NEW RECORDS SET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25372, 2 November 1943, Page 3

NEW RECORDS SET

DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY PLANES (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent)

SYDNEY, Nov. 1. New records for Japanese aircraft destruction were set up by Allied pilots in the South-west Pacific during October. They destroyed or damaged 995 enemy bombers and fighters. The number of Allied planes employed and the bomb tonnage dropped were also records. In the past four months the Japanese in this area have lost 2292 aircraft definitely destroyed. The monthly losses were:—July, 436; August, 531; September, 550; October, 775. Last month ; in addition to the 775 planes definitely destroyed, the Japanese lost 115 probably destroyed and 105 damaged. Of these 303 were destroyed on the ground, 36 probably destroyed, and 78 damaged. In the great Rabaul raid on October 11, 350 tons of explosives were dropped and 250,000 rounds of ammunition expended. This represented the greatest devastation ever aimed at the Japanese. The. enemy’s loss of 126 planes in this attack was the heaviest reverse in a single encounter. In addition to plane losses, Japanese shipping suffered heavily during the month. The detailed shipping losses were:—Sunk, 1 cruiser, 7 destroyers, 5 auxiliary warships, 14 merchant vessels, and 86 barges and coastal vessels. Probably sunk, 1 cruiser, a corvette patrol boat, 7 merchant vessels, and 51 barges and costal vessels. Damaged, 1 cruiser, 6 destroyers, a vessel resembling an aircraft carrier, 29 merchant vessels, and scores of barges. In our October raids on Rabaul we lost 13 planes. The heaviest raid on New Guinea was made on October 23. 221 tons being dropped on Satelberg, near Finschhafen. Kahili aerodrome, on Bougainville Island, was the most frequently raided objective, being attacked on 16 days during the month.