Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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All day long our planes were launched, winged out to battle, and fefumed to be rearmed andurefueled. Meanwhile the ship, at General QUMYCYS, 1155611691 to radar plot:'l' A large group of bogeys at , 15 21 Another large' group at 100 miles, being intercepted. 'Tallyho on Raid 4191. Seven planes splashed so far. V Raid Three has closed to 50 miles. Never before had the radar scopes been so white with bogies. With excitef ment and pride mirrored in their faces, the pilots returned from their patrols, two fingers held aloft, then three, all adding up to the destruction of the Jap Air Force. In a morning spree over Orote Field, Guam, twelve BELLEAU WOOD nghters led by Lt. Oveland and Lt. Thelen were hopped by 20 Zekes. They shot down ten and three more probables without losing a single plane. During the morning and afternoon there were fourteen Jap raids on the Task Group. Every one was intercepted and broken up. You've got to hand it to those uflyffly boys . They beat off every Jap punch, they spared the ships a vicious attack. By nightfall the enemy air force had ceased its activities, so badly damaged it no longer could form striking groups. Task Force 58 immediately whipped west, seeking to contact the surface force, the carriers which had launched those planes we had just clipped. A11 night long and throughout the entire morning of June 20th we raced at flank speed. At dawn, scout planes were launched to locate the fleeing Japs, a timefconsuming process because of easterly winds which necessitated our reversing course to steam into the wind for launching. Then at 1530 the enemy was reported at Latitude 15 0 35' N, Longitude 1340 35' E-300 miles away and running for cover. They were at a maximum range. Risk our planes so late in the day? It would mean night landings! A hard decision to make. Then over the squawk boxes in the ready rooms came the order from-Air Plot: Pilots, man your planes on the double . Mitscher said, 'LAttack. Our share in this venture included four torpedo planes with a fighter escort. They were launched at 1621 with only a few hours of daylight remaining. We sat back soberly, realizing the odds against them-maximum range, the easterly winds, sunset approaching. The moment was tense. Un board the ship we could just sit and wait, while our hearts and hopes flew in those planes winging west' ward to the foe. The historic First Battle of the Philippine Sea has already been immortalized in such books as Mission Beyond Darkness . It is common knowledge how Task Force 58 planes took off in the late afternoon to smash the fleeing Jap and return to the fleet on exhausted fuel supplies either to make dangerous night landings or crash land in the sea. Gur strike arrived over the target at 185 5. While the torpedo planes dropped down to release their ish , the six fighters remained at 15,000 feet as a prof 2500 d' t nce 85 miles, circling. :Radar Plot-the room where radar scopes indicate the location of enemy and friendly aiwraft

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J It was sloppy, rainy weather, like the tail end of a typhoon as we hammered the Bonins. A heavy swell made flight operations extremely hazardous. The pitching, roll' ing sea lifted the flight deck violently up and down-the ship quivered in its effort to right itself. One of the most serious accidents ever experienced by this ship in flight operations occurred during the late evening of June 15. A landing fighter crashed through the barriers into the island structure and burst into flames. For 23 minutes the flames crackled and roared before being brought under control. For months the enemy had refused to uncover the Imperial Fleet for a showdown fight. Where's the Jap fleet? had been asked time after time as we powered our way across the Pacific on the Road to Tokyo. In February we thought we had it cornered at Truk. Now at last Task Force 58's brazen, taunting thrusts at the Marianas and Bonins, just 700 miles from Tokyo, had pried the lid off this evasive opponent. Large Japanese force moving up from East Indies came one report shortly before the Marines swarmed Saipan. On the 17th a second Jap force-carriers, battle' ships, cruisers, and destroyers was sighted east of the Philippines. They were coming out. Like two jaws of a giant vise the Jap carrier planes from the west and land based planes from Guam, Tinian, and Rota began closing in on our fleet. June 19, 19,44 brought forth the greatest aerial battle of the war as the Japanese threw a combined NavyfArmy haymaker at Task Force 5 8. The challenge was eagerly accepted. At 1000 the enemy raids began. Scramble all fighters came the order from the flagwk and planes started .roaring off flight decks. 