Bunker Hill (CV 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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can-,C in Autumn of 1943, but the Bunker Hill had to wait until March, 1944, to meet Fighting Eight, a union that was to become terrifying news to Japanese airmen, Sailor soldiers, sampan coxswains, beach gunnel-S and several umbrella salesmen who were mis- taken for paratroopers. The formal meeting of the air group and the ship was short and without ceremony, Red Imel said, When do we eat and where do we sleep? and the pains of introduction were over. Fighting Eight and the Bunker Hill were inseparable friends, and each was to complement the other as the days and weeks and months of operations were woven into a pattern of destruction and conquest. Fighting Eight was a collection of vigorous individuals moulded into a powerful, con- fident team. Its history covers eighteen months of colorful behavior, and its trail- counting training grounds and combat forays -stretches half way 'round the world. What began as a nucleus of several veterans and two-score youngsters back on the tidewater sourlands of Virginia shaped into a galaxy of aerial stars in action: men who took the bombers and torpedo planes in to the target and brought them back, men who sent hell- driven attackers hurtling into blue space and blue water, men who rode the routine com- bat circuit during the days of monotony, Warriors who gave everything they had when the chips were down, some of them never regaining any part of what they offered. . . . In the beginning there was one man, Commander William M. Collins, skipper of Fighting Eight. A Virginian, taciturn, re- sourceful, energetic, the man who was to show them how to be ace gunners and the pilot who was to fly them through those Hrst months of painful shaping, the captain was to lead them on attack missions into enemy skies. He was to see his boys Hy unbeliev- ably long hours, take chances that for the time would not seem worth the risk involved, suffer from monotony Cas all warriors some- times dojg he was also to see them S119-FC generously in a glory that had nO 1'CC0fded Sa equal: wiping out an entire Japanese Naval 311' fleet in a single day's work. Commander Collins envisaged these hardships . . . and glories . . . and so he sought to build Fight- mg Elght with hand-picked veterans and in- defatigable newcomers, starting back in June of 1943 . . . It was spring, all right, and the day in Jacksonville, Florida, was hot. The new skip- per of a new Fighting Eight, Commander Collins, had just finished a squadron com- mander course at the gigantic Naval Air Base out from Jacksonville. He had spent several weeks considering his rising responsibilities, knowing full well that the Navy counted on him-and counted heavily-for 1942 and -'ffgfi '1,gfQxifffe iFf? X, -,D-i.,-K 4 , ' is 5,e.pi.:,5:'fg y,',r7'33,,M3V M. 'V fri.: pg' 1 i i 3551 K ' ii 'el sl X ,. il , il 221235 711.3 f.,,fgt tf 1 n J if if 5 at ,Q , A. .K 3 l eng ll' diff --'-. E wil-fpf i.-f e-Al V3 N V H5 V ,gQw1,giigia5:,? f ag, 3 4 ' f. 1 J 'g,,,'l p ff 'i f i i i it 1 f . .. 1 4 Q5 ' : I .Q ' ' ' 2 ,a , 5, ,7 , iii, 1 H 9- 1 X , fx-5 I J :Qlf 1 ' .4 'M'-- ' ' i - . 4 . ua , ' lf 1 'fi ' , .-4 'hi if -, . , 4: r YQA 5 Z L6 N... A e l f '-tif s X .T I: V I- I i Q ,AA X I Q,- . f 5 ll '- V' W., 1 . l li-fir! Y V' 3 'I e - i v i 1 .w u u V , 'W KST- A V, Q , ., ' '.,. i IW ' 'l lf -- '. ' Q I, mm- I ,J 55.1, Nvvvii imvfxi ,P ' - .1 fiiiiili ill f :ww .r , I -SJW 4, 'f,..,f,j, Ji, WV, !Yj1,Ei,f,,!w,,xw, , - L'f'll'l ',f'filn 4. .1 'ma a W , ,Ml 'wldriili 1 '- 1 m.yp,,g .ig , i 1' ,, 5'- in, ll ff ,ff-. e 1 lgfzlliif! ei. F ri- 1 i . x X ir S 3 af 5.5 Pg, X .1 ' v o if i . X' 1 r Y i +- v 3' ' ff Vi . .3 . X 7,4 v..w,,if3Q4, A .1-lf E . I Ai Pvt gif- f r 1f' 5 ' 1 LTU i - f I J wifi' pggkf -e Q .K 1 ,LM . g In lb, , I ' V La. X New Q 1 .1-A? -V Y Eu iii-elsif .T J s if ' l , ' , rw- ' ,' QL, ip' ,L 4389, ' '3 '?47iga:r.a, early 1943 had been costly months for Ameri- can aircraft and carriers in the far-Hung Pacific, where inferior forces were meeting around-the-clock schedules in stemming a Nippon tide that threatened to engulf nearly half of the world. One day before leaving Jacksonville Commander Bill met a battle- wise lieutenant who at the time was an in- structor at Jacksonville, Lieutenant Scott lVIcCuskey Qnow Lieutenant Commanderi. After several hours and much conversation, Commander Collins had persuaded lVlcCuskey to join Fighting Eight, a task that wasn't too difficult in view of lVIcCuskey's checkered

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AIR GROUP EIGHT .K Z HQ JA, ,mL.t..e...,. .. . 2-it-sw.. ..-W ...MJ - X J N--g...e,,..- ,.... M- x , ,. Li A -1.,.,.e, A. .,,,,-f 1 5 g ft 9 g ,' i 5 l ., if a ,ig I 1 1,53 J' X'-if 2 X ,fl 1 I- 1 ' ,f I K S, f! Masterl performances etch: their combat career The missions Q' Air Group Eight earriea' squadrons swy'tly across the Paeihe, age .the Yap Fleet ana' into the Philippines. can-nnaumunmmn.-x-vasanwm,-g2.u.mv-Q., mumuwvwaumxmmuuvffmavmhunyf-aw-ae.7ive-.f.rw-,,-,-f.q-.1g1..s.- ommander Andrew lVlcB. Jackson J USN, aeronautical engineer and vet- eran of duty in Scouting and Fight- ing squadrons, moved from the Fighter desk of BuAer to become Commander, Air Group Eight upon its commissioning in June, 1943. With his squadron skippers, he paced the Group through its intensive train- ing and fiew it aboard as a highly polished team. He led it personally on ten combat missions before being promoted to ship's Navigator, when he turned over the command to the erstwhile Bombing Eight skipper, Com- mander Ralph L. Shirley, USN. A precision flyer whose wingman vowed he kn Commander Shifley leld the Group through most of its long tour f d o uty, always was found where the going was tou hest and g the anti-aircraft fire the hottest. ew no fear, 202 1 4

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I e 4 is i I il l l l 5 career as a Wildcat pilot and Jap-killer par excellence. It wasn't long before Fighting Eight looked like the beginning of a squadron of aces. Lieutenant Ron Hoel Know Lieutenant Com- manderj, also hand-picked by Commander Collins because of his varied experience as a pilot and his obvious qualities of leadership, became Executive Ofllcer of the outfit. Fol- lowing Hoel came other veterans, including Lieutenant Howard J. Boydstun, Lieutenant Edward L. F eightner, Lieutenant Donald F. Cronin, Lieutenant Lloyd P. Heinzen, and Lieutenant Robert A. Hobbs, all veterans of Fighