Pacific Counterblow - Air Force Historical Studies Office

of precious fuel was burned before the planes sighted the Japanese
task force off the coast of Santa Isabel-6 transports in line astern,
well screened by 8 destroyers and cruisers, 4 on each flank. The
armada maneuvered violently, threw up heavy flak. The composite
attack group pushed over and went down. No planes were lostbut
no hits were seen.
Someone recalled the abandoned B-i7's. The gas siphoned out of
their tanks proved enough for one more strike, and for this one old
P- 4oo, saddled with 5oo-pound bombs, barely wobbled off the runway.
This time the SBD's scored two hits on the Japanese force, by now at
the near tip of Santa Isabel. The 67th lost one plane over the target,
and another to a night-landing crash back at Henderson.
It was a glum prospect as darkness set in over the Marine beachhead.
Another shelling was a certainty. The enemy ships were anchored
between Kokumbona and Tassafaronga, only io miles down the
channel, busily unloading troops and supplies-a prime target for an
air strike, but no gas. However, the shelling which started at oioo,
though heavy, lasted but a short time, newly arrived PT boats out in
"Sleepless Lagoon" contributing to the premature withdrawal of the
Express. And gasoline was on the way.
By mid-morning it began to arrive, ferried in by the work-horse
C-47's. For over a week Henderson was to depend on the fuel
brought in by this service, maintained by two Marine transport squadrons
and the AAF's i 3th Troop Carrier Squadron. All day long on
the x5th the transports came in from Espiritu, each with about 12
drums-enough to keep 12 planes in the air for i hour. They braked
to a skidding stop, the drums were rolled out, and the planes took off
before Pistol Pete could lob a shell.
Henderson Strikes Back
With gas on hand, Henderson prepared to hit back. Battered
planes were patched, pilots belted their own ammunition, armament
crews shouldered the formidable task of bombing up the planes without
bomb carts. Ten men hoisted a 5oo-pound bomb on a truck bed.
Hauled to the vicinity of the plane, then rolled through the mud, the
bombs were lifted and fitted into the racks by as many men as could
crowd under the aircraft's belly. All this on empty stomachs-with
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