Enemy Night Raider Down in Flames

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 211, 6 September 1943, Page 3

Enemy Night Raider Down in Flames

VICTORY OVER GUADALCANAL (Official Correspondent.) GUADALCANAL. New Zealanders were among the thousands of Allied servicemen who saw the destruction of a Japanese night raider by an American fighter near Guadalcanal recently. The fight lasted only a few minutes, the raider being shot down in flames near northwestern Guadalcanal. An open-air picture show’ at a New Zealand camp was interrupted when the raider approached, and many Dominion airmail and United States soldiers saw the battle from a distance. An Army night-fighter had taken off some time earlier, and disappeared, and the successful interception was not unexpected. With both aircraft invisible from the ground, the first indication that battle had been joined was the appearance, high in the sky, of twinkling trails of tracer ammunition. It immediately became apparent that the fighter was chasing the raider, and a few New Zealanders who had gathered near a short-wave radio heard the exultant comments of the young American pilot. “I’m right behind this sucker,” he yelled. And in tho same instant the thousands watching saw fresh spurts of tracer. Evidently the shells and bullets bit deep, for a second later a glow was seen, a glow that spread and reddened as tho raider caught lire. Like a comet the burning enemy hurtled across the sky, with the American following, and pouring in ammunition. Trailing flame, the Japanese bomber dropped headlong, and, while thousands cheered, it appeared to explode in full flight, for a violent flash was followed by utter darkness. And tho airmen on Guadalcanal, heads turned skyward, could see only the tropic stars, and hear the happy song of the fighter’s motor.