F4U-4 in action in Okinawa, 1945

[twocee]

Three Marine squadrons flew the F4U-4 in combat on Okinawa, VMFs 212, 222 and 223. All were part of MAG14 and received the new fighters at Guiuan, Samar in May. They were flown to Kadena in early June.

George Kernahan

[CH53Driver]

I have a friend who is a retired GySgt/MGySgt(long story) who was on Okinawa. He was an Air Winger and here is one of the pictures he sent me of the flightline on Okinawa one night...note F4U's in background:



Here is a picture of his squadron in Kadena circa May 1945...he is standing 4th from left:

[CH53Driver]

Originally Posted by twocee

Three Marine squadrons flew the F4U-4 in combat on Okinawa, VMFs 212, 222 and 223. All were part of MAG14 and received the new fighters at Guiuan, Samar in May. They were flown to Kadena in early June.

George Kernahan

Hmmm, this is interesting. I just got an email from my buddy who served on Okinawa with one of the squadrons and this is what he sent me in regards to the original question:

"MAG-31 with 3 Squadrons , VMF 311 Helles Belles,VMF-312 Checkerboards, VMF 314 All with F4U-1C Corsairs. 1St Lt Klingman was famous from VMF 312 for climbing to 38,000 Ft where his guns were frozen & he closed in on a KI 45 Nick twin engine fighter on a photo mission. Chewed off the tail section. The Japanese Gunner had the frozen gun problem also. He was facing Klingman frantically trying to fire his gun when the plane dove in with no tail section. Klingman had a rough flight back to Kadena since the prop was all out of balance. I saw the plane after he landed."

[aileron44]

Hello all:
I was less than a year old when the Battle of Okinawa took place so I have no first hand knowledge to add. However, my brother-in-law served on the USS Chenango-CVE28-during the early part of 1945. He recently e-mailed me asking about something that happened on board. I attach his comments...

Although no squadron of F4U's operated off carriers in the pacific, we trained a marine squadron of 28 F4U's on our way from Seattle to Pearl Harbor. Nobody could figure out why were training Marine pilots flying F4U's. It was total secrecy.

As far as I know, no marine squadrons were assigned to carrier duty. All carrier squadrons were Navy. Anyway, the other interesting thing is that the training consisted exclusively on night launchings and landings. They kept it up every night, in total darkness, for two weeks that we took to get to Pearl. Of the 28 corsairs, 22 were lost or damaged. My office was in the rear of the hanger deck but up high and to the right and immediately under the flight deck. I could hear them slamming into the deck all night as they came in. My quarters were just about the spot where they first hit the deck as they came in.

Perhaps it was a one time raid that the Marines wanted to pull on the Japanese somewhere and it was important enough to warrant all the time and cost and equipment expended. Nobody has ever explained what this was all about.

At any rate, the Navy never took to the F4U. They were not easy to fly and, more important, the Navy could buy 3 F6F hellcats for the cost of one F4U.

I wonder if there is any reference to this somewhere on the internet?

Does anyone have any knowledge of this that I might share with him?

Thanks a bunch!

George

[Ruy Horta]

With so many experts, any of you able to either proof or disproof that cannon armed dash 4s were active over Okinawa? I'm getting mixed information on this particular subject.

We know that cannon armed -1Cs saw action over Okinawa, but some sources claim that there were also -4 (is it B?) cannon birds, although others claim this type so no operational service (or was it action, been a while) in WW2.

[twocee]

The F4U-4B entered squadron service with VF58 in June 1946, The first Marine squadron was VMF224 in April 1947.

VMFs311, 314 and 422 had the cannon-armed F4U-1Cs at Okinawa.

[twocee]

sorry, finger trouble---for VMF422 read VMF441, in previous post

[kb]

Originally Posted by Ruy Horta

With so many experts, any of you able to either proof or disproof that cannon armed dash 4s were active over Okinawa? I'm getting mixed information on this particular subject.

We know that cannon armed -1Cs saw action over Okinawa, but some sources claim that there were also -4 (is it B?) cannon birds, although others claim this type so no operational service (or was it action, been a while) in WW2.

Ruy, according to Sherrod's history, on 7 April 1945 F4U-4Cs from VMF-311 downed a "Lily" attacking shipping off Okinawa. This is listed as the first action for the 20mm armed version of the F4U-4.

[Wendy Darling]

Hi fellas,

My grandpa was a Marine pilot in WWII and flew a Corsair. I was looking up some info on Google and came across this thread and thought I'd chime in. I'm NO EXPERT, but I thought I'd pass along some info at least...

Here's a neat site that has a little info about his squadron:

http://warlords.hobbyvista.com/history.htm

(My grandpa is in the 1st guy in the top row of the 2nd pic)


This guy made a movie about the squadron:

http://bluedevilsmovie.com/

Not sure if this helps answer your original question, but I thought it was interesting at least! ;-)

~Wendy

[rled1934]

Iwrote a novel, Corsair-author Raymond L Ledesma, about Marine Sqd. VMF-124.
This group took the Corsairs (F4U's) to fight in the Pacific durring WWII. good read avaiable in Amazon book or digital format.