1440 Hours, 23 November 1942, 15 Miles Southeast of Akyab, Bay of Bengal – The Hurricanes from No. 67 Squadron arrived in four sections of four and found themselves engaged with the two higher groups of escorting Zeroes. The pilots of No. 67 Squadron were veterans of the furious fighting over Burma from the previous spring and over the summer the entire squadron had made a trip to Ceylon for two weeks of training against the CATS. During the trip, the pilots also spent time with Jimmy Thach during his visit to Ceylon. Suffice to say, the Hurricane pilots knew exactly how to handle themselves against their nimble opponents and as soon as they found themselves engaged, they split into fighting pairs and executed by now well-rehearsed beam defense maneuvers.
The tactics of the RAF pilots combined with the 20mm cannons on their Hurricane IICs were deadly against the escorting Zeroes and the results showed with seven Zeroes shot down in exchange for two Hurricanes destroyed and one damaged. However, the Zeroes did succeed in keeping the fighters off of the Betties.
Unfortunately for the Allied ships offshore, No. 135 Squadron’s fighters were still 50 miles out when the wave hugging Betties began their attack runs. Four P-36s from No. 155 Squadron with partial loads of fuel and ammunition did manage to get into the air and the pilots headed straight for the ships that were under attack.
The Betties bored in on the deck with pilots selecting their targets individually. The ships offshore had all weighed anchor and were maneuvering and the destroyers HMS Laforey, HMS Lightning, HMS Duncan, and USS John D. Edwards, the light cruisers HMS Capetown and HNMLS Sumatra, and the sloop HMS Egret joined the anti-aircraft guns on the freighters and put up a hail of fire. The Mohawk pilots from No. 155 Squadron flew right through the ships and claimed two Betties with Mohawk shot down by anti-aircraft fire and the ships’ guns claimed six more torpedo bombers before they could make their drops. The 16 Betties that made drops did well. The sloop HMS Egret, the Australian grain carrier SS Formion, and the American merchant ship SS Viper91 all took crippling hits and sank. Worst of all, the RFA Brown Ranger was hit by a torpedo and the Betty that dropped it and quickly capsized, fortunately she had already discharged her precious cargo of aviation fuel. In addition to the damaged Betty that hit Brown Ranger, one final torpedo bomber was claimed by anti-aircraft after it dropped.
A few minutes after the attack was over, the Hurricanes from No. 135 Squadron arrived on the scene and were ordered to provide cover to the rescue operations now underway while the Hurricanes from Mohawks that had successfully engaged the Japanese began landing at the local airfields, all low on fuel.
At Chittagong, as the results from the attack came in, a despondent Air Vice Marshal Brand called in impromptu meeting with his top staff officers. The day certainly could have been worse but it his eyes it had not gone well either and he wanted things fixed immediately.