Bunker Hill (CV 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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Vals and Kates threatening us And as the . - . ' , Y Continued their rough tactics, their hell-for- leather Hying, they set a Pacific record by shooting down 154 Jap planes in seventy-nine hot days of combat, including sixty missions of escorting bombers in the New Georgia, Bougainville, and Rabaul sectors. They scored half again as many probables shot down, their Skipper insisting no plane be reported as shot down unless it actually was seen falling in flames, they never lost a bomber from a group they escorted, they sank seven Japanese cargo ships and seven- teen barges, another record for a Hghter group. When they returned to the States in March 1944, they had thirteen members who had shot down live or more enemy planes. Lieu- J - --- - f--- ----- -.....a...........q.,,.,.,.,,.,,,,,,,,,,,,.,,,,m rm il... ,, .. Y.... -a....,-,.. ..-......-......,.,............... ',--- ,-af -ff A ' ': - ...1 f: - if f 'fl'Af11'fIT'h '...'T .17 1 ' A if 'E if1ig:Sfiit:xt, '4 J . , F' ' .gi e Q3iQi.'IlT..'ZL , .er wx .,:. ,. Aix!!! NN X 25 Q . ' .'?'i'iTEIZ, p . ff ' ' 1' 'sys if 1' Pjxpiff: N v'f,J X 1 f' l A fi Q . ' 9 A gl v x g f, .- I .W of , V .V 1,5 ,f a C111 X I K Ci! ,bmi J L ij Q J , ii , 1 ' f ' . Q ' .- i 3 ' -5. . 1 , ,L ,J , l f 3 X ff f --l iai, F - L- fli er X A xi., 'gps ,wif -,iff - I. - ' 1 L Tir , V A ui -W 1 I T Q 'Ti lffw ig- I 3: ,arf s 1271 if-:' ia r , . f N ' , V A le Q, , ,-, -rf , f 7 ,r I 5, 4, ' 1 ffzj,-.13 ,.rQ-251. 4-:f.fi1'-. V ,.-,g.,'.i-- ' - .faf-f a . we ff 1 ' ,W 'J .ft 'WST f ai l ' f '. -A .a S4511 ' L A i i ' XX 5 iffffl 5 L L f tenant Ira C. Ike Kepford, former North- western University halfback, paced his mates and for a time the Navy, with sixteen planes credited him. His Skipper, Lieutenant Com- mander J. T. Tommy Blackburn followed with eleven, the Exec, Lieutenant Commander Roger Hedrick, nine, Lieutenants ChenCW0Ch and Tim Giles, eight, Lieutenants Cjgl Earl May, eight, Paul Cordray, Mac Burriss and Danny Cunningham, seven, Bobby MimS afid Butch Davenport, six, and Lieutenants Jim Streig and Eddie March, five. ' We Were proud of them, proud of thell' record, just as we'd been proud and grateful for their work at Rabaul. They belonged to us, and were our shipmates. They too did their part in making the Bunker Hill the great ship it is. When they left it was hard to believe, as it so often is, that anyone could actuall take . Y their place. But Fighting Eighteen did just that. v. all A NEW FIGHTER OUTFIT Que day Fighting Eighteen was a new squadron in training-the next they were tossed into Pacihc combat, their half-com- pleted drills, their carefully scheduled growth, tossed to the winds. They were given the tough assignment of replacing a highly- trained fighter outfit in another Air Group, Seventeen. Lieutenant Commander Sam Silber, the husky, effervescent skipper of the squadron, may have felt that his men lacked the polish of a finished unit, but he never admitted it. Sixty days after they were commissioned, they were flying Combat Air Patrols in the South Pacific with but a nucleus of combat-exper- ienced men. The Skipper, Don Runyon and Willie Ambrosia had been in the African and Guadalcanal campaigns, with Don having logged time on the Sara and Enterprise where he had accounted for at least live Jap planes. Lieutenant Bob Dibb also had been on those two carriers, and had a Navy Cross to his credit. Jim Billo had served on the Big E, and Lieutenant Cjgj Jimmy Monahan had been on the Saratoga and in the Aleutians. Lieutenants Bill Kelly and Chubby Maness, and Lieutenants Cjgl Dave Mandt and Jim Pierce had been in a patrol squadron in Tahi- tian waters. A lesser man than Skipper Silber, and a lesser group of pilots, might have had qualms about their readiness for combat--but they exuded confidence. They became the ship's favorite that Armistice Day at Rabaul when they roared into the teeth of an heavy attack

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W- -Mer..-. H , '- ,, , AIR GIQOUP 17 ..,jw '! W., c,,,...,.........,-.,- ..,. ,,,. ., .. 'TI'---..,.,.....,M.,..,-A---Je ., , B 1 X, CY I . , , gffi 5 an .f Iv u r- .Lf N 'K l- .f ' 1 1 a' t 'fi . I 4 1 . N T5 A .. l f ,. 1 l 2 J. J ,, Y ,in e 4 ,-,f r .ef X' xl J ,r ,Y 1 fa -' made an achievement o every command performance Savage, audacious blows at enemy stronglzolals were the assignments ana' the victories of the Bunker HiIl's yfrst squadrons, dir Group Seventeen. lp.. Y Y ,f11,.wi-te-::afa:.-. 4.-wave.:.,i e.:Y-..v....-2.n.e-:112f.vu1f,-,..--ie.E-n-q..'ee..,,,w1-n.fw-:.v.-ev,.4.-.-.-,nf-4......-.-. ommander M. P. Bagdanovich was one of those rare men whose ability to enjoy life cannot be beaten. The first Commander, Air Group Seven- teen, possessed a hearty, hard-driving nature that was the answer to the organization of the new Group and, particularly, the gearing of a maintenance unit to the squadrons in line with Bureau orders reducing the comple- ment of service personnel. His forceful personality had an impact on the Group that knit it into a well-run machine administratively as well as operationally. W7hen he left in January, 1944, he turned command over to Commander R. H. Dale small, red-haired Hellcat specialist who held the post until the Group's return to the States, leading them in the destructive raids on the Marshall Islands, preceding and supporting their invasion, and on Truk and the Carolines. Air Group Seventeen was the Bunker Hill's 'first love. From the earliest days before commissioning, the ship's company at Boston and Quincy heard reports of the Air Group, J J ..-.4-1 an-..-.-.,.... -f..-fv.-M. .-s..-.Ye-.....:f-Y V -,-- P1-.fwq-,-416: ,A-:eg- e::-.-: W . Y received second-hand accounts of the game battle it was putting up to make the Corsair and the Helldiver fit for carrier operation. And when they Hew aboard, headed by colorful, sincere Commander M. P. Ba89H Bagdanovich, their problems became the ship's and it was with high pride that the shakedown was completed with definite Proof that where others had failed, Air Group Seventeen and the Bunker Hill had won: the Corsair and the Helldiver were going t0 be all right, operating experiences had proven lf- But the rest of the Fleet did not concur 011 the Corsair and somewhere between the East Coast and Pearl Harbor orders were received detaching Fighting Seventeen. So they Went their way, returning but for one day f0 the ship that had mothered them, but in that one d-35' Paying in full every bit of love the Bunker Hill had given them. They went their way, and few aboard Wfll ever forget the memorable attack--our 5f5F'i when they roared from their South P2556 base to conduct a slam-bang air fight GH

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on the ship. When evening fell, they totted up the score: thirty-threeVa1s, Kates and Zekes. They didn't stop that day, either. Through the tiresome Gilberts campaign, the audacious raids on Kavieng and the intense Marshalls campaign they continued to fly with the poise and assurance of a squadron blessed with every item of a training syllabus. And they provided cover for the bomber and torpedo planes that was air-tight, many times refusing cinch', shots that would have meantsquad- ron glory, but which might have meant ex- posing the bombers to attack. Lieutenant Commander James E. Vose, USN, VB Seven- teen commander, said of them: They've given us the best escort coverage I've ever seen. And it was the radiomen of the squadron who wrote, upon leaving: When We first got the word Fighting Seventeen was leaving us, there is no use to deny our stock went down 100 per cent. It meant losing a squadron that had been with us throughout our training and shake- down cruise. Fighting Squadron Eighteen? Hellcats? What were they like? Xxx ' ,mmm ,, ,,. ,, . ,, rxw ,.....i,......,,, ,,c, , xxx, f, W. ,, ,E ----Q---.