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IMPOSSIBLE SPITFIRE CARRIER LANDING

THE AVIATION ADVENTURE PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

SUPERSONIC PIONEER F4D SKYRAY

A DOZEN WAYS TO DIEHELLCAT PILOT SURVIVES UNBELIEVABLE ODDS

NO TAILHOOK?NO WAY!

GunsGlory

AND

THE AVIATION ADVENTURE PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

NO TAILHOOK?

BLOWING & BURNINGODD 1944 XB-42 MIXMASTER

ONE OF A KIND

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fighter

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us feel like

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BAZOOKAS OVER IWO JIMA

WARBUG STRIKES BACK

SUPERSONIC PIONEER

GunsGunsGloryGloryGunsGlory

AND

GloryAND

GloryGunsGunsTHE BOYS BEHIND THE BROWNINGS

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CONTENTSFLIGHT JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2014

C O V E R S T O R Y

40 | No Tailhook? No Way!Out-of-fuel Spitfire and a Carrier: No options By Jack Cook

FEATURES 12 | The Other Flying FordsStep into the future with the Douglas F4D Skyray By Barrett Tillman

20 | Warbug in the PacificSurviving combat in a Stinson OY-1/L-5By Lt. Thomas Rozga, USMC (Ret.), as told to and written by James P. Busha

30 | Behind the BrowningsBomber gunners tell their tales By Mark Carlson

52 | The Raft and the TyphoonBecoming an ace and a survivor in one missionBy Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

ON THE COVER: John Dibbs exhibits his photographic artistry to capture an equally artistic exhibit of fl ying that shows off the Spitfi re Vcs fantastic lines.

THIS PAGE: Ive been looking for an excuse to run this John Dibbs shot for years and this is it. You can almost hear the Merlin barking through those short stacks: sharp, staccato coughs rapidly blend into a raucous purr. BD

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AUGUST 2010 5

FLIGHT JOURNAL (USPS 015-447; ISSN 1095-1075) is published bimonthly by Air Age Inc., 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA. Copyright 2014, all rights reserved. Periodicals postage permit paid at Wilton, CT, and additional offi ces. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement no. 40008153. SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES: In U.S., call (800) 442-1871; Canada and elsewhere, call (386) 246-3323; fax (386) 447-2321, or go to FlightJournal.com. U.S., $29 (1 yr.); Canada, $34 including GST (1 yr.); international, $39 (1 yr.). All international orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds; Visa, MC, Discover and AmEx accepted. EDITORIAL: Send correspondence to Editors, Flight Journal, 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA. Email: fl [email protected]. We welcome all editorial submissions, but assume no responsibility for the loss or damage of unsolicited material. All material contained herein is protected under the terms of U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction in any form, including electronic media, is expressly prohibited without the publishers written permission. Copyright 2014 Air Age Inc. All Rights Reserved. ADVERTISING: Send advertising materials to Advertising Dept., Flight Journal, 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA; (203) 431-9000; fax (203) 529-3010. Email: [email protected]. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: To ensure that you dont miss any issues, send your new address to Flight Journal, P.O. Box 420134, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 USA, six weeks before you move. Please include address label from a recent issue, or print the information exactly as shown on the label. For faster service, go to FlightJournal.com, and click on the customer service link. POSTMASTER: Please send Form 3579 to Flight Journal, P.O. Box 420134, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 USA.

COLUMNS6 | Flight Journal Contributors

8 | Editorial

10 | Airdrop

11 | On the Web

28 | ClassicsThe Show Must Go OnBy Warren Thompson

48 | Iconic FirepowerAircrew SidearmsBy Barrett Tillman

50 | One of a KindDouglas XB-42 MixmasterBy Steve Pace

60 | Galleryde Havilland DH84 DragonBy Geoff Jones

66 | TailviewHey, Thats My Dad!By Frederick A. Johnson

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OCTOBER 2014 | VOLUME 20, NO. 5

Barrett Tillman e Other Flying Fords I was fortunate to know Ed Heinemann, the Douglas engineer who designed the F4D Skyray, and was acquainted with Navy ace Gene Valencia who was executive offi cer of the best-known Ford squadron. Naturally, I neglected to ask either of them nearly enough questions about the sensational carrier-based interceptor. So this issues article on the Skyray helps fi ll in some of the blanks, thanks to some long-ago notes and the help of veteran Ford drivers.

CONTRIBUTORS

EDITORIALEditor-in-Chief Budd Davisson

Executive Editor Debra Cleghorn

Editor Gerry Yarrish

Deputy Managing Editor Katherine Pierpont

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSWalter Boyne, James P. Busha, Ted Carlson, Robert S. DeGroat, John Dibbs, Robert F. Dorr, Jim Farmer, Paul Gillcrist, Phil Haun, Randy Jolly, Frederick Johnsen, Geoff rey P. Jones, Ron Kaplan, Peter Lert, Rick Llinares, John Lowery, George Marrett, Peter Mersky, Dan Patterson, Steve Pace, Stan Piet, Alfred Price, Warren ompson, Barrett Tillman, David Truby, Barnaby Wainfan

ARTCreative Director Betty K. Nero

Art Director Kevin Monahan

DIGITAL MEDIAWeb Producer Holly Hansen

ADVERTISINGAdvertising Director Mitch Brian 203.529.4609

Senior Account Executive Ben Halladay 203.529.4628

Sales Assistant Tracey Terenzi 203.529.4637

Email [email protected]

CONSUMER MARKETING e Media Source, a division of Source Interlink Companies, Inc.

MARKETING & EVENTSAssociate Creative Director Leslie Costa

Event Manager Emil DeFrancesco

PUBLISHINGGroup Publishers Louis DeFrancesco Jr., Yvonne M. DeFrancesco

Magazine Publishers of America Printed in the U.S.A.

EDITORIALMAIL 88 Danbury Road, Wilton, CT 06897 USAPHONE (203) 431-9000 EMAIL fl [email protected] FlightJournal.com

SUBSCRIPTIONCUSTOMER SERVICE (800) 442-1871 or FlightJournal.com/cs

HOW TO REACH US

Jack Cook No Tailhook? No Way! I grew up as the son of a Navy fl ight surgeon and have spent my entire life around aviation. I fi rst heard the story of the hook-less Spitfi re landing while listening to a group of my dads pilots telling fl ying stories at a BBQ. I was captivated by the story and after 35 years I was able to put a human side to the story by putting a name and face to that mystery pilot.

Mark CarlsonBehind the Brownings e bomber air gunners were the most remarkable men Ive ever heard of. I cant even begin to understand how they did it day after day. Operating those guns and turrets and shooting at darting fi ghters at 40 degrees below zero while fl ak tore holes in the plane and their buddies is something I had to know more about. And this is what I learned.

omas McKelvey Cleaver e Raft and e TyphoonWhen I decided to write about Air Group 15, the Navys top-scoring air group of World War II, I discovered I was a couple years late. ere were only two members of the fi ghter squadron left alive. Fortunately, one of them was Spike Borley, who had been the Navys youngest ace back in 1944, and who had a story unlike any other naval aviator: hed survived a typhoon, in a one-man rubber raft! Heres his remarkable tale.

James P. BushaWarbug in the Pacifi cUSMC observation pilot Tom Rozga readily admits he was a frustrated fi ghter pilot. Starting out in F4U Corsairs and ending up in the front seat of a fabric-covered, two-place, unarmed observation airplane over some of the bloodiest battlefi elds in the Pacifi c, he knew he wanted to do more. So, when some ingenious Marines mounted bazookas to the airplane, it became a whole other ballgame over Iwo Jima.

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editorial

I remember when I was a youngster reading National Geographic, Id find myself holding the pages by their corners, as I turned them: I never knew what was on the next page and, if it was a big photo of a strange, ugly bug, I didnt want to touch it. That same whats-on-the-next-page feeling permeates this issue, although theres no fear in touching anything. These are all friendly bugs although some were deadly in their day.

The ugly bug for this issue would probably be the XB-42 in

One of A Kind. Just about everything about it looks wrong. However, as a research exercise, it served as a stepping stone from the bombers of WW II to the jet age that exploded in the late 1940s.

A much more successful experiment of the same period, the 1951 Douglas F4D Skyray (better known as Fords), had something of the Monarch butterfly to its outline. A very lethal butterfly. As Barrett Tillman will tell us, the Skyray was

a record setter from day one almost until the day it was retired close to two decades later. Still, its one of the least known fighters of the era. Barretts article, The Other Flying Fords seeks to remedy that.

At the opposite end of the technological scale is an actual, and fairly rare, warbug, the Stinson OY-1, the Marines version of the Armys L-5. In Warbug on the Pacific,Jim Busha tells the tale of a pilot who putt-putted around over Saipan and

Iwo Jima directing artillery fire and air strikes until he lost his patience with being unarmed and constantly shot at. So, he remedied the situation by installing bazookas on his previously benign airplane. A fun, and unexpected, article

In Behind the Brownings, Mark Carlson takes us inside bombers of WW II and lets us see what the view from a gun turret looked like. Bombers were essentially targets. Stable targets at that. Imagine boring a hole in the sky at 170-180mph while the whole world, from the ground to well above you, is shooting at you. The gunners at least got to shoot back, and this is their tale.

Spike Borely, a Hellcat pilot, had barely scored his fifth kill to join the exalted ranks of aces, when he found himself face-to-face with an enemy hed never considered: he had to battle a typhoon while trying to stay in a one-man raft. Having survived that, he then found himself part of a submarine crew on an extended mission. Hes one of only two Hellcat pilots known to endure a depth charge attack.

