Aircraft of the Aces: Legends of World War 2 (paperback)

On 19 May 1944 Capt Tom McGuire, who had been CO of the 431st Fighter Squadron (FS) within the 475th Fighter Group (FG) for just 17 days, was leading ‘Hades Red Flight’ on the bomber escort duty to Jefman Island, north of New Guinea, when he spotted three Ki-43s and a lone Ki-44 near Manokwari. Quickly manoeuvring P-38J-15 PUDGY III in behind the ‘Tojo’, which was trailing the trio of ‘Oscars’, McGuire hit the Nakajima fighter hard with two accurate bursts if fire. Sensing the imminent explosion of his burning mount, the Japanese pilot wisely took to his parachute, thus giving his American victor his 18th kill.
McGuire’s combat report for this action read as follows:

‘We took off from Hollandia drome at 1120/K rendezvousing with the bombers off the west of Japan Island. I was leading ""Red Flight"" of ""Hades"", and we arrived over the target at 1335/K. Flak was heavy calibre, heavy intensity and accurate, bursting between 14,000 and 18,000 ft.
‘At 1340/K we made contact with the enemy, consisting of a flight of one ""Tojo"" and three probable ""Oscars"" just west of Manokwari. We dropped tanks and started for them. The Nips were diving from above and to the left ahead of our formation. We slipped in behind them. Picking out the element leader, I opened fire with a short burst and followed him until he stalled out, going straight up and rolling slightly. I then fired another short burst, hitting him in the cockpit. There was a flash of flame and then the ""Tojo"" started down and almost immediately exploded. The pilot was blown clear and parachuted down.
""I then started down after the others; there were approximately eight enemy aircraft in all. When the bombers called that there were some enemy aircraft near, we returned to them and covered them back to Tydeman Reef, where we left the bombers and returned home, landing at 1600/K.