VF-1 F6F

[bqzdcc]

My dad was in Vf-1 and was awarded the Navy Cross.
I am looking for photos of the F6F's circa 1944-45 so I can have a model built of his aircraft.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
My e-mail is bqzdcc@comcast.net
Tank You

[Jim MacDonald]

Hi,

What was your father's name? If he was with VF-1 on their 1st tour when they were on the Yorktown, there's quite a few photos out there. Not sure if there are that many for their 2nd tour on the Bennington.

Thanks,

Mac

[bqzdcc]

My Dad's name is C.H.Barfield
I would like photos on board the Bennington and have not had much luck finding any.
That's when he was awarded the Navy Cross.

Thank You

[Jim MacDonald]

The Bennington's VF-1 had a Cruise Book made. You might check & see if he ever received one. It would probably have some photos of the A/C in it. I don't have a Bennington Cruise book & don't have many photos, but I'll look & see if I have anything.

I'll try to send you an email tonight or tomorrow with the Action Report for his Navy Cross mission, if you don't have it already.

Mac

[bqzdcc]

Thanks. I have the action report.
I don't have a cruise book.
After he passed away our Step Mother gave a few things to the Naval Aviation museum but we have NO idea where the rest of his gear is.
Thanks for all your help.

[Ploesti]

This man's dad was primarly responsible for this and was awarded the Navy Cross, outstanding. IJN Carrier Amagi as it looked in 1946

[kmiles]

A lot of the cruise books have ended up on amazon and ebay in digital format. We recently picked up a few that we were interested in, and they were pretty high quality. You would not have the historical significance of having an original copy, but at least you would have a good representation.

[bqzdcc]

Thanks to all.
I found a cruise book on disc.
Hopefully this will help me with colors, tail markings, etc. so I can get as accurate a model as possible.
I also found photos of his flight jacket on face book posted by the NAM.

[JOMiller]

No kidding?? Can you post a link to the
pix of the flight jacket. I'd love to see
them......

[PbyCat-Guy]

thats awesome about your dad, i hope you can find the information youre looking for

[jdvoss]

Here's an illustration of the markings of a VF-1 F6F circa 1944-45. Do you have the sqdn number assigned to your father's F6F ??

[Ploesti]

This is his father's cruise on the USS Bennington with VF-1 in 1945 and the photos are what his aircraft looked like. twin "T"s on the tail and upper right wing, probably lower left wings as well. TBF's, SB2C's, F4U's and F6F's all had them.

On 15 December, LCDR M. C. Hoffman assumed command and led the first flight into action against Hyakurigahara and Tsukuba Airfileds north of Tokyo on 10 July 1945. During the short combat period which followed, ending 15 August 1945, the pilots of VF-1 destroyed 38 enemy aircraft and damaged 123. They also sunk, probably sunk and damaged 75,000 tons of enemy shipping. The squadron participated in the attack on Yokosuka Naval Base, Honshu, and a VF-1 pilot scored a direct hit on the enemy battleship Nasato, damaging it seriously.
The squadron participated in attacks on the Kure Naval Base which resulted in the sinking of the battleship Hyuga, a destroyer and a destroyer-escort. Crippling damage was done to the battleship Ise, two carriers Amagi, of which ens. C.H. Barfield was awarded the Navy Cross, and Katsuragi, two cruisers Aoba and Oyoda, and numerous smaller warships.
After the hostilities ended, the squadron was assigned the important task of searching for POW camps in northern Honshu and escorting Torpedo Planes on their vital supply dropping missions. VF-1 was disestablished 25 October 1945.