11 Nov 1944: RTAF, 5 Ki-27s destroyed or disabled in air battle over Lampang (T13)

11 Nov 1944: Five Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) Ki-27s based in Lampang1 were destroyed or disabled in dogfights with 17 Allied P-38s and P-51s flying out of Yunnanyi Airfield,2 China (Google Maps links, both)

References:

  • ประว้ติกองท้พอากาส ในสงครามมหาเอเชียบูรพา ระหว่าง พ.ศ.-๒๔๘๔-๒๔๘๘ (นครราชสีมา: สมบูรณ์การพิมพ์, พ.ศ.๒๕๖๔) [History of the Royal Thai Air Force during the Great East Asia War, 1941-1945 (Nakhon Ratchasima: Somboon Printing, 2021); hereafter RTAF History 2021], pp 248-253 (translated and abridged):

11 November 1944 “Battle of 5 versus 16 over Nakhon Lampang”

Time 0915 hrs. Eight USAAF 51st Fighter Group 449th Squadron P-38s and nine 25th Squadron P-51s, totaling sixteen aircraft, flew from Yunnanyi Airfield, to patrol the Chiang Mai3-Ban Dara4 Northern Rail Line (Google Maps links, both). Sixteen aircraft were divided into four flights, four aircraft per flight, as follows:

    • Flight 1, low-flying P-51 aircraft, to perform attacks
    • Flight 2, P-51 aircraft at medium altitude, acting as security
    • Flight 3, P-38 aircraft (but one a P-51) at high altitude, acting as escorts
    • Flight 4, P-38 aircraft, at high altitude, acting as escorts
  • Time 1115-1210 hrs. The RTAF 80th Combined Air Wing sent five 41st Squadron Curtiss Hawk III fighters to defend the Chiang Rai5 area (Google Maps link). The squadron encountered the sixteen P-38s and P-51s, but were unable to intercept them because of their very high altitude.

Time 1130 hrs. The 85th Combined Air Wing, Lampang Province, received news of the arrival of US aircraft. In response, two RTAF 16th Squadron Nakajima Ki-27 fighters were sent to protect the Lampang area, with:

    • Pilot Off Kamrop Bleangkam (Airplane No. 7/85) as flight leader
    • Flt Sgt Chuladit Detkunchorn (No. 4/85)

flying in search of the enemy around Mueang Phan6 [Chiang Rai Province] and Ampho Ngao7 [Lampang Province] (Google Maps links, both). But they found nothing, so they flew back.

Time 1211-1231 hrs. USAAF planned to attack Lampang Airfield. Three RTAF 16th Squadron Nakajima Ki-27s were sent up to intercept, with:

    • Flt Lt Chalermkiat Watanangura (Airplane No. 10/85), the squadron commander as flight leader
    • Flt Sgt Wad Sunthornkomon (No. 2/85)
    • Sgt Tada Biewkhaimuk (No. 6/85)

Before the group could be assembled, the US planes attacked, just as Kamrop and Chuladit returned to the airfield. As a result, a battle between five Thai aircraft and sixteen US aircraft over Lampang Province began, the “5 versus 16” battle (according to Thai records, there were 21 US aircraft while the US recorded fighting nine Japanese aircraft).8

RTAF Flt Lt Chalermkiat engaged in a shootout with the US Flight 3. Both sides fired at each other at an altitude of 15,000 feet. Chalermkiat hit the right wing fuel tank of one of the flight’s P-38Js which caught fire forcing it to fly from the battle, with his flight leader accompanying him back to Yunnanyi. At the same time, the engine cowling on Chalermkiat’s Ki-27 had been shot away and the engine damaged; so he had to make an emergency landing at Lampang Airfield. US Flight 1 of P-51s arrived over the airfield at the same time and strafed Chalermkiat’s plane until a fire broke out. Fortunately, ground officials helped pull Chalermkiat, who was injured by a bullet in the right leg, out of the plane before it exploded. After attacking the airfield, US Flight 1 then moved on towards Ban Dara to attack trains in the Mae Tha9 and Mae Mo10 areas (Google Maps links, both), damaging one locomotive.

Sgts Wad and Tada met US Flight 4. In that group, the flight leader fired at Wad’s Ki-27 until smoke came from the engine. In turn, Wad had hit the flight leader’s P-38J whose left engine died, forcing him to leave the battle to make an emergency landing at [Pu’er] Simao Airfield,11 (Google Maps link) about 500 km NNE of Lampang. The remaining three Flight 4 pilots continued firing on Wad’s Ki-27 which caught fire and Wad had to bail out. Seriously burned, he was assisted by local residents and taken to hospital, where he later died.