The most unexpected article in this issue involves a young pilot who launched off the deck of the USS Wasp ferrying his

Spitfire to Malta. A few miles out he found his fuel system refused to feed from his ferry tank, so, he wasnt going to make it to Malta. The choices were few. He could bail out or attempt something that had never been done before and for which he had zero training: attempt to land a Spitfire without a tailhook on a carrier. He chose the latter. This one is a nail biter.

So, welcome aboard and no, there are no ugly bugs on our pages, so feel free to flip away.

Who Knows Whats On the Next Page?by Budd davisson

The liaison aircraft of WW ii were overlooked because of the glamor-factor attached to the fighters and bombers. However, between directing artillery and ship barrages, calling in ground support strikes, evacuating wounded and acting as couriers and short range, back country taxis, the multi-tasking L-birds, like the stinson oY-1/L-5, more than earned their combat wings. (Photo by Chris Miller/Eaa)

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We welcome your comments and suggestions. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.

e Real Airborne StoryYour story about the brave young men who delivered the 507th Parachute regiment into fortress Europe on that fateful night so many years ago (Nocturnal Gamble), has been long over due. Finally, in one well-written article, we can all understand the misfortunes that befell the pilots and crews of the C-47s trying to deliver some 2,000 paratroopers to Drop Zone T. As a WW II history nut, I have read many books and historical accounts of the various battles against the Axis powers and I always felt in my heart that the pilots of those C-47 at Normandys Cotentin Peninsula had gotten a bad rap. I just want to thank you for telling their story. May they rest in peace. I feel that the series Band of Brothers really made these pilots look bad. We know better now.Ron Rancilio

Yes, we know better and its about time. BD

Gooney Birds Rule!Just waned to compliment you and your staff for the D-Day edition. I especially enjoyed Martin K.A. Morgans article, Nocturnal Gamble. My late friend and neighbor, Stanley S. Fordyce, was a member of the 507th Parachute Infantry/82nd Airborne and jumped into France on June 6, 1944. Stan told me his war stories and gave me his pencil diary of those days, which I have incorporated into an article. Mr. Morgans article helped fi ll some of the gaps in my version of Stans military historyJohn D. Bybee

Youre lucky to have known Mr. Fordyce. We owe him and others like him a huge debt. BD

Brooms and Top Hats Your D-Day issue is magnifi cent. I wonder if you have someone who can answer one question. After the war, I was a mechanic in an Air National Guard fi ghter squadron, working on P-51s. One

of the planes had faint silhouettes on the unpainted space below the left cockpit coaming. One was a tilted top hat with a cane slanted across

it. The other was a broom. I believe there were several of each. I dont remember if the broom was inverted or upright. What do they signify?George McClellan

According to Barrett Tillman, our everything-expert, brooms mean fi ghter sweeps and top hats and canes are bomber escort missions. BD

Nocturnal Gamble Paid Off : e StatsDespite the cloudbank, electronic navigational aids for night formation fl ying, a ban on radio communications, no air traffi c control, and inadequate orders the troop carrier pilots put 10% of the forces on their DZs, 25-30% landed within one mile of the DZs, between 15-20% landed 1-2 miles away, 55% landed within two miles, about 25% landed between 2-5 miles from objectives, 10% were scattered 5-10 miles out, and 4% were 10-25 miles away from the drop zones. At the end of the day, in spite of the many obstacles the airborne forces accomplished most of their primary missions. With Neptune the viability of airborne assault was established once and for all. The 9th Troop Carrier Command groups were each awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for Neptune 25. Information provided by the Silent Wings Museum, Lubbock TX. Barry Bruce

Were pleased to see the actual statistics. Pretty amazing! BD

Its Not Only the AirplanesI wrote you about my experience on the aircraft carrier, Franklin D Roosevelt, where I witnessed the fi rst landings and takeoffs of the fi rst jet powered aircraft. You published my letter in Airdrop. As a result, a friend of mine who subscribes to your magazine called me to inquire if I was the same person that worked with him on the B-52 back in 1952-1957 (we were both engineers at Boeing). I said I was. We had not seen each other for over 50 years. We still correspond by e-mail regularly. Just thought you might like to know your magazine does more than write about airplanes. Its a great magazine and I look forward for each issue!Howard Swenson

That makes what we do here worth it. Thanks. BD

I just fi nished reading Robert Dorrs June article on the F-35. Dorr is a man who has been around military aviation and government

procurement programs for a lot of years and I suspect hes seen a lot of stupid acquisition decisions made by the military. Mr. Dorr thinks the military needs to explore other options and I agree with him. Ive read that new detection

systems can defeat stealth platforms although I have no personal knowledge to verify this assertion. I do know that a weapon system as complicated as the F-35 will be extremely diffi cult to maintain during combat operations and that problem will most likely be the Achilles heel of the F-35.Don Moff et

Yeahabout the F-35. Its got an interesting future. BD

Guard fi ghter squadron, working on P-51s. One

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OCTOBER 2014 11

Wars Ultimate WeaponBudd Davissons article was right on. It was the best Ive ever read that explains what D-Day was all about. I thoroughly enjoy Flight Journal and look forward to each issue. All of the August 2014 issue highlighting D-Day was excellent. Thank you. Bill Brunelle

Bill, were glad to see people enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed putting it together. BD

Friends, etc.I have just fi nished your latest issue another great one I might add. I especially enjoyed your salute to the Queen of Battle the Infantry at the end. Your comments convince me that you, or someone close to you, has looked the elephant in the eye mano-a-mano. I believe you can relate to the horror a grunt experiences. So, thank you for the tribute. Tom Bullion

So many of my close friends were USMC in SE Asia and so many of my high school teachers spent time at places like Chosin, Normandy, and Iwo that I cant even think of them without imagining what they went through. There but for fortune ... BD

So, whats the best way to celebrate your 90s? For 91-year-old WW II vet Neville Croucher, its gotta be fl ying a Spitfi re! Plus, its a lot less stressful than those 800 hours Croucher spent driving a Hurricane in combat!

If this is what you get by living to be 91, I guess my life expec-tancy is solid. Cuz Im fl ying me a Spitfi re. Michael A Manor

Awesome! ank you, sir, for your service and courage so that we may live free! You are a TRUE HERO and GENTLEMAN! Michael McGraw

Hope I make it to that age and go to sea aboard a modern Tin Can (Destroyer)! Flathead Bob

Dont pick on the poor Hur-ricane; it won the Battle of Britain, dont you know! Mark Pichaj

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A Personal ConnectionI read with great interest the D-Day invasion issue of Flight Journal (August 2014). Up to your usual high standards, I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable and informative read. However, I must say that I was especially struck by Budd Davissons homage to the foot soldier in Wars Ultimate Weapon. e article served to remind me that my own interests, centering mostly on military aviation, had tended to make me lose sight of those who really bore the brunt of the ugliness and horror of fi ghting WW II or any war for that matter. My own father, now deceased, served in the Pacifi c eater of WW II for 3 1/2 years. e chevrons on the arms of the two soldiers in the forefront of the articles accompanying photo caught my attention. ey are the same as those my dad is wearing in the military photo I have of him. His rank was that of an Army Technical Sergeant . Dad was a humble man and never spoke much about his wartime experiences other than to say that he was in ordnance and his usual job was the repair and calibration of optical instruments. He told me that although he heard some shooting, saw some dead enemy soldiers, and carried an M1 Garand, he never had to fi re his weapon at another human being. He did regularly recall the lifelong friendship he had established overseas with a fellow infantryman, a man after whom I am named and later had the pleasure of meeting. Dad always minimized his contribution to the war eff ort but like so many, even those who didnt see actual combat, he gave up a number of years of his life to the war eff ort years far away from home, family, and friends. ank you for reminding us all that wars are not fought by machines in the air, on the ground or in the sea. ey are fought by fl esh and blood men and women who contribute at all levels. Paul Day

ats very touching, Paul. ank you so much for sharing with us. BD

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e initial Marine Skyray squadron stood up early in 1957 as VMF(AW)-115 at MCAS Cherry Point but prior to that they trained at MCAF Mojave and, as pictured here, also saw training service with VFAW-3 of West Coast Air Defense Division out of NAS North Island. (photo courtesy of Stan Piet)

F4DTHE OTHER FLYING FORDS

STEP INTO THE FUTURE WITH THEDOUGLAS F4DSKYRAYBY BARRETT TILLMAN

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OCTOBER 2014 13

Concept to fl ightIn the spring of 1945, barely after V-E Day, the U.S. govern-ment sent teams from various aircraft manufacturers to Europe seeking German aeronautical records. The searchers included Douglas aerodynamicists L. E. Root and Apollo M.O. Smith who were especially interested in delta wing and tailless con-fi gurations.

Upon return to California, Amo Smith convinced the company to conduct wind tunnel tests based on Dr. Alexan-der Lippischs work, notably the Messerschmitt 163. The tests at Cal Tech were encouraging, leading to Douglas Model 571. Chief engineer Edward H. Heinemann (already known for the SBD dive bomber and A-26 Invader) conceived a basic design of 600 square feet wing area and gross weight of eight tons.

