In 1942, New Guinea was divided into two
territories. Papua New Guinea was under Australian control. Dutch New Guinea was under Hollands control. The island is over 1,400 miles long, with
mountains reaching to 16,000 feet. Port Moresby was the only real village in
New Guinea. It was also the only allied base in the country in 1942. The Japanese controlled the entire island except Moresby, from their large base at Rabaul,
New Britain. Enemy air attacks on our airstrip at Seven Mile Moresby and at
harbor facilities became a daily occurrence. Night raids were also common. It took the allies two and a half years to eliminate the Japanese from the island. General McAuthor's leap-frog tactics neutralized many of the enemy. ♪ [music] ♪ Our Chaplain conducting Easter services
at Mareeba, Northern Australia, 1943. We are 600 miles south of Port Moresby,
New Guinea. Our three fighter squadrons, 35th, 36th, and the 80th of the 8th
fighter group Army Air Corps, have just returned from New Guinea. ♪[music]♪ These are Air Corps personnel preparing to embark on another trip to New Guinea. Our third to enemy action. Tar beans and barracks bags were standard with our
enlisted men. A good share of these men were airplane maintenance section
people. They were my responsibility as Engineering Officer. ♪ [music] ♪ These are pilots and ground officers getting their first promotion. Note the
variety of uniforms. Mostly Australian clothing including shirts, shorts,
and fleece-lined flying boots. ♪[music]♪ Our C.O., Major McNeil,
congratulates his officers. ♪ [music] ♪ Lunch time for our pilots, including Aussie beer. ♪[music]♪ The jeep, however, is the only one
that's loaded. Our GIs leaving on a two-and-a-half-ton truck. ♪ [music] ♪ This is Milne Bay, the Eastern tip of New
Guinea. The coconut trees are part of Lever Brothers Plantation, an allied transport, hit by the Japs. ♪[music]♪ The Aussie Army is first off.
Next, come our men. ♪ [music] ♪ Milne Bay was wet, muddy, and Malaria infested. Practically, all our men had
Malaria at one time or another. I had it twice, along with a bout of
Dengue Fever. Our campsite with two boxes and cots prior to setting up tents. Camp and fighter strip are in a coconut plantation. Note the cots with mosquito
nets. ♪[music]♪ An Aussie torpedo bomber coming in. ♪[music]♪ These are P-39 Airacobras landing on metal matting. ♪ [music] ♪ We are about to use a wing originally bound for the RAF. ♪ [music] ♪ After a rain. Water and coconuts. P-39s on alert. Note droppable gas tanks
below belly. Dropped only on Jap interceptions. P-38 fighters landing
at three-mile-Airstrip, Fort Moresby. This was a twin engine supercharged
airplane. And more than a match for the Jap Zero. At one time, each of our groups'
three squadrons had different aircraft. P-38, P-39, and P-40s. Maintenance became very difficult. ♪ [music] ♪ We are changing a P-39 engine. ♪ [music] ♪ Note engine is behind cockpit. The engine drive shaft extended below the
pilot to prop gearbox. Because of this arrangement, we fired either a 37
millimeter or a 20 millimeter cannon through hub of propeller. ♪ [music] ♪ Pilots wear their 45s going to
chow line. GIs in the chow line. All our water had to be
boiled. Our bake shop. ♪ [music] ♪ A C-47 landing on our strip. Three young native boys. ♪ [music] ♪ Our camp at Milne Bay. Palm
thatched buildings were common. P-38's from the 80th squadron. These are unrehearsed pictures
of pilots after returning from mission against the Jap Zeros. They shot down
several Zeros and naturally are excited. Each pilot wears a life vest,
a 45 pistol, and knife. Fighter pilots were lost frequently. Not
only in combat, but weather and operation accidents took their toll. Flights
were made of four planes each. We usually could get 16 P-38s
available for each squadron's mission. Each squadron's compliment was 25
airplanes, but rarely did we have that many. ♪ [music] ♪ The Jap bombers hit us hard this January
day in 1943. These pictures are at our bomber strip at Milne Bay. Our trucks, gas tankers, bombers, and fuel dumps were all casualties. We tried to disperse both bomber and fighter planes. You will note coconut
logs used for airplane protection in the revetments. As I recall, we had very
little warning this time, resulting in our fighters not making contact with the Jap
Betty Bombers before their bomb run. These bombers were coming from Rabaul, New
Britain, the large Japanese airbase North of us. ♪ [music] ♪ This Jap tank apparently
ran off the road. ♪ [music] ♪ Jap prisoner with Aussie guard. A New Guinea sunset. ♪ [music] ♪ General Wurtsmith, 5th Air Force Fighter
Command General, is decorating officers and men of the 36th fighter squadron at
Milne Bay. The presentation is right on our airstrip in the coconut plantation. Clean long sleeve shirts and long pants are the uniform of the day. My men
usually worked in shorts only. However, later we found that this was a
bad Malaria area, necessitating more body covering. We were taking Quinine at
first and later Atabrine for Malaria. The yellow nose P-38s of the 80th
squadron are coming in from a mission. This was our leading squadron of the 8th
group, with 203 confirmed Jap planes to their credit at that time. Each squadron
