September was the worst month of the war for Japanese aviation. U.S. flyers destroyed more than 1,300 planes close to the maximum monthly output credited to Jap factories by the most conservative U.S. authorities.
About 200 planes were credited to pilots from the Mountbatten, MacArthur and Chennault commands, but carrier-based navymen of Vice Admiral Marc A. Mit-scher's task force, from Halsey's Third Fleet, went on a more destructive ram page. In seven carrier raids from Aug. 30 to Sept. 25 (four of them over the Philip pines) 1,101 Jap planes were destroyed. Significantly, Halsey's fourth raid, an nounced last week, was...
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