To All,
Good Sunday morning February 5, 2023.
I hope that you are all having a great weekend.
The balloon is down
Regards,
Skip
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History February 5
1813—During the War of 1812, the frigate Chesapeake chases the British merchant brig Earl Percy ashore on Long Island. Chesapeake's crew saves the Earl Percy's crew and the 58 prisoners who are on board.
1854—The dedication of the first chapel built on Naval property was held at Annapolis, MD.
1942—USS Bernadou (DD 153), escorting convoy HX 173, rescues 10 survivors of the Belgian freighter Ganda that had been sunk by German submarine U 135 on Jan. 22.
1944—USS Flasher (SS 249) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Taishin Maru off Mindoro. Also on this date, USS Narwhal (SS 167) lands 45 tons of ammunition and cargo to support Filipino guerrilla operations at Libertad, Panay, Philippines.
1962—USS Stoddard (DD 566) and USS Surfbird (ADG 383) rescue 29 crewmen from the sinking Greek merchant vessel Yanix off Luzon, Philippine Islands.
1971—Apollo 14 astronauts Capt. Alan B. Shepard Jr., commander, and Cmdr. Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, become the fifth and sixth humans to walk on the moon.
Today in World History: February 5
1556 Henry II of France and Philip of Spain sign the truce of Vaucelles.
1631 A ship from Bristol, the Lyon, arrives with provisions for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1762 Martinique, a major French base in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, surrenders to the British.
1783 Sweden recognizes U.S. independence.
1846 The first Pacific Coast newspaper, Oregon Spectator, is published.
1864 Federal forces occupy Jackson, Miss.
1865 The three-day Battle of Hatcher's Run, Va., begins.
1900 The United States and Great Britain sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, giving the United States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it.
1917 U.S. Congress nullifies President Woordrow Wilson's veto of the Immigration Act; literacy tests are required.
1918 The Soviets proclaim separation of church and state.
1922 The Reader's Digest begins publication in New York.
1922 William Larned's steel-framed tennis racquet gets its first test.
1945 American and French troops destroy German forces in the Colmar Pocket in France.
1947 The Soviet Union and Great Britain reject terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese Pacific Isles.
1952 New York adopts three-colored traffic lights.
1961 The Soviets launch Sputnik V, the heaviest satellite to date at 7.1 tons.
1968 U.S. troops divide Viet Cong at Hue while the Saigon government claims they will arm loyal citizens.
1971 Two Apollo 14 astronauts walk on the moon.
1972 It is reported that the United States has agreed to sell 42 F-4 Phantom jets to Israel.
1985 U.S. halts a loan to Chile in protest over human rights abuses.
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Thanks to Darth via Felix ...
Hmm, let me start the callsign parade.............kite killer, gasser boy, blower. Yep, he needs to go incognito.........and I bet the missile cost 10 times that of the freaking balloon. f.
I don't know about you, but I really feel bad for the F22 pilot that shot the balloon down. A couple of new callsigns are sure to come from it. A damn balloon painted on the side of his plane? But a kill is a kill I guess!
Darth sends
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
… … For The List for Sunday, 5 February 2023… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 5 February 1968… This one is for Denny Wisely… Carrier Admiral… 🤩
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
https://geopoliticalfutures.com
Daily Memo: China's 'Surveillance Balloon,' Israel and Sudan's Peace Deal
Beijing says it's a civilian airship.
Chinese surveillance? The U.S. is tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over the United States, Pentagon officials said on Thursday. The balloon, which is flying above the altitude used by commercial air traffic, does not present a military threat or physical risk to people on the ground, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. Beijing's Foreign Ministry said that the balloon was actually a "civilian airship" used mainly for meteorological purposes and that it regretted its "unintended entry" into U.S. airspace. This comes just days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to Beijing.
Normalization moves forward. Israel and Sudan finalized the text of a peace deal between the two countries during Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen's visit to Khartoum. Sudan was part of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and four Arab states, but a military coup in 2021 prevented Sudan from formalizing the deal. The move could provide the momentum needed to spur other Muslim countries to also normalize relations with Israel.
Expanding trade. Trade within the Eurasian Economic Union, a five-member grouping of post-Soviet states, grew by more than 13 percent between January and November 2022 compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Kremlin. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his country's trade turnover with members of the group increased by more than 90 percent, to $4.6 billion, in the first 11 months of last year. The EAEU is an increasingly important tool for Moscow to grow its economic partnerships while under Western sanctions.
Egyptian accession. Egypt's parliament ratified an agreement that will see Cairo joining the New Development Bank, which was established by the BRICS countries. It hopes the move will reduce demand for the U.S. dollar, since NDB members can use their national currencies in bilateral trade, and increase economic cooperation with other members.
Energy diplomacy. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy Laura Lohman in Baku. Lohman said the United States intends to strengthen cooperation with Azerbaijan and supports the Southern Gas Corridor, a project that will bring more gas from the region to Europe. Aliyev said on Monday that his country was ready to increase gas supplies to Europe.
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Thanks to Mike
A Great Lesson on Life & Stress
A young lady confidently walked around the room with a raised glass of water while leading a seminar and explaining stress management to her audience.
Everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, 'Half empty or half full?'
She fooled them all. "How heavy is this glass of water?" she inquired.
Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 18 oz.
She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long I hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.
In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
She continued, "and that's the way it is with stress.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."
"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.
When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden - holding stress longer and better each time practiced.
So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down.
