Washing Machine Charlie was a name given by the Allies (primarily the United States) to Imperial Japanese aircraft that performed usually solitary, nocturnal operations over Henderson Field on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign, as well as over other Allied bases during the Solomon Islands campaign, during the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The name came from the distinctive sound of the aircraft's engines.
The Japanese sent solitary aircraft on night-time missions over Guadalcanal and later other islands held by the Allies for various reasons, including scouting, dropping flares over Allied positions to assist Japanese naval or ground forces operating on or near the island, bombing airfields and installations, or simply harassing troops and disrupting their sleep.
Various aircraft were used, including ship- or shore-based single-engine seaplanes from the R-Area Air Force, and occasionally twin-engine Mitsubishi G4M bombers whose pilots made sure the engines were out of synchronization. The vibration created by the engines would wake most people; the readiness alert for potential bombs or combat would then keep the soldiers awake for the rest of the night. Later in the war, night fighters were used to stop these raiders.
Independent of Japanese operations, a similar term, Bedcheck Charlie, was used in the European theatre to describe lone Luftwaffe aircraft that would appear over Allied lines in the late afternoon and evenings.
See also
- Night Witches, the dedicated all-female Soviet night harassment unit of the Eastern Front
- Naval Base Guadalcanal
References
- Bayler, LtCol Walter L.J.; Carnes, Cecil (1943). Last Man Off Wake Island. Cornwall, NY: The Cornwall Press.
- Frank, Richard B. (1990). Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 0-14-016561-4.
- Lord, Walter (2017). Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons (New ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781591144663.
- Lundstrom, John B. (2005b). First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (New ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8.
External links
- "Washing Machine Charlie". History of the 93rd Seabees.
- Fournier, Leo. "Bedcheck Charlie Hits K-13! Two Wounded, One Sabre Destroyed". F-86 Sabre Pilots Association.
- "McHale's Navy: Washing Machine Charlie". IMDb.
- Birkitt, Philip D.; Keller, Eugene L. (1992). Guadalcanal Legacy, 50th Anniversary, 1942-1992, Volume 2. Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 9781563110535.
- Bayler & Carnes 1943, pp. 260–62.
- Frank 1990, pp. 197.