Picture from Potter, John Deane, Yamamoto: The Man Who Menaced America, following pg 110

    In the wake of Japan’s defeat at the battle of Midway and the failure of her campaign on Guadalcanal, Yamamoto sought to reinforce the moral of his men with a trip to the southern bases in Japan’s pacific perimeter and personally rally his beleaguered troops. Yamamoto’s presence did have the intended effect of invigorating his men with resolve to fight on, but what contributed to the defeat of his carrier force at the Battle of Midway, would lead to his death 10 months later. It was still unknown to the Japanese that their JN-25 code had been compromised and their radio traffic was being carefully examined for critical information by U.S. intelligence sources. Yamamoto’s intended schedule was transmitted so that the bases he planned to visit could make the necessary preparations. However, an America radio interception post in the Aleutians received this information as well. As a result the U.S. was made aware of his planned flight on April 18^th, 1943 from Rabaul to Buka airfield in the Solomon Islands approximately 500 miles northwest of Henderson Field (Potter 302). U.S. Navy Secretary Frank Knox collaborated with General ‘Hap’ Arnold, the Chief of the Army Air Corp in masterminding the plot to intercept Yamamoto enroute to Buka airfield with P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft from Henderson Field. For his knowledge of long distance flying, Charles Lindbergh was sought as an advisor as well as Frank Meyer, who ran the experimental department at Lockheed, the company that manufactured the P-38.

Picture of P-38 Lightning

Picture from www.flightjournal.com

    Major John W. Mitchell, commanding Squadron 339, was tasked with the assignment of intercepting Yamamoto with his entire squadron of eighteen P-38s. In order to extend the range of the P-38, multiple drop tanks of fuel had to be outfitted externally under the wings. These tanks were flown in to Henderson field via four B-24 Liberators from Australia on the 17^th of April. Throughout that evening, while ground crews mounted a 310 and 165 gallon tank to each P-38, Mitchell and Lieutenants Besby T. Holmes and Thomas G. Lanphier reasoned that they would have to catch Yamamoto’s plane 30 miles east of Buka airfield at 9:35 am, ten minutes before his scheduled arrival. The following morning Squadron 339 took off from Henderson Field at 7:20 am. After flying 410 miles at a mere 30 feet, they identified Yamamoto’s flight of two G4M Mitsubishi "Betty" bombers escorted by six Zekes.

Flight of Squadron 339 to intercept Yamamoto

Picture from codebreaker.dids.com

    Four P-38s were dispatched for the kill while the remaining twelve climbed high above the fray to cover them as they made their attack. After fighting his way through three Zeke fighters, Lt. Lanphier successfully maneuvered his P-38 into position and shot Yamamoto’s aircraft down. Shortly thereafter, Lt. Rex Barber sent the second bomber carrying Admiral Ugaki, Yamamoto’s Chief of Staff, crashing into the sea, but Ugaki survived and was later rescued. In the dogfight that followed three Zekes were shot down, as was Lt. Raymond K. Hine, one of the four attacking P-38 pilots (Potter 302-306). It should be noted that there is some controversy over who shot down Yamamoto’s plane exactly, but it was either Barber or Lanphier. Yamamoto’s body was discovered in heavy jungle early the next morning by Japanese sailors and was taken back to Bougainville by Corvette. It was determined that Yamamoto had died from a shot to the head prior to crashing. His body was burned atop a mountain and his Chief Planning Officer, Captain Watanabe, took his ashes back to Japan. Public announcement of Yamamoto’s death was made known to the Japanese people in late May that same year. Being the celebrated war hero that he was, Yamamoto’s death was a tragic shock throughout Japan. He was given a state funeral in Tokyo and a second in his hometown of Nagaoka where he was buried next to his father (Potter 310-311). News of Yamamoto’s death was not made known to the American public directly as the government feared the risk of alerting the Japanese that their code had been cracked. Additionally, it was believed that Lt. Laphier’s brother Charles, a captured pilot, might suffer reprisals at the hands of the Japanese for Yamamoto’s death. The U.S. population did eventually learn that Yamamoto was dead. However, this came by way of the American media broadcasting what they had over heard from Tokyo Radio reports regarding the incident (Potter 310).