Don't carry them through the evening and into the night.
Pick them up again tomorrow if you must.
1. Accept the fact that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue!
2. Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you ever have to eat them.
3. Drive carefully... It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.
4. If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
5. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
6. It may be that your only purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
7. Never buy a car you can't push.
8. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
9. Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
10. The second mouse gets the cheese.
11. When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
12. Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.
13. We could learn a lot from crayons --- Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull.
Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
14. A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
15. Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
16. Save the earth..... It's the only planet with chocolate ... and wine!
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Interesting Fact
A desert landscape or deep forest may seem like a good candidate for the quietest place on Earth. But to experience true quiet — thunderous-thump-of-your-heartbeat quiet — requires a lot more technology than you'll find in nature, so it makes sense that one of the world's largest tech companies is host to the ultimate quiet room. Tucked inside Building 87 in Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus is an anechoic ("free from echo") chamber specifically designed to eliminate outside noise in all its forms. Microsoft didn't build the room to earn a Guinness record for the world's quietest place, of course; the chamber is used in part to test how much ambient noise the company's devices emit (think the subtle hum of a monitor or buzz of a charging cable).
The anechoic chamber in Building 87 was constructed with six layers of concrete and steel, which all rest on damping springs in the floor to eliminate nearby vibrations. Fiberglass wedges cover the walls and ceiling, designed so that sound waves get trapped in their purposeful geometry and dissipate. The result is a room that is -20.35 decibels. Yes, negative. Any sound pressure that dips below the threshold for human hearing is represented as negative decibels. For comparison, the sound of breathing has been measured at 10 decibels, while the sound of air molecules colliding in a gas or liquid (known as Brownian motion) is -23 decibels. (At the other end of the extreme, a rock concert may be 110 decibels.) In Microsoft's chamber, the subtle sounds of the human body — breath, circulation, digestion, heartbeat, joint movement — become undeniably audible, and the rustle of clothes sounds like the roar of the ocean. In other words, inside this anechoic chamber, your body creates its own soundtrack.
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Loss of Medal of Honor Recipient Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare After sundown on 26 November 1943, the U.S. Navy attempted the first carrier-based night fighter intercept operations. The fighters were launched in response to continuing night attacks by Japanese land-based twin-engine Betty torpedo bombers (which had previously hit and damaged the light carrier Independence. During the mission, the commander of Enterprise Air Group, Lieutenant Commander Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare, was shot down, and neither his aircraft or body were ever found. O'Hare had previously been awarded the Medal of Honor for single-handedly downing several Japanese Betty torpedo bombers attempting to strike the aircraft carrier Lexington (CV-2) on 20 February 1942, making him the first naval aviator to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II. This also made him an instant national hero at a time when the nation needed one in the dark days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Like the loss of Doris Miller on Liscome Bay, the loss of Butch O'Hare was a shock to the American public. For many years, there was uncertainty as to whether he was shot down in the darkness by "friendly fire" from another Navy aircraft or whether he was shot down by the Japanese. The analysis that I find most compelling indicates that he was hit and downed by a lucky shot from one of the Betty bombers.
O'Hare came from a colorful background. At the time O'Hare was seeking to enter the U.S. Naval Academy, his father was a lawyer working for mobster Al Capone, but who turned on Capone providing key evidence leading to the gangster's conviction on tax evasion, and was rewarded for his efforts by being gunned down in a mob hit in November 1939. Despite this, O'Hare graduated from the Naval Academy in 1937 and finished aviation training in May 1940, reporting to Fighter Squadron 3 (VF-3), where future "ace" Lieutenant John S. "Jimmy" Thach was executive officer. Thach quickly recognized O'Hare's talent, especially at gunnery. When Saratoga (CV-3) was torpedoed and damaged by a Japanese submarine on 11 January 1942, VF-3 transferred to Lexington, replacing her obsolete F2A Brewster Buffalo squadron, and was re-designated VF-2. Thach led one section and future ace (and four-star) Noel Gayler led the other.
On 20 February 1942, Task Force 11, centered on Lexington, was approaching the Japanese base of Rabaul (which had yet to develop the formidable air defenses seen in 1943), but was detected by a Japanese flying boat while still 450 miles away. At 1112, Thach and another pilot shot down the four- engine Kawanishi H6K4 Type 97 Mavis at 43 nautical miles from the carrier, but not before the plane had radioed a report. At 1202, two other Lexington fighters shot down a second Mavis, while a third radar contact turned away. The Japanese wasted no time in launching a two-group 17-plane strikeof G4M Betty medium torpedo bombers. Unfortunately for the Japanese, no torpedoes or fighters had arrived at Rabaul yet, so the Bettys carried only bombs, and launched with no fighter escort.
At 1542, Lexington radar detected the incoming strike at long range, but lost the contact. At 1625, radar re-acquired the incoming strike at 47 nautical miles and closing fast, which turned out to be nine Bettys. Fighters were vectored to intercept and additional fighters were launched, including O'Hare (flying F4F BuNo. 4031 "White 15"), but O'Hare and his wingman Marion "Duff" Dufilho were held overhead as the Bettys were engaged and five were shot down. Four of the Betty's dropped bombs on Lexington, but missed by 3,000 yards. The surviving Bettys were pursued and shot down, although two Wildcats were shot down by the Bettys' lethal tail guns. One of the Bettys was actually shot down by an SBD Dauntless dive bomber on ASW patrol.
