TWO FAMOUS ATTRACTIONS

ADMIRAL YAMAMOTO'S BUNKER

One famous relic at Rabaul Historical Museum is the remains of Admiral Yamamoto’s bunker.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was the mastermind behind the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii where almost 20 American naval vessels were damaged or destroyed, as well as more than 300 aircraft. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and at least 1,000 more were wounded.

Isoroku Yamamoto was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II. He was killed when his plane was shot down, while traveling to Bougainville, by U.S soldiers.

Yamamoto’s bunker is a defensive structure designed and built during the war to protect him from materials from falling bombs, artillery and other attacks.

B-17E FLYING FORTRESS NAUGHTY BUT NICE

Inside Kokopo War Museum’s ‘War Section’ on the second floor are cockpit fragments of the B-17E Flying Fortress, Naughty But Nice.

During WW II, this aircraft’s last mission was flown on the night of June 26th, 1943, against the Japanese bastion of Rabaul. After making a successful bomb run, Naughty But Nice was approached from beneath by a Japanese Navy fighter plane flown by Shigetoshi Kudo. Kudo utilized his aircraft’s oblique-firing 20mm cannon to set Naughty But Nice on fire. No one aboard ever saw Kudo’s aircraft, and thought that they’d been hit by anti-aircraft ground fire. Only the B-17’s navigator, Jose Holguin, escaped by parachute. He was captured by the Japanese.

In 1981, Jose Holguin returned to the crash site with members of an Australian research and excavation team, and several parts of 430 were recovered, including the part included in the Kokopo War Museum's display.

For more information on what happened to B-17E and its crew, check: https://www.smithsonianmag. com/air-space-magazine/ more-70-years-later-rabaulsaerial-battleground-stillhaunting-180973537/