Sharks over China

The 23rd Fighter Group in World War II

By Carl Molesworth 1994

Hengyang in the Crosshairs, Chapter 3, Page 36

“The most spectacular performance of the morning was turned in

by 2/Lt. Mack A. Mitchell of the 75th. While the Americans were

occupied at high altitude, part of the Japanese force split away and

dived out of the sun for a strafing attack on Hengyang airfield. Men

on the ground squeezed themselves into the bottoms of slit trenches

while the Japanese pilots concentrated on shooting up P-40s that

had been undergoing repairs on the field.

Mitchell was at ten thousand feet when he spotted about nine Ki-

43s at seven thousand feet heading toward the field. He dived after

them alone, picking up tremendous speed in the process. Using

Chennault’s dive-and-zoom tactics, Mitchell approached the rear of

The formation, put a burst into the rearmost aircraft, then pulled

back up to make another pass. He attacked again, but this time he

let his speed carry him in front of two Japanese fighters and then

pulled around in a sharp turn to make a head-on pass at them. This

he accomplished, but then the quick-turning Ki-43s zipped around

behind Mitchell and started shooting at him. Soon there was one

Oscar planted squarely on his tail and four more hovering above.

Mitchell did the only thing he could do and pushed the P-40 over

Into a screaming dive. The Ki-43 was still firmly attached to his tail,

though beginning to lose ground, when Mitchell passed near the

field at very low altitude and went out of sight behind the nearby

hills. But he was not finished yet. He gave the following

statement later:

“When I came out of the dive that Jap was so close that I saw his

bifocals. The forward travel of that throttle was not half enough, but

the ’40 gave its all and me a little distance on that Jap. I gained

enough distance to turn for a head-on pass. As I turned he pulled up,

exposing his belly at which I had a good shot and observed some

hits. Only the guns on one wing were firing, which caused my plane

to stall, so I had to run for it again. But the Zero [it was common for

pilots in China to refer to any Japanese plane they encountered as a

Zero] did not follow. I pulled up but did not see him again; so I

returned to the field, but the fight was over. (14) Later, Chinese civil-

ians found the wreckage of a Ki-43 near the scene of the action, and

Mitchell was given credit for destroying it.”

Mack Mitchell (1919)