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Re: Cecil Harris
Cecil Harris is credited with 22 victories while serving with VF-18 off the Intrepid in the September - November 1944 period. He served with VGF-27 during Operation Torch in North Africa, without claiming any victories. When VGF-27 was redesignated as VF-27, he served with it in the Solomons in 1943. The VF-18 history, prepared at the conclusion of their tour in 1944 noted that he had two victories while in the Solomons, but gave no further information. Thus a total of 24. His second flight log, held by the family, has a single page with 24 Japanese flags, with the type of aircraft shot down for each flag. The first two flags are noted as "Zero". A combat report for only one of these has been found, for a single Zero on April 1, 1943. Unfortunately he lent his first flight log to someone, and it was never returned.
The total of 23 victories for Cecil Harris is based on the fact that no combat report for a second Solomons victory has been located. I prefer to accept the number of victories as 24 until such time as it can be shown that he only made one claim in the Solomons.
Enjoy!
Frank.
Historian, American Fighter Aces Association
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