REX T. BARBER
Colonel, USAF, Ret.
May 1917 – July 2001

70th Fighter Squadron
18th Fighter Group

Rex T. Barber was born in Culver, Oregon, on May 6, 1917. After graduating from high school he briefly attended Linfield College in McMinnville, OR, then transferred to Oregon State College at Corvallis, OR, where he majored in Agricultural Engineering. He’d always had an interest in flying - even as a youth - and when the war erupted in Europe 1939, he could see the war clouds gathering for the U.S., and although he had just a few weeks remaining to receive his college degree, Barber enlisted in the Army Air Corps in September 1940. He immediately applied for Pilot Training, and in March 1941 was sent to the Rankin Aeronautical Academy, Tulare, CA, as an Aviation Cadet where he first learned to fly in Stearman PT-17 biplanes. He won his wings and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Mather Field, CA.

Lieutenant Barber’s first duty assignment was with the 70th Fighter Squadron, then part of the 35th Fighter Group, at Hamilton Field, CA, where he initially flew Curtis P-40s. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the 70th Squadron was moved to the Fiji Islands, arriving on January 27, 1942, to fly Bell P-39s, then to Guadalcanal where they soon acquired twin-engined Lockheed P-38s.. When the 18th Fighter Group was re-formed in March 1943, Lt. Barber was assigned to the 339th Fighter Squadron, and the 70th was transferred into the 18th to join the 12th and 44th Fighter Squadrons. The 70th remained with the 18th, flying combat missions out of Henderson Field until October 1942, then commenced their northward island-hopping actions against the Japanese forces during the remainder of World War Two.

The most significant event of Rex Barber’s career – perhaps of his entire life, took place just a short time after he had joined the 339th Squadron - in mid-April 1943. A coded Japanese message was intercepted, telling in precise detail, the planned route and scheduled (0945 hrs) arrival for Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s flight to the island of Ballale, just off the coast of Bougainville on the morning of
18 April, 1943. Because the U.S. had previously broken the secret Japanese codes and could translate their intentions, Major John Mitchell, Commanding Officer of the 339th Fighter Squadron, was selected to plan and lead a flight to intercept and to shoot down Japan’s foremost military leader. Due to the extreme distance involved... more than 425 over-water miles each way, it was determined that only the P-38 would have sufficient range to carry out such a mission, and even then, they would require the large 310 gallon drop-tanks ... but the only tanks available on Guadalcanal were the shorter-range 165 gal. models.

Roger Ames, 12th Fighter Squadron, one of the mission pilots (and a long-time member of the 18th Fighter Wing Assoc.), recalled: “We put in an emergency order for the larger tanks, which had to be flown in during that night, and the crews worked throughout the night installing one each of the 310 and the 165 gallon tanks on every available P-38. We had only 18 flyable P-38s between all of our squadrons, and all were scheduled for the mission, but only 16 made it into the air.”

In order to intercept Yamamoto’s Betty bomber by 9:45 a.m., Major Mitchell

determined that it would be necessary for the P-38’s to be airborne, formed up and depart Guadalcanal by 7:15 a.m., just two hours and five minutes before intercept time, then fly at wave top altitude, well away from any islands, to avoid potential discovery by enemy radar. They took off on schedule on April 18 – Palm Sunday, a week before Easter Sunday, 1943, and flew a meticulous series of five varied headings, depending entirely upon the accuracy of Mitchell’s clock, compass and airspeed for his Dead Reckoning (time and distance) planning. Four pilots had been designated to be the “Killer Flight”, to carry out the actual attack against Yamamoto’s bomber; they were Capt. Tom Lanphier, Lt. Rex Barber, Lt. Joe Moore, and Lt. Jim McLanahan. (Lt. Besby Holmes and Lt. Ray Hine replaced Moore and McLanahan when their drop tanks failed to feed). All of the other twelve P-38s were to be “Cover Flights” to protect the Killers from the scores of enemy Zeroes which were expected to accompany their top Admiral.

Roger Ames reported further: “It was an uneventful flight, but a hot one, flying at wave-top level, ten to fifty feet above the sea. Some of the crews silently counted sharks, another counted driftwood. I don’t remember doing anything but sweating – John Mitchell said he may have started to doze off a couple of times, but the Man Upstairs would tap his shoulder to keep him awake. As we finally turned in toward the coast of Bougainville and started to gain altitude, 1st Lt. Doug Canning – ‘Old Eagle Eyes’ – broke radio silence with a quiet ‘Bogeys! Eleven o’clock high’ announcing contact with the enemy. It was 9:35 am. The Admiral was precisely on schedule, and so were we. It was almost as if the affair had been prearranged with the mutual consent of friend and foe. Two Betty bombers were at 4,000 feet with six Zeroes at about 1500 feet above and just behind the bombers in a ‘V’ formation of 3 planes on each side of the bombers.

“We all dropped our belly tanks and put our throttles to the fire wall climbing for altitude. The Killer Section closed in and climbed for the attack while the Cover Section stationed themselves at about 18,000 feet to take care of the fighters expected to rise from Kahili.” (The Japanese had about 75 fighters on Bougainville, but none were airborne to protect the incoming flight. It was surmised that they were all lined up along the runways waiting to be inspected by the Admiral.)