The group operated Mitsubishi G4M medium bombers and was ordered to move to Rabaul on New Britain after the Allied landing on Guadalcanal and Tulagi on 7 August.

On 8 August, Lieutenant Nakamura led 18 medium bombers to Rabaul, and he also brought Vice Admiral Nishizō Tsukahara, the commander of the 11th Air Fleet.

[4] On 17 August, Lieutenant Nakamura led 25 bombers to raid the airfield at Port Moresby on New Guinea, which destroyed several Allied aircraft on the ground.

On 26 August, he led a mixed formation of 17 bombers from Misawa and Kisarazu Air Group to attack recently finished Henderson Field on Guadalcanal.

[5] On 13 September, he commanded a similar formation composed of Misawa, Kisarazu and Kanoya Air Group bombers and attacked Taivu Point, located about 30 kilometres east of Henderson Field.

They lost 11 bombers and the rest sustained severe damage, of which some (including Nakamura) could not reach Rabaul and had to make emergency landings at Buin on Bougainville.