had different colored nose cones. ♪ [music] ♪ This is the result of allied bombing and strafing at the Jap airbase at Lae, New
Guinea. These are Jap Zero Fighters and Betty Bombers. ♪ [music] ♪ General Kenny, allied air commander,
Southwest Pacific area, is decorating our pilots and personnel at Three Mile Airstrip Fort Moresby. Camouflage and sandbags protect building in background. ♪ [music] ♪ Engine change on a P-38. Maintenance
on this airplane was much greater, mainly because of two engines. We were
fortunate to keep 16 out of 25 in flyable condition. ♪ [music] ♪ All our aircraft carried droppable
gas belly tanks. The 38's, two, one for each engine. Upon interception
with the enemy, the tanks were dropped and the airplane went into
combat with full wing tanks. ♪ [music] ♪ Upon completing a flight, each pilot makes out a maintenance report, which the Crew
Chief receives and turns over to the Engineering Officer. Each Crew Chief is
responsible for his airplane only. This is a young native boy at our Milne
Bay Camp who has been asked to knock some coconuts down for us. Apparently,
he knows how to climb the tree. ♪ [music] ♪ Someone told him that he would
have a cigarette if he did the job. Even the natives cried sometimes. ♪ [music] ♪ Notice the GI's shirt and
officer's insignia on the boy. ♪ [music] ♪ B-25 Mitchell Bombers are about to take
off from our airstrip at Nadzab North Coast of New Guinea. They are to bomb
and strafe the Jap airbase at Hollandia, 800 miles West. For strafing, the B-25 was
modified by adding two 50-caliber guns on each side of the fuselage. Along
with the four 50s in the nose, gave the B-25 a total of
eight 50s firing forward. ♪ [music] ♪ In our almost two and a half years in the
pacific, our camp at Cape Gloucester, New Britain was the muddiest and wettest. The rain averaged about two-inches a day for three weeks. I don't think we flew over a couple missions during this time.
We had plenty of fresh water off the tents. Mosquito nets on every cot
were a must everywhere we went. Most of the time was spent in the tents
except for chow or latrine business. ♪ [music] ♪ We are in a B-17 four engine bomber,
flying over the New Guinea mountains. Jungle was everywhere and no roads. One of our pilots bailed out three miles
from our airstrip one day and barely made it back between the mosquitoes and
the crocodiles. He was bitten by one. ♪ [music] ♪ We are at our rest camp in Northern
Australia. The officers are playing the enlisted men. ♪ [music] ♪ The umpire with cigar behind
the plate is a B-17 pilot. ♪ [music] ♪ A P-39 pilot that has had a few beers. ♪ [music] ♪ Australian beer was good but sometimes
green. The men put it in anything. They hadn't had a beer for six months. ♪ [music] ♪ I am flying in a PBY Catalina airplane.
This aircraft was used for observation and rescue work. ♪ [music] ♪ We land on a river to pick up
a downed pilot, an Aussie officer. They are rode to plane by natives in their
log canoe. The hatless pilot is real happy to see us. ♪ [music] ♪ Another sunset. ♪ [music] ♪ P-39s landing in Australia. Uh, these
planes were built by Bell. They were heavy, well-built, but
underpowered at high altitudes due to lack of a supercharger. ♪ [music] ♪ As a preface on the next scenes, money
didn't mean anything in New Guinea, everything was bartered. The film that I
used to take these pictures came from Air Corps supply. The price was usually four
rolls for a bottle of gin or whiskey. We are landing at 6,000 feet in Central
New Guinea. Many very primitive natives are here. An Aussie captain
runs a native hospital. ♪ [music] ♪ The airstrip and the landscaping were all done by the natives. One shell for
a weeks work. One shell buys a wife, two shells buy a pig. ♪ [music] ♪ The rare exotic birds of paradise are used
for headdresses in native ceremonies. We went out one day and shot the birds
with bow and arrows. The natives then stuff them with grass. ♪ [music] ♪ The Aussie captain taught the men the game
of soccer. The men wear tree bark around the waist trimmed with grass for the
bustle. There are many varieties of birds of paradise. The red and yellow varieties are the most common. The men could have as many wives as they
could support. However, I did attend a native court where the wife appealed to the Judge of the tribe and was released from her husband. The pig was the main source of meat. ♪ [music] ♪ We visited a remote native village where the natives had only seen one white man
before. They had never felt cloth and became terrified at our jeep horn and
lights. The Aussie Captain is showing the Chief pictures of himself. First
time he had ever seen himself. ♪ [music] ♪ The natives gathered one day with all their war paints, spears, bow and arrows. Apparently, somebody saw Japs nearby. ♪ [music] ♪ The native interpreter is advising the Chief where to go to head off the Japs. We
were fortunate to get these pictures, as this was a real war party who
actually did kill some Jap soldiers. Bird feathers for the headdress and
bustles are common. A beautiful sunset ends our experience. ♪ [music] ♪ -This is part two of First Fighters in New
Guinea. Some of the scenes are similar to first reel scenes. We begin with
Easter at Mareeba, Australia 1943, having returned from New Guinea for rest.
