Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

On November 22, 1944 the USS Enterprise SB2C-3 Helldiver "Black 3" belonging to the VB-20 was hit by the Japanese Flak on Yap.

PhoM 1/c Joseph N. Day was wounded in action.

Would anyone know the name of the "Black 3" pilot at the time?

Wounded Photographers Mate Joseph Day is eased from a VB-20 Helldiver, 22 November 1944. Source: William T. Barr, www.cv6.org.

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

Side number '3' was one of two bombers on a photo mission to Yap. Hence the reason for carrying a Photographers Mate in the back seat. The pilot was Lt.(jg) D.F. Hughes.

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

Thank you, George. Thanks lot!

Years ago, through Pat Ranfranz, I tried to find the name of the pilot of this aircraft through Joe Day himself, but he passed away before he could respond.

Any chance to find out the full name and what happened to this pilot later?

Thank you!

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

On Oct 18, 1944 Lt(jg) David Ferrar Hughes 291231, and ARM2/c Burnal Lloyd Morr 615 12 93, flying off the Enterprise ran out of fuel in SB2C-3 19379 and were picked up by the Gridley. Mission to the Manila area.

On Jan 16, 1945, off the Lexington, in SB2C-3 18768 they were shot down by enemy aircraft and MIA. South Hainan I.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

A couple of points:

The date of the first loss was 18 October 1944, and was caused by Hughes having to fly around some bad weather while returning from Manila.

Hughes's loss on 16 January was on a VF/VB search mission. His was the last SB2C to be shot down by an enemy aircraft in WWII

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

Frank, thank you so much for the information.

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

:cry:

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

The US Navy War Diarys that have been on Fold3 are now free on the US National Archives database.

This search result may not work but search for "VB-20" on the archives.gov catalogue.

https://catalog.archives.gov/search?...tabType=online

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

Ok Nov 44 and other months don't appear in that search result, but worth moting.

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

Dennis,
USN squadrons were not allowed to keep War Diaries while carrier based, only while land based. Thus most VF, VB, VT, VS, VC War Diaries are for while the units were based in the US for training, or in Hawaii while waiting for their carrier. While carrier based the squadrons produced Aircraft Action Reports, forms ACA-1 and -2, during the war, which are filed in RG 38 at NARA II.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Pilot ID SB2C-3 VB-20 November 22,1944
 

arrrhhhh, Mendoza!!

Glad I didn't find that out the hard way with a subscription.

Anyway, the take away for now is that Fold3 is transferring their scans to the US National Archives.