The US Flight 2 leader saw the battle in the air above and led his group to join in. It was about the same time that Pilot Off Kamrop and Flt Sgt Chuladit returning to Lampang, saw US Flight 3 in a higher position, and climbed to intercept.  Lt Minco, in Flight 2, saw Kamrop and Chuladit below, and separated from his squad to attack, allowing his flight leader to open fire on Tada. But no one was hit by the gunfire. The flight leader then turned around, repositioning himself to fire again from the rear. This time Tada’s plane was hit, its lubricant tank ruptured, and the engine was damaged. The bullet narrowly missed Tada’s head. He made an emergency landing in a rice field safely and received help from villagers and the army.

Another Flight 2 P-51 followed Lt Minco down, crossing Lt Kamrop’s flight path, and was joined by another group of P-38s. The P-51 fired at Petty Officer Chuladit stopping his engine and, with further hits pierced his right wing making a with a large hole. Chuladit then had to make an emergency landing near Lampang Airfield where the plane hit an obstacle and tipped over. The pilot was thrown out of his seat and into a ditch, seriously injured.

Meanwhile Lt Kamrop found himself in a circle of P-38s and P-51s, and tried to maneuver the aircraft down low. During this time, Flight 1 P-51s could be seen below, but there was no chance to attack. One P-51 from Flight 2 firing repeatedly on Lt Kamrop’s plane damaged it and wounded Kamrop in the leg. He turned towards a mountainside trying to use the terrain as cover, but three P-51s continued to follow, with Lt Minco’s P-51 diving down at high speed to quickly overtake Lt Kamrop. Lt Minco suddenly saw the mountainside in front of him, realized he would have to climb to avoid it, and because the P-51’s speed was greater than Kamrop’s Ki-27, he would have to pass Kamrop. He chose to fly under Lt Kamrop very closely, which put him momentarily in Kamrop’s gunsight and Kamrop fired instinctively, hitting Minco’s plane. It flipped down to the right, crashed into the ground in the dense forest, and exploded, killing Minco instantly. Lt Kamrop flew on to Ko Kha Airfield12 (Google Maps link) to make an emergency landing because he saw a fire on Lampang Airfield runway [from Chalermkiat’s strafed Ki-27] and also saw a P-38 patrolling over the airfield [later found to be on a routine high altitude aerial photo reconnaissance mission unrelated to the attack (see separate entry at “Time 1040-1330 hrs” below)].

After the battle, the four US flights returned to the field at 1445 hrs with one pilot missing: Lt Henry Minco in P-51C No. 249 (44-10812). Someone had seen a plane crash in the valley but thought it was Thai.

RTAF results:

    • Five Ki-27s were lost.
    • Status of pilots:
      • Three pilots were injured:
        • Flt Lt Chalermkiat Watanangura
        • Pilot Officer Kamrop Bleangkam
        • Flt Sgt 3rd Class Chuladit Detkunchorn, seriously so, and died later.
      • Another pilot, badly burned, died in hospital during the night following the battle: Sub Lt Wad Sunthornkomol.
      • Sgt Tada Biawkhaimuk was unhurt.
    • Pilot Officer Kamrop Bleangkam had shot down Lt Henry Minco’s P-51
    • Thailand recorded another three P-51s, damaged in the fight, crashed in the forest on the flight back to their base. That, however, does not appear in US documents.

The American pilots did not know that the pilots opposing them had been Thais. As fellow warriors, they especially admired the flying skills and fighting spirit of what they thought were Japanese pilots. Col Habecker, commander of the 25th Squadron even wrote at the end of the squadron’s battle report that “The Japanese pilots were very aggressive and eager to fight and would press the attack”.

  • Time 1040-1330 hrs. USAAF 21st Squadron F-5B aircraft number 42-68300, piloted by Lt Robert C Stevenson, photographed:
    • Den Chai
    • Kuang Luang Bridge
    • Ko Kha
    • Lampang
    • Lamphun
    • Chiang Mai

    from an altitude of 22,200–29,200 feet. (Mission 4MA149). Quite by chance, this aircraft flew over Lampang Airfield just as the “5 versus 16” battle was ending. The pilot reported seeing one Nakajima Ki-27 fighter in operation at the airfield. Stevenson’s F-5B was probably the P-38 that Pilot Off Kamrop had seen while bringing his damaged Nakajima Ki-27 back to Lampang Airfield after the battle had ended and what caused Kamrop to divert to Ko Kha Airfield.13

  • Daniel Jackson, Fallen Tigers: The Fate of America’s Missing Airmen in China during World War II (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2021) pp 177-181:

The coverage here is similar to that in RTAF History 2021 (above).

  • Edward Young, Aerial Nationalism (Washington: Smithsonian, 1995), p 205:

This account covers the event in a period before much information was available, and its content is superseded by the RTAF History 2021 extract above.

Other coverage.

