Ensign Duncan transfers from USS West Virginia Sep.1941

[keith A]

OK Rich. Picking your brains again after I found remarks on '39 classmates in books on VMF-214 and elsewhere. Exactly how many of USNA '39 entered flight training in WW2 or after? The classes you highlight have forty-four out of forty-five names in just three groups! No doubt a few washed out but it will be interesting to find out how many of "Duke" Duncan's classmates went on to interesting careers. Also how many played soccer with him, like Karl Border (KIFA 1942).

I assume as the war developed and Naval Aviation grew that many who'd thought it an adventure and not a game-changer pre-December 1941 looked on the successes and decided to opt for a new speciality. Needless to say I am now going through the published records to find out the careers of these forty-four... and the hundred or more I hope you are about to identify

Just an aside but I am reading "The Twilight Warriors" by Robert Gandt which is excellent but I was a bit astounded when he quoted (without comment) a Japanese Naval officer decrying the American fleet air assaults as following a Japanese idea brilliantly executed at Pearl Harbor. As a Brit I feel the Mers-El-Kebir, Taranto and the sinking of the Bismarck (not counting the RAF raids on Zeppelin sheds in 1918 from HMS Furious) showed how carrier aircraft could contribute to naval victories over and above just scouting for battleships. Notably the Japanese had already been appropriating British fleet carrier aircraft designs in the 1920s. Bloody cheek I call it

best regards

Keith

[R Leonard]

Originally Posted by keith A

OK Rich. Picking your brains again after I found remarks on '39 classmates in books on VMF-214 and elsewhere. Exactly how many of USNA '39 entered flight training in WW2 or after?

Not a clue. The one's I listed were the easiest to find. If I can remember to do it, and find the time, I'll go through the class list & see how many and who were designated as naval aviators.

[keith A]

Many thanks, both for your efforts and your patience finding answers to my questions. All I can say in gratitude is that, as a Brit, I knew very little about USN aviation before I began this journey and you've added immeasurably to my knowledge and appreciation of it.

best regards

Keith

[R Leonard]

Well, I don't sleep well and tend to wake up at 0200 and just lie there. This might give me something to do for a couple of hours before trying to get back to sleep.

[keith A]

Yep roger that. I have a pile of books next to my bed for my wake-ups. Consequently I am reading four simultaneously (bios of Byron and Noel Coward, one on Roman 1st C BCE history, another on the Egyptian War of 1882 ). A chapter here a chapter there....

regards

Keith

[R Leonard]

Well, that was fun.
Out of 518 graduates of the class of 1939, I can identify 151 as being designated as naval aviators; that's 29%, about average. For comparison, the class of 1938 had 438 graduates of whom at least 115 went to aviation, a little over 26%.
Additionally, out of 220 non-graduates from the class of 1939, there were 7 that I can identify as naval aviators.
Out of the 158 total aviators from the class, I can identify 15 who were killed in action and 16 killed in non-combat aircraft crashes, all of whom were from the graduates side of the ledger..
I can post or send a list, whichever you want.

Rich

[keith A]

Many thanks Rich. I have sent you a PM.

K

[Jim MacDonald]

Rich,


If it is not to much trouble, could you post the list here. I for one would like to see it and I'm sure there are some others who would as well.


Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. I always look forward to reading your posts.


Mac

[keith A]

Thank goodness! I thought I was ploughing a lonely furrow. Rich and the others who have contributed to this topic (USN aviation) are a gift to the forum. There should be more investigation into the USN aviators and the Pacific War.

[R Leonard]

Okay. Popular demand, I guess.

So, how did I do this. First of all, the alumni register. I have several editions going back to the 1980’s, but the easiest to use are the couple I have post-1995 as they are alphabetical by class. Earlier editions are by class standing and make it easy to get lost. For this task I used the 1998 edition, though I kept a couple of the old editions at hand to check for info not mentioned in the 1998 . . . sometimes does not show final rank where the earlier editions do.