----. .... H.-. .... ... .. L- N'-If-,,,-hgh vi ---.........--., .... A., .. .. .gr,,X,N Lv'-fffff A -W' V Alf 'T' ,Imax .vm , - ...M --.. .......-., W, , 3 y is A 1 , fiyrl' -.H-...--g... -- i .4 ' ' hai.-i .. .' j: 'i it - I f ,Cl .Xia ii. ,arg ,I .f.'.f5.'f'L43,Q-1 V er-, ,Q 4 S5fK'im1f'5di'f x,:wJ3'iff.2v'X. Qi, 1-5:f r.f .28-' 'MQfiif'51'lwi Lt 53 5 171 -39354 X-if NQHQFT' 0- f ,M pgzr.. ,,.,Qfu Xjj!LfMi,fgi,.gf1:1gQig:lgg-mn gQEfg??f,ffa,,,..,,,. I -wi-mil, aw --.. .- as are-as if f i Y: :.g,,,.5,,! r :5ip:,3i5g.?Qr,v :jd -7f',..,4f'QqE?,,5?,,.M,K,W1-rl.,smgrgxf,-,-nw-, --ww-9-6' 1512141 ',-wfrfre mw1Jf'W'W .fa--1. :lff : 41'?1a2s -,,,,'.,, , ' ' -e , --.532-3'ff,5.Jw.:. ,T.,y1jgt?'.f-,rm gran: . iwinfz.-w,.4f-fe-1... 'v :f ,. .- - .. ..- , ,, N- .., .,, N, .tt-.53,. I-,' Y, --f k ,,..-1-,,, f -. I -45.4-2h:g,, I - nfnxgggflgfj-Qi1L,g3y,5,4gH,j-,5.Ef', ?:j51n,.J-1'd:',:2S,,7,,,.w,:,w .1 Mwf, 'f-:4- -'V ffegsggfwzif-'ff ., +fa:ffe.,,-J.:Q5-:?Lr'-7- . ..,. ,..ff- Qv ., . nf. -- a . , -1, .74 ya 14 ,i.y,'C'-q '--N5-:hw ,gf -1, 4 -..-- ' 9, '4asfe:f1, N Ween--' ca 7:-a12fQr:-- it 'n f li .,- -' s.-e'155ff43'j1 '!iT'i:'q97'7'5f:fP7'52 f'4 'f' U1- f ' '7-', 1-A m GS ,y . 'ff' a , -'f'1?v.3 - '6x ..: ., J 3 'tf Z... as g,:,:,,. ., 43. WYZY , .V F ,--- X, -,,.f...- -If if nggfjyf- pifff 255,- wul dj, v3gf,.1i.,,, JW. - :.,,,,,,,:..,x,.....f:, . -5, 3 . g, VL, , ,,,.,,---- ,,,. .-.1 a . . i ,. Fellows, we watched you at Kaneoe saw you in the air day and night, yes, we went over the sleeve just as soon as it hit the ground after gu-nnery runs. We sweated your first landing with all of our hearts. It was said more than once: 'They're trying harder than any outfit we have ever seen.' a 198 Then came Rabaul. To a rear-seat man in a dive bomber with a couple of pea shooters, a fighting squadron means everything-and that's what you were. We've all seen times that you could have broken oH' cover, gone down, dropped a Jap, and picked up more personal glory for yourselves. It would have been easy to dive off range and not have drawn all the ack-ack you took at Kavieng, Kwajalein and Truk that could have concen- trated on us. You have received praise from many for your job, but take it from us-the fellows whose necks were saved more than once by your protection-we know you're the best damn fighting squadron that ever went 'up- stairs.' Thanks. No greater praise could be any lighter squadron's. - ,. W fa 'fx s VT-17-TORPEDO SPECIALISTS orn in Norfolk, weaned on the dust and grime of Chincoteague, and schooled at the feet of a pilot's pilot, Torpedo Seventeen Hew as a monument to the inspirational lead- ership of its first tutor, and to its own esprit de corps. Only two of the twenty-seven men mustered at the squadron's commissioning, January 1, 1943, were combat veterans, and Lieutenant Commander Frank Whitaker, USN, their silver-thatched skipper, therefore took them to the auxiliary field at Chincoteague to paCC them through a training mill experienced by few squadrons. They learned to tear down their engines, to load bombs and ammunition, and to maintain equipment. Night flying WHS almost routine, and weather was seldom an excuse for staying aground. It was arduous, it was a program under which a weakly-led squadron might easily have cracked. But even that possibility WHS not present, because the Skipper was always out front, doing the tough jobs first and alwayS doing more than anyone else. His own C11- thusiasm, magnetic personality and gentle un-