'K The Flag is the admiral in charge of a group of ships. 39 .gf,..-1 fi - ., ,.. 'L I 2- . ' . ' WZ '-' -, , ' '- ily. tag -9 .Q .Ay ,Bfmm l 4 L'?44, fr l f 3 'f 5- nuff if g 46K f' ,?Q51i -. ll K Ark ? 0 Soi? ...gl L, 1 AV ia fa ff! q D ,uf , X N 2 . f I -if J gi J :EW . T sf f ff - f 7. ll 34 , I 5 '3 - ,qf i l if ,a..' ' A - ' is snows S Q iz. ii' fi 1. if U - 2 J 1 a -fag ' 1, 1 1 S 4,i ,avg .V eggglgpigvgg . XL! QQ Mml T52 1 1 jnrf: 1 LE X Nf fe . 6 f ax , I. 1'g1zi ,fQE3QSS? ribs? gf 95 f-LQ sy S I? XP? as is kv x Q W X ffm?- K ' iii: N A cv ' 1 I? ff. ,I W fTN X I I ' 1 ,Fa l , W as 1 ' BY' V p as .noe muwmoai ' A F551 V i V Av- 'TQ' ' ' 'vi' ' ' Y bt V -wr6lI Z.3rA-1:,r.l'H inflhxinc union' an 1. 4 'L

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tecting cover. Almost immediately the Hellcats were jumped by several groups of from four to six Zeroes. Lt. Qjgj Tabler shot down two and Ensign Barr destroyed one and two probables while protecting each other from enemy attack astern. Barr was subsequently shot down but was rescued the following day by a Kingfisher. Lt. QjgJ Christensen got one before his own plane was damaged. Lt. fjgj Rogers made two bombing runs on a small carrier and destroyer. Lt. fjgJ Cveland and Lt. Qjgj Hillner strafed the decks and island structure of a Zuiho carrier and dropped their Sooflb. bombs at the bow. During their run the enemy AA batteries ceased firing. We sent six Hellcats and four Avengers into that scrap. Only two returned directly to our carrier. A day or so later when noses finally were counted on other carriers, all our pilots were safe by some phenomena-all except Lt. George Brown who had driven his TBF through the fire of flaming Jap guns to plant his torpedo directly in a big Jap carrier--and gave his life in exchange. Brownie was leading our four Avengers---with Tate, Cmark, and Luton. They approached the Jap fleet from out of the sun. There were eight carriers, I counted them , 'declared Tate. Most of these were already under attack, but Brown noticed one which was steaming along unmolested. It was a big Hayaf taka. Brown nosed over into a dive. The other three followed and with no other assistance, the four whizzed down towards the flat top, while the six fighters were tangling with Japs overhead. Fanning out, the VT pilots attacked from different quadrants. Fire belched from the enemyis guns as LLBIOWDICQQ leveled off for the final run. His plane shook violently, a portion of the left wing burst s broke out in the middle, forcing the tail g,unner and radioman, E. C. Babcock and G. H. Platz to bail out. They landed successfully in the water where they had a ringside seat for the succeeding events of the night. In spite of the fire in his plane, Brown pressed home his rt of the carrier. Tate's torpedo hit the star' board bow-3 Cmark scored on the port bow. From his patrol aloft Christensen away the fuselage was riddled, and flame attack to plant his torpedo in the hea glanced down to see the Hayataka obscured by smoke. Suddenly a gigantic flash of flame shot out from the vessel. It looked as if somebody had thrust a lighted match into an open box of matches, said Chris. The carrier shuddered from . . . 1 d the three torpedo hits-and then blew up. Flames roared inside her as she kee e over into a watery grave. The four torpedo pilots did not take time to join up. Hopped by enemy planes, they scooted for home. Just before dark, Omark overtook a struggling TBF. It ' fl was Brown1e ! The fire had gone out. But the plane was scarcely able to y l ' ' d Cmark shepherded the crippled plane as and Brown was severe y injure . long as he could-a difficult job, for its lights were shot out and it wandered off course. It dropped into a cloud and was never seen again. ' f L d h' rew, Cmark landed on the: LEX with 1 gallon of gas le t. uton an is c Whiting and Brookbank, bailed out of their punctured plane, unable to land. Tate, with Siwicki and Dobbs, also hit the drink in the darkness. All were picked up by destroyers the next day.