The Airacobra
The Bell P-39 was one of America’s first-line pursuit planes in December 1941. It made its initial flight in April 1939 at Wright Field, Ohio, and by the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, nearly 600 had been built. Its unique engine location behind the cockpit caused some pilot concern at first, but experience showed that this was no more of a hazard in a crash landing than with an engine located forward of the cockpit. The P-39’s spin characteristics, however, could be a problem if proper recovery techniques were ignored.
The Airacobra saw combat throughout the world, particularly in the Mediterranean, Russian and Southwest Pacific theaters.
P-39s deploying to Port Moresby
P-39s also provided the air defence of Port Moresby, the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea.
As told by Michael John Claringbould, Peter Ingman in their book South Pacific Air War Volume 3: Coral Sea & Aftermath: May-June 1942, the first detachment of USAAF 15 P-39D/Fs from the 35th Fighter Squadron (FS), 8th Fighter Group (FG), had flown north from Brisbane and arrived in Townsville on Apr. 25, 1942. From there, the fighters would fly to Seven-Mile airfield at Port Moresby via Cairns and Horn Island. However, this was a potentially treacherous flying route, especially for single-engine aircraft and pilots unfamiliar with local conditions. North of Townsville the coastline became mountainous all the way to Cairns and beyond. Just 30 miles south of Cairns is Mount Bartle Frere, which at 5,285 feet is Queensland’s highest mountain. It had already claimed a B-25C returning from New Guinea in marginal weather on Apr. 21.
At that time navigation involved simply following the coastline, which meant flying proximate to the mountainous littoral. These potentially dangerous conditions extended further north along the eastern coast of Cape York, where the topography was less mountainous, but where there were no alternate landing grounds for a 400-mile stretch between Cooktown and Horn Island. Whilst a small inland airfield at Coen was at the time being occasionally used by B-25s, it was difficult to locate from the coast even with maps.
Heavy rainstorm
So it was that this flight of P-39s arrived in Cairns for refuelling on Apr. 26 shortly after a heavy rainstorm had commenced. They then resumed the trip after dividing into “A” Flight of nine Airacobras and “B” Flight of six. Captain George Greene led “A” Flight at 10,000 feet, where they had little difficulty following the coastline through scattered cloud; however, in the vicinity of Cape Grenville, some 125 miles south of Horn Island, they ran into a heavy raincloud with a 20,000 feet ceiling.
Greene led his pilots down in a rapid descent in the hope of finding a way underneath the cloud base, but ran into torrential rain, and with no visibility they were forced to turn around 180 degrees. After reforming and flying south, Greene saw “B” Flight pass him in the opposite direction, and he tried to follow, but soon lost them in deteriorating conditions.
Greene radioed that he would attempt to find a way through to Horn Island by following the coast and dropping down to 500 feet. Finally, he emerged from the storm near the tip of Cape York, but found that only his wingman, Lieutenant John Casey, was with him. These two pilots landed safely at Horn Island, but with precious little fuel remaining.
P-39s lost while deploying to Port Moresby
Due to atmospheric static incurred by the bad weather conditions, few pilots had heard Greene’s instructions via the radio. In a confusing series of events, some tried to return southwards while others headed north. Eventually, six more joined Greene at Horn Island, but another five made forced landings near Cape Grenville, including two belly landings. Another two pilots were posted as missing: First Lieutenant Jack Hall and Second Lieutenant John Long. No trace of either has ever been found.
In a tragic footnote to this episode, the following day Flying Officer Montague David Ellerton of No. 75 Squadron was ferrying Kittyhawk A29-69 along this route when he noticed one of the P-39 pilots, Lieutenant William McGovern, on a beach below. While landing to give assistance his wingtip hit a sand dune and flipped his P-40E. Ellerton was trapped in his cockpit and drowned as the tide swamped his aircraft.
So it was that eight valuable fighters were lost: seven Airacobras and a Kittyhawk, as well as three pilots. The eight remaining P-39s made it safely to Seven-Mile.
