A Japanese 4th Air Group Type 1 bomber, commanded by the strike leader, Lieutenant Commander Takuzo Ito, approaches Lexington during the action. The bomber, already missing one engine after an attack by a Wildcat fighter piloted by "Butch" O'Hare moments earlier, crashed into the ocean shortly after this picture was taken.
Date
20 February 1942
Location
450 mi (390 nmi; 720 km) east of Bougainville, Territory of New Guinea
Result
Japanese air group takes heavy losses; American raid turned back
The action off Bougainville was a naval and air engagement on the South Pacific Theater of World War II near Bougainville, Papua New Guinea on 20 February 1942. A United States Navy aircraft carrier task force on its way to raid the Imperial Japanese military base at Rabaul, New Britain was attacked by a force of land-based bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The US task force was commanded by Admiral Wilson Brown and the Japanese aircraft forces were under the command of Eiji Gotō.
In the ensuing engagement, the Japanese air group lost 15 of 17 bombers sent to attack the American carrier group. The United States lost only two fighters in defence, and no ships were damaged. As a result of the loss of surprise, however, the Americans retired without raiding Rabaul as originally planned. Because of the heavy losses in bombers, the Japanese were forced to delay their planned invasion of New Guinea, giving the Allies more time to prepare defences against the Japanese advances in the South Pacific.
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