Vought SB2U Vindicator - Sumner Whitten and others ?
 

Good evening Gentlemen,

the SB2U claimed a total of 6 kills.
The gunner of Sumner Whitten claimed of of them.
Who scored the other 5 ?

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Vought SB2U Vindicator - Sumner Whitten and others ?
 

This is the interview in which he described the kill of his gunner:
http://www.midway42.org/Midway_AAR/vmsb-241.pdf

Re: Vought SB2U Vindicator - Sumner Whitten and others ?
 

Conclusion: the Vought SB2U Vindicator flew 17 action sorties for the USA in WW2, the lowest number of any USN/USMC type. All these were flown in the battle of Midway by VMSB-241. 11 were flown on 4Jun, another plane had to return and was not counted to the action sorties total. In the same evening five planes were sent on a search mission that was not counted to the action sorties total. The next day 6 action sorties were flown but without aerial opposition. The aerial kill total of 6 for this aircraft type indicated in "NAVAL AVIATION COMBAT STATISTICS WORLD WAR II" by the OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS is most likely a wrong interpretation of the VMSB-241 Battle Report. The correct SB2U total is two, one scored by Whitten/Zelnis, the other by one of the 11 crews that participated in the first mission on 4Jun or a combination of these.

The data and considerations of R Leonard are gratefully appreciated.

Re: Vought SB2U Vindicator - Sumner Whitten and others ?
 

Hello

This may interest you...??
Source:CJE "la bataille de Midway" 07/2001

6 Zeros credited to radio-gunners of VMSB-241

4 credited to SBD-2 and SBD-2P
John H.Moore
Meade T.Johnson shared with Truel L.Sidebottom
Reed T.Ramsey
Horace B.Thomas


2 Zeros credited to SB2U-3 Vindicator

Duane L.Rhodes shared with Teman Wilhite,Frank E.Zelnis,Henry .Starks

Frank E.Zelnis

Best Regards
Michel

Re: Vought SB2U Vindicator - Sumner Whitten and others ?
 

Good morning Michel,

yes, this is the info I needed to know.
Thanks a lot.
I wish you a good Sunday, sincerely,

Michael