page_title: Operation Vengeance
section_title: Interception
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Vengeance / Interception
caption_attribution_description: P-38 Lightning
context_page_description: Operation Vengeance was the American military operation to assassinate Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy on April 18, 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, was killed on Bougainville Island when his transport bomber aircraft was shot down by United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft operating from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal.
  The mission of the U.S. aircraft was specifically to kill Yamamoto and was based on United States Navy intelligence on Yamamoto's itinerary in the Solomon Islands area. The death of Yamamoto reportedly damaged the morale of Japanese naval personnel, raised the morale of the Allied forces, and was intended as revenge by U.S. leaders, who blamed Yamamoto for the attack on Pearl Harbor that initiated the war between Imperial Japan and the United States.
  The U.S. pilots claimed to have shot down three twin-engined bombers and two fighters during the mission, but Japanese sources show only two bombers were shot down.
context_section_description: To avoid detection by radar and Japanese personnel stationed in the Solomon Islands along a straight-line distance of about 400 miles (640 km) between U.S. forces and Bougainville, the mission entailed an over-water flight south and west of the Solomons. This roundabout approach was plotted and measured to be about 600 miles (970 km). The fighters would, therefore, travel 600 miles out to the target and 400 miles back. The 1,000-mile flight, with extra fuel allotted for combat, was beyond the range of the F4F Wildcat and F4U Corsair fighters then available to Navy and Marine squadrons based on Guadalcanal. The mission was instead assigned to the 339th Fighter Squadron, 347th Fighter Group, whose P-38G Lightning aircraft, equipped with drop tanks, had the range to intercept and engage.
  339th Squadron Commander Major John W. Mitchell, already an ace pilot, was chosen to lead the flight. For better navigation, Mitchell asked for a navy compass, which was provided by Marine Corps Lt. Col. Luther S. Moore, and installed in Mitchell's P-38 the day before the attack. All of the P-38 fighters mounted their standard armament of one 20 mm cannon and four .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns, and were equipped to carry two 165-US-gallon (620 l) drop tanks under their wings. A limited supply of 330-US-gallon (1,200 l) tanks was flown up from New Guinea, sufficient to provide each Lightning with one large tank to replace one of the small tanks.  Despite the difference in size, the tanks were located close enough to the aircraft's center of gravity to avoid any performance problems.
  Eighteen P-38s were assigned the mission. One flight of four was designated as the "killer" flight, while the remainder, which included two spares, would climb to 18,000 feet (5,500 m) to act as "top cover" for the expected reaction by Japanese fighters based at Kahili. A flight plan was prepared by the Command Operations Officer, Marine Major John Condon, but this was discarded by Mitchell, who thought the airspeeds and time estimates were not best for intercepting Yamamoto.  With several of his pilots assisting, Mitchell calculated an intercept time of 09:35, based on the itinerary, to catch the bombers descending over Bougainville, 10 minutes before landing at Balalae. He worked back from that time and drew four precisely calculated legs, with a fifth leg curving in a search pattern in case Yamamoto was not seen at the chosen point. In addition to heading out over the Coral Sea, the 339th would "wave-hop" all the way to Bougainville at altitudes no greater than 50 feet (15 m), maintaining radio silence.
  Although the 339th Fighter Squadron officially carried out the mission, 10 of the 18 pilots were drawn from the other two squadrons of the 347th Group. The Commander AirSols, Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, selected four pilots to be designated as the "killer" flight: 
  Capt. Thomas G. Lanphier, Jr.
  Lt. Rex T. Barber
  Lt. Jim McLanahan (dropped out with flat tire)
  Lt. Joe Moore (dropped out with faulty fuel feed)
  The remaining pilots would act as reserves and provide air cover against any retaliatory attacks by local Japanese fighters:
  Maj. John Mitchell
  Lt. William Smith
  Lt. Gordon Whittiker
  Lt. Roger Ames
  Capt. Louis Kittel
  Lt. Lawrence Graebner
  Lt. Doug Canning
  Lt. Delton Goerke
  Lt. Julius Jacobson
  Lt. Eldon Stratton
  Lt. Albert Long
  Lt. Everett Anglin
  Lt. Besby F. Holmes (replaced McLanahan)
  Lt. Raymond K. Hine (replaced Moore)
  A briefing included a cover story for the source of the intelligence stating that a coastwatcher had spotted an important high-ranking officer boarding an aircraft at Rabaul. Several historians say that the pilots were not specifically briefed on the identity of their target, but Thomas Alexander Hughes wrote that Mitscher told the assembled pilots it was Yamamoto, to "provide additional incentive" to the fliers.
  The specially fitted P-38s took off from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal beginning at 07:25 on April 18. Two of the Lightnings assigned to the killer flight dropped out of the mission at the start, one with a tire flattened duri
caption: P-38G Lightnings were the aircraft chosen to carry out the mission.
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