However, at 1649, Lexington radar detected a second formation of Bettys approaching from the disengaged side at a range of only 12 nautical miles. The situation was critical as seven Wildcats were pursuing the remnants of the other formation of Bettys in the opposite direction, while five were orbiting, waiting to recover and low on fuel. O'Hare and Dufilho were vectored toward the new threat and intercepted the incoming Bettys (reported as nine, but actually eight) at 9 nautical miles from the carrier. Dufilho's guns jammed and O'Hare attacked alone. (Early models of the Wildcat mounted four .50-caliber machine guns with 450 rounds per gun, which amounted to about 34 seconds of firing time.) On his first firing pass, using a deflection technique he had developed (which kept him out of the envelope of the 20-mm cannon in the Betty's tail position), O'Hare hit the two trailing Bettys, knocking them out of formation, one of them on fire. However, the crew of the burning Betty was able to extinguish the fire, and, unbeknownst to O'Hare, both Bettys were able to catch up and rejoin the formation before the weapons release point. On his second firing pass, O'Hare hit two Bettys in a trailing "V" formation, one of which crashed in flames while the other dumped its bombs and aborted.
As the Betty's approached their bomb release point, O'Hare made his third firing pass, shooting down the leader of the trailing "V," and then shooting down the plane of the Japanese mission commander, Lieutenant Commander Takuzo Ito. O'Hare made a fourth firing pass on what was actually one of the planes that had caught up, but ran out of ammunition. As Ito's command plane was falling, his command pilot, Warrant Officer Chuzo Watanabe, attempted to crash the flaming plane into Lexington, but missed. The four surviving Bettys dropped ten 250-kilogram bombs on Lexington, but missed, this time by only 100 feet. Of the 17 Betty bombers, only two made it back to Rabaul, both damaged by O'Hare.
O'Hare claimed to have shot down six Bettys and damaged one. Lexington's commanding officer, Captain Frederick "Ted" Sherman, reduced it to five, since four of what was believed at the time to be nine aircraft flew over the Lexington. Lieutenant Commander Thach reported seeing three planes falling in flames at the same time, which, based on post-war records, was in fact the actual number, as only eight Japanese planes were in the second strike. Nevertheless, O'Hare was given credit for five kills, which made him the first Navy ace of the war. O'Hare's plane received only one bullet hole in the engagement, although he was fired on by a Lexington .50-caliber gunner while returning, who fortunately didn't lead enough. O'Hare's historic aircraft crashed while later being transferred to Yorktown (CV-5). O'Hare was sent back to the States and, on 21 April 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt presented him with the Medal of Honor:
"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in aerial combat, at grave risk to his life above and beyond the call of duty, as section leader and pilot of Fighting Squadron 3 on February 20, 1942. Having lost the assistance of his teammates, Lieutenant O'Hare interposed his fighter between his ship and an advancing enemy formation of 9 attacking twin-engine heavy bombers. Without hesitation, alone an unaided, he repeatedly attacked this enemy formation of 9 attacking twin-engine heavy bombers, at close range in the face of intense combined machine gun and canon fire. Despite this concentrated opposition, Lieutenant O'Hare, by his gallant and courageous action, his extremely skillful marksmanship in making the most of every shot of his limited amount of ammunition, shot down 5 enemy bombers and severely damaged a sixth before they reached the bomb release point. As a result of his gallant action – one of the most daring, if not the most daring action in the history of combat aviation – he undoubtedly saved his carrier from serious damage."
After several months of duty as a national hero (and missing the Battle of the Coral Sea), Lieutenant Commander O'Hare assumed command of VF-3 from Thach on 19 June 1942 and spent the next year training others. On 15 July 1943, VF-3 swapped squadron designations with VF-6 and was equipped with the new F6F-3 Hellcat fighter. VF-6 was planned to go aboard Enterprise (CV-6), which is why the designation was changed, during a time when air group and squadron numbers were supposed to match the parent carrier's hull number, a system that was soon given up on as too complicated. Instead, two thirds of O'Hare's VF-6 (24 Hellcats) embarked on light carrier Independence (CVL-22) on 22 August 1943. It participated in the strikes on Marcus Island on 1 September 1942, the first combat missions for the Hellcat, during which O'Hare would be awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC.) He would be awarded a second DFC for actions on the Wake Island strikes on 5 October 1943.
On 17 September 1943, O'Hare became commander of Carrier Air Group 6 (CAG 6) embarked on Enterprise. However, his squadron, VF-6, was split up amongst the light carriers and VF-2 embarked on Enterprise instead. By this time of the war, it had become standard practice for the CAG to fly in a TBF Avenger configured as a command aircraft to coordinate strikes. However, O'Hare successfully lobbied to continue flying the F6F Hellcat.
During Operation Galvanic, groups of Japanese twin-engine Betty bombers, trained in making night torpedo attacks, flew from airfields in the Marshalls attempting to strike U.S. ships. On the evening of 25 November, 13 Betty twin-engine torpedo bombers from the Marshalls attacked the U.S. Northern Assault Group. However, Rear Admiral Turner's insistence on constant battle drills while en route to Makin and Tarawa paid off. Due to radical (but purposeful) and constant maneuvering by the U.S. ships, the Japanese bombers were never able to gain an advantageous torpedo attack position. Nevertheless, the night-time raids represented a serious threat. In an attempt to counter these raids, the commander of the Northern Carrier Group (TG 50.2), Rear Admiral Arthur W. Radford (embarked on Enterprise), O'Hare, and the Enterprise air officer, Commander Tom Hamilton, worked to develop ad hoc tactics for conducting night carrier-based fighter intercepts.
