Figure 1
A pair of Aichi D3A1 Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber Model 11s of the Japanese 1st Strike Group on August 24, 1942, during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. The planes pictured are from the carrier Shokaku and have just attacked the carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6). Another D3A1, or ‘VAL’ of this same strike group, was flown by PO2c Hikiune Yukio from the carrier Zuikaku. Hikiune never made it back to his carrier, opting instead for a risky crash landing at Malu’u Harbour near Cape Astrolabe on Malaita Island’s Northern tip. The following day, a counterpart U.S. Navy dive bomber crew (Ens. Brown from VS-5, Site MALA22) would ditched at the other end of Malaita Island. Both crews would survive their forced landings, but their final outcomes were very different. The Zuikaku VAL on Malaita is a very historic site, however, it’s location in a shallow marine environment has not been conducive to its preservation and today the site is largely unrecognisable. [As published p. 146, “The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign” by John B. Lundstrom, 1994].