Munda Airfield was an essential element in supporting
Allied air support in the battles for Vella Lavella, Bougainville, and
New Britain that followed. Until air fields were established at Empress
Augusta Bay on Bougainville in November 1943, Munda was the scene of
intense aviation activity._
Marine Corps Historical Collection
]
Captain John M. Foster, an F4U pilot, wrote about flying during this
time and his first mission from Munda. “Never had I attempted to
land a plane on a field as narrow and short as the Munda strip,” he
recalled. Rolling onto the taxiway, he was thankful for the 2,000
horsepower of engine to “plow through the mud.” The crews lived in
tents and messed in a screened framed building chow-hall which the
Seabees built. The air units provided dawn to dusk coverage, with the
night spent in rest and recovery. The night’s sleep was often disrupted
by the appearance of a single Japanese bomber variously called “Washing
Machine Charlie,” “Louie the Louse,” “Maytag Charlie,” or “other names
less printable.”
[Illustration: