On 12 December 1942, Pilot Officer J. S. Archer shot down a Japanese fighter aircraft (thought at the time to be an A6M Zero, but found after the war to be a Ki-43) after having spotted it around 1000 feet (about 300 metres) below him and dived on it, opening fire and sending the Zero hurtling into the sea. This was the only occasion that a Wirraway shot down another aircraft (making it more successful than its fighter offspring, the Boomerang).