Anyway, line by line, checking each name. If noted with a 131 designator, automatically on the list. If some other designator (unrestricted line, surface warfare, submarine, whatever) and no 131, then left off the list. More than just a few had no designator noted. These were mostly men who had died prior to about 1990 or, if alive at time of publication, did not respond to the questionnaire or did not note the designator in their response. All of those, with a few exceptions, I had to look up in my lists of naval aviators. I have the names of about 50,000 USN aviators and about 11,630 USMC aviators . . . certainly not everybody, but pretty damn close. So, if buried somewhere in those lists, the individual went on this list, otherwise not. This was the really tedious part, but spreadsheets are truly a marvelous invention. And, as I said, there were a few exceptions with no designator noted I did not have to look up because I already knew someone was a naval aviator . . . one that immediately comes to mind was Lemuel Doty Cooke, no designator shown in his entry, but no need to check.

Oh, and I have discovered I can’t count. There were 150 graduates who become naval aviators, not 151.

Without further ado . . .

Name Last Rank Notes
Abbot, James Lloyd RADM
Ady, Howard Parmele CAPT
Anderson, Fernald Philip CAPT
Adams, Dudley Hale CDR KIFA NAS Memphis 1953
Ballinger, Carl Jay CDR
Barbee, Albert Ray CDR
Barnes, Robert Crozier CAPT
Bemis, Wendell Whitfield CAPT
Berg, Winfred Emil CAPT
Berns, Max Arnold Jr CAPT
Border, Robert Lee CDR
Breen, Roy Eugene Jr CAPT
Brehm, William Wesley CAPT
Brent, Robert CAPT
Catermole, George Berger CAPT
Childers, Kenan Clark Jr RADM
Cook, Franklin Eugene LCDR KIA VF-19 1944
Cooke, Byron Eberly LCDR KIA VT-9 1945
Cooke, Lemuel Doty LCDR KIFA VX-3 NAS Atlantic City 1950
Craig, Earle Frederick LCDR KIA VT-44 1944
Dailey, Robertson Currie CAPT
Dashiell. Edward L CAPT
Dasteel, Robert Herbert CAPT
David, Edmonds CDR
Denton, William Jr CAPT
de Poix, Vincent Paul VADM
Douglas, Walter Laurence Jr LCDR KIFA VB-81 1944
Duncan, George Chamberlain CAPT
Dunn, John Edward LCDR KIFA midair collision near NAAF Monogram 1946. Was POW at Stalag Luft 3 Sagan
Dunne, William Richard CDR
Evins, Robert Cleveland LCDR MIA VC-4 failed to return 1944
Fairfax, Eugene George RADM
Fidel, John Anthony CAPT
Fisher, Jay Ellis CAPT
Gantz, Saxe Perry CAPT LTA
Gardner, Andrew Jackson LT KIFA VT-3 NAS Pearl Harbor 1942
Geis, Lawrence Raymond RADM
Ghesquiere, George David CAPT
Gill, Paul Wright CAPT
Goolsby, Lee Dillard CAPT
Gould, Richard Kaynor CAPT
Guilck, Robert Aaron Jr CAPT
Hamm, Andrew Britte LCDR KIA VB-1 1945
Hardman, Ira Sobisca CDR
Hardy, Donald James CDR
Harkleroad, Neil Edmund CAPT
Harmon, Joseph Frederick LT KIFA NAS Pensacola 1943
Harris, Edwin Lee LCDR
Harris, Leroy Eugene CAPT
Harrison, Arthur Gernt CDR
Hardy, Harry Lafayette Jr VADM
Hawthorne, William Gillman LT KIFA NAS Jacksonville midair collision near New Smyrna, Florida 1944
Helfrich, Harry Daniel CAPT
Hindman, Stanley Eugene CDR
Holmberg, Paul Algodte RADM
Holzapfel,Valentin Gerhard CAPT
Hough, Jack Woodrow CAPT
Howland, John Brown CAPT
Hughes, Joseph Wodrow CDR
