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06/07/2005: "JAPANESE SEAPLANE WRECKAGE WWII Kapingamarangi Atoll"

Just offshore lies the wreckage of an air force bomber which was lost when one of it's own bombs was struck by Japanese anti aircraft fire, the event being witnessed on the ground. (Detailed in the book below).

The Royal Australian Air Force Hudson bombers made raids on this location from their base at Rabaul, New Guinea.

An American destroyer shelled the Japanese occupied island during WWII, perhaps mistaking toilets for more significant structures.

EMORY, KENNETH P.
1965 (reprinted 1985). Kapingamarangi: social and religious life of a Polynesian atoll (in: Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin, no 228). Honolulu. Bernice P. Bishop Museum.

No 24 Squadron had four Hudsons and 12 Wirraways in Rabaul. In January 1942 the Hudsons and the Catalinas were engaged in long-range reconnaissance of Kapingamarangi and Truk. I clearly recall that my first (weather) forecast for the RAAF following the news of Pearl Harbour was for a Hudson flying from Rabaul for reconnaissance of the Japanese island of Kapingamarangi some two degrees north of the equator.

About this time Sqn Ldr Dick Cohen made a 20 hour reconnaissance over Japanese-held islands to the east and north-east of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. These reconnaissances revealed warships and flying boats in the harbour of Truk and bombers on the airstrip. The Hudsons and Catalinas mounted bombing missions against Truk but bad weather made it difficult to find targets. One Catalina was lost on take-off after refuelling at Kavieng and two more disappeared while on reconnaissance north of New Britain.

SOURCE: http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/0423.html

Footnote: Q. Did the RAAF lose a Hudson bomber at Kapingamarangi?