On 8 December, the group's Hikōtaichō Lieutenant Commander Tarō Nonaka led 27 Takao medium bombers in an attack against Iba Airfield.

Throughout the rest of January, they conducted sorties against targets on Borneo and in February moved their focus on Java in Dutch East Indies.

On 27 February, Lieutenant Jirō Adachi led 16 medium bombers in a level bombing attack on the US seaplane tender Langley, which sank her.

The raid was again intercepted by a large force of Warhawks, but this time 3rd Air Group fighter did their job well and no bombers were shot down.

In addition, raids on Darwin were suspended until June in order for Takao Air Group to replenish the lost aircraft.

[1][3][4][5] On 13 June, the raids against Darwin resumed and Lieutenant Commander Katsumi led 27 medium bombers to attack an airfield there.

In defense of the bombers, the escorting Zero fighter from the 3rd Air Group managed to shoot down 10 Warhawks for the loss of two of their own in return.

No further daytime attacks were conducted until 30 July, when Lieutenant Commander Katsumi led 26 G4M medium bombers in a major raid on Darwin.

They were intercepted by a large force of US Marine and US Navy Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, which resulted in two bombers being shot down.

On 30 June, Lieutenant Hirata led 23 medium bombers in a major raid targeting Fenton Airfield south of Darwin.

Another raid on Fenton was conducted on 6 July, when Lieutenant Hirata led 26 medium bombers to bomb the airfield.