506th FG Gazette — Masthead

LOCAL NEWS

IWO JIMA

Carl Molesworth "Very Long Range P-51 Mustang Units of the Pacific War"

09 July 45

Number 32 (FC Mission #226) 9 July 45

Mission: VLR Fighter Strike by the 21st and 506th Groups against airfields in the Nagoya area.

Results: Sixteen enemy aircraft destroyed, five probably destroyed and eleven damaged.

The 21st Group proceeded toward Osaka with one squadron as top cover which sighted four or five flights of Oscars and three or four flights of Tonys about 5,000 feet below. As Mustangs dropped down to attack, the Oscars broke formation and split-essed through a thin overcast coming out among the two strike squadrons below. Approximately thirty-six individual encounters followed. Twelve aircraft were destroyed in the air, four were probably destroyed and ten damaged. Itami airfield was strafed. The 506th Group strafed Hamamatsu, Mikatagahara, Toyohashi and Oitsu airfields. One friendly aircraft was seen to crash after the pilot reported loss of oil pressure and smoking engine. The Pilot bailed out but parachute was not seen to open and pilot is considered lost.

1st Lts. Jack Rice,
1st Lt. James Rosebrough,
and Capt. John Findley

next to a striped tail P-51 of the 462nd FS on Tinian,
before arriving on Iwo. On the return leg of the July 9 mission,
Rosebrough's P-51 reported a loss of oil pressure
and he was forced to bail out. On exiting the cockpit,
his wingman reported he had hit the tail of the Mustang,
and no parachute was ever seen.

WORLD NEWS July 1945

1: Australian troops land at Balikpapan, Borneo in the Western Allies' last major land operation of the war.

5: General Douglas MacArthur announces that the Philippines have been liberated.

6: Norway declares war on Japan.

14: Italy declares war on Japan.

16: The U.S. conducts the Trinity test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first test of a nuclear weapon.

17: The Potsdam Conference begins under British Prime Minister Churchill, Soviet Prime Minister Stalin and U.S. President Truman. The Allied leaders agree to insist upon the unconditional surrender of Japan.

22: America and Japan engage in a small skirmish in the Battle of Tokyo Bay. The Japanese take slight losses

24: Truman hints at the Potsdam Conference that the United States has nuclear weapons. : British and Americans commence the Bombing of Kure.

26: The Labour Party win the British general election by a landslide. Clement Attlee replaces Churchill as British Prime Minister and immediately flies to the negotiating table at Potsdam. The Potsdam Declaration is issued.

28: The Japanese battleships Haruna and Ise are sunk by aircraft from US Task Force 38 while in shallow anchorage at Kure Naval Base.

30: The USS Indianapolis is sunk shortly after midnight by a Japanese submarine after having delivered atomic bomb material to Tinian. Because of poor communications, the ship's whereabouts are unknown for some time and many of its men drown or are attacked by sharks in the next four days.

31: U.S. conducts air attacks on the cities of Kobe and Nagoya in Japan.

July 1945

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