Despite the positive test results, the U.S. Navy Douglas main customer expressed doubts about delta wings. There-fore Heinemanns men took matters into their own hands. They asked the company shop to build balsa models of two-foot spans in various delta confi gurations. Then some of the

worlds most accomplished engineers took themselves atop a building while others held nets on the ground. As Heinemann recalled, We launched each model straight out, applying slight downward pressure on the leading edge of the wing. The pure fl ying wing model fl ipped over, out of control But the others, all of which had shapes similar to the (future) Skyray, fl ew beautifully.

In 1947, the Navys fi ghter design branch expressed interest in the Douglas concept. One of the advocates was Lt. Cdr. Turn-er Caldwell, who that year set a world speed record in Heine-manns D-558 Skystreak. Caldwells boss, Cdr. A.B. Metzger, let it drop that the Navy might be interested in a carrier-based interceptor that could reach 40,000 feet in fi ve minutes or less.

Several months later, in 1948, after Heinemanns crew worked its magic, Douglas proposed a concept capable of climbing to 38,000 feet in two and a half minutes. Nothing like it existed yet.

Done. The Navy contracted for three XF4D-1s including a static-test vehicle.

The prototype was shipped to Muroc in December 1950, where Douglas test pilot Lar-

ry Peyton usually involved in multi-engine aircraft made the initial fl ight on January

25, 1951. On takeoff, the new jet tried a dramatic pitch-up a result of the fl ight control confi guration.

He landed after 30 minutes to report some maneuvering concerns that he called troublesome. It was not unusual in a cutting-edge design early in the jet era. But the Navy felt a sense of urgency, perhaps augmented by the Korean War, and after further fl ights it asked when Douglas could begin production. Heinemann recalled, It was like asking a child if he or she would like a lollipop. After brief consultation, the company replied, Almost immediately.

Testing continued with Russell Thaw, who confi rmed that changes to the control surfaces were largely effective. Next Rob-ert Rahn joined the project. He refl ected Peytons early problems,

e mission was fl eet air defense. e requirement was a rocket-like, carrier-based fi ghter to intercept Soviet bombers threatening U.S. Navy task forces. Douglas Aircraft provided the means. It was the F4D-1 Skyray.


14 flightjournal.com

the other flying fords

The first XF4D-1(124586) undergoes car-quals aboard CVB-43 Coral Sea alongside an early F7U-3 Cutlass. (photo courtesy of Stan Piet)

with some wrinkles of his own. He complained of high stick forces and demonstrated that the initial spin recovery procedure was faulty. However, with Heinemann and company solving each problem, Rahn became a Ford fan. Eventually he described the Skyray as a fighter pilots dream.

Equipped with a Westinghouse XJ40 engine producing 11,600 pounds of thrust, the Sky-ray became a speedster. It set two world records in October 1953: Lt. Cdr. James Verdin clocked 753mph over a measured three-kilometer course on the 3rd, and 12 days later Rahn recorded 728 on the 100-kilometer course. Rahns feat stood for five years until the Fdration Aronautique In-ternationale removed the low-level requirement.

The Skyray became a super star. Douglas and North American shared the 1953 Collier Tro-phy for the F4D and F-100 as the most notable achievements in U.S. aviation.

Production to fleetWhile the Skyray approached production status, another engine change occurred. Douglas opted for Pratt & Whitneys more reliable J57, rated at 14,500 lbs in afterburner.

As Navy pilots began flying the Ford, their impressions confirmed Thaw and Rahns state-ments. High-altitude handling and especially rate of climb were stellar features.

Yet the Fords sensational climb rate caused un-foreseen problems. Once in squadron service, the F4D drew numerous complaints from San Fran-cisco air traffic control. Heinemann said, They were busting out of Alameda in 70-degree, nose-high attitudes, zooming to 10,000 feet in less than a minute, and continuing beyond that at similar rates of climb. Because the F4Ds climb profile was far beyond the normal horizontal sight refer-

ence, some airliners reported near misses. Douglas and Navy reps huddled over the per-

formance charts and reached a compromise: a 50-degree climb permitted reasonable visibility while maintaining an acceptable interception time. Away from the continental United States, max-performance climbs usually were possible.

As a bomber interceptor the Ford carried mixed armament: four 20mm cannon with 70 rounds each; pods generally with 42 to 76 folding-fin 2.75-inch rockets, and two AIM-9B Sidewinders under the wings. The rockets were notoriously ineffective, as demonstrated by practice missions against drone targets. The Westinghouse radar was fairly good for the era, with a typical 18-mile de-tection range, but cockpit layout has been called an ergonomic slum. Of prime concern was the radar scope placement, blocked by the stick.

Fleet delivery began in early 1956, with Com-posite Squadron Three at Moffett Field, Califor-nia, receiving the first fleet F4D-1s. VC-3 was the West Coast jet transition unit but in July the squadron was redesignated VF(AW)-3 to reflect the Skyrays all-weather mission. However, the Moffett unit stood down in May 1958 and that same day Fleet All Weather Training Unit, Pacific, became VF(AW)-3, based at San Diego.

The squadron was already assigned to North American Air Defense Command, but the Fords spectacular performance only enhanced the units reputation.

Known as The Blue Nemisis, VF(AW)-3 oper-ated under Air Force control in the North Ameri-can Air Defense Command (NORAD). Though based at NAS North Island, VF(AW)-3 was at-tached to the 27th Air Division at Norton Air Force Base outside San Bernardino.

Primary warning was provided by the Air Force


OCTOBER 2014 15

radar station at Mount Laguna, just north of the border. During the late 1950s The Blue Nemesis often scrambled one or two Fords a day, investi-gating unidentified radar contacts. The squadron could scramble two planes in three minutes and, if necessary, all 25 aircraft could be airborne in less than two hours. Legend holds that the tail-hookers twice were named top Air Defense Com-mand squadron when in fact they earned the ADC A in two years by meeting or exceeding NORAD standards.

Apart from operational excellence, VF(AW)-3 stood out with a dynamite color scheme. The Navy-blue spine and tail bedecked with yellow stars and lightning flash remain beloved of mod-elers five decades later. Squadron alumni say the scheme was conceived by Lt. Cdr. Claude Levinge and his young son.

Recalling Levinge, Dan Pederson said, We JOs called him, Needle Ball for his exceptional flying skills. He managed the Ford program and gave us ensigns all the flying we wanted. He men-tored so many of us and also was the senior alert flight leader.

Levinge was among the high-time Ford driv-ers, with about 2,000 hours in type, sometimes logging 80 or more hours per month. In 1967, he flew the Reserves last operational F-6A from Olathe, Kansas, to Buckley Field near Denver, where the airframe was displayed.

The squadrons most colorful character un-doubtedly was Cdr. Eugene Valencia, the Navys third-ranking fighter ace with 23 victories flying Hellcats in 1943-1945. He has been cited as skip-per of VF(AW)-3 but actually he was Nemesis op-erations and executive officer from 1958 to 1960. The CO during part of his tenure was Cdr. How-ard Ady, whose PBY crew had made first sighting

of the Japanese fleet approaching Midway Island before the critical June 1942 battle. From Catali-nas to Skyrays reflected the enormous variety in naval aviation careers during the 1940s to 1960s.

Robert Laczko, a squadron aviator recalls, I always felt that the F4D was a stable platform as often our return to North Island was under in-strument conditions and nearly always they were GCA approaches. I personally never had any problems at slow speeds. Dan mentions engaging an F-86 and I can remember several engagements with F102s. The F4D always beat the F-102, be-cause i felt it was more maneuverable.

I once got the F4D up to 54,000 feet, but couldnt hold it there very long as it got very mushy. VF(AW)-3 was disestablished in 1963

but squadron veterans retained fond memories. Retired Captain Claude Levinge shared some recollections: While going supersonic the Ford would start pitching up and down. I solved it by rolling in down trim prior to reaching the speed of sound, and when it started to pitch up all I had to do is relax a little back pressure on the stick.

At high altitude if you made a rapid diving turn it would go into yaw roll couplingthe air-craft tumbles end over end while rotating. I expe-rienced it once and tumbled from 50,000 down to 35,000 where the aircraft entered a spin. Dur-ing the tumbling the engine compressor stalled, shooting flame out by the cockpit. I reduced

All-Weather Fighter Squadron Three at San Diego flew F4Ds with the Air Defense Command from 1957 onward. The squadron twice earned the Air Force's recognition for superior performance as interceptors.

Because the F4Ds climB proFile was Far BeyonD the normal horizontal sight reFerence, some airliners reporteD near misses



THE OTHER FLYING FORDS

throttle to idle and the engine fl amed out. At 25,000 I relit the engine and fl ew back to base.

In conclusion, Levinge says, I thought it was a stable aircraft in the landing pattern and loved to fl y it.

The late Captain Jerry ORourke, a Korean War F3D Skyknight pilot, had this to say about get-ting the F4D aboard the boat at night: The fi rst Fords were pretty speedy on landing. By the time the radar, the computer, and the drop tanks had added their weight, the Fords landing speed had escalated like the cost of living. When the real but intangible pilot pucker factor for night and rain and a pitching carrier deck were fi gured in, the Ford was coming aboard at speeds close to the 140 knot region

Marine aviator Gary Gebo said, I fl ew the Ford In 1961 to1962. Had a cruise on the Indepen-dence the summer of 1962. A great performing aircraft! Nothing could out turn you, and nothing could out climb you! A truly great experience.

Pilots found they could maintain a three-G turn or better at 40,000 feet while blue suit contenders such as the F-102 could do no bet-ter than two. In mock combat the F4D inevitably whipped the Delta Dagger though both had the P&W J57 engine.

