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Yes it was on Monday- March 3rd.

This is also another reason why I cannot stand Macarthur and his political machine.

The planning for the success of the mission was by an Australian and Macarthur & Kenney did not even mention the Australian contribution in their report back to the United States.

The moment the AAF had been waiting for came on the morning of 3 March 1943 when the Japanese rounded the Huon Peninsula. For much of the time adverse weather had helped the enemy avoid detection but now clear conditions favoured the allies. Over ninety aircraft took off from Port Moresby and set heading for Cape Ward Hunt. While the strike force was en route, Bostons from No.22 Squadron bombed the airfield at Lae.
By 9-30 a m the AAF formations had assembled over Cape Ward Hunt, and by 10:00 a.m. the Battle of the Bismarck Sea had started. The allies attacked in three waves and from three levels, only seconds apart.
First, thirteen USAAF Flying Fortresses bombed from medium altitude. In addition to the obvious objective of sinking ships, those attacks were intended to disperse the convoy by forcing vessels to break station to avoid being hit.
Second, thirteen RAAF Beaufighters from No. 30 Squadron hit the enemy from very low level, lining up on their targets as the bombs from the Flying Fortresses were exploding. With four cannons in its nose and six machine guns in its wings the Beaufighter was the most heavily armed fighter in the world. The Australians' job was twofold: to suppress anti-aircraft fire; and to kill ships' captains and officers on their bridges.
The Beaufighters initially approached at 150 metres in line astern formation. The pilots then dived to mast-level height, set full power on their engines, changed into line abreast formation, and approached their targets at 420 kilometres an hour. It seems that some of the Japanese captains thought the Beaufighters were going to make a torpedo attack because they altered course to meet the Australians head-on, to present a smaller profile. Instead, they made themselves better targets for strafing. With a slight alteration of heading the Beaufighters were now in a position to rake the ships from bow to stern, which they did, subjecting the enemy to a withering storm of cannon and machine gun fire. According to the official RAAF release, 'enemy crews were slain beside their guns, deck cargo burst into flame, superstructures toppled and burned'.

Beaufighter

TECHNICAL DATA: (DAP Beaufighter)
DESCRIPTION: Two-seat strike fighter
POWER PLANT: Two Bristol Hercules XVIII radial engines.
DIMENSIONS: Span, 57 ft 10 ins; length, 44 ft 8 ins;
height 15 ft. 19 ins.
WEIGHTS: Empty, 15,600 lb; loaded 25,150 lb.
PERFORMANCE: Max speed, 320 mph at 10,000 ft. Climb,
35 mins to 5,000 ft. Range, 1170 miles.
Service ceiling 19,000 ft.
ARMAMENT: Four 20 mm cannons in fuselage nose and
four 0.5 in. guns in the wings. A 0.3 in. gun could be
mounted in the rear capola and eight rockets plus
two 250 lb bombs could also be carried.
With the convoy now dispersed and in disarray the third wave of attackers was able to concentrate on sinking ships. Thirteen USAAF B-25 Mitchells made a medium level bombing strike while, simultaneously, a mast-level attack was made by twelve specially modified USAAF B-25C1 Mitchells, known as 'commerce destroyers' because of their heavy armament. The commerce destroyers were devastating, claiming seventeen direct hits. Close behind the Mitchells, USAAF Bostons added more firepower.
Following the coordinated onslaught, Beaufighters, Mitchells and Bostons intermingled as they swept back and forth over the convoy, strafing and bombing. Within minutes of the opening shots the battle had turned into a rout. At the end of the action 'ships were listing and sinking, their superstructure smashed and blazing, and great clouds of dense black smoke [rose] into a sky where aircraft circled and dived over the confusion they had wrought among what, less than an hour earlier. had been an impressively orderly convoy'.
Above the surface battle twenty-eight USAAF P-38 Lightning fighters provided air defence for the strike force. In their combat with the Zeros which were attempting to protect the convoy three of the Lightnings were shot down, but in turn the American pilots claimed twenty kills. Apart from those three P-38s the only other AAF aircraft lost was a single B-17, shot down by a Zero.
With their armament expended the AAF aircraft returned to Port Moresby. But there was to be no respite for the enemy. Throughout the afternoon the attacks continued. Again, USAAF B- 17s struck from medium level, this time in cooperation with USAAF Mitchells and RAAF Bostons flying at very low level. (The Bostons were led by Squadron Leader C.C. Learmonth, after whom the RAAF's present-day base in northwest Australia is named.) At least twenty direct hits were claimed against the by-now devastated convoy.
That was the last of the coordinated attacks. The victory had been won. For the loss of a handful of aircraft the Allied Air Forces had sunk twelve ships - all eight of the troop transports and four of the eight destroyers - and killed 3000 enemy soldiers. The brilliantly conceived and executed operation had smashed Japanese hopes of regaining the initiative in New Guinea and eliminated any possibility Australia might be invaded. But there was still a 'terrible yet essential finale' to come. For several days after the battle allied aircrews patrolled the Huon Gulf, searching for and strafing barges and rafts crowded with survivors. It was grim and bloody work which many found nauseating, but as one RAAF Beaufighter pilot said, every enemy they prevented from getting ashore was one less for their Army colleagues to face. And after fifteen months of Japanese brutality, the great immorality, it seemed to them, would have been to have ignored the rights of their soldiers.
In a macabre footnote, two weeks after the tragedy Tokyo announced that all Japanese soldiers were to be taught to swim.
Two controversies clouded the immediate reaction to the battle. First, on 7 March, General MacArthur issued a communique stating that the AAF had destroyed twenty-two ships. Regrettably, at the time, arguments over this exaggerated claim and the precise composition of the Japanese convoy tended to divert attention from the stunning nature of the allies' victory. And second, in another instance of the self-promotion which had become intensely frustrating for the Australians, MacArthur and Kenney sought to claim all the credit for themselves, Kenney's report back to Washington making no mention of the RAAF's participation.
Still, that petty behaviour could not detract from the magnitude of the event. Never again did the Japanese attempt to reinforce their garrisons near Australia in numbers. Their ability to dominate New Guinea, and therefore Australia, had been smashed.
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea stands as one of the most stunning victories won in any theatre in World War 11, and as a crucial episode in the Battle for Australia.