Colonel Wise, our 8th group CO was just shown. Baseball at Mareeba 1943.
Enlisted men are playing the officers. The odds would naturally be with
the men, there are more of them. ♪ [music] ♪ The men are at bat at that
point, now the officers. ♪ [music] ♪ Rifle range for enlisted men near
Townsville, Australia 1942. Each enlisted man was issued a rifle and the only
practice they had was when we returned to Australia from the combat zone in New
Guinea. Officers all carried 45 automatic pistols. The pilots carried them in
shoulder holsters. And it was hard to be accurate with a 45. ♪ [music] ♪ A miss at the target is signified
by the back-and-forth paddle. We called it Maggie's Drawers. ♪ [music] ♪ These are two and a half ton trucks
that the men are getting into now. ♪ [music] ♪ The first officer at the pistol range is Lieutenant Mainwer. We called
him Bourbon Danny. ♪ [music] ♪ Lieutenant Mark Bothan, our
Ordinance Officer in the 36th squadron instructs on the use of the 45 pistol. ♪ [music] ♪ The shirtless officers are Lieutenant Fred Taylor with cap on the left
and Lieutenant Welsh on the right. Welsh came to the 36th squadron after
shooting down four Jap Zeros at Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. He later became
a Major with 16 Jap planes to his credit. Subsequently, he was killed in the States. ♪ [music] ♪ These are 36 squadron pilots
and ground officers at Townsville. Lieutenant George Richter puts in
appearance as we end the camp scene. ♪ [music] ♪ This is Captain Ming coming out of his tent wearing Australian flying boots. We
catch Richter again sitting on his trunk. ♪ [music] ♪ We continue with camp scenes with enlisted men and officers. Sargent Kaskarella
reads the orders prior to our embarkation by boat to New Guinea. ♪ [music] ♪ Boat trip to Milne Bay, New Guinea, fall
of 1942. This is a Dutch ship, and we are going to New Guinea for the
second time with Australian troops. The Dutch flag. ♪ [music] ♪ A gun drill is now put on by the Australians. ♪ [music] ♪ A New Guinea sunset. ♪ [music] ♪ These are Aussies and Americans leaving
our ship at Milne Bay, the far Eastern tip of New Guinea. ♪ [music] ♪ The Aussies carry everything with them. ♪ [music] ♪ This is an engine change on one of our P-38s. ♪ [music] ♪ P-38s coming in from a mission. Each squadron had different colored nose cones. He was a very fine twin engine pilot. The
first planes in our 36th squadron were the P-39s, and they are now on
alert at our strip at Milne Bay. ♪ [music] ♪ This is a native boy with our Sargent.
Cas Carella. Uh, he used to climb coconut trees for us
for, uh, cigarettes. ♪ [music] ♪ A P-40 in the background. Uh, these are
natives at Mount Hagen, New Guinea. Uh, a beautiful area 6,000
feet up in the mountains. ♪ [music] ♪ Talking to the Chief. ♪ [music] ♪ These are very wild, uh,
primitive natives at this point. ♪ [music] ♪ These are natives on an island near Port Moresby. Where we sometimes visited in native
canoes. All these natives are very friendly and cooperated much
with our service people. Port Moresby was the first
American base in New Guinea. We were there as the first two American
squadrons in May of 1942. ♪ [music] ♪ The officer you see there was
Lieutenant Hager of the 36th squadron. ♪ [music] ♪ All the, uh, people on this island lived
above the ground in their thatched accommodations. ♪ [music] ♪ A beautiful falls near Port Moresby. I
believe it was called Roanoke Falls. ♪ [music] ♪ General Wurtsmith on the left was the 5th
Fighter Command General was decorating our officers and men at Milne Bay,
New Guinea. Note the pilot here who forgets to salute. ♪ [music] ♪ Our 36th squadron doctor
now is being decorated. ♪ [music] ♪ Our 8th group C.O. Colonel
Wise ends our scene. ♪ [music] ♪