Jerry ORourke said, The big manta-ray wing

An early F4D-1 during carrier trials under the Naval Air Test Center umbrella. e fi rst operational squadron was VC-3 with the fi rst operational fl ight taking place during April of 1956. (Photo courtesy of Pete Bulban Collection via Jay Miller)

Fo

rd

VS

.M

iG-2

1

F4D-1 MiG-21F

In service 1956 1959 Length 45 ft. 3 in. 43 ft. 2 in. Wingspan 33 ft. 6 in. 23 ft. 0 in. Wing area 557 sf 247.5 sf Empty wt. 16,0124 lb. 10,624 lb. Loaded wt. 22,650 lb. 15,101 lb. Max. takeoff 27,116 lb. 18,466 lb. Engine PW J57 Tumansky R11-300 Thrust 10,200/16,000 12,675 max Thrust-weight 0.84 0.66/.93 Max. speed 722mph 1,320mph Range 700 sm 945 sm clean Ferry range 1,200 sm 1,040 sm w/aux tanks Service ceiling 55,000 ft. 62,340 ft. Climb rate 18,300 fpm 44,280 fpm Wing loading 41 ppsf 77 ppsf Armament Four 20mm, 65 rpg One 30mm 60 rds AIM-9s, rockets IR missiles, bombs

Ford & MiG-21 Side by Side


OCTOBER 2014 17

was great in a high-altitude dogfight, when it could be horsed around and still provide lift at al-most any altitude. The same characteristic could be used to make super-tight turns, and the tremen-dous power available could be used to climb like a rocketbetter than any other design of the era.

Captain Mel Holmes flew the F-6 in a utility squadron, frequently as bogies in combat simu-lation. He says, The pitch up during the tran-sition from sonic to subsonic flight was quite pronounced, especially when in an engagement pulling six to seven Gs. Nels Starky literally rained rivets as he hit nine G during the transition.

Personally, the 500 hours in the Ford gave me the experience that I applied later in the fleet and especially when we originated Top Gun. If flown right, there was nothing at the time that could burn and turn with the Ford below 20,000 ft. The thing was to entice them to come down and play with you.

For a small airframe with a powerful engine, the Ford was predictably short-legged. In the fleet it was nearly always flown with drop tanks. In fact, with 640 gallons of internal fuel, two 300-gallon drops nearly doubled endurance in the clean con-figuration. VF-74 conducted the first fleet in-flight refueling during USS Intrepids 1960 Mediterra-nean cruise, with a probe fixed to drop tank.

The first Marine unit was VMF-115 in 1957. One of the Fords biggest fans was then-Colonel Marion E. Carl, the Marines first ace and a re-cord-setting test pilot. When he assumed com-mand of Marine Air Group 33 at MCAS El Toro near Los Angeles, he quickly took to the F4D.

Grumman test pilot Corky Meyer presented a factory flight suit that Carl described as neon red and I mean it was garish. The CO wore it on occasion just for fun but it led to his undo-ing. As he related:

One day I was taxiing out in an F4D just to log some time when I saw a mess of contrails down toward San Diego. Somebody was having a hell of a good dogfight. I lit the afterburner and piled right into the melee. The Ford climbed like a rocket and was fairly maneuverable, so I was hav-ing a terrific time. But the F4D was short on fuel, so I broke off early and returned to El Toro.

Shortly Carl learned that his counterpart in MAG-15 disapproved of the unauthorized hassle and called his miscreant pilots on the carpet. Neither the CO nor his exec could fly an air-plane very well, and I didnt think much of either one of them (but) I called him and said, Look, those guys were just defending themselves, and I was right in the middle of things. If you put those pilots on report youll have to cite me, too.

Marion said that even if hed denied his pres-ence he would have been made by his garish Grumman flight suit, so that was the last time he wore it.

Another Ford admirer was Navy test pilot Wal-ly Schirra, later the only astronaut to fly in the

Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. At NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, in 1957 his first proj-ect in text pilot school was an assessment of the F4D. He was impressed enough to make Skyray his CB radio handle and part of his email address. He died in 2007.

In 1960, USS Shangri-La was conducting night carrier qualifications off the east coast. The Night Cappers of VF-13 flew F4Ds, and one of the nug-get aviators had trouble getting aboard. Among

the landing signal officers on the LSO platform was John B. Nichols, later a MiG killer and author. The Shangs captain allowed the junior bird-man another try at the deck rather than send him ashore, but the Ford missed the arresting wires.

With no option, the pilot shoved the throttle through the detent into afterburner and rocketed into the gloom. Nichols recalled, A Ford with 50 pounds of fuel on board has a spectacular rate of climb. The officers on the platform craned their necks to watch the disappearing Douglas and glimpsed the flare of the ejection seat firing almost directly overhead.

Time passed.

F4D-1 Skyrays on the production line at Douglas's El Segundo plant during 1957. (Photo courtesy of Jack Cook)



the other flying fords

F4D-1s of VF-74 "Be-Devilers" share the flightline at MCAS Yuma, Arizona, during 1959. (Photo courtesy of Jack Cook)

Eventually one of the paddles declared, Hell, I wouldnt know which way to run. So Pirate Nichols said, We all stood there discuss-ing the events of the day because none of us was going to be the first to run for cover!

The errant Ford driver was fetched back that night, a wetter but wiser aviator.

In those days, the military bought airplanes in wholesale lots. The Navy and Marines typically wrote off one or two Skyrays per month during the first five years, with total attrition running more than 100.

Ford production ended in late 1958 with 422 Skyrays delivered, averaging one a week. But the Ford continued setting records until the end. That year the Bureau of Aeronautics project of-ficer, Marine Major Edward LeFaivre, a combat night fighter pilot, set five time-to-climb records. The most impressive was 2 minutes, 36 seconds, from brakes off to 49,215 feet.

When Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara mandated a single aircraft designa-tion system in 1962, the F4D-1 became the F-6A. Aviators regarded the designation change as mi-nor in context of his mismanagement of the U.S. defense establishment and the Vietnam debacle.

The VF-13 Night Cappers were the last F-6 squad-ron to deploy aboard ship, USS Shangri-La in 1962, and VMF(AW)-542s Fords were parked in early 1964. In all, Skyrays served with 11 fleet and eight Marine Corps squadrons, plus two Reserve units.

Skyray to SkylancerDouglas began developing the F4D-2N, a night and all-weather interceptor with enhanced radar, but availability of the superior Pratt & Whitney J57 engine led to an airframe redesign in the F5D Sklyancer. Heinemanns team lengthened the

Skyray fuselage by eight feet, used thicker skin on the wing, and applied area ruling to reduce drag in the transonic flight regime. With a thinner air-foil at the root and a more powerful engine the Skylancer gained a stunning 37 percent increase in maximum speed 990mph or nearly Mach 1.50. The Navy was impressed, and ordered nine F5Ds for evaluation.

The Skylancer first flew in April 1956, exceed-ing the speed of sound. However, by that time Douglas and Grumman had a near monopoly on carrier aircraft, and reportedly some representa-tives on Capitol Hill expressed concern. Voughts spectacular F8U-1 Crusader had flown a year pre-viously and was progressing well, so the Navy took another look at the F5D. Seeing no need for duplication, the Navy cancelled the initial order for 51 F5D-1 production aircraft.

However, the four Skylancers still had work to do. They participated in various test and evalua-tion programs, with two going to NASA in 1961. The last F5D was employed as a procedures trainer for the dead-end X-20 Dyna-Soar project at Ed-wards Air Force Base. Future astronaut Neil Arm-strong flew some of the tests, anticipating a need to escape from the launch pad. He flew the Sky-lancer at 500 knots 200 feet off the ground, initi-ating a five-G pullup to 7,000 feet or so. Inverted at the top, he rolled upright, completing an Im-melman, then established a glide to landing on Rogers Dry Lake, marked to simulate Cape Canav-eral, Florida. The final F5D was retired in 1970. Thanks to Capt. Milburn Holmes, USN-R; Lt. Robert Laczko, Capt. Claude Levinge, Capt. Dan Pederson, Lt. Cdr. Rick Morgan, Cdr. Howard Nick Nickerson, Rear Adm. Denny Wisely.


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WARBUGIN THE PACIFIC

Surviving combat in a Stinson OY-1/L-5 BY LT. THOMAS ROZGA, USMC (RET.), AS TOLD TO AND WRITTEN BY JAMES P. BUSHA

Stinson's L-5/OY-1 was the only liasion aircraft in common usage during WW II that was built specifi cally for the mission rather than being a modifi ed civilian aircraft. It had wood wings and tail, a rugged steel tube fuselage and a 190hp Lycoming, six-cylinder engine. (Photo by Chris Miller/courtesy EAA)

2_Warbug on Saipan.indd 20 6/27/14 10:52 AM

OCTOBER 2014 21

I ENTERED THE SERVICE FOR TWO REASONS in late December 1941; my brother Tony had earned his wings in 1940 and I wanted to be just like him, but more importantly, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and I wanted to return the favor. By the time I earned my wings, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and was assigned to fl y Corsairs. Unfortunately, I had a little mishap with one on landing so they thought I would be better suited fl ying the PBY Catalina. e PBY was old, slow, and reliable and could do just about anything at half the speed of a Scooter! I have to admit the scenery was quite nice fl ying around the Caribbean in 1943 looking for German U-boats, but I still wanted to get into some action. In early 1944 I got more than I bargained for when I received orders to report to Quantico, Virginia, to join a VMO squadron.

Tom Rozga logged many hours in the spartan cockpit of

the OY-1 on both Saipan and Iwo Jima. (Photo courtesy of

Tom Rozga==)



Warbug in the pacific

VMO: Eyes and ears of the Marine CorpsThe Marine Observation Squadrons (VMO) were the eyes and ears of the commanding officers of the various Marine divisions. Able to communicate via a two-way radio, we could tell the troops on the ground what was happening on the front lines, scout out targets of opportunity and then direct artillery fire onto enemy positions. Unfortunately, all of this was performed in an unarmed, two-place

tandem fabric covered warbug called the Stinson OY-1 ( Army L-5). The Stinson was constructed of chromoly steel tubing and fabric covering with a wraparound Plexiglas greenhouse giving the pilot and observer an unobstructed view. The OY-1 was powered by a six-cylinder

190hp Lycoming O-435 engine, which gave it ample power to get in and out of most short field situations. Some models carried an observer in the back seat, and others carried a stretcher behind the observer so we could fly our wounded away from the battlefield. I have to admit that the first time I saw the airplane I scratched my head and wondered out loud, Were flying these in combat? Compared to the PBY, the OY-1 looked like a toy model. I was very disappointed to say the least, until I flew it. After a familiarization cockpit checkout, I quickly learned why the OY-1 was the obvious choice for battlefield missions. You could stall it, spin it, loop it, and land it in a few hundred feet. It wasnt going to set any speed records but boy, oh, boy, was that little Stinson maneuverable! After months of training, we headed west to San Diego and loaded our airplanes and ourselves aboard a baby flattop, the USS White Plains headed for Hawaii. Eventually, five of us joined the Fourth

Marine Division and VMO-4. I would receive my baptism of fire at an island called Saipan.

A day at the beach Saipan was over 13 miles long and almost 6 miles wide. It was a perfect place to launch B-29 Superfortresses to strike Tokyo. The only problem was it housed almost 30,000 Japanese troops. On June 17, 1944, two of us took off from the carrier in our OY-1s and I became the first American airplane to land on Saipan on D plus 2. I ended up landing on a thick sandy road about a half mile from the front lines. Thankfully, I was in a full stall configuration because it was like landing in peanut butter which stopped my OY-1 in a hurry. I shopped around for a better site and found a chunk of concrete runway that hadnt been bombed at Charan-Kanoa airstrip. There was no time for rest as both of our OY-1s were pressed into service; we carried no observers on that first mission as we called in artillery fire to the targets below. I tried to stay around 500 feet, constantly adjusting my altitude to confuse the Japanese gunners below who tried to knock us down. No matter what battlefield we were over, the Japanese gunners always tried for the cockpit area or the engine. After awhile, I lost count how many holes I had all over my airplane. Thankfully, most of them whizzed through the fabric covering and kept right on going! But that wasnt the only thing we had to fear as our own artillery and shells from the ships at sea came roaring over our heads we could feel vibrations from them passing close by. It was unsettling both around the airplane and inside as well! I saw firsthand that day how serious this business of war truly was when my wingman got hit by Japanese ground fire. Wounded, he tried to make it back to base but couldnt pull up quick enough and crashed into an ammo dump. He had just been informed by the Red Cross that morning that he was the proud father of a baby boy. It was a tragic loss of a good friend, and unfortunately,

The ambulance models could comfortably accommodate a litter patient. (Photo by Amy Gesch, courtesy EAA)

An OY-1 assigned to VMO-4 lands on the grass next to a landing P-47D of the 318th FG at Isley Field, Saipan, on June 25, 1944. (Photo courtesy of Jack Cook)


october 2014 23

there would be many more to follow. A few days later, the rest of the squadron arrived at the airstrip. We were located near a small town where some Japanese civilians lived, part of the over 20,000 that called Saipan home. Sadly, due in part to the Emperors indoctrination of how Americans were murderous soldiers, they ran from us when we arrived. Hundreds of them hid in caves on the north side of the island and began to jump to their deaths. We were able to capture some of the civilians and convinced them to fly with us in our OY-1s. Rigged with a large speaker and microphone, we flew overhead with our back seater pleading for them to surrender. The ones that wanted to were convinced by armed Japanese soldiers to jump or be shot in the caves. The others, some holding small children in their arms, believed what the Emperor had told them and threw themselves off the cliffs. Eventually, after we secured Saipan we moved over to Tinian to do it all over again. By mid-August of 1944, we were withdrawn and sent back to Hawaii to rest, regroup, and retrain for an even bloodier campaign.

Iwo JimaBy January of 1945, I was the commanding officer of VMO-4 and we were on our way back to the front, headed for Guam to pick up a couple of new OY-1s to go with the others we had aboard. With our aircraft secured on deck, we bordered the USS Wake Island and set sail for Iwo Jima. As the skipper, it was my duty to go ashore with the

mud Marines and pick out a suitable landing spot for the rest of the squadron. After jumping into the Pacific and wading ashore with the rest of the troops, I spent the rest of the day and night hugging a sand dune with Mt. Suribachi off to my left and the Japanese firing down our throats. On day two, it was time for some payback as I

Lt. Tom Rozga and Lady Satan on Iwo after she grew fangs in the form of six bazooka tubes. They could be fired singly or all at one time. He utilized them as a ground attack machine and admitted they weren't very ac-curate but made a big explosion. (Photo courtesy of Tom Rozga)

I saw firsthand that day how serious this business of war truly was when my wingman got hit by Japanese ground fire. Wounded, he tried to make it back to base but couldnt pull up quick enough and crashed into an ammo dump



Warbug in the pacific

ordered the first two airplanes to come in and land on a 500-foot section of runway that we captured. Unfortunately, the Japanese were concealed at the other end of the runway and pounded us with mortar rounds and machine gunfire as the Stinsons landed. They quickly learned, however, that an OY-1 overhead meant that death and destruction was on its way in the form of artillery rounds. By day five, all of the OY-1s from VMO-4 were on the island and ready to hunt. The Japanese were smart though and concealed themselves in the foliage, keeping quiet with sporadic rifle shots. But, as the sun set and night fell over the island, the Japanese unleashed their own hell on us. Their artillery was quite accurate; they had zeroed in every blade of grass on the island before our arrival. One of our generals had enough of the sleepless nights and came up with an idea to stop them. Night stalkerGeneral Clifton Cates asked me to find a volunteer to take off at 11:00 p.m. and try and pinpoint where the Japanese artillery was hidden. He was upset that his men were being prevented from getting a restful nights sleep! I informed the general that whoever accepted this mission would have to fly at a certain level to avoid being hit by our own artillery. The general smiled and said, Oh yes, Lieutenant, I understand and incidentally, I have invited the Navy in on this as well. I told him the Navy shoots low and the Marines shoot high and the guy flying would only have about a 400-foot box to fly within as incoming shells zipped by below and above. I asked the general if he was sure he wanted to do this tonight. He said he was, and I told him then I am your volunteer if I cant do it I dont want to risk any

of my pilots. At 11:00 p.m. I had six guys lined up with flashlights staggered down the runway to show the width of the strip. I lifted the OY-1 off, but once I got airborne, I had no horizon in the pitch black darkness. It wasnt until I had a few hundred feet under my wings that I could make out small fires from exploding shells, which helped me to determine where the front lines were. I had one eyed

glued to my altimeter because I needed to stay above 400 feet and below 700 feet for fear of running into one of our incoming artillery shells. The first time the Japanese guns opened up I radioed the Marines and Navy guns their position and waited for the fireworks show. I could feel the black air I was flying in begin to churn like a swollen river. The OY-1 was getting tossed around as my wings rocked and the big tail shook those shells were too damn close! When the shells came raining down, darkness became daylight as everything inside that circle of death was quickly annihilated. The Japanese never came out again that night. After two hours of flying solo, all was quiet below and I returned to land. The next day General Cates came up to me and thanked me for allowing his boys to get a good nights sleep. Then he added, No more night flights, Lieutenant, with that many shells coming in, a guy could get killed up there. I saluted and replied, Youre not kidding, General!

Bazooka mud moverThe fact of the matter was as a Marine observation pilot, droning around above a battlefield talking on the radio calling in artillery, most of us were frustrated fighter pilots. We wanted in on the action and, with only a .45 caliber pistols slung on our hips, we knew we had to come up with something bigger to do any damage. One of the pilots in our squadron with the mindset of an ordnance man came to me one day and said, Skipper, hows about we mount some bazookas on the airplanes? I laughed and asked do you really think it can be done? He shook his head up and down like an excited boy and said, I know it can be done! My concern was that the fabric-covered tail section or elevator on the OY-1 would be burned

First Lt. Rozga's OY-1 sits in front of a destroyed hangar at Isley Field shortly after he made the first landing on Saipan after previously becoming the first to fly a OY-1 from an aircraft carrier on June 17, 1944. (Photo courtesy of Jack Cook)

I could feel the black air I was flying in begin to churn like a swollen river. The OY-1 was getting tossed around as my wings rocked and the big tail shook those shells were too damn close!


october 2014 25

The OY-1/L-5 aircraft were capable of carrying heavy loads out of short strips. The final ambulance models had provisions for cranking the ailerons down to act as flaps. (Photo by Moose Peterson)



WARBUG IN THE PACIFIC

In March of 1944, a Stinson-Vultee OY-1, Bureau of Aeronautics number 02766 and USAAC serial number 42-99699, was constructed as an ambulance model and delivered to the United States Marine Corps. Assigned to Marine Observation Squadron 4 (VMO-4) that was currently training in Hawaii, it was one of 10 new OY-1s delivered in October of 1944 prior to the invasion of Iwo Jima. When the airplanes were fi nally loaded aboard their ship for the long sea journey to the Pacifi c eater, only seven of the original 10 made it to Iwo Jima prior to the invasion.

Given the situation and conditions I operated in, I am absolutely amazed that both of us survived the war. Seeing this old friend and sitting inside of it again for the fi rst time in over 65 years made an old Marine break down and cry. Tom Rozga

Combat records indicate that 02766 was fl own by USMC Lt. John Sutkus on March 1, 1945, during a three-hour mission. Lt. Sutkus again fl ew 02766 the following day for another three-hour hop in support of the fi erce fi ghting on the ground. By the time the smoke had cleared, six of the OY-1s were struck from USMC inventory due to the combat damage that had been infl icted upon them. Only 02766 survived and remained in service with the USMC. Eventually, 02766 was crated up and returned to Hawaii where it was placed into an equally hazardous role training new pilots. After the war, it was sold as surplus and remained a civilian airplane. In 2012, during a wing rebuild, the current owners located 10 original bullet holes that had been fi eld repaired during its combat career. It is unknown if any nose art was applied to 02766 while stationed on Iwo Jima. e nose art of Lady Satan was originally applied to sister ship OY-1 BuNo 02757, which, unfortunately, was scrapped due to damages received on Iwo Jima. In honor of USMC pilot Lt. omas Rozga, Commanding Offi cer of VMO-4 during the battle of Iwo Jima, the nose art of Lady Satan was applied to 02766.

Lady Satan Today

Tom Rozga and one of his old fl ying mates at Oshkosh in 2013. (Photo by Phil High/EAA)

e Stinson cockpit and panels were much larger than other L-birds, like the Aeronca L-3 and Piper L-4. e landing gear was rugged with a long stroke to accommodate landing almost anywhere. (Photo by Chris Miller/EAA)


october 2014 27

completely off from the flame that exited the rear tube of the bazooka. The smile from the pilots face departed and he became more serious, thinking about the question I posed. I guess its possible, Skipper, but we wont know unless we try it out. Want me to mount one on each side? I thought about it for a second and said, Hell, if were going to do this right, then lets put three bazookas on each side. Now go find some bazookas! Finding bazookas on Iwo Jima was like a kid finding candy on Halloween. We mounted three of the bazooka tubes to the struts of both wings on an OY-1 that was adorned with the nose art of Lady Satan. We had installed six toggle switches on the instrument panel to fire each of the bazookas. By that afternoon it was ready to try out. Our engineering officer, Lieutenant Kelly, asked if he could be the first to try it out. Before I could say anything, he was already airborne. He fired one bazooka, looked back and saw that his tail wasnt on fire so he cranked off another round. Satisfied, he fired the remaining four rounds and came back into to give his report.

The handling was beautiful, no adverse affect whatever, and no fire exiting the rear tube. As a matter of fact, once the projectiles have left the bazooka; it becomes a hollow tube with no resistance and has excellent air flow. Its time for some Marine Observation payback! From then on, the biggest problem I had was breaking up the fights between the pilots because they all wanted to fly Lady Satan. Thankfully, rank has its privileges and even I got into the action with our lone bazooka-equipped OY-1. The procedure was to get up to altitude, never really that high, select a target below and then push the nose over into a shallow dive. Most of the time I fired all of them at once as they zoomed toward their target. The

Japanese learned to keep their heads down, as the Marines on the ground waved and cheered us on. Honestly, the rockets werent that accurate, but they made a hell of an explosion when they hit and it sure made us feel like fighter/bomber pilots for an awhile! I found out later that the brass in the Pentagon had spent an ungodly sum of money trying to figure out how to properly mount a bazooka on an airplane. We wrote them a letter, and it read, From VMO-4. Reference to our bazooka-mounted OY-1s. It didnt cost us anything just some USMC ingenuity! We flew missions from dawn to dusk; sometimes three OY-1s would be up at one time. VMO-4 ended up with hundreds of missions flown over Iwo Jima before we were withdrawn in April of 1945. And for me, I will never forget my time in the OY-1, which I often referred to as Old Faithful. J

At first, pilots were concerned the flame behind the bazookas would burn the tail fabric off, but that was not a problem. (Photo by Phil High/EAA)

The rockets werent that accurate, but they made a hell of an explosion when they hit and it sure made us feel like fighter/bomber pilots for an awhile!

2_Warbug on Saipan.indd 27 6/30/14 1:39 PM


CLASSICS

The underbirds and Blue Angels are the premier aerobatic teams for U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, respectively, and have held that status for well over six decades. e underbirds are

assigned to the 57th Wing at Nellis AFB Nevada. During their formative days, the T-Birds spent

six months training in an unoffi cial status. Shortly thereafter, on May 25, 1953, the underbirds were activated as the 3600th Air Demonstration Team at Luke AFB near Phoenix.

e fi rst aircraft fl own by the underbirds was the F-84G underjet. e fi rst leader of the T-Bird team was Major Richard C. Catledge.

e F-84G did the original experiments for aerial refueling over Japan and South Korea, during the Korean War. at made it possible for the underbirds to travel to airshows all over North America. When they moved in to the swept-wing F-84F in 1954 under Captain Jacksel M. Broughton, the increased range made it possible for the team to include Central and South America in its schedule.

e North American F-100C and D Super Sabre gave the team the ability to follow tankers anywhere in the world. At that point, shows in Western Europe and the Pacifi c were on the table. e thrill of seeing the team in Japan or in Eastern Europe was a major coup for the U.S. military in that it showed a global audience what Americas skilled pilots could do with their aircraft.

is image captures the team refueling as they passed over Wake Island en route to several shows in Japan and on Okinawa in the early 1960s. e KB-50 was their main source of fuel on the long trips.

As fi ghter aircraft evolved, so did the underbirds. ey fl ew the F-100C from 1956-1963 and they had a brief encounter with the F-105B underchief for part of the 1964 season. ey took on the F-4 Phantom II in 1969-1973 and then moved to the T-38 Talon due to the 1973 oil crisis. Five T-38s used as much fuel, together, as one of the F-4s.

Dating from 1983, the teams current mount is the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Wearing the traditional stars and bars underbird paint scheme, the F-16 is the aircraft the public most readily identifi es with the team.

The ShowMust Go OnEven birds sometimes need a drinkBY WARREN THOMPSON

7_ClassicsThunderbird.indd 28 6/27/14 10:29 AM

These Thunderbird F-100 Huns were making a trip to the Far East for airshows in Japan,

South Korea and Okinawa. They used the KB-50s for their aerial refueling. The

photographer stated that they were close to Wake Island when the picture was taken. (Photo by John Hoyle via Warren Thompson)

7_ClassicsThunderbird.indd 29 6/27/14 10:29 AM

The early radio compartment gunners station was the least effective of the B-17s defensive armament with limited ammunition and field of coverage. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)

3_Behind the Brownings v2.indd 30 6/27/14 10:17 AM

OCTOBER 2014 31

BEHIND THE

BROWNINGSBOMBER GUNNERS TELL THEIR TALES BY MARK CARLSON

High in the clear azure skies over Europe, parallel lines of white contrails were raked in lacy streams behind hundreds of bombers as they fl ew towards their assigned targets. Aboard each plane were 10 young men. Six of them

were charged with protecting their plane, their squadron, their group, and most of all, each other from the savage attacks of German fi ghters. ey were the air gunners of the United States Army Air Forces. e bombers were stacked in tight formations of 54 planes

in three groups. e formation was developed to maximize the eff ectiveness of bombing and gunnery. Every group covered 1,000 feet in width and 600 feet from the lead to the rear. At least 234 guns covered the sky around the group. ey used the reliable and tough Browning AN-M2 .50 caliber heavy machine guns. Gunners worshiped their wonderful fi fties

Shoo-Shoo Shoo Baby is one of the few surviving B-17s that actually saw combat. Painstakingly restored in every

detail, it is on display at the Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, OH. (Photo by Budd Davisson)

and even gave them pet names like Kraut Widowmaker and Mrs. Deuce. It was a great gun, recalled Staff Sergeant Frank Bushmeier of the100th Bomb Group. We had two sights, a ring and crosshairs, and the other was the reticle sight with an orange circle and red dot. We knew how to used them against fi ghters. e Luftwaff e had developed a healthy respect for the B-17s

bristling armament. After making mock attacks on captured Fortresses and studying the results, they learned an attack from almost straight above would be virtually invulnerable to the bombers guns. at is where the tight box formation paid off . Even as that fi ghter was coming down on its target, the guns of eight other bombers were able to track it.



behind the brownings

Often several gunners claimed the same killEvery guy said I got a probable, said waist gunner Bruce Richardson, but its hard to say for sure. Maybe someone else gets him. But when they blow up in your face then youre sure.

After one mission over Germany, said 100th BG bombardier Joe Armanini, we read in the papers that wed shot down 400 German fight-ers. Crap, he scoffed. If wed been that good, thered be no Luftwaffe left.

