Were the Japanese at all suspicious of how the P-38 fighters happened to be on hand.? Was their much of am american presence in the general area at that time.? Thank You
On the second question. I doubt that there had been any US fighter activity around Bougainville before Yamato mission because they had to flew up to Guadalcanal some bigger 330 gal (1,200 L) drop tanks for the operation. They also made some mods to the P-38Gs for the mission, IIRC. Because Navy/Marine Corps fighters did not have enough range, Navy had to delegate the mission to the USAAF.
