The bombing of Rangoon was a series of air raids conducted by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service that took place between December 1941 to March 1942 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. The capital city of Rangoon was the first to be attacked after Japan executed air raids on Burma in preparation for its invasion of the country weeks following its declaration of war upon the United States and the United Kingdom on December 8, 1941.
December 23, 1941
Background
The air war in southern Burma was about to enter an entirely new phase after Japan executed air raids on Burma in preparation for its invasion of the country. General Michio Sugawara was planning a major bombing raid on Rangoon for December 23. Mingaladon airfield and the downtown districts of Rangoon were to be the principal targets; the Shwedagon Pagoda would provide an excellent navigation mark from the air. Like most pre-World War II airpower theorists, targeting downtown districts would serve as an effort to create terror and panic among the city's inhabitants and demoralize their will to support the war, in hoping that such raid would force them to turn against British colonial leaders.
Eighty bombers and thirty fighters were available for the operation. Most of the bombers were twin-engine Mitsubishi Ki-21 bombers. The Ki-21 was a modern type, carried a large crew and could fly at 300 miles per hour. Three squadrons of Ki-21 bombers would be supported by a squadron of nimble Nakajima Ki-27 fighters - also called a Type 97 fighter - and a squadron of Mitsubishi Ki-30s. The Ki-30 was a light bomber and carried a 600-pound bomb; for armament, it mounted one forward-firing fixed machine gun, and a rear-gunner sat behind the pilot under a greenhouse type canopy.
The Attack
The Japanese squadrons took to the skies from airfields in Thailand and Indochina on the morning of December 23. By the time they arrived over Rangoon, there were few clouds in the air and a light breeze blew from the south, thus allowing them to visually strike at the selected targets. Just before 10 a.m., the operations room at Mingaladon reported two waves of approaching raiders. Once the news came through, the base's fighters were hastily ordered to scramble in order to intercept the enemy bombers. A dozen Curtiss Tomahawks and fifteen Brewster Buffalos of the Royal Air Force and the American Volunteer Group (AVG) took off and began climbing for all the height they could manage in the time available. The Japanese aircraft arrived forty minutes after the first warning. A squadron of twin-engine bombers (62nd Sentai) made for Mingaladon with the slower single-engine fighter-bombers (31st Sentai) and fighters (77th Sentai) swarming behind. The other two squadrons of twin-engine bombers (60th and 98th Sentais) headed towards Rangoon city in a separate stream.
A pair of Buffalos already in the air for a routine patrol was first to attack the bombers heading for Mingaladon. A flight of Tomahawks soon gained sufficient height to attack the incoming Japanese aircraft. From a line astern, the fighters peeled off to rake the bombers with machine gunfire. More Tomahawks joined the battle and pilot Chuck Older forced a bomber out of formation trailing smoke. Another bomber crashed on the waterfront; the gun crew on the American freighter City of Tulsa made a claim, though the falling aircraft was probably already fatally crippled." AVG pilot Hank Gilbert's Tomahawk was shot down by defensive fire from bombers; Gilbert was the AVG's first combat death. Paul Greene bailed out when his Tomahawk went out of control; he was knocked out when he hit the earth and awoke to find he was looking along the gun barrel of a British soldier.