CONSERVING PLANES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 278, 21 August 1944, Page 6

CONSERVING PLANES

Reported Japanese Air Policy »„»£>«. The new Japanese aerial policy oi avoiding combat at all costs is believed to indicate that Tokio is already planthe battle of Japan. Some observers think the Japanese have decided sacrifice their 9*^ when ronsprvinc their aircraft so tuat wucn the Imperial Navy is finally forced mto •iction their ships will be able to operate unde? the cove? of land-based aircraft Tnn'in’*; recent air losses on all tronis havTbeen far below her replacement capacity, estimated at about 1000 coni ba in a October, 1U 1943 1 . > when the Japanese strenuously opposed the Allied ./air assaults on Rnbaul, they lost 77u machines in the South-west Pacific. Last month General MacArthur’s' communiques claimed only 156 enemy machines destroyed. Since June, when they inide tlm American positions on Biak istami in some strength, the lar^ s * enc ”’f 1 attack has been a three-plane raid at latest evidence in the South-west Pacific of the Japanese reluctance Io fight was given on Thursday, when lo Zeros patrolling, at Amboina fled rather than engage Lightning-escorted Libet atois. The Lightnings pursued the enemy planes, and after a long fi.'Rht shot down, nine of .them. Two. Llghtnii gs were lost. This was the first li„htei clash in the South-west Pacific since JU Genei : al MacArthur’s weekend communiques also report bombing damage two Japanese merchant ships in Datao Gulf in the Philippines. On Thursday, United States troops made a new landing on the west coast of Biak Island. This landing was made to mop up the few hundred Japanese still left on the island. Since Biak was invaded on May 26. 4468 Japanese have been killed and 290 captured. On nearby Noemfoor Island, where the Americans landed on July 2 . the counted enemy dead are 1407, while 633 Japan ese'have been captured and 40u captives have been freed. The American losses have been 61 killed, 289 wounded, and two missing.