The ‘Great Marianas Turkey Shoot’ Stymied Operation A-Go

By DAVID F. WINKLER

Sixty years ago this month, American naval aviators triumphed in one of the greatest dogfights ever, scoring a major victory against Japan.

In May 1944, the Japanese Combined Fleet commander in chief issued plans for Operation A-Go that would mass Japanese carrier power and land-based airpower against the American naval task forces intruding into the Western Pacific. Adm. Raymond Spruance’s Fifth Fleet, spearheaded by Vice Adm. Marc A. Mitscher’s Task Force 58, arrived in the region in mid-June. With Marines storming ashore at Saipan on June 15, Japanese commanders received orders to execute A-Go.

The Mobile Fleet, commanded by Adm. Jisaburo Ozawa, moved through the San Bernardino Strait between Luzon and Samar into the Philippine Sea. A supporting battleship force, led by Vice Adm. Matome Ugaki, moved in from the south.

Ozawa had five carriers and four light carriers to oppose the seven carriers and eight light carriers in the American order of battle. However, Ozawa felt that the longer range of his lighter, unarmored aircraft and the addition of hundreds of shore-based planes canceled out the American advantage. With these factors, combined with the element of surprise, Ozawa felt confident he could pull off a Midway in reverse.

But surprise, a key element that contributed to the American triumph two years earlier, would be denied to Ozawa. Whereas Task Forces 16 and 17 evaded Japanese submarines before the 1942 epic battle in the central Pacific, Ozawa’s forces were sighted by American submarines as they emerged into the Philippine Sea. Alerted, Adm. Spruance delayed planned landings at Guam to focus on the oncoming enemy threat.

On the morning of June 19, the Japanese air assault on the American sea forces began. For some enemy aviators, the attack ended before it could begin as F6F Hellcat fighters off the USS Belleau Wood and other U.S. carriers arrived over Guam to intercept them as they were taking off. Then, American air-search radars detected the first of four massive enemy air formations to the west.

Directed by Naval Reserve Lt. Joseph R. Eggert, the task force fighter director embarked on the USS Lexington, Hellcats ripped into the oncoming Japanese aircraft. The few aircraft that made it through the fighter screen then had to contend with Vice Adm. Willis A. Lee Jr.’s battleships. While one Japanese bomber scored a hit on the South Dakota, the rest were driven off. Nearly two-thirds of this first wave of 69 failed to return.

Near midday, Cmdr. David McCampbell, joined by fighters off the USS Essex and other carriers, ambushed a second, larger wave of more than 100 enemy attackers. Despite the spirited assault launched by McCampbell and his fellow fliers, some of the Japanese airmen managed to make it through to press attacks on Mitscher’s flattops, but only scored near misses and inflicted minimal casualties. Meanwhile, more than 70 Japanese aircraft went down in flames.

Ozawa’s third raid lost only seven aircraft as most of the pilots returned having not located Task Force 58. His fourth raid threw some 82 aircraft at the Americans. Some of these planes evaded the combat air patrol, but missed hitting the USS Wasp and USS Bunker Hill. Other planes in this raiding group failed to locate the American fleet and flew on to Guam.

After landing, refueling and rearming, McCampbell and his Essex comrades joined with Hellcats from the USS Cowpens to shoot down 30 of 49 Japanese aircraft approaching the runway over Orate Field at Guam. Many of those that did touch down were unable to avoid the craters left by SB2C Helldiver bombers that had swooped down hours earlier. By the end of the day, McCampbell would have seven Japanese flags to paint beneath his cockpit. He would shoot down nine enemy aircraft in a single day during the Battle of Leyte Gulf four months later.

Overall, the Japanese lost nearly 300 aircraft to the American fliers in one day. The more than 12-to-1 kill-to-loss ratio that U.S. Navy pilots enjoyed could be directly attributed to superior tactics, training, aircraft and air defense coordination. While sunset on June 19 marked the end of the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot,” the Battle of the Philippine Sea had another day to play out.

Dr. David F. Winkler is a historian with the Naval Historical Foundation.

Sources: Samuel E. Morison, New Guinea and the Marianas: March 1944-August 1944, Vol. VIII, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (Edison N.J.: Castle Books, 2001). M. Hill Goodspeed, U.S. Navy: A Complete History (Naval Historical Foundation, 2003).