The tactics involved using a "Bat Team" of one radar-equipped TBF Avenger and two F6F Hellcats. The Hellcats would join on the Avenger and would be vectored to the targets by the Enterprise fighter director officer based on shipboard radar, and then the Avenger would use its radar to lead the Hellcats to the incoming Japanese strike. Once the Hellcats sighted the blue-flamed exhaust of the Japanese bombers, they would engage. Four Bat Team fighter pilots were selected, one of which was Lieutenant Roy Marlin Voris, who would later found and command the Blue Angels Navy Flight Demonstration Team.
On the night of 26 November 1943, another Japanese raid was detected inbound and the Bat Team was launched, with O'Hare choosing to fly one of the fighters himself. The other was flown by Ensign Warren Andrew "Andy" Skon of VF-2. The TBF-1C Avenger was flown by the VT-6 ("Black Panthers") squadron skipper, Lieutenant Commander John C. Phillips. The night tactics proved harder to execute in practice than in theory. The fighter director had difficulty sending the Bat Team in the right direction, and the fighters had a hard time finding the TBF. When they did, it appears they were already in the middle of the Japanese formation flying the same direction.
O'Hare's plane was last seen by his wingman and the TBF turret gunner at the five o'clock position on the TBF. The turret gunner then saw a Betty bomber that was above and behind O'Hare in the six o'clock position. The turret gunner fired on the Betty and the nose gunner in the Betty returned fire. O'Hare's plane did not appear to have been hit in the crossfire, but both the turret gunner and wingman reported that O'Hare's plane veered to the left, dropped down into the darkness, and was never seen again, suggesting that a round from the Betty's nose gun killed or incapacitated O'Hare and he lost control of the aircraft. The action caused confusion in the Bettys' formation and they broke off the attack. Navy historian Samuel Eliot Morison recorded that one Betty was shot down by Phillips in the TBF (which had a forward-firing gun). An extensive search for O'Hare failed to find any trace of him or his aircraft, and, on 9 December, he was officially declared missing in action. O'Hare would be awarded a posthumous Navy Cross for his last action:
"The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry "Butch O'Hare, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as a Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron TWO (VF-2), attached to the USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6), and deployed over Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, in action against enemy Japanese forces on 26 November 1943. When warnings were received of the approach of a large force of Japanese torpedo bombers, Lieutenant Commander O'Hare volunteered to lead a fighter section of aircraft from his carrier, the first time such a mission had been attempted at night, in order to intercept the attackers. He fearlessly led his three-plane group in combat against a large formation of hostile aircraft and assisted in shooting down two Japanese planes and dispersed the remainder. Lieutenant Commander O'Hare's outstanding courage, daring airmanship and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest tradition of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country."
The Gearing-class destroyer, USS O'Hare (DD-889), launched 22 June 1945 was named in honor of Butch O'Hare and served until she was decommissioned in October 1973 and transferred to the Spanish Navy before being scrapped in 1992. On 19 September 1949, Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport (ORD) was renamed Chicago O'Hare, and an F4F Wildcat, recovered from Lake Michigan in the 1990s and restored and on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, is on display in Terminal 2, painted in the markings of O'Hare's Medal of Honor flight.
(Sources for this section include: "Defending the USS Lexington: Action off Bougainville" by Allyn Vannoy, 27 November 2018, on warfarehistorynetwork.com, and Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare by Steve Ewing and John B. Lundstrom, 1997.)
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From the LIst archives
Thanks to Deuce
Top Gun: The Edge of Aviation
Skip,
Christopher "Meat" started his TOPGUN class today and sent this link from defense.gov I thought the Bubbas might like to see this latest promo piece which is pretty good.
Deuce
https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Experience/Top-Gun-The-Edge-of-Aviation/
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Loss of Medal of Honor Recipient Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare After sundown on 26 November 1943, the U.S. Navy attempted the first carrier-based night fighter intercept operations. The fighters were launched in response to continuing night attacks by Japanese land-based twin-engine Betty torpedo bombers (which had previously hit and damaged the light carrier Independence. During the mission, the commander of Enterprise Air Group, Lieutenant Commander Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare, was shot down, and neither his aircraft or body were ever found. O'Hare had previously been awarded the Medal of Honor for single-handedly downing several Japanese Betty torpedo bombers attempting to strike the aircraft carrier Lexington (CV-2) on 20 February 1942, making him the first naval aviator to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II. This also made him an instant national hero at a time when the nation needed one in the dark days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Like the loss of Doris Miller on Liscome Bay, the loss of Butch O'Hare was a shock to the American public. For many years, there was uncertainty as to whether he was shot down in the darkness by "friendly fire" from another Navy aircraft or whether he was shot down by the Japanese. The analysis that I find most compelling indicates that he was hit and downed by a lucky shot from one of the Betty bombers.
O'Hare came from a colorful background. At the time O'Hare was seeking to enter the U.S. Naval Academy, his father was a lawyer working for mobster Al Capone, but who turned on Capone providing key evidence leading to the gangster's conviction on tax evasion, and was rewarded for his efforts by being gunned down in a mob hit in November 1939. Despite this, O'Hare graduated from the Naval Academy in 1937 and finished aviation training in May 1940, reporting to Fighter Squadron 3 (VF-3), where future "ace" Lieutenant John S. "Jimmy" Thach was executive officer. Thach quickly recognized O'Hare's talent, especially at gunnery. When Saratoga (CV-3) was torpedoed and damaged by a Japanese submarine on 11 January 1942, VF-3 transferred to Lexington, replacing her obsolete F2A Brewster Buffalo squadron, and was re-designated VF-2. Thach led one section and future ace (and four-star) Noel Gayler led the other.
