Listen My Children and You Shall Hear.....

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yes, holed in the engines — the accounts specifically state the Betty engines being shot. So no holes in the remains of the fuselage should not be surprising. What do the remains of the engines show?

"Through its vertical fin", as well. Sliding from the left to the right, it'd seem hard to avoid the fuselage.

 

[33k in the air]

Were gun cameras not carried for the mission?

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Were gun cameras not carried for the mission?

I'm not sure. They may have been stripped due to the mission length?

 

[33k in the air]

There was gun camera footage of the shoot down. See the period newsreel report available on the ZenosWarbirds channel on YouTube: Japanese Admiral Yamamoto Shot Down by P-38s! (1943-Restored).

Note that the newsreel does cut in aerial footage from other missions to tell the story, but there does definitely seem to be some gun camera from the Yamamoto operation included. Of interest here would be that shown at 2:51 to 2:55, which is close behind the bomber and bullet strikes can clearly be seen on the wing root and fuselage; 2:59 to 3:00, also close behind the bomber and bullet strikes readily visible; and 3:02 to 3:05, further out from the bomber but bullet strikes are apparent, ending with an eruption of flame from the right wing root.

The idea that the Betty bombers were not struck by bullets would seem demonstrably disproved by this footage.

 

[Clayton Magnet]

Didn't the Japanese recovery of the body indicate that he died by bullet wounds to the head?

 

[R Leonard]

4. . . . Just like Midway, most of the fighters on both sides were with the cheerleaders or in the locker room.

What's that supposed to mean?

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Didn't the Japanese recovery of the body indicate that he died by bullet wounds to the head?

This is what I've read and seen in documentaries.