To add to the “big day”—29 October—the weather observers reported a 50 knot gale on the way. Working after dark, pilots and linemen minus the regular tie downs and using tent ropes and anything available secured the airplanes to jeeps, trucks, trailers and tractors. At night, in camp, the small typhoon hit and with it went three or four tents, occupants of which awoke to find themselves thoroughly drenched and at odds with the world, Leyte in particular.[54]
LOCKHEED P-38 after Japanese raid on Tacloban airstrip.
Although 29 October was the most difficult day on Leyte for the men of the 7th Fighter Squadron, they were again disheartened the following day, when one of the squadron’s pilots was shot down by friendly antiaircraft.[55]
During the first week of November, offensive operations by the Fifth Air Force were primarily against targets in Ormoc Valley and enemy shipping in Ormoc Bay. The barrios of Ormoc, Valencia, and Palompon were the first land targets. Most of the strikes, however, were against Japanese shipping in Ormoc Bay and in the vicinity of the Camotes Islands.[56]
By 4 November a number of P-38’s had been destroyed by bombs and strafing, some of which were completely burned up. To cut down the aircraft losses, it was decided to have planes of some of the squadrons use the Bayug airstrip in the Dulag area. But since this was a poor airfield which soon became overcrowded and subject to Japanese air attacks, it was finally abandoned.[57]
On 3 November fifteen P-38’s of the 49th Bomber Group struck “one of the most lucrative strafing targets of their history.”[58] In an early morning search for enemy shipping in Ormoc Bay the bombers found nothing, but on their return they sighted a ten-mile-long convoy of trucks, artillery, and tanks extending from Ormoc to Valencia. The convoy was strafed and dispersed, leaving twenty to thirty-five trucks destroyed and many other vehicles, including two tanks, in flames.[59] However, two American planes were shot down by enemy antiaircraft fire, four came in on single engines, and all showed many bullet holes. The bombers made no further strikes against the convoy, “as all aircraft received extremely heavy and accurate ground fire.”[60]
The airmen of the Fifth Air Force continued to hit shipping in Ormoc Bay and in the Camotes Islands, and they also achieved success against bridges, airfields, troops, camp areas, and transportation.[61] Although the number of Japanese air raids had diminished by 6 November, the Americans could not yet feel that they were “out of the rough.”[62] There was insufficient direct air support for the ground troops throughout the operation and the Japanese continued to send troops into Ormoc. The constant stream of Japanese reinforcements coming into Leyte augured ill for the success of the operation.
The TA Operation
The TA Operation, by which name the Japanese program for the reinforcement of Leyte was known, continued from 23 October through 11 December. The numerical weakness of the U. S. land-based aircraft enabled the Japanese to land many thousands of troops and tons of supplies on Leyte. Nine convoys in all were sent to the port of Ormoc, on the west coast.[63] As a whole, however, the operation was “literally gruesome” to the Japanese, since their transports and escort vessels were struck again and again by American aircraft.