Battle of the Bismarck sea

[Tony Drago]

 

[qaz049]

In the written history, most of the ships were in  sunk by B25 bombers with heavy nose guns and skip bombing.

Depends on the "written history" you read. Much of the early "history" was written under the auspices of the General Douglas MacArthur  Public Relations Unit and so is heavily US centric. The truth is that there was a unified command and the notion of "skip-bombing" was introduced by a RAAF (Australian) high ranking officer who had experience flying Beaufighters with the RAF in the North Sea against the Germans. Remember that Australia, NZ, Canada, etc, had been in the war supporting the Brits since 1939. The Germans had invented the skip-bombing technique. The B-25's did not have 76mm cannons, a claim that you have now edited out. They did have multiple machine guns inspired  by the magnificent RAAF (Australian made) Beaufighters. The USAAF B-25's were also crewed by a mix of US and Australian crews. Many only had a US pilot. The AAF were aircraft rich but crew poor, while the RAAF were crew rich but aircraft poor. Likewise the Douglas A-20's are in RAAF markings. The Battle of the Bismark Sea was basically an Australian run operation, a notion that seemly offends US jingoists.

Note that the subsequent strafing of Japanese  survivors in the water by the RAAF after the battle could/should have been classed as a war crime.  Such was the fanatical bravery of the Japanese forces that they were considered a danger even floating around on makeshift  rafts on the Bismark Sea fifty miles from land.

See this for a more balanced view:

[Tony Drago]

I believe the B-25 did have a 75mm canon (not a 76mm) in the nose. When fired the plane felt like it hit a brick wall do to the recoil. It could and did hit its targets from up to, two miles away.

[qaz049]

I believe the B-25 did have a 75mm canon (not a 76mm) in the nose. When fired the plane felt like it hit a brick wall do to the recoil. It could and did hit its targets from up to, two miles away.

Yes, but not in the Aircraft involved in the Bismarck Sea.

[qaz049]

Correct,they had only multiple .50 cal M2 machine guns.  The Brits still used the .303.

Yes the Beaufighter was armed with six .303 machine guns in it's wings. However it also had four 20mm Cannons in it's nose.

With four cannons in its nose and six machine guns in its wings, the Beaufighter was the most heavily armed fighter in the world. The Australians’ job was twofold: to suppress anti-aircraft fire, and to kill ships’ captains and officers on their bridges.

From:

https://balloonstodrones.com/2017/03/02/air-power-and-the-battle-of-the-bismarck-sea/