Carrier Strike on Wake Island (Sept. 1998)

October 5, 1943; the US gets a chance to strike back at the Japanese who had taken Wake Island. The largest American carrier force since the start of the war was going to be used, along with a new version of the Wildcat plane, the F6F.

The article talks about earlier raids by the US, including one on Aug. 31, 1943 against Marcus Island, and one on sept. 18 and 19th against the Gilbert Islands.

The first strike on Wake Island was on Oct. 5, and several planes crashed while taking off. It was dark, and the weather was poor.

Details of the aerial combat are given. In the first two waves, American fighters downed 15 of 23 Zeros , and almost thirty Japanese planes that were still on the ground were destroyed.

The article notes that the raid was also the first time US submarines were used to pick up downed American pilots.

All of this was a raid, though, and not an actual invasion. It was sort of an introduction to the Japanese of what was going to be happening to them as the war went on.

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