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April 18th, 1943 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: No. 254 Squadron RAF makes the first successful operational sortie against enemy shipping using the new torpedo-carrying Bristol Beaufighter known as the ‘Torbeau’. (22)

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The USSR accuses the Gestapo of concocting the Katyn massacre.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: A convoy of 100 transport aircraft leaves Sicily for Tunisia to re-supply Axis forces. It sustains over a 50% loss to Allied fighters when intercepted off Cape Bon and 59 Luftwaffe transports and ten of the fighter escort are shot down. Nine Allied fighters are lost.

Submarine HMS Regent is lost to a mine off Bari in the Adriatic. All 53 crew are lost. Post mortem on some bodies wearing British uniforms which were washed ashore between Brindisi and Otranto during April and May 1943 gave indication of a sinking three weeks earlier, hence between 18 and 25 April.

After leaving Freetown on a routine passage to Takoradi in company with MMS107, submarine P.615 (ex-Turkish) is attacked by U-123 and struck (by a torpedo?) on the starboard side below the conning tower. There are no survivors. Location: off the Liberian coast at 06 49N 13 09W. (Alex Gordon)(108)

TUNISIA: Off Cap Bon, 46 Ninth Air Force P-40Fs of the 57th Fighter Group’s three squadrons (64th, 65th and 66th Fighter Squadrons) and the attached 314th Fighter Squadron, 324th Fighter Group, led by Arthur Salisbury, plus 11 Spitfires of the RAF No. 92 Squadron flying top cover, take off to patrol. At approximately 1800 hours, they spot 2 Bf 109s and an armada of 65 Ju 52/3m transports heading back to Sicily for more supplies. The transports are in three great vees, covered by 16 Bf109s and Mc 202s and 5 Bf 110s. The 64th Fighter Squadron and the RAF Spitfires stay high; the remaining 3 squadrons of P-40s attack the Luftwaffe formation and down 24 Ju 53/3m’s and 16 fighters; another 35 Ju 52/3m’s crash along the coast. This all takes places in the space of 20 minutes in what becomes known as the Palm Sunday Massacre. (Scott Peterson)

During the night of 17/18 April, RAF Wellingtons of the Northwest African Air Force bomb the Tunis docks and marshalling yard. RAF Blenheims hit the La Marsa landing ground while fighter fly reconnaissance and scramble missions. Fighters fly reconnaissance and patrols, attacking vessels, troop columns, and truck in the coastal area. (Jack McKillop)

ITALY: Sardinia: Northwest African Air Force B-25s, escorted by P-38s, hit the Alghero-Fertilia Airfield and shipping at Porto Torres while RAF Beaufighters attack the Decimomannu Airfield. (Jack McKillop)

Sicily: Ninth Air Force In Sicily, B-24 Liberators attack Catania.

Over 75 Northwest African Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by P-38s, attack Boccadifalco Airfield and the Palermo Marshalling Yard. (Jack McKillop)

CHINA: Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe an enemy-held supply village southeast of Tengchung. (Jack McKillop)

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-24s bomb the Finschhafen and Saidor areas. (Jack McKillop)

EAST INDIES: B-25 Mitchells of the RAAF’s No. 18 (NEI) Squadron bomb the airfield at Penfoei, Timor. (Jack McKillop)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Major John W. Mitchell leads a flight of 16 USAAF P-38s (2 others abort) on a low-level, circuitous, over-water trip from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal to a spot up the Bougainville coast from Kahili to intercept the fight of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, Chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. These P-38s are part of the USAAF 339th Squadron, 13th Airforce. Admiral Yamamoto according to US intelligence, is on an inspection trip in the South Pacific and is due in Ballale Airfield on Bougainville at 0945 local. As Chief of the Combined Fleet he has planned and directed the Japanese Naval moves from preparing for the attack on Pearl Harbor and the advance during 1942. His ability has helped stiffen the Japanese resistance in the South Pacific. This mission to intercept his flight has the support of high ranking US officers. It is not clear who actually authorized the mission.

Admiral Yamamoto’s well-known punctuality is calculated to allow the interception to take place at 0935 local at a point 35 miles (56 km) from Kahili. Two hours and 15 minutes after takeoff at 0725 local, as the P-38s streak toward Bougainville at almost sea level, a flight of 2 Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers (Allied Code Name “Betty”) and 6 Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters (Allied Code Name “Zeke”) appears just ahead.

The 4-aircraft attack section under Captain Thomas G. Lanphier, Jr bores in. The “Zekes” spot the attacking P-38s at about 1 mile (1.6 km) and try in vain to cut off the attack as the bombers attempt to escape. In the air battle, both “Bettys” are shot down and Captain Lanphier and First Lieutenant Rex T. Barber are credited with shooting down the “Betty” carrying Admiral Yamamoto. The resulting controversy has never been resolved.

In 1997 the American Fighter Aces Association gave Barber 100 percent credit for the shoot down of the bomber carrying Yamamoto. In 1998 the Confederate Air Force recognizing that Barber alone and unassisted brought down Yamamoto’s aircraft inducted Barber into the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame. (Jack McKillop)

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Drum (SS-228) sinks a Japanese ammunition ship about 200 miles (322 km) north-northwest of Mussau Island, Bismarck Archipelago. A submarine chaser rescues survivors, who include a number of Army prostitutes among them. (Jack McKillop)

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: 22 Eleventh Air Force P-38 Lightnings (some flown by Royal Canadian Air Force pilots) and 37 P-40s hit Kiska Island 9 times. The submarine base and gun emplacements on North Head are bombed and gun emplacements near the submarine base are silenced. (Jack McKillop)