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Old 12th June 2018, 01:59
MikeFink MikeFink is offline
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Re: Seeking Odds and Ends, Second VF-18

Sorry to be gone so long! Too many projects, too little time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bearoutwest
Did USS Intrepid carry out much in the way of F6F-3N or -5N night fighter operations? Or was that the Princeton?
It's just as Twocee said. VF(N)-78 det. 2 served aboard Intrepid until the pilots were absorbed into VF-18 proper at the start of October. Intrepid's TG 38.2 traveled in company with Independence, which operated specifically as a platform for night missions, and in August there wasn't much for VF(N)-78 det. 2 to do as far as night Force CAP was concerned. 22 August is the only instance I've found of enemy engagement by VF(N)-78 det. 2. One "Zeke" was claimed destroyed and another damaged in a quick scrum at 0800.

There were definitely -3Ns aboard, since the Aircraft Action Reports mention the use of these aircraft on Lifeguard CAP. Interestingly enough, a sailor aboard Intrepid apparently developed a kind of capsule container for rafts that the night Hellcats could mount on their port bomb racks to drop in the vicinity of downed aviators. In the forwarding of the Action Reps, Mick Carney specifically called attention to the raft capsule idea.

William H.B. Millar was Ops Officer/leader of VF(N)-78 det. 2 and became something of a big name with VF-18 for his participation in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. According to the CAG-18 War History, Millar was responsible for relaying D.L. Watts' sighting report of Admiral Kurita's battleship force. Millar was unfortunately killed in March 1949 while test flying one of Vought's Cutlass prototypes.

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VF-18's highest scorer, Cecil E. Harris, was actually recommended for the Medal of Honor for actions spanning 6 September – 25 November 1944. He flew over 40 combat missions and 17 CAP/SNASP missions. From 15 September – 25 November he shot down 22 enemy aircraft, the great majority of which were fighters (14/22), and in circumstances in which his force was outnumbered 2 or 3:1. No damage to his plane was ever recorded despite such odds. He was also the primary trainer for Fighting 18 and the man who set flight rosters, since he was Flight Officer. The fact that he scheduled himself for the fighter sweep over Formosa on 12 October 1944 showed that he was willing to lead from the front.

The MoH citation as written was forwarded recommending approval first by Hancock's CAG—since Intrepid had been knocked out by kamikazes on 25 November, with VF-18 continuing its fight aboard Hancock; then forwarded recommending approval by Hancock's skipper, R.F. Hickey; then forwarded recommending approval by Admiral Gerald Bogan, CTG 38.2, who praised Harris as 'a great fighting man and deserving of this recommended award'; and then forwarded STRONGLY recommending approval by Slew McCain, who said that Harris 'earned unqualified respect and admiration throughout the fleet.'

I've started to upload some of the stories of the men of Fighting 18 on Wordpress. These are highly biographical, but I'm hoping to write more about the general combat experience of Fighting 18 and the role it played in the larger picture of the War in the Pacific.
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