The fighter squadron under Lieutenant Kurakane mainly served as Rabaul air defence until 22 August, after which they move to temporarily support the Japanese operations around New Guinea; first they operated from Lae and then from Buna airfields. Until 8 September they covered unsuccessful invasion of Milne Bay, before they switched back to Rabaul. When the airfield at Buka was available to stage from, 21 Model 32 Zeros and five D3A moved there on 29 September to cover the build-up of Shortland harbor and to provide air cover for resupply convoys bound for Guadalcanal. For example, they covered high-speed transport "Nisshin" when it delivered heavy equipment to Guadalcanal on 3 and 8 October, after which they withdrew to Rabaul and 6th Air Group took over the Buka–Bougainville area.