On 20 February 1942, Task Force 11, centered on Lexington, was approaching the Japanese base of Rabaul (which had yet to develop the formidable air defenses seen in 1943), but was detected by a Japanese flying boat while still 450 miles away. At 1112, Thach and another pilot shot down the four- engine Kawanishi H6K4 Type 97 Mavis at 43 nautical miles from the carrier, but not before the plane had radioed a report. At 1202, two other Lexington fighters shot down a second Mavis, while a third radar contact turned away. The Japanese wasted no time in launching a two-group 17-plane strikeof G4M Betty medium torpedo bombers. Unfortunately for the Japanese, no torpedoes or fighters had arrived at Rabaul yet, so the Bettys carried only bombs, and launched with no fighter escort.
At 1542, Lexington radar detected the incoming strike at long range, but lost the contact. At 1625, radar re-acquired the incoming strike at 47 nautical miles and closing fast, which turned out to be nine Bettys. Fighters were vectored to intercept and additional fighters were launched, including O'Hare (flying F4F BuNo. 4031 "White 15"), but O'Hare and his wingman Marion "Duff" Dufilho were held overhead as the Bettys were engaged and five were shot down. Four of the Betty's dropped bombs on Lexington, but missed by 3,000 yards. The surviving Bettys were pursued and shot down, although two Wildcats were shot down by the Bettys' lethal tail guns. One of the Bettys was actually shot down by an SBD Dauntless dive bomber on ASW patrol.
However, at 1649, Lexington radar detected a second formation of Bettys approaching from the disengaged side at a range of only 12 nautical miles. The situation was critical as seven Wildcats were pursuing the remnants of the other formation of Bettys in the opposite direction, while five were orbiting, waiting to recover and low on fuel. O'Hare and Dufilho were vectored toward the new threat and intercepted the incoming Bettys (reported as nine, but actually eight) at 9 nautical miles from the carrier. Dufilho's guns jammed and O'Hare attacked alone. (Early models of the Wildcat mounted four .50-caliber machine guns with 450 rounds per gun, which amounted to about 34 seconds of firing time.) On his first firing pass, using a deflection technique he had developed (which kept him out of the envelope of the 20-mm cannon in the Betty's tail position), O'Hare hit the two trailing Bettys, knocking them out of formation, one of them on fire. However, the crew of the burning Betty was able to extinguish the fire, and, unbeknownst to O'Hare, both Bettys were able to catch up and rejoin the formation before the weapons release point. On his second firing pass, O'Hare hit two Bettys in a trailing "V" formation, one of which crashed in flames while the other dumped its bombs and aborted.
As the Betty's approached their bomb release point, O'Hare made his third firing pass, shooting down the leader of the trailing "V," and then shooting down the plane of the Japanese mission commander, Lieutenant Commander Takuzo Ito. O'Hare made a fourth firing pass on what was actually one of the planes that had caught up, but ran out of ammunition. As Ito's command plane was falling, his command pilot, Warrant Officer Chuzo Watanabe, attempted to crash the flaming plane into Lexington, but missed. The four surviving Bettys dropped ten 250-kilogram bombs on Lexington, but missed, this time by only 100 feet. Of the 17 Betty bombers, only two made it back to Rabaul, both damaged by O'Hare.
O'Hare claimed to have shot down six Bettys and damaged one. Lexington's commanding officer, Captain Frederick "Ted" Sherman, reduced it to five, since four of what was believed at the time to be nine aircraft flew over the Lexington. Lieutenant Commander Thach reported seeing three planes falling in flames at the same time, which, based on post-war records, was in fact the actual number, as only eight Japanese planes were in the second strike. Nevertheless, O'Hare was given credit for five kills, which made him the first Navy ace of the war. O'Hare's plane received only one bullet hole in the engagement, although he was fired on by a Lexington .50-caliber gunner while returning, who fortunately didn't lead enough. O'Hare's historic aircraft crashed while later being transferred to Yorktown (CV-5). O'Hare was sent back to the States and, on 21 April 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt presented him with the Medal of Honor:
"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in aerial combat, at grave risk to his life above and beyond the call of duty, as section leader and pilot of Fighting Squadron 3 on February 20, 1942. Having lost the assistance of his teammates, Lieutenant O'Hare interposed his fighter between his ship and an advancing enemy formation of 9 attacking twin-engine heavy bombers. Without hesitation, alone an unaided, he repeatedly attacked this enemy formation of 9 attacking twin-engine heavy bombers, at close range in the face of intense combined machine gun and canon fire. Despite this concentrated opposition, Lieutenant O'Hare, by his gallant and courageous action, his extremely skillful marksmanship in making the most of every shot of his limited amount of ammunition, shot down 5 enemy bombers and severely damaged a sixth before they reached the bomb release point. As a result of his gallant action – one of the most daring, if not the most daring action in the history of combat aviation – he undoubtedly saved his carrier from serious damage."
