Robert Short was not there to fight, but to demonstrate the P-12 to the Chinese goverment, when Japanese planes attacked Sozhou Station, a rail terminal in Shanghai. Seeing an opportunity to demonstrate the plane in combat, as well as a moral duty to defend a refugee train that was unloading at the station, he took off and shot down one of 3 attacking Japanese fights. Two days later he again had an opportunity to demonstrate the planes ability when Shanghai was attacked by 3 bombers with an escort of 3 A1N2 fighters. His first attack killed the pilot of the lead bomber, turning the attacker away from their target, after which he was engaged y the three escorting fighters at low altitude over the city. After approximately 2 minutes of combat the Boeing plane was struck by fire from the plane flown by Lt. Nokiji Ikuta and caught fire, Robert Short being killed in the ensuing crash.

The combat had occured at low altitude and was witnessed by thousands of Chinese civilians and refugees, actions that proabbly saved hundreds of refugee's lives as the attacking planes were turned back before they could attack the station. During his funeral ceremony Soong Tse-ven summarized China’s appreciation for Short: “During the darkest hour of China’s desperate defense, Robert Short, a friend from a distant land, flew out of the sky and gave his life….  To the Chinese people this act of courage and sacrifice was electrifying.” In appreciation the Chinese government posthumously commissioned Robert Short a Colonel in the Chinese Air Force. Currently a statue and memorial stands in Suzhou, China as a monument to his sacrifice for the Chinese people.

Lieutenant Ikuta survived his combat tour in China and subsequently, against all odds, survived World War II.  In the 1960s, he paid a visit of apology where he met the aging mother of Robert Short, Mrs. Elizabeth Short, at her home.  There he expressed his personal regret for the once Imperial Japan and its aggressive policies of the 1930s and 1940s.  He also begged forher forgiveness for that day in 1932 and stated that he had lived a life of regret and sadness as a result.  In shooting down Robert Short, he told her, he had recognized a courage that was rare in all men and deeply regretted that he had taken her son’s life, even in war. His words were welcomed and his apology accepted.