The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
flown by crews of the 7th Bombardment Group had arrived at Malang.
This was the group that was originally scheduled, and which in fact
had actually begun its movement at the time of Pearl Harbor, for rein-
forcement of the Philippines. Its ground echelon had reached Brisbane
in the convoy arriving there on 2 2 December. The advance element
of its air echelon had flown into Hawaii in the midst of the Japanese
attack of 7 December. Caught thus in movement, its personnel and
planes were put to work as the occasion demanded on the western
coast of the United States, in Hawaii, in Australia, and in Java, and the
unit itself with some of its original personnel finally wound up in
India and China. T w o of the B-17’s arriving at Malang, piloted by
Maj. Kenneth B. Hobson and Lt. Jack W. Hughes, had participated in
the first flight from Hawaii to Australia over the newly opened South
Pacific air route. The other planes had come from the United States
by way of the South Atlantic, Africa, the Middle East, and India.
Five of the newly arrived planes-three LB-3o’s and two B-17’s-
were put immediately into operation. American commanders were
especially concerned over the enemy’s progress north of Java. With
the capture of Manado and Tarakan, Japanese land-based aviation
could operate from fields lying within 350 miles of both Kendari and
Samarinda and thus, not to mention other obvious dangers, could
impose still further limitations on our own air operations. And so on
the morning of 16 January, the day of Combs’ return from Sumatra,
the five recently arrived planes took off from Malang for a mission
against shipping in Manado Bay and against the Langoan airfield,
twenty miles south. Having staged through Kendari, the LB-3o’s were
led by Maj. Austin A. Straubel in an attack on the airfield, while the
B - I ~ smade their runs over the bay. Enemy pursuits reacted vigor-
ously, and subjected the inexperienced American crews to continuing
attacks. Lt. John E. Dougherty crash-landed his badly damaged LB-30
on a tiny island off southern Borneo where the crew, three of whom
had been wounded, was stranded until rescued eight days later by a
Navy PBY. Another LB-30, piloted by Lt. W.E. Bayse, had also
received serious hits and was damaged beyond repair in a forced land-
ing a t Makassar in southern Celebes.37Only one LB-30 and one B-17
returned to Malang. The other B-17 had managed to reach Kendari
on the way back, but Japanese pursuits repeatedly attacked the field
and the American crew, unable to effect necessary repairs, finally
destroyed the plane.38
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