VF-49 August 15, 1945

[keith A]

VF-49 claimed seven A6M5s west of Mito. Does anyone know which pilots made claims and whether VF-49 made any other claims in WW2?

Also LtCdr Herman J. Trum was XO of VF-49 from November 1944. Was he still with the squadron?

Trum later led a Corsair squadron in Korea and went on to become an Admiral.

regards

Keith

[twocee]

The seven claims on 15 August were by Lindsay, Gilson (2), Williams (2) and MacDonald (2).

The VF49 division came upon the enemy fighters while they were attacking some British TBMs. An accompanying division from VF31, off Belleau Wood, claimed 5 Zekes and I Oscar in the same encounter.

Earlier VF49 claims included 3 Georges (or Franks) plus a Val (or Sonia) on 24 July and a Judy on the 13 August.

[keith A]

Cheers, George

[keith A]

A very late thought... did any on the claimants of 15 August 1945 make any previous kills?

best regards

Keith

[twocee]

Williams and Gilson claimed 1 George each on July24th, while the latter also claimed a Judy on 13 August.

[keith A]

Cheers George, Lt (j.g.)Jack A. Gibson seems to have been unlucky not to end up an ace. I finally found the relevant reports of Fold3. He claims four kills and two damaged in aerial combat, in addition to at least three enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground and two locomotives.

My victory tally for VF-49 is as follows:

24 July 1945 (4-1-1)
Ens. WA Yancy 1-1-0 Frank
Lt Allan W Lindsay 0-0-1 Frank
Lt (j.g.) Jack A Gibson 1-0-0 Frank
Lt(j.g.) George M Williams 1-0-0 Frank
Ens WC Henwood 1-0-0 Val or Sonia

13 August 1945 (1-0-0)
Lt(j.g.) Jack A Gibson 1-0-0 Judy (type 11)

15 August 1945 (7-2-2)
Lt(j.g.) George M Williams 2-0-0 Zeke 52
Lt Elwood K MacDonald 2-0-0 Zeke 52
Lt (j.g.) Jack A Gibson 2-0-2 Zeke 52
Lt Allan W Lindsay 1-1-0 Zeke 52

VF-49 12-3-3. Of these most (including all of the claims on 15 August 1945) were credited to Lt Allan W Lindsay's 4th Division which included Gibson and Williams.

Can anyone give me details of Gibson's USN service, pre-and-post VF-49?

best regards

Keith

[twocee]

According to Henry Sakaida the three Franks shot down on 24 July were actually Georges from 343 Kokutai.

[keith A]

As we know from Izawa/Holmes "J2M Raiden and N1K1/2 Shiden etc." the "Franks" were actually "Georges" of 343 Kokutai and "Hoot" Gibson is credited with shooting down Lt Takashi Oshibuchi, an ace with six victories at the date of his death.

K

[keith A]

Sorry, a cross-posting

[keith A]

As you correctly write George there's a great decription of the combat in Sakaida/Takaki "Genda's Blade".

K