Keim, William John CAPT
Kerkering, Stanley William CDR
Kilpatrick, MacGregor CDR
Kline, Raymond Philip CAPT
Kolb, Frank Hartford Jr LT KIFA NAS Jacksonville 1943
Kovaleski, Charles Joseph LT KIFA VD-3 NAS Barbers Point 1943
Lawrence, John Craig CAPT
Lloyd, Henry Fillides CAPT
Locke, Ralph Frederic CAPT
Lowe, Marcus Lafayette Jr CAPT
Magee, John William LCDR KIFA near Panama City FL 1945
Mahoney, Jack Alger LT KIA VF-28 1943
Mastin, Robert L CDR
Mattson. Edward Duran LCDR
McConnaughhay, James William CAPT
McCrocklin, James Walter CAPT
McElroy, Richard Stafford CAPT
Micka, Edward LT KIA VF-9 1942
Miller, Frank Donald LT KIA VF-10 1942
Miller, Harold Crenshaw CAPT
Miller, Walter Bernard CAPT
Moan, Floyd Everett CAPT
Moore, Walter Clarke Jr CAPT
Munson, John Jared CAPT
Neal, Albert Gallatin CAPT
Ness, Dwight Osten CDR
Nicolai, Roland Felicia LT
Norton, Marvin Dowdy CAPT
O'Neill, John Timothee Trezevant CAPT
Ostrom, Rexford John LCDR KIA VF-24 1945
Ostroski, Allyn Bertram CAPT
Pace, William Henry MAJ USMC KIFA VMF-214 1943
Paulus, George Russell CDR
Parks, John Edward CAPT
Parmelee, Clyde Harless CAPT
Parrett, Gaylord Swayne CDR
Perry, Frank Chase CDR
Phillips, Richard William CDR
Pope, David Henshaw LCDR KIA VF-26 1943
Powell, Lucian Cletus CAPT
Quillin, Ivan Dale CDR
Ralston, Frank Mason CAPT
Ramage, James David RADM
Rawson, Ralph William RADM
Reed, Edwin Gilbert CDR
Reichel, Lenard Oyen LT KIA VCS Det Ringbolt 1942
Remington, Herbert Denison LCDR
Robinson, Richard Warren LCDR KIA CEVG-25/VF-25 1945
Rogers, Grant Houston CDR
Rooney, Paul Chester CAPT
Rush, Augutus John LCDR
Schumann, Ronald Weyburn CAPT
Seifert, John Peter CDR
Seiler, Edward Herman Jr CAPT
Shumway, Peter CDR
Simmons, George Charles CDR
Slagle, Robert John CAPT
Smith, George Richard LCDR KIFA VPB-62 1945
Smith, Gordon Waller CAPT
Smith, James Herbert Jr RADM
Smith, Robert Hayes CAPT
Stapler, Charles Ramsey CDR KIA CAG-19 1951
Startzell, Robert Rayburn CDR
Stuart, Robert Raymond Jr CAPT USNR
Stultz, Robert Francis CAPT
Swensson, Richard Meriwether LCDR KIA VT-24 1944
Truax, Robert Collins CAPT
Tunnell, Richard McClellan CAPT
Utgoff, Vadym Victorvich CAPT
Van Meter, Karl Schlegal CAPT
Vieweg, Frederic Jr LT USNR
Vossler, Curtis Francis RADM
Wadswoth, Robert Fletcher CDR
Walker, Thomas Jackson III VADM
Walker, William Jefferson LT KIFA VP-212 NAS Harvey Point
Wall, Lester Seneca CDR KIFA VC-61 NAS Miramar 1950
Wallace, Daniel James LCDR KIFA VF-31 near Monterey Bay 1945
Wallace, James Bruce CAPT
Waring, Elmar Stebbins Jr CAPT
Warner, Rex Welton CAPT
Weinel, John Philip ADM
Whitzenfeld, Daniel Kehr RADM
Welch, Francis Martin CDR
Wells, Harold Arthur CAPT
West, Joseph Manget CAPT
White, Norman Woodrow LCDR KIFA VPB-84 NAS Alameda crash near Sausalito
Whitman, Robert Scott LTJG KIA VP-44 nr Midway 1942
Wood, Robert Barrett CAPT
Wright, George Wilson III CDR
Wussow, Allan George LT KIA VP-91 did not return from patrol after enemy action 1942
Young, Jack Curtis CAPT

Non Graduates 220; Aviators 7
Abbott, Robert Lewis CDR
Geer, Lester Eugene CDR
Hein, Herbert Ross Jr CDR
Helmetag, George Lutz LTJG
Johnson, William Henry LT
Perkins, Joshua Dean Jr LT
Quale, James Donald LT LTA