After several months of duty as a national hero (and missing the Battle of the Coral Sea), Lieutenant Commander O'Hare assumed command of VF-3 from Thach on 19 June 1942 and spent the next year training others. On 15 July 1943, VF-3 swapped squadron designations with VF-6 and was equipped with the new F6F-3 Hellcat fighter. VF-6 was planned to go aboard Enterprise (CV-6), which is why the designation was changed, during a time when air group and squadron numbers were supposed to match the parent carrier's hull number, a system that was soon given up on as too complicated. Instead, two thirds of O'Hare's VF-6 (24 Hellcats) embarked on light carrier Independence (CVL-22) on 22 August 1943. It participated in the strikes on Marcus Island on 1 September 1942, the first combat missions for the Hellcat, during which O'Hare would be awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC.) He would be awarded a second DFC for actions on the Wake Island strikes on 5 October 1943.
On 17 September 1943, O'Hare became commander of Carrier Air Group 6 (CAG 6) embarked on Enterprise. However, his squadron, VF-6, was split up amongst the light carriers and VF-2 embarked on Enterprise instead. By this time of the war, it had become standard practice for the CAG to fly in a TBF Avenger configured as a command aircraft to coordinate strikes. However, O'Hare successfully lobbied to continue flying the F6F Hellcat.
During Operation Galvanic, groups of Japanese twin-engine Betty bombers, trained in making night torpedo attacks, flew from airfields in the Marshalls attempting to strike U.S. ships. On the evening of 25 November, 13 Betty twin-engine torpedo bombers from the Marshalls attacked the U.S. Northern Assault Group. However, Rear Admiral Turner's insistence on constant battle drills while en route to Makin and Tarawa paid off. Due to radical (but purposeful) and constant maneuvering by the U.S. ships, the Japanese bombers were never able to gain an advantageous torpedo attack position. Nevertheless, the night-time raids represented a serious threat. In an attempt to counter these raids, the commander of the Northern Carrier Group (TG 50.2), Rear Admiral Arthur W. Radford (embarked on Enterprise), O'Hare, and the Enterprise air officer, Commander Tom Hamilton, worked to develop ad hoc tactics for conducting night carrier-based fighter intercepts.
The tactics involved using a "Bat Team" of one radar-equipped TBF Avenger and two F6F Hellcats. The Hellcats would join on the Avenger and would be vectored to the targets by the Enterprise fighter director officer based on shipboard radar, and then the Avenger would use its radar to lead the Hellcats to the incoming Japanese strike. Once the Hellcats sighted the blue-flamed exhaust of the Japanese bombers, they would engage. Four Bat Team fighter pilots were selected, one of which was Lieutenant Roy Marlin Voris, who would later found and command the Blue Angels Navy Flight Demonstration Team.
On the night of 26 November 1943, another Japanese raid was detected inbound and the Bat Team was launched, with O'Hare choosing to fly one of the fighters himself. The other was flown by Ensign Warren Andrew "Andy" Skon of VF-2. The TBF-1C Avenger was flown by the VT-6 ("Black Panthers") squadron skipper, Lieutenant Commander John C. Phillips. The night tactics proved harder to execute in practice than in theory. The fighter director had difficulty sending the Bat Team in the right direction, and the fighters had a hard time finding the TBF. When they did, it appears they were already in the middle of the Japanese formation flying the same direction.
O'Hare's plane was last seen by his wingman and the TBF turret gunner at the five o'clock position on the TBF. The turret gunner then saw a Betty bomber that was above and behind O'Hare in the six o'clock position. The turret gunner fired on the Betty and the nose gunner in the Betty returned fire. O'Hare's plane did not appear to have been hit in the crossfire, but both the turret gunner and wingman reported that O'Hare's plane veered to the left, dropped down into the darkness, and was never seen again, suggesting that a round from the Betty's nose gun killed or incapacitated O'Hare and he lost control of the aircraft. The action caused confusion in the Bettys' formation and they broke off the attack. Navy historian Samuel Eliot Morison recorded that one Betty was shot down by Phillips in the TBF (which had a forward-firing gun). An extensive search for O'Hare failed to find any trace of him or his aircraft, and, on 9 December, he was officially declared missing in action. O'Hare would be awarded a posthumous Navy Cross for his last action:
"The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry "Butch O'Hare, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as a Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron TWO (VF-2), attached to the USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6), and deployed over Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, in action against enemy Japanese forces on 26 November 1943. When warnings were received of the approach of a large force of Japanese torpedo bombers, Lieutenant Commander O'Hare volunteered to lead a fighter section of aircraft from his carrier, the first time such a mission had been attempted at night, in order to intercept the attackers. He fearlessly led his three-plane group in combat against a large formation of hostile aircraft and assisted in shooting down two Japanese planes and dispersed the remainder. Lieutenant Commander O'Hare's outstanding courage, daring airmanship and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest tradition of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country."
The Gearing-class destroyer, USS O'Hare (DD-889), launched 22 June 1945 was named in honor of Butch O'Hare and served until she was decommissioned in October 1973 and transferred to the Spanish Navy before being scrapped in 1992. On 19 September 1949, Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport (ORD) was renamed Chicago O'Hare, and an F4F Wildcat, recovered from Lake Michigan in the 1990s and restored and on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, is on display in Terminal 2, painted in the markings of O'Hare's Medal of Honor flight.
(Sources for this section include: "Defending the USS Lexington: Action off Bougainville" by Allyn Vannoy, 27 November 2018, on warfarehistorynetwork.com, and Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare by Steve Ewing and John B. Lundstrom, 1997.)