The event is celebrated in Thai history because a Thai pilot, using a Ki-27, an outdated Japanese fighter, succeeded in shooting down a “state-of-the-art” Allied P-51 in a dogfight. Numerous accounts are available in Thai, including:

  • โดย  นาวาอากาศตรี จุลดิส  เดชกุญชร, ห้าต่อยี่สิบเอ็ด [Flight Sergeant 3rd class [FS3] Juladit Dadegoonchaun, “Five vs Twenty-One” in Aviation Magazine, April 1965.]14
  • โดย น.ท.คำรบ เปล่งขำ, พ.ศ.๒๕๐๖ เมื่อข้าพเจ้าส่งมัสแตงลงนรกที่ลำปาง [Wing Commander Kamrop Bleangkam, When I Sent the Mustang to Hell in Lampang, Royal Thai Air Force Museum Archives, 1963]15
  • ลำปาง ยุทธเวหา กระทู้สนทนา อาวุธยุทโธปกรณ์ประวัติศาสตร์เกมเกมคอมพิวเตอร์ (offsite link: site now accessible only by subscription) [Lampang Air Battle> Discussion Thread> Historical Weapons and Equipment, Computer Games]16
  • รู้จัก….ยุทธเวหา 5 ต่อ 21 เหนือนครลำปาง ของกองทัพอากาศไทย [Learn about the 5-on-21 aerial battle over Lampang City by the Royal Thai Air Force.] (offsite link): พ.อ.อ.รัชต์ รัตนวิจารณ์ ยุทธเวหาเหนือฟ้าลำปาง [Wing Commander Ratch Rattanawicharn, “Aerial Battle Over Lampang”]17
  • ฉากยุทธเวหาลำปางฉบับแก้ไขสอบสวน, รัตนชัย, สักดิ์, ปาะวัติศาสต์ศึกษายุทธเวหาลำปาง [“The revised and investigated version of the Battle of Lampang aerial scene”, Rattanachai, Sak(sern) S, Japan in Lampang during World War II] (Lampang: self-published (?), nd), pp 100-101]18

Afterword:

Flt Lt Chalermkiat Watanangura advanced through the ranks of the RTAF to Marshal of the Royal Thai Air Force, the highest rank in that service branch, and in 1957 was appointed Commander of the Royal Thai Air Force. In 1960 Chalermkiat, his wife, and sixteen other individuals were killed when the Royal Thai Air Force C-54 they were flying in crashed into Mount Wu Tse near Taipei, Taiwan after takeoff. He had been in Taipei attending a meeting of air chiefs from anti-communist governments from around the Pacific.19

 

Major Revisions List
Rev
Date
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2026 Sep 02
 First published on Internet

 

Last Updated on 2 September 2026

  1. N18°16.42 E99°30.24[↩]
  2. N25°25.24 E100°42.20[↩]
  3. N18°46.38 E98°57.75[↩]
  4. N17°22.33 E100° 04.59[↩]
  5. N19°52.87 E99°49.60[↩]
  6. N19°32.27 E99°43.73[↩]
  7. 18°45.18 E99°58.70[↩]
  8. Photos copied from RTAF History 2021, p 252.[↩]
  9. N18°12.00 E99°33.40[↩]
  10. N18°15.68 E99°42.42[↩]
  11. N22°47.8 E100°57.5[↩]
  12. N18°11.88 E99°24.55[↩]
  13. astute observations in Dan Jackson email 20:04 14 Aug 22.[↩]
  14. My refs: original doc:\02370 Sai Tai (MINCO)\MISC VERSIONS\Juladit memoir\19441111, 5v21-2.doc; final translation: \02370 Sai Tai (MINCO)\MISC VERSIONS\Juladit memoir\5 vs 21 xlatn by WK-SAK4.docx; transcribed by Sakpinit Promthep per email 0633 18 Nov 2019.[↩]
  15. My refs: original doc: \02370 Sai Tai (MINCO)\MISC VERSIONS\Kamrob memoir (1)\19441111, Memoir of Kamrob (Thai).docx; final translation: \02370 Sai Tai (MINCO)\MISC VERSIONS\Kamrob memoir (1)\Kamrobe xlatn polish1.docx; per Sakpinit Promthep email 1623 18 Apr 2020.[↩]
  16. My ref: original: \02370 Sai Tai (MINCO)\MISC VERSIONS\Pantip ver\Pantip version Thai.docx; translation: \02370 Sai Tai (MINCO)\MISC VERSIONS\Pantip ver\Pantip version xlatn.docx[↩]
  17. My ref: translation: \02370 Sai Tai (MINCO)\MISC VERSIONS\Ratanawichan\Ratanawichan article xlatn WK.docx[↩]
  18. my refs: original pages: \02370 Sai Tai (MINCO)\MISC VERSIONS\Sak R\Sak R100.jpg & R101.jpg[↩]
  19. Wikipedia: Chalermkiat Watanangura (offsite link) [↩]
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