64th Sentai war diary entry No.325
Date: October 27th, 1942 Tokyo time
Flown back into Meiktila during the evening hours of the previous day the pilots fell into troubled sleep – fully expecting the action from the early morning while mechanics and plane-chiefs were hard at work to prepare their charges for the expected combat.
The day begun as usually by incoming reports of enemy raids on periphery of Burma – ground units near Paoshan reported attack by
dozen Mitchell bombers escorted by
squadron of Hurricanes. Katha reported the usual visit by the
Dutch DB7 bombers and British
Vengeance bombers accompanied by
Mohawk fighters, while infantry near Warazup reported
three squadrons of Lysanders accompanied by handful of fighters.
Toungoo received large raid by
two dozen Liberators and
40 Wellington bombers escorted by
dozen Lightning fighters – but their accuracy was rather pitiful.
12 Flying Fortresses arrived later and were more accurate.
It was reported that Mandalay was target of enemy bomber formation and planes from the
1st and 59th Sentai were dispatched –
squadron of enemy Hudson bombers arrived before they could intervene and quickly beat retreat before being intercepted. Similar scenario happened over Shwebo –
7 Hudson bombers accompanied by
squadron of Hurricanes were on their way home before
Shotai of the 1st Sentai arrived.
As the day turned to afternoon another enemy formation was reported heading for Mandalay. This time the warning was sufficient and
1st sentai sent 4 Hayabusas,
59th dispatched 35 of its Hayabusas while
64th Sentai participated with 2 more.
85th Sentai was able to send off only a single Shoki fighter.
The enemy formation consisted of
21 Blenheim bombers and
32 Hurricane fighters. In a brutal fight that developed most of the Hurricanes were engaged and 5 of the Blenheim bombers were shot down before reaching targets.
W/O Gyuba E. of the
Staff flight claimed one of the
Hurricane IIc Trop fighters as destroyed, while his own Hayabusa was damaged by enemy cannon fire.
About an hour later another enemy formation headed for Meiktila was reported, consisting of just
9 Blenheim bombers and
15 Hurricane fighters it was countered by
1st, 64th and 85th Sentai each providing at least 30 fighters to the fight. Of this enemy formation most planes failed to return to base.
1st Chutai of the 64th being in the air at the time of enemy arrival was first to attack the enemy and managed to engage most of the escort.
W/O Hanazawa D. claimed one Hurricane IIc Trop shot down as did
W/O Maeda A. On the other hand
2nd Lt. Hiramoto B. barely escaped from the fight with several big holes in his Hayabusa caused by enemy cannon fire.
As the
2nd Chutai was climbing to engage the enemy they were attacked by pair of Hurricane fighters, but managed to evade the attack, albeit at cost – Hayabusas of the
W/O Itaya V. and
2nd Lt. Hirabayashi M. were damaged by the attack and had to return to base. But the rest of the Chutai slammed hard into enemy bombers at almost the same instant as the
85th Sentai was hard hitting their fighter cover engaged by the
1st Chutai.
1st Sentai was still mostly scrambling from the field at the moment.
2nd Lt. Inazuka H. of the
2nd Chutai quickly managed to explode one Blenheim bomber, while
W/O Suzuki H. flamed another. The enemy formation disintegrated quickly when attacked by full might of the three Sentais. No bomber managed to bomb their target, their bombs jettisoned early to help them escape.
Then more bombers were reported approaching Magwe – and all the planes of the
1st, 64th and 85th Sentai were ordered there.
12 unfortunate Blenheim bombers had no chance against combined strength of the three Sentais and were quickly destroyed in vicious assault.
W/O Agawa C. claimed two of the bombers shot down as his first victim suddenly lost control, rammed another bomber flying his left wing and exploded smashing both planes to bits. His Hayabusa brought back several fragments of the bombers.
W/O Suyuki P. and
W/O Azusa J. each claimed one more bomber.
The Sentais had hardly time to reassemble when another
dozen Blenheim bombers appeared out of the clouds. One by one they were shot down by the defending fighters – determined to hit the target at all cost. And the cost was total destruction without a single bomber reaching the target.
W/O Kamei U. of the
2nd Chutai claimed one bomber destroyed, while
W/O Anabuki J. and
W/O Nishihata R. of the
1st Chutai claimed one each.
One by one the victorious Hayabusas returned to the Meiktila air base, some making victory rolls, some smoking or trailing oil, or fuel. One of the
64th Sentai Hayabusas was damaged on landing after collision with the
85th Sentai Shoki. Other than that the
64th Sentai had no fatal loss of plane, just 11 planes in various state of damage, while all pilots survived without injury.
Crash landed Bristol Blenheim Mk.I:
