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FLIGHTJOURNAL.COM
OCTOBER 2014 $6.99 US $8.99 CAN
Display until September 30, 2014
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
The rocke
ts made
The rocke
ts made
us feel like
fighter
us feel like
fighter
us feel like
fighter
us feel like
fighter
pilots..
. pi
lots...
pilots..
. pi
lots...
pilots..
.
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
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Copyright 2014, all rights reserved. Periodicals postage permit
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EDITORIAL: Send correspondence to Editors, Flight Journal, 88
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welcome all editorial submissions, but assume no responsibility for
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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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6 fl ightjournal.com
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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10 fl ightjournal.com
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
ABOUT THE
F-35 ...
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MAIL Flight JournalAir Age Media88 Danbury Road, Wilton, CT
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airdrop1014.indd 10 6/27/14 11:28 AM
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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
FLIGHT JOURNAL ON FACEBOOKfacebook.com/FlightJournal
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PHO
TO
We want to hear from you. Like us today!We want to hear from
you. Like us today!
1/6V.indd 1 2/25/14 1:56 PM
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
airdrop1014.indd 11 7/1/14 11:37 AM
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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.
1_Flying Ford.indd 13 6/30/14 12:49 PM
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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
1_Flying Ford.indd 14 6/30/14 12:49 PM
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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
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16 fl ightjournal.com
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
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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)
1_Flying Ford.indd 17 6/30/14 12:50 PM
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18 flightjournal.com
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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12:59 PM
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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
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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==)
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22 flightjournal.com
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)
2_Warbug on Saipan.indd 22 6/27/14 10:52 AM
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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
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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!
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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)
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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)
2_Warbug on Saipan.indd 26 6/27/14 10:52 AM
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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!
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28 fl ightjournal.com
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
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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
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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)
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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.
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32 flightjournal.com
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)
3_Behind the Brownings v2.indd 32 6/27/14 10:17 AM
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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)
3_Behind the Brownings v2.indd 33 6/27/14 10:17 AM
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34 flightjournal.com
behind the brownings
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)
3_Behind the Brownings v2.indd 34 6/27/14 10:18 AM
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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)
3_Behind the Brownings v2.indd 35 6/27/14 10:18 AM
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36 flightjournal.com
behind the brownings
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.
3_Behind the Brownings v2.indd 36 6/27/14 10:18 AM
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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)
3_Behind the Brownings v2.indd 37 6/27/14 10:18 AM
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38 flightjournal.com
behind the brownings
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)
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Ad Template.indd 1 6/24/14 12:01 PMAds All_FJ1014.indd 39
6/30/14 12:59 PM
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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
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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
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42 flightjournal.com
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