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This Day in U S Military History February 5
1918 – Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane. It is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military. His unit, the 1st Aero Squadron had not yet begun combat operations. Thompson visited a French unit with a fellow member of the 1st Aero Squadron and both were invited to fly as gunner-bombardiers with the French on a bombing raid over Saarbrücken, Germany. After they had dropped their bombs, the squadron was attacked by Albatros D.III fighters. Thompson shot down one of them. This was the first aerial victory by any member of the U.S. military. He was awarded the Croix de guerre with Palm for the action.
1945 – American USAAF B-24 and B-29 bombers raid Iwo Jima in preparation for the landings later in the month. They drop a daily average of 450 tons of bombs over the course of 15 days (6800 tons).
1971 – Moonwalk by CAPT Alan B. Shepherd, Jr. USN, Commander of Apollo 14 and CDR Edgar D. Mitchell, USN Lunar Module Pilot. During the 9 day mission, 94 lbs of lunar material was collected and Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon.
1975 – North Vietnamese Gen. Van Tien Dung departs for South Vietnam to take command of communist forces in preparation for a new offensive. In December 1974, the North Vietnamese 7th Division and the newly formed 3rd Division attacked Phuoc Long Province, north of Saigon. This attack represented an escalation in the "cease-fire war" that started shortly after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. The North Vietnamese wanted to see how Saigon and Washington would react to a major attack so close to Saigon. President Richard Nixon and his successor, Gerald Ford, had promised to come to the aid of South Vietnam if the North Vietnamese launched a major new offensive. With Nixon's Watergate resignation and Ford facing an increasingly hostile Congress, Hanoi was essentially conducting a "test" attack to see if the United States would honor its commitment to Saigon. The attack was much more successful than the North Vietnamese anticipated: the South Vietnamese soldiers fought poorly and the United States did nothing. Emboldened by their success, the North Vietnamese decided to launch a major offensive against the South Vietnamese. "Campaign 275" began on March 1, 1975. The North Vietnamese forces quickly overran the South Vietnamese and the United States failed to provide the promised support. Saigon fell on April 30 and the South Vietnamese government officially surrendered.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
BUCKINGHAM, DAVID E.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company E, 4th Delaware Infantry. Place and date: At Rowanty Creek, Va., 5 February 1865. Entered service at: ——. Born: 3 February 1840, Pleasant Hill, Del. Date of issue: 13 February 1895. Citation: Swam the partly frozen creek, under fire, in the attempt to capture a crossing.
RAUB, JACOB F.
Rank and organization: Assistant Surgeon, 210th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Hatchers Run, Va., 5 February 1865. Entered service at: Weaversville, Pa. Born: 13 May 1840, Raubsville Northhampton County, Pa. Date of issue: 20 April 1896. Citation. Discovering a flank movement by the enemy, appraised the commanding general at great peril, and though a noncombatant voluntarily participated with the troops in repelling this attack.
SMITH, S. RODMOND
Rank and organization: Captain, Company C, 4th Delaware Infantry. Place and date: At Rowanty Creek, Va., 5 February 1865. Entered service at: Wilmington, Del. Birth: Delaware. Date of issue: 8 April 1895. Citation: Swam the partly frozen creek under fire to establish a crossing.
KILBOURNE, CHARLES E.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Volunteer Signal Corps. Place and date: At Paco Bridge, Philippine Islands, 5 February 1899. Entered service at. Portland. Oreg. Birth: Fort Myer, Va. Date of issue: 6 May 1905. Citation: Within a range of 250 yards of the enemy and in the face of a rapid fire climbed a telegraph pole at the east end of the bridge and in full view of the enemy coolly and carefully repaired a broken telegraph wire, thereby reestablishing telegraphic communication to the front.
RUDOLPH, DONALD E.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company E, 20th Infantry, 6th Infantry Division. Place and date: Munoz, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 5 February 1945. Entered service at: Minneapolis, Minn. Birth: South Haven, Minn. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: 2d Lt. Rudolph (then T/Sgt.) was acting as platoon leader at Munoz, Luzon, Philippine Islands. While administering first aid on the battlefield, he observed enemy fire issuing from a nearby culvert. Crawling to the culvert with rifle and grenades, he killed 3 of the enemy concealed there. He then worked his way across open terrain toward a line of enemy pillboxes which had immobilized his company. Nearing the first pillbox, he hurled a grenade through its embrasure and charged the position. With his bare hands he tore away the wood and tin covering, then dropped a grenade through the opening, killing the enemy gunners and destroying their machinegun. Ordering several riflemen to cover his further advance, 2d Lt. Rudolph seized a pick mattock and made his way to the second pillbox. Piercing its top with the mattock, he dropped a grenade through the hole, fired several rounds from his rifle into it and smothered any surviving enemy by sealing the hole and the embrasure with earth. In quick succession he attacked and neutralized 6 more pillboxes. Later, when his platoon was attacked by an enemy tank, he advanced under covering fire, climbed to the top of the tank and dropped a white phosphorus grenade through the turret, destroying the crew. Through his outstanding heroism, superb courage, and leadership, and complete disregard for his own safety, 2d Lt. Rudolph cleared a path for an advance which culminated in one of the most decisive victories of the Philippine campaign.
