LtCdr ES McCuskey during and after VF-8

[keith A]

Thanks Rich,

a few questions...

Originally Posted by R Leonard

Elbert Scott McCuskey (081585) -
9/3/1938 - AvCad USNR, Date of rank from 1 Jul 1939 USNR Register
10/1/1939 - ENS USNR AV(N), Date of rank from 1 Jul 1941 USNR Register
3/23/1941 - ENS USNR AV(N), VF-42 USS Ranger (CV-4) in 1 Apr 1941 USN Active Duty Directory
11/1/1941 - LTJG USNR AV(N), Date of rank from 1 Jan 1943 USNR Register
6/15/1941 - LTJG USNR AV(N), VF-42 USS Yorktown (CV-5)
6/4/1942 - LTJG USNR AV(N), VF-3 USS Yorktown (CV-5)
10/1/1942 - LT USNR AV(N), VF OTU-1 NAAS Green Cove Springs
1/8/1944 - LT USNR AV(N), VF-8 USS Intrepid (CV-11)
3/15/1944 - LCDR USNR AV(N), Date of rank from 1 Jul 1944 USNR Register
6/20/1944 - LCDR USNR AV(N), VF-8 USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)
4/1/1945 - LCDR USNR A1, NAAS Green Cove Springs

Knew "Doc" McCuskey for a goodly portion of my life. The old 1941-1942 VF-42 gang stayed in touch until they were all gone. Doc was scheduled to be the VF guy on the panel at the 1998 Midway Symposium at Pensacola, but he died shortly before the event, so they drafted my father as his replacement. Other USN aviators on the dais with my father for the event were VB-6's Dick Best and VT-8's Bert Earnest. There was a heavy leavening in the crowd of participants from Yorktown, Enterprise, and Hornet squadrons present at the event. Doc was a somewhat larger than life, enthusiastic, character.

Why is McCuskey still a Lt(j.g.) in the USNR register of 1 Jan. 1943 when he is promoted Lieutenant on 15 June 1942 and is listed in that rank when he joins the OTU at Green Springs in October 1942?

Also why is he listed with VF-8 on the USS Intrepid on 8 January 1944 when he had been with the squadron (according to his interview) since June 1943? Is this because VF-8 is reinstated to active duty?

On a totally different strand Rich, your father flew with McCuskey in VS-41. Did he ever give opinion about the performance of the SBU-1 Corsair. It looks a robust aeroplane (carrier aircraft usually are) but apart from service in the Chaco War I am not aware of it meeting combat anywhere else.

best regards,

Keith

[R Leonard]

Originally Posted by keith A

Thanks Rich,

a few questions...

Why is McCuskey still a Lt(j.g.) in the USNR register of 1 Jan. 1943 when he is promoted Lieutenant on 15 June 1942 and is listed in that rank when he joins the OTU at Green Springs in October 1942?

Because that is what the register reports (page 955). Somewhere around here is an ALNAV of May 1942 showing the 6/15/42 promotions, but I’ve not seen it in years. That portion of my lists was probably first generated 20 years ago (which started back then with just Midway era aviators). I suspect I left him a JG because I thought the record date was amusing in relation to the publication date.

Also why is he listed with VF-8 on the USS Intrepid on 8 January 1944 when he had been with the squadron (according to his interview) since June 1943? Is this because VF-8 is reinstated to active duty?

Air Group 8 set up in Norfolk circa 1 June 1943 and was assigned to USS Intrepid even though the ship was not ready until August. The air group worked from shore and off the ship for its work-ups. The air group went west from Norfolk aboard Intrepid on 3 December 1943 to San Diego and on to the Hawaiian operating area arriving about 10 January 1944 with the air group finally going ashore at NAS Kaneohe circa 12 January 1944 and on to NAS Puunene by the end of the month. Air Group 6 took Air Group 8’s place aboard Intrepid. So, aboard on and off and then for deployment to the Pacific; not a combat deployment, think of it as a nice easy way to move both a ship and a new air group to someplace where they might be put to work.

Picked the 8 January 44 date because that was just about the time the air group went ashore. Could have just as easily picked the 3 December 43 date when they left Norfolk. In fact I just may insert/change same to my list.

On a totally different strand Rich, your father flew with McCuskey in VS-41. Did he ever give opinion about the performance of the SBU-1 Corsair. It looks a robust aeroplane (carrier aircraft usually are) but apart from service in the Chaco War I am not aware of it meeting combat anywhere else.

VS-41 was my father’s first assignment after finishing up operational training, that was in January 1941. By March 1941 the squadron had been redesignated and were operating F4Fs. My father’s assigned plane was 42-F-2. He said that one came from Wasp’s VF-7 as he remembers a thin black outline coming from beneath the Ranger green on the tail surface and he could discern where the original side number was 7-F-1. Regretfully all the info from those days was lost when his first log book went down on Yorktown. A yeoman had gone with the salvage party to collect all the log books and squadron(s) records he could get his hands on and did so, but they were all sitting bagged up on the flight deck when the end came.

As far as the SBU was concerned he said it was a nice plane to fly, very forgiving, and easily handled. He said he really didn’t worry about performance then because now he was in an active squadron and things could only get better . . . which they did.

Rich