Zero pilots of the 201st Kokutai left Cebu in the morning to ferry replacement Zeros from Mabalacat. Over Calapan on Mindoro Island two F6F Hellcats from VF-14 off the USS Wasp, attacked the bomber. It was shot it down in flames, likely by Lt. j.g. Harold P. Newell, who was credited with a Ki-49 Helen over northeast of Mindoro that morning shot down the Betty. Among the passengers was Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japan's highest scoring ace was killed in the crash.
Zero pilots of the 201st Kokutai left Cebu in the morning to ferry replacement Zeros from Mabalacat. Over Calapan on Mindoro Island two F6F Hellcats from VF-14 off the USS Wasp, attacked the bomber. It was shot it down in flames, likely by Lt. j.g. Harold P. Newell, who was credited with a Ki-49 Helen over northeast of Mindoro that morning shot down the Betty. Among the passengers was Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japan's highest scoring ace was killed in the crash.
gdt78550 4 years ago