The other way to attack a B-17 was head-on from twelve oclock high. But that too had its dangers. A Gruppe of 36 to 48 fighters flew

out of gun range parallel to the main bomber stream until they were well ahead. Then they circled in and, in line abreast, flew straight at the lead bombers. But with a combined closing speed of perhaps 400mph it left few seconds in which to aim, fire their guns and do a split-S maneuver to break away. The fighter might fire 250 rounds, only 15 to 20 of which were can-non shells.

Robert Mathiasen of the 100th said, Over Ber-lin wed look forward and see 200 fighters com-ing at us. We lost a lot of planes on that mission.

Peripheral vision, reflexes, vigilance and their ability to think fast were critical to their survival.

Below left and right: Frontal defensive armament locations were as varied as the threat and crew needs dictated till the introduction on the late F &G models standardized the twin cheek positions and the Bendix chin turret as seen here on the 5000th B-17 built by Boeing since Pearl Harbor. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)

Nose armament on the B-17F continually evolved on the production line and in theater, but the twin side window guns became standard on the B-17F-50. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)


OCTOBER 2014 33

Taking it on the chinThe most obvious feature of the B-17G was the chin turret. With twin remotely operated Brownings, the A-16 electrically powered turret provided protection against head-on attacks. It carried 375 rounds per gun, enough for about 30 seconds of firing. Originally, the chin turret had been part of the failed Lockheed-Vega YB-40 escort bomber version of the Fortress. Only 20 were built. But the chin turret survived and appeared on the last B-17Fs and all subse-quent B-17Gs. (see When is a G not a G? from The Unlucky Seventh Mission Flight Journal, April 2011). How effective the chin turret was still a matter of debate. While it did provide extra firepower for one of the Fortresss two most vulnerable quarters, it may only have intimidated an attacker dur-ing the few crucial seconds of his approach. Hitting a small fighter in such a short time was almost impossible. Armanini said, I preferred the older F model with the two side and nose guns. That chin turret was kind of hard to aim. I really liked being able to see down the barrel to fire the guns.

The bombardier was a part-time gun-ner, since his primary job was to see the plane through the bomb run to the bomb release.

The later model B-24 Liberators and Navy PB4Y-2 had an Emerson electric bow turret. It rotated 75 degrees on either side of the ships centerline and the guns elevated to 60 degrees up and 55 down. This gave a very wide cone of protection to the Lib-erator. In fact, one of the highest-scoring air gunners was Seaman First Class Rich-ard Thomas, who shot down five Japanese fighters with the PB4Y-2 bow turret.

The navigator often had other duties that kept him from fighting the Luftwaffe. In addition to plotting and navigating to and from the target, he sometimes acted as mission photographer, first-aid medic and kept a log. I never once fired my guns on any of my 23 mis-sions, said 92nd Group navigator Don Stull.

The view from the topFor overhead attacks, the Sperry No. 645473-E power-operated, direct-sighted turret was in-stalled on the B-17E. The turrets fire covered an annulus, a doughnut-shaped area 1,200 yards in diameter, but its guns could only elevate to 85 degrees so there was an unprotected cone directly above the plane. The flight engineer doubled as the top turret gunner. He sat on a bicycle-style seat between the guns. The turret itself was sus-pended on a ring set into the roof of the bomber just behind the pilots. Hand controls rotated and elevated the guns. Five hundred rounds of ammo per gun was fed from two boxes. Sperry recom-

mended the shells be on Type M2 Extra Flexible links in order to minimize jams, but this was not always done.

Flight engineer Stanley Lawruk of the 92nd BG said, In the top turret I had a view of the whole sky. I did most of the calling out of the fighters and where they were coming from.

Since the flight engineer was also responsible for keeping the bombers systems working after battle damage, he often had to leave his guns unattended. Splicing control cables, transferring fuel and repairing electrical circuits demanded that he turn over the turret to another gunner, often the radio operator.

Pilot Stephen King of the 379th Group re-called, On one mission, a fighter was coming from the front. It started shooting at us and I didnt hear anything from the top turret. I got on the interphone and yelled, Ray, why arent you

Field mod of twin-50s was incorporated into this B-17F to deal with head-on attacks. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)




shooting? He said, Im waiting until I can get a good bead on him! I yelled, Goddamnit! Scare him away!

According to the list of highest-scoring air gun-ner aces of World War II, five of the top eleven were in the top turret, or nearly 50%.

The least effective gunner position was the B-17 radio operator. A large window in the com-partment ceiling was fitted with a Browning in a vertical swivel mount. The gunner had to squat to sight up the barrel.

Don Hammond of the 100th BG said, We were trained in what they called burst control. Id hit the trigger and it would fire about 12 rounds. But I couldnt hit anything with it. I could shoot the tail pretty good but I thought we needed it. The Germans went by so fast on the head-on attacks that I never saw them. I never got off a shot. It was a waste to carry that gun and ammo, but I

guess I felt better having something to shoot back with.

On the ballThe most intriguing gunner position was the ball turret. Built by Sperry, the same company that perfected the gyro-compass and other critical flight instruments, the Model 645705-D ball turret was a marvel of engineering. Typically, the ball gunner was the shortest man on the crew, but there were gunners who stood nearly six feet tall. When I first saw the ball turret, said 91st BG gunner Dan McGuire, I said, You gotta be crazy to get into that thing. The ball gunner sat in a nearly fetal position, looking through a round panel of armored glass between his feet. The twin fifties were on either side of his legs. Pulling on two cables charged the guns. The ammo boxes were on the turrets yoke, so they could be replaced by the flight engineer. Twin belts fed the guns and spent shells were ejected into the slipstream.

The gunner used his right foot to key the planes interphone, as both his hands were on the elevation and azimuth controls, twin joystick levers just over his head. The left foot controlled the K-4 computing gun-sight range reticle.

While the turret used hydraulic power, it could be hand-cranked in an emergen-cy. That ball was my office, said Ed Sil-verstone of the 100th. But I was kind of isolated there. The ball turret could drop 90 degrees and turn full circle. The guns were zeroed at about 600 yards, and every fifth round was a tracer. That gunsight was easy to use and it really worked great. If you could get a German plane in between the lines on the gunsight you were almost guaranteed a kill.

We had excellent computing sights in the ball, commented Bob Mathiasen. It figured out deflection and all that stuff. If you knew how big a target was, like a Ju 88, which had a lon-ger wingspan than a Messerschmitt, their wings touched the outer ring of the sight and you fired at that moment. For a smaller plane you got them in the inner ring at about 600 yards. Over Berlin there were plenty of them to shoot at. I got an Fw 190 confirmed kill. He was coming at us and I zeroed in on him and got him in the cockpit.

McGuire remembered, I brought down two Me 109s at once from the ball. I had put about 200 rounds into one and finally he went over and lost control. He plowed into another fighter and they both went down. I didnt know this until after the mission when a waist gunner said, Hey, you got both of them. But I wasnt officially credited with two kills.

Silverstone commented, My parachute was on

Top: Introduced on the B-17E, the Sperry top and belly power turrets with computing sights provided an effective defense against high-speed Luftwaffe fighter attacks. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)


OCTOBER 2014 35

BomBer GunsiGhts

Early in WW II, gunners on American heavy bombers typically manned five stations: top turret, belly (ball) turret, left and right waist, and tail. The B-17G and B-24H (and later

Liberators) had nose turrets. Originally waist and tail guns were manually aimed, as gunners manhandled single or twin Browning M2 .50 calibers. The optics varied, including ring and bead iron sights and reflector sights with a reticle projected on glass.

Whether glass or metal sights, the rule was, A fighters not a duck aim between the fighter and your tail. The counter-intuitive wisdom was due to the bombers forward motion. Aiming ahead of an interceptor resulted in over-deflection, placing a burst well in front of the enemy. Think of the string of bullets as a fire hose combined with the bombers forward speed. Aiming behind the attacker had the effect of dragging the stream of slugs into the target.

How much to hold behind the fighter depended on range, bomber versus target speed, and altitude. The AAF advocated zeroing most guns at 500 to 600 yards, requiring the gunner to hold high, on, or low as the fighter approached. It was more art than science.

From 1943 onward, lead-computing sights were available, beginning with the belly turret. The gunner placed his reticle on the fighter, adjusted the sighting ring to match its wingspan, and continued tracking. The internal gyroscope determined the amount of lead by the rate of precession, yielding a firing solution. But the gunner had to be smooth on the controls for azimuth and elevation.

When fighters attacked from straight ahead or astern the gyro sights were negated. With a zero target aspect it was not possible to aim behind the attacker, so the gunner was only concerned with elevation. Furthermore, often in a pursuit curve a fighter got sucked astern, giving the tail, top and belly gunners a low-deflection shot.

Without specifying all turret models, B-17 tests for 12-round bursts at 600 yards showed the ball turret the most accurate with all rounds going into a 15-foot circle. The top turret held 21 feet; enclosed waist positions 26; and the tail 45 feet. The chin turret put all rounds into 23 feet, considerably better than the E and F model Forts cheek guns

at 34 feet. B-24 figures were comparable except the more stable tail turret was 35 feet.

The B-29 Superfortress was a different creature, as all gunner stations but the tail were remotely controlled with gyro sights.

Barrett Tillman

a shelf just above the turret and if we had to bail out Id crank the turret down, open the hatch, climb out and clip on the chute and jump with the rest of the crew. I was always afraid that if we were hit and there was no bail out going Id never know it. So on one mission, I think it was the first Berlin mission, I told the radio operator and the waist gunners to take something metallic and rap on my hatch so Id know to get out. I said, If I see you guys bailing out and falling away and you didnt tell me about it, I might make your trip a lot shorter than you intended.

