13 March 1942

At 9.00am six Japanese fighter planes suddenly appear over Port Moresby’s 7-Mile aerodrome from the north and strafe the airstrip for 20 minutes.

A warning of the attack was not received at Moresby because of a signal line failure. One plane was destroyed on the ground by the fighters.

Just as the fighters are leaving a light RAAF bomber returns from an attack on Jap positions at Salamaua but skillfully evades the fighters by concealing itself in cloud cover.