Yamamoto’s Flight Plan Was Broken: 16 P-38s vs 6 Zeros at Bougainville

American codebreakers did not just find a clue — they found a timetable. On 18 April 1943, 16 P-38 Lightnings flew a long-range intercept to meet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto exactly where his encrypted schedule said he would be. This documentary traces Operation Vengeance from the intercepted JN-25D message to the decision by Admiral Nimitz, the planning under Halsey and Mitscher, and the risky low-level flight toward Bougainville. It examines what the Americans knew, why Yamamoto’s staff sent such a detailed itinerary, how the mission protected the secret of codebreaking, and why the question of who fired the fatal shots remained disputed for decades. All names, dates, units, and events are based on documented sources; only atmosphere, pacing, and visual reconstruction are dramatized. Sources: Samuel J. Cox, NHHC, “H-018-2: Operation Vengeance”; NHHC H-Gram 018 overview; Rebecca Grant, “Magic and Lightning,” Air & Space Forces Magazine; Daniel L. Haulman, “The Man Who Shot Down Yamamoto”; Pacific Wrecks, “G4M1 Betty 2656 Tail 323”; HistoryNet, “Have You Heard? Yamamoto”; HNN/Kyodo, “Message in old cipher led to Adm. Yamamoto’s death”; NSA Cryptologic Hall of Honor biography, Col. Alva Bryan Lasswell. Subscribe for more archival-style WWII intelligence and US Army air war documentaries. #WW2 #OperationVengeance #MilitaryHistory