1300 Hours, 23 November 1942, Akyab, Burma – Eight Hurricanes from No. 136 Squadron made contact with the 12 Ki-43s of the 50th Sentai from Myitkyina 15 miles east of Akyab. Four Hurricanes attacked head on while the others dove from above out of the sun. Two Ki-43s went down in the first pass and after that fight turned into a twisting aerial ballet with the RAF pilots using their superior speed to avoid turning with their nimble adversaries and the JAAF pilots used their slower mounts’ agility to spoil the aim of their opponents. A third Ki-43 was shot down exchange for two Hurricanes. One due to a lucky round that pierced the coolant lines of its Merlin engine and another because its rookie pilot tried match a veteran Oscar pilot in a low speed turn.
Ten miles to the south, 16 P-36s from No. 155 Squadron got into a protracted duel with the 24 Ki-43s of the 11th Sentai. The furball between two evenly matched fighters came down to a battle of pilot skill with both sides scoring two kills while another P-36 was damaged. Given the similarities between the Ki-43 and the P-36, fratricide was a potential issue and several pilots missed likely kills by hesitating an instant too long to pull the trigger for fear he was firing on a comrade. Four Hurricanes from No. 136 Squadron managed to slip past the escorts and got in among the Ki-21s from the 98th Sentai shooting down six and damaging three others causing them to turn back. Eight other Hurricanes found themselves occupied by 24 Ki-43s from the 64th Sentai and after scoring a quick kill, the RAF pilots used their speed to out dive the slower Oscars, less one Hurricane.
Overall, the Japanese fighter escort did its job, tying down most of the combat air patrol while the few Hurricanes that engage the bombers hit those of the 98th Sentai that were headed for Chittagong. This meant the 27 Ki-21s of the 12th Sentai and 18 Ki-48s of the 8th Sentai got a free run against Akyab. The Ki-48s led the attack, dive bombing individual ships at the docks and anchored in the harbor while the Ki-21s conducted a formation drop over the docks from 15,000 feet. Anti-aircraft fire got two of the Ki-48s and damaged two others along with a single Ki-21 going down in flames. Several ships as well the dock facilities were hit but once again the JAAF bombers were betrayed by their preference for smaller 100kg bombs. With almost 400 total bombs raining on the target area, hits were guaranteed but none of the merchant ships and freighters hit were in danger of sinking with the exception of two small coastal steamers that caught fire and were run aground. Their bomb loads dropped, the surviving bombers turned away from the target and headed out over the water before turning back toward Rangoon.
To the north, the eight Hurricanes from No. 79 Squadron vectored to intercept the 12 Ki-43s from the 50th Sentai approaching Chittagong missed their intercept due to clouds while the cloud cover also caused the Oscar pilots to fly too far to the south of Chittagong and in skies free of enemy aircraft they chose to strafe a convoy on the roads between Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar destroyed three trucks before turning back for Myitkyina.
The final air action played out north of Akyab when eight Hurricanes from No. 79 Squadron from Cox’s Bazar engaged the Ki-21s of the 98th Sentai with four of their escorting fighters that had not been pulled away by earlier engagements still in tow. The unfortunate bomber crews were facing fighters that had plenty of time to gain altitude and setup an intercept using information fed to them by the ground stations. The Hurricane pilots ignored the escorting Oscars and dove through the bomber formation shredding four Ki-21s with their cannons on their first pass. Have already lost six bombers with another three turning back with battle damaged, the remaining 17 Ki-21s dove for the deck, dropping their bomb loads as they ran for the Bay of Bengal. The Ki-43s successfully keep the Hurricanes away from the retreating bombers, at the cost of one of their own.
As the Japanese planes cleared the area, the RAF fighters began returning to their airfields while the Operations Center, staff officers and Air Vice Marshal Brand attempted to get a handle on the situation and reorganize the defensive posture for the area. Brand had already detailed two officers to figure out what went right and more importantly what wrong.