Annapolis '39 grad KIA 5 January 1943

[keith A]

Another Annapolis graduate who was a student with George C Duncan, and became a seaplane pilot. They probably encountered each other in January 1943.

Lt Lenard Oyen Reichel was a pilot with Cruiser Scouting Squadron Detachment (Tulagi), Guadalcanal, when he was declared missing on January 5, 1943. Have been unable to locate any further information. He appears to have served aboard USS Northampton (CA 26) — likely as a member of the scouting detachment — prior to that ship's loss at the Battle of Tassafaronga on December 1, 1942.


Can anyone add details?

[RSwank]

Found this:

https://www.newspapers.com/article/t...ium/127636917/

[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

Curtiss SOC-2.
Date: 01/05/43.
BuNo.: 0413.
SQDRN: VCS-64
Base: NORTHAMPTON (CA-26)
Lost: Thannemboga.
Area: SOPAC.
Pilot: Lt Reichel.
Fate: Missing.

See:
U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard Aircraft Lost During World War II - Listed by Aircraft Type - Volume III.
Campbell, Douglas E., Ph.D.
NP.:Author,2011.
p.76.

See also:
https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/..._Loss_1943.asp (430105)

Col.

[RSwank]

Since the USS Northhampton was sunk on December 1, 1942, they probably moved their planes from VCS-64 ashore before the battle. It appears they were moved to the seaplane base "near" Tulagi .

https://pacificwrecks.com/airfields/...utu/index.html

Certainly pilots that had been on the Northhampton were operating from there, e.g:

https://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/soc/9911.html

There is a long writeup on Reichel here:
https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.p...ICHEL,_LT,_USN

The Silver Star writeup is interesting (which can also be seen here and can be viewed without disabling any adblockers):
https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/309240

It may be that Reichel went missing during one of the night "illuminating" missions for the PT boats.


I found this link to a book about PT boats at Guadalcanal. "At Close Quarters" by Bulkley. The PTs were based on Tulagi. This is part 3 of the book:
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN...ters/PT-3.html

On book page 95 is this:
About the first of December (1942) the PT's received welcome assistance from half a dozen SOC's -- Navy scout observation planes. The SOC's had been carried aboard cruisers damaged in the many actions around Guadalcanal, and were left behind with orders to work with the PT's when their cruisers left the area for repairs. Every night the PT's expected action, one or two SOC's flew up the Slot to spot enemy ships and report their position. It was a hazardous assignment for the SOC's, because the Japanese ships usually made their runs under cover of bad weather, and several were lost.