*VIALE, ROBERT M.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company K, 148th Infantry, 37th Infantry Division. Place and date: Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 5 February 1945. Entered service at: Ukiah, Calif. Birth: Bayside, Calif. G.O. No.: 92, 25 October 1945. Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. Forced by the enemy's detonation of prepared demolitions to shift the course of his advance through the city, he led the 1st platoon toward a small bridge, where heavy fire from 3 enemy pillboxes halted the unit. With 2 men he crossed the bridge behind screening grenade smoke to attack the pillboxes. The first he knocked out himself while covered by his men's protecting fire; the other 2 were silenced by 1 of his companions and a bazooka team which he had called up. He suffered a painful wound in the right arm during the action. After his entire platoon had joined him, he pushed ahead through mortar fire and encircling flames. Blocked from the only escape route by an enemy machinegun placed at a street corner, he entered a nearby building with his men to explore possible means of reducing the emplacement. In 1 room he found civilians huddled together, in another, a small window placed high in the wall and reached by a ladder. Because of the relative positions of the window, ladder, and enemy emplacement, he decided that he, being left-handed, could better hurl a grenade than 1 of his men who had made an unsuccessful attempt. Grasping an armed grenade, he started up the ladder. His wounded right arm weakened, and, as he tried to steady himself, the grenade fell to the floor. In the 5 seconds before the grenade would explode, he dropped down, recovered the grenade and looked for a place to dispose of it safely. Finding no way to get rid of the grenade without exposing his own men or the civilians to injury or death, he turned to the wall, held it close to his body and bent over it as it exploded. 2d Lt. Viale died in a few minutes, but his heroic act saved the lives of others.
*NOONAN, THOMAS P., JR.
Rank and organization: Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Company G, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division. Place and date: Near Vandergrift Combat Base, A Shau Valley, Republic of Vietnam, 5 February 1969. Entered service at: Brooklyn, N.Y. Born: 18 November 1943, Brooklyn, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a fire team leader with Company G, in operations against the enemy in Quang Tri Province. Company G was directed to move from a position which they had been holding southeast of the Vandergrift Combat Base to an alternate location. As the marines commenced a slow and difficult descent down the side of the hill made extremely slippery by the heavy rains, the leading element came under a heavy fire from a North Vietnamese Army unit occupying well concealed positions in the rocky terrain. Four men were wounded, and repeated attempts to recover them failed because of the intense hostile fire. L/Cpl. Noonan moved from his position of relative security and, maneuvering down the treacherous slope to a location near the injured men, took cover behind some rocks. Shouting words of encouragement to the wounded men to restore their confidence, he dashed across the hazardous terrain and commenced dragging the most seriously wounded man away from the fire-swept area. Although wounded and knocked to the ground by an enemy round, L/Cpl. Noonan recovered rapidly and resumed dragging the man toward the marginal security of a rock. He was, however, mortally wounded before he could reach his destination. His heroic actions inspired his fellow marines to such aggressiveness that they initiated a spirited assault which forced the enemy soldiers to withdraw. L/Cpl. Noonan's indomitable courage, inspiring initiative, and selfless devotion to duty upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for February 5, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
5 February
1905: Thomas S. Baldwin took part in a 10-mile race between his dirigible and an automobile. The dirigible and its pilot won by three minutes. (20)
1911: A Howard-Wright biplane made the first airplane flight in New Zealand. (5)
1914: 2Lt Joseph C. Morrow, Jr., was the 24th and last person to qualify as "Military Aviator" under the rules for this rating. He passed his test earlier on 27 December 1913. (24)
1918: While substituting as a gunner with a French squadron, Lt Stephen W. Thompson became the first American in the US Air Service to earn an aerial victory. He shot down a German Albatross D.III, but only received half credit, sharing the kill with the French pilot. Other Americans flying with foreign services had earned aerial victories previously. (20)
1945: Despite poor flying conditions, Fifteenth Air Force sent 589 heavy bombers and 225 fighter escorts over the Alps to drop 1,110 tons of bombs on Regensburg's oil storage plant. (24)
1949: A Lockheed Constellation set a new transcontinental record for commercial transport aircraft of 6 hours 18 minutes from Los Angeles, Calif., to La Guardia Field, N. Y. (24)
1951: KOREAN WAR/Operation ROUNDUP. To disrupt a new enemy offensive, the U. S. X Corps advanced with strong air support near Hoengsong, northeast of Wonju in central Korea. In a 67th Fighter-Bomber Squadron F-51 Mustang, Maj Arnold Mullins shot down a YAK-9 north of Pyongyang to score the only USAF aerial victory of the month. (28)
1962: A US Navy HSS-2 Sea King became the first helicopter to pass 200 MPH by flying 210.65 MPH over a 19-kilometer (11.78-mile) straight-line course between Milford and New Haven, Conn. (24)
1971: During Apollo XIV, Astronaut Alan B. Shepard set a Federation Aeronautique Internationale duration record by staying outside the Antares lunar module for 9 hours 12 minutes. (9)
1974: Lt Col James G. Rider, lightweight fighter program test director, became the first USAF pilot to fly the F-16. (5)
1994: An all-Reserve crew flew the C-17 Globemaster III for the first time. The crew came from the 315th Airlift Wing, 317th Airlift Squadron. (16) A mortar attack on Sarajevo's central market killed 68 people and wounded 200 more. Afterwards, the USAF dispatched a medical team and four C-130 Hercules to Sarajevo to evacuate the wounded to Germany. (16)
2001: Lockheed-Martin reached two more milestones in the F-22 Raptor program when Tail No. 4006 completed its first flight and Air Force officials initiated radar cross section testing. (AFNEWS Article 0166, 6 Feb 2001)
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