Switch to full style
This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
Post a reply

Re: ULITHI ...

Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:14 am

This is a wonderful spread. I spent four years in Palau (Peleliu, Ulithi, etc.) from 1976-80. I remember speaking with a very elderly gentleman in Peleliu. He spoke about "Japanese Times" and how difficult it was. He was a small child of 7. When the Americans started their assault, the Japanese told the Palauans that the Americans would cook and eat them. They were terrified. Thus was the a little seven year old, watching the Americans storm the beach. He described watching, terrified as a huge American GI (Palauans are small) with curly red hair walked up and handed the little starving boy a Hershey Bar ("he was my hero -- I followed him everywhere').

We found a dog tag on the beach. Raymond Manke had died there on the beach. We were able, with the help of the VA to return it to his family in Boulder Colorado in 1982; his mother was still alive at that time. It was an honor to be able to do this.

By the way, gunpowder from 50 caliber rounds was still viable after being underwater for 40 years!

Re: ULITHI ...

Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:17 pm

Some really fantastic and interesting posts here. Thx all who have contributed. When I get back home I'll reload some old photos and add some new photos to this thread.

Happy New Year to all the vets

Mark

Re: ULITHI ...

Sat Feb 20, 2016 3:12 am

A friend of mine sent me a link to this post last week. I showed it to my dad to see if he knew about this. Background: He joined the Navy December 8, 1941. After training he was stationed on Forde Island, Pearl Harbor. He was a member of VJ1 according to his paperwork. Now the crazy part. I showed him this post and he got a look on his face that I had never seen before. After he read through it he told me that this explained a lot to him. In 1944 his squad was transported to Moffett Field for a special assignment. Long story short there were 18 B17's that had been stripped of all armament and armor. The bomb bay had been converted to fuel storage and they plane had multiple cameras installed. Dad and his VJ1 buddy have both told me in the past that these planes would do 500 knots in a steep dive. They flew these planes over Japan on missions to map out the land in preparation for the land invasion. All of their photos were processed and then forwarded to Admiral Nimitz. They knew the photos were then sent to ships located in the Pacific but they never knew the code name for the location. Until now. Dad is convinced that this is where the photos ended up. I used to question some of dads stories until my brother ran across an incident report about a crash of a B17 at Half Moon Bay in California. I have the incident report on file and will post it here for all to see. Dad says the incident report that is on file is not correct. But when I reminded him of their mission and the need for secrecy he figured it was written to keep things safe and was never corrected after the war ended. I will see if I can get dad to post here so that he can tell it in his own words. I have learned that dad was trained and certified in repair, maintenance and calibration of Norden bomb sights and Grumman ball turrets. Have seen pictures of him with PBY's and TBF's also. Hopefully some of you can fill in the blanks as dad is excited about this now. He wasn't at first as, can you believe this guys, he was afraid to say anything to anyone but me for fear that the Navy would come after him for sharing secrets. Yes, after all these years he still fears spilling the beans. He even went so far as to go over to the VA to verify what I told him about having nothing to fear 70 plus years later. They told him he was probably safe to share whatever he knew. So more later when I can get dad in front of the computer.

Re: ULITHI ...

Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:16 pm

I served on two of the carriers in the pictures, the Essex CVA-9 and the Yorktown CVA-10) .

I went aboard the Essex right out of boot camp in 1954. She still had the straight deck when we made the 54-55 WestPac Cruise. After returning to San Diego we took her to Bremerton to have her cantered deck and "Hurricane" bow put on. I left her there in Jan 56 and went to the USS Badoeng Straits (CVE-116) and spent the summer of 1956 watching H-Bombs going off in Bikini.

The picture of Ulithi remind me of our shacks on Bikini. It was a pretty "rowdy" time.

After bringing the "Bing Ding" back to San Diego, I was transferred to the Yorktown, the "Fighting Lady" or as we referred to her, "The Battling Bitch."

In all I served on 5 carriers (the Princeton CVS-37 and the Midway CVA-41 were the others) but the Essex and her sister, the Yorktown were my favorites.

Just to clarify that I was not an Airedale, but a "black shoe" in the "Black Gang", the Boiler Room.

Re: ULITHI ...

Sat Sep 17, 2016 11:37 pm

damontg wrote:I served on two of the carriers in the pictures, the Essex CVA-9 and the Yorktown CVA-10) .

I went aboard the Essex right out of boot camp in 1954. She still had the straight deck when we made the 54-55 WestPac Cruise. After returning to San Diego we took her to Bremerton to have her cantered deck and "Hurricane" bow put on. I left her there in Jan 56 and went to the USS Badoeng Straits (CVE-116) and spent the summer of 1956 watching H-Bombs going off in Bikini.

The picture of Ulithi remind me of our shacks on Bikini. It was a pretty "rowdy" time.

After bringing the "Bing Ding" back to San Diego, I was transferred to the Yorktown, the "Fighting Lady" or as we referred to her, "The Battling Bitch."

In all I served on 5 carriers (the Princeton CVS-37 and the Midway CVA-41 were the others) but the Essex and her sister, the Yorktown were my favorites.

Just to clarify that I was not an Airedale, but a "black shoe" in the "Black Gang", the Boiler Room.


Okay,

You just grabbed my interest...

What was life like in the black gang, and what do you remember of the H-Bombs going off?

Re: ULITHI ...

Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:05 pm

Ref: the photo of the Corsair. Rob Mears thinks that the aircraft may have been assigned to VFB-85 and has a carrier deck photo for a comparison. Looking at the photo, I see a USMC officer at the right side and ask that someone check out the tail insignia of VMO-251. Today it is VMFA-251/MAG-31/MCAS Beaufort. Some body tell me what they think??

Re: ULITHI ...

Mon Mar 23, 2020 1:22 pm

Trying to track an incident in 1945 --
.
The number one American ace for destroying the most aircraft in a single mission belongs to a PB4Y-1 pilot.

On landing he lost control of his Liberator (tire blew-out) and crashed into to fleet replenishment area where there was over 200 aircraft stored. The resulting accident / fire destroyed over 110 aircraft. Crew of the PB4Y-1 was supposed to have not been injured.

Re: ULITHI ...

Mon Mar 23, 2020 3:10 pm

pop1
Post a reply