[Grampa Dave]

How did we know where and when to intercept and shoot down Yamamoto? The Pacific ocean is a big body of water and a plane is a small thing flying over it.

[ken5050]

We had broken the Jap codes, remember, and we intercepted messaged indicating that Yamamoto was going to make an inspection tour...they sent out a flight of 4, I think, P-38's....CMH winned Dick Bong was on the flight, if I recall..they intercepted the Jap plane over Rabaul, I believe...

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

By intercepting Japanese radio traffic and breaking the Japanese code to decipher the messages.

[hchutch]

We'd broken Japanese codes.

Ironically, the intelligence officer who informed Admiral Nimitz of Yamamoto's trip, Edwin T. Layton, was a friend of Yamamoto's prior to the war.

Layton was the person responsible for keeping our heads above water during the first year and a half of the Pacific War, until our intelligence advantage kicked in. He died in 1982, probably the biggest unsung hero of the war.