Attack on Warships at kure Harbor

Nearly twenty planes from US Navy aircraft carriers and two Army Air Force B-24 bombers were shot down in the vicinity of Kure, Japan, just a few weeks before the end of World War II. In an earnest effort to demoralize Japanese leadership and end the war, the US military branches were in something like a competition to sink the last floating battleships of the Japanese Imperial Navy. Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz and Admiral Halsey ordered the US Navy attack on the remaining capital ships of the JIN. Before the attack began on 24 July, 1945, most of these ships were already damaged, without fuel, and trapped in shallow water behind mines near Kure, in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. Much has been written about the reasons for sinking these ships and criticism of these mission orders. Admiral John “Slew” McCain was against attacking the harbor-bound vessels because they were not a real threat to the US fleet. The B-24 bombers of 494th Bombardment Group of the Seventh Air Force joined the effort from their captured base on Okinawa on 28 July.

The fast battleship Haruna was afloat, relocated from Kure harbor to a bight along the coast of Etajima Island, not far from Hiroshima, Japan. The ship was used for training and defense. The Japanese Navy's equivalent of the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, was located on Etajima. Intense, and demonstrably accurate anti-aircraft artillery (AAA, or ack ack) defended the last Japanese battleship afloat in what was described as an amphitheater of guns.

US Navy 3rd Fleet, 38th Task Force Attacks, 24–28 July, 1945

H. Paul Brehm chronicled his role in strikes against the Hyuga and Tone as a pilot of a SB2C Helldiver, a then new Navy plane that was nicknamed the Beast.  

Kelley’s Kobras, US Army Air Force

7th Air Force, 494th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 866th Bomber Squadron, Mission #138

The USAAF 494th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was known as Kelley's Kobras, named for their leader, Col. Laurence Kelley. While many B-24's were lost in the South Pacific during training, transport, and bombing raids, the 494th recorded extraordinary successes by effectively bombing assigned military targets across the South Pacific including the Philippines, while limiting aircraft losses.  From the Yontan airfield on Okinawa, veteran pilot 1st Lt. Emil Turek led four B-24 bombers of the 866th Squadron on the 494th’s bombing run of 28 July, 1945. Usually a squadron formation of 6 planes, one was grounded for a maintenance issue and another may have diverted on the way to the target. In all, 35 planes from the 494th Bombardment Group left Okinawa's Yontan Airfield for Kure Harbor. That day, Turek flew as Squadron Leader of the fifth of six assigned 494th Squadrons, but not in his usual plane, the Lonesome Lady. Second Lt. Thomas Cartwright’s crew flew the Lonesome Lady, and they were followed in formation by the crew of veteran pilot Joseph Dubinsky in the Taloa. Nine of these crewmen men were among the twelve Americans who were killed when nine days later the U.S. detonated the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare.

Acting on his concern about anti-aircraft defenses and relying on gut instinct, veteran pilot Turek threaded his way around islands on his way to the initial point where the 866th would line up on the Haruna. For 35 minutes they flew in tight formation and were targeted by anti-aircraft artillery.

Another plane dropped out of formation due to the flak, bombed “another boat”, and joined up with another squadron to safely return to Yontan. The remaining two B-24J’s were lined up behind Turek and flying a straight and level true course heading of 30 degrees at 10,000 feet . Flying in the radar-bombing equipped, unnamed B-24M bomber A/C #980, Turek's bombardier Vito A. Nacci released his bombs upon the Haruna, which signaled his squadron planes to release theirs, as well. Nearly immediately, each of the three squadron bombers was struck by anti-aircraft flak. The doomed crew aboard A/C #716 took several direct hits and fell abruptly––Taloa was on fire and out of control. Lt. Turek flew the flak-damaged A/C #980 along the struggling Lonesome Lady, which took at least one direct hit near the flight deck, was on fire, and increasingly losing altitude. Burning and losing hydraulic fluids for steering surfaces, Pilot Thomas C. Cartwright was losing complete control of the plane when he ordered bailout over Japan.    

Lt. Turek stayed with Lonesome Lady for at least 15 minutes before she spiraled down through low cloud cover and could no longer be seen by Turek and his men. Turek's damaged plane now flew alone. Turek's written history states that the plane could not make it back to Okinawa, some 4 hours away. Another version describes the plane waved off due to a problem with the Yonton airstrip, where they began the mission. Either way, Turek was able to land safely at Ie Shima, an alternative landing site on the return route to Okinawa. The USAAF Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs) for Lonesome Lady and Taloa include a witness statement signed by Nacci with concurrence from tail gunner Rex. E. Reeves.

Pilot Emil Turek brought his men "home" from the ill-conceived and ill-fated mission #138. None of the Taloa crew returned from this mission; two men from Lonesome Lady returned to Okinawa as repatriated POWs more than a month later. Three bombers were lost since #980 never flew again.