The radio compartment was just forward of

the ball turret. So on this mission, were fighting off German planes and I hear something rapping on the turret! I cranked the turret down and hit the deck. I jumped up and looked and saw ev-erybody in their positions, fighting the Germans. What Id heard was empty cartridges from the ra-dio gunner falling and banging on my turret. So I got back to work.

The waist gunners had the most freedom of movement but they also had to move quickly during an air battle. As they manhandled their heavy Brownings back and forth, up and down to keep enemy fighters in their sights, they had to

The B-24's unique nose turret gave a large field of fire but although the top turret overlapped it, there were still areas a fighter could attack where neither gun position could get at them. (Photo by John Dibbs/planepicture.com)

Consider the hazardous environment of a fully protected B-17F waist-gunner who had to deal with penetrating cold, spent cartridges, and an opposing gunner to maneuver around. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)




stoop and squat. That required a lot of strength in their legs and back. In the early B-17s and most of the B-24s ,the waist windows were open. An icy blast of subzero wind howled through the plane. There were wind deflectors set just forward of the windows.

Handling a flexible mount machine gun to sight, track, fire at and hit a fighter zipping past at

more than 350mph required as much muscle as mental agility and quick reflexes. The gun wasnt difficult to manipulate, said a 44th BG B-24 gun-ner, but the kick made accurate aim difficult.

An 8th Air Force gunner said, I saw an Me 109 coming in. My gun was jammed. I had to do something fast. I knew that it would be fatal to pick up the cover of my gun and attempt to fix

Swivel mounts and fuselage-mounted ammo boxes and flexible feed chutes helped clean up the waist gunners crowded environment. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)

How DiD we Not SHoot ourSelveS?There were a number of power turret protections, but the flexible guns (waist, cheek, etc.) did not have interrupters. B-17 and B-24 ball turrets had a button switch sometimes visible from the outside at the top dead center of the circular window. This switch would engage a cam plate fixed to the fuselage that would cut out the firing of the guns if the ball gunner swept forward and endangered the propeller arcs. Predictably, the cam for a B-24 looked different than the cam for a low-wing B-17. Also, top turrets like the Martin 250 (B-24, B-26 Marauder, others) had fire interrupters to halt firing in proximity to prop arcs and tail surfaces. I have a Martin 250 manual that features drawings that show how to set the interrupters for each kind of bomber. The issue was wing flex, so the drawing shows the bomber at rest on the ground with an outline of how high the wing would be expected to flex in flight loads. When B-25s introduced a tailgunner in a raised doghouse, the Bendix top turret guns were baffled with two angled steel plates mounted to the top of the fuselage aft of the turret. Normally, these plates were covered with streamlined aluminum bumps. The B-29 had similar tail gunner dorsal cook-off protection installed in the base of the vertical fin. Frederick A. Johnsen

Not all aircraft in service had external deflectors as shown on this B-25H behind the top turret. Their function was to protect the tailgunner, when the top turret guns were stowed facing aft, in the event a round "cooked off" due to the guns being hot.


OCTOBER 2014 37

it. Then I did the only thing there was to do. I waved my gun up and down and back and forth as if I was tracking him and I guess Jerry thought I was firing at him. He turned off his main course enough to miss us.

The waist gunners, directly opposite one an-other in the early B-17, had to contend with con-stantly bumping into one another as they swung their guns. While this was more of an annoyance than a true problem, there can be little doubt that some kills were missed when a badly timed bump threw off a gunners aim. Later models had staggered waist windows with the starboard one set forward of the port window. It gave the gun-ners more room. Waist gunners wore flak helmets and vests, and curved armor plates were fitted be-low the windows.

Tail-end CharliesThe development of the tail position is one of those often apocryphal stories in military his-tory. Some sources say the first tail guns were added in the early Pacific war by sawing off the tail cone of a B-17D and fitting in a single .30 caliber machine gun. But the truth is that Boe-ing was already working on a practical tail turret design by the time the U.S. entered the war, and used it on the B-17E and F models. The original design had twin fifties that were hand-operated by the gunner, who sat on his knees and sighted through a remote peashooter set just outside his armored glass. The tail was a very tight space to be in, and visibility was limited. The guns were set so far away from the gunner that it required real strength to move them while firing.

Rich Tangradi of the 99th BG said, When I got out to our airplane, I went into my tail posi-tion. I checked my ammunition. A box on each

side, each holding 600 rounds. They were loaded with one tracer, two armor piercing and two in-cendiaries. I put the guns in their slots and lifted the receiver, put in the belt, then slammed and locked it. They could be reloaded in flight.

By the end of 1943, the B-17G was fitted with a new tail turret, known as the Cheyenne, named for the United Airlines Cheyenne Modi-fication Center in Wyoming. As in the chin tur-ret, it first saw use on the YB-40. While the old

SSgt Harold Goodwin, tail gunner on B-17F s/n 41-24577 VK+D Hell's Angels of the 358th BS, sits in his position behind "Kay" and "Ethel" ready for action. (Photo courtesy of Jack Cook)

From this vantage point, it's obvious that this was a very dangerous position for a fighter because, including the dorsal gun, a total of seven fifty-caliber Brownings could be trained on it. As soon as the fighter was directly astern, only the two tail guns could be brought to bear. (Photo by Budd Davisson)




design allowed an azimuth of 30 degrees to either side, 40 degrees elevation and 15 depression, that only gave the gunner roughly one-sixth of a full circles arc. The Cheyenne design increased this to 160 degrees in traverse, almost straight out to either side. In elevation, the guns could reach 70 degrees up and 40 down. This, of course, gave the gunner a much broader cone of fire, and must have been a rude surprise to the first Luftwaffe fighters to make a rear attack on them. The old peashooter was replaced by an N8 reflector sight, while a bicycle seat was fitted for the gunner.

The B-24 had a true powered tail turret built by Consolidated which, like the Emerson on the nose, gave nearly 150 degrees of traverse. They had two speeds, fast for moving the turret to an approaching target and slow for careful aiming.

USAAF tail gunners had some of the highest number of credited kills, most often due to the slower rate of closure when attacking from the rear, allowing time for the gunner to line up his shot.

I got a kill over Regensburg, said Tangradi. If you were Tail-end Charlie you attracted a lot of attention, no matter what group you were in.

A 94th Bomb Group tail gunner recalled a mis-sion over Bremen. I never saw so many different types of enemy fighters trying to get our group. There were Me 410s, 210s, 110s, 109s, FW190s and Ju 88s. About 150 in all, and all of them try-ing to outdo each other. It must have been Iron Cross Day. All our guns were going at the same time. It felt like the ship would come apart. I fired at anything within range. I know I hit a few as I saw several break off and dive. But we made it back okay.

As the last bombers passed out of Axis territory, the gunners finally began to catch their breath. Their wonderful fifties had done their job, and even though many of them were sure they had brought down one or more German fighters, what really mattered was they and their buddies were still alive. And that is the only true victory in war.

Above left: Gunners assigned to the 12th BG at Karachi, India, brush up their gunnery skills on a Bendix turret trainer during December 1944. (Photo courtesy of Jack Cook) Above right: Martin and Sperry training turrets were mounted on truck bodies at training facilities to give gunners ground experience in mastering the art of powered aerial gunnery. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)

Above left: Armorers from the 91st BG use a mechanical linker to prepare ammo belts for their B-17s. Above right: Over 40,000 highly effective Martin 250CE power turrets were assembled in an abandoned foundry building on Sinclair Lane in Baltimore beginning late in 1941. (Photos courtesy of Stan Piet)


Ad Template.indd 1 6/24/14 12:01 PMAds All_FJ1014.indd 39 6/30/14 12:59 PM

As the Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vc approached the stern of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7), Pilot Officer Jerry Smith, RCAF, knew he was quickly running out of options. His

first approach had been high and much too fast, and the 21-year-old fighter pilot knew that unless he was able to land safely on this approach, he would either have to bail or ditch his fighter into the Mediterranean Sea. He was low on options and time was running out. Eleven Grumman Wildcats of Fighting Squadron 71 were overhead and would need to land back on board their carrier soon.

by jack cook no way! No tailHook?

Out-of-fuel Spitfire and a Carrier: No options

5_No Tailhook Spitfire.indd 40 6/27/14 10:39 AM

october 2014 41

no way!

The Spitfire Mk Vc entered service in early 1941, featuring the "universal wing" permitting a variety of armament. Most retained the typical two 20mm cannon and four .303 MGs but some mounted two cannon in each wing. Malta Spits were further modified. Nearly 6,500 were produced into 1943. The prominent chin inlet housed the Vokes carburetor filter for tropical and desert use that reduced top speed by about 10mph and climb rate by 600fpm. (Photo by John Dibbs/planepicture.com)

5_No Tailhook Spitfire.indd 41 6/27/14 10:39 AM


no tailhook? no way!

Smith had taken off from the Wasp just an hour prior with 46 other Spitfires of No. 601 Squadron en route to the island of Malta, but one had crashed due to engine failure. Safely airborne, Smith immediately switched to feed fuel from his 90-gallon slipper auxiliary fuel tank attached to the Spitfires belly. Suddenly, the Spitfires Merlin engine began to sputter from lack of fuel, and he switched back to his internal tank. Smith returned to the Wasp while watching the 45

flight journal 2014 10

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