Leyte: The Return to the Philippines

by M. Hamlin Cannon

AIR STRIKES AGAINST JAPANESE INSTALLATIONS included on Bacolod Airfield, Negros Island (above), and on shipping in Zamboanga harbor, Mindanao (below).

The Allied Air Forces, which had been given the mission of supporting the Leyte operation, directed its main efforts against airfields in bypassed areas. Two fighter groups were on Morotai, one heavy bomber group was on Noemfoor, off the north coast of New Guinea, and two heavy bomber groups were on Biak; they completed 175 sorties in strikes against airfields on Mindanao and the Visayan area. The main targets of attack were on Mindanao and Cebu and in the Negros area.[45] The XIII Bomber Command, which carried the burden of this assault, was to neutralize targets previously hit and protect the southwestern flank of the American forces in the Philippines. The 42d Bombardment Group (medium bombers) in October flew the greatest number of sorties in the history of the group up to that time.[46]

The heavy bombers (B-24’s) of the 868th Bombardment Squadron, operating from Noemfoor, had as their main target enemy shipping in the Makassar Strait. At the same time, the B-24’s that were within range of the Sulu Sea struck at the Japanese Southern Fleet as it retreated after its engagement with the Seventh Fleet. The fighters and medium bombers, which had been used to strike at targets on Mindanao, were alerted to strike any enemy naval vessels that came within range.[47]

While protecting the southwestern flank of the American forces in the Philippines, the XIII Bomber Command was extraordinarily busy on 26 October. Part of the Japanese naval task force, consisting of three battleships, five cruisers, and four destroyers, had withdrawn from the Leyte area and was in the Sulu Sea when sighted by the 307th Bombardment Group. Twenty-eight B-24’s of the bombardment group made their principal targets two of the battleships—one of the Kongo class and the other of the Yamato class. Three of the planes were shot down as the Japanese skillfully and evasively maneuvered their vessels so that none was sunk. At the same time B-24’s from the 5th Bombardment Squadron sighted and sank an enemy light cruiser at a different location in the Sulu Sea.[48]

General MacArthur had originally allocated the attack of all land targets in the Philippines to the Allied Air Forces,[49] and although subsequent events occasioned a modification of this order the Fifth Air Force officially established its advance units on Leyte at 1600 on 27 October and assumed operational control of land-based aircraft.[50] The 308th Bombardment Wing, the advance echelon of the Fifth Air Force, had two major duties included in its mission. It was to obtain air superiority over the Philippines and to isolate the Japanese forces on the battlefield of Leyte. In addition to these two principal tasks it was to render maximum close support to the ground forces, establish night fighter patrols and a system of courier aircraft, and provide maximum protection to Allied naval vessels.[51] Among the Army flyers of the 49th Fighter Group, an advance party of the Fifth Air Force that arrived on 27 October, was Maj. Richard I. Bong, of the 9th Fighter Squadron, the leading ace of the Army Air Forces. He celebrated his arrival by shooting down an enemy plane.[52] On 28 October the Army flyers of the 7th Fighter Squadron got their first enemy airplane on Leyte. Since there were “only” three enemy air raids during the night, the men were able to get some much needed sleep.[53]

ANTIAIRCRAFT GUN in action at Tacloban airstrip, 27 October 1944.

The 29th of October, however, was a day of heavy action for the Army flyers, as described in a report of the 7th Fighter Squadron:

The 29th was a day that will be long remembered.... Two more Nips were added to the unit’s score;... the 49th Group’s 500th victory. But more important at that time was the fact ... [that] the ... road between the strip and the camp collapsed under army traffic.... The already long hours were lengthened still more as pilots and men were forced to arise between three and four o’clock in the morning, make their way to the barge at Tacloban, cross to the strip by water and then sweat out the pre-dawn raids. At night, the planes landing at dusk had hardly hit the runway before ... BOFORS [40-mm. antiaircraft guns] went off and the lights went out. Then down to the end of the strip near the gas dumps, and another session of sweating beneath A/A [antiaircraft] awaiting the barge for the trip back to Tacloban and then to camp. Supper was served as late as 10 o’clock ... a few brave individuals tried an alternate road to the south, swinging out east to White Beach above Dulag and then north along the beach to Tacloban Strip. Japanese snipers soon put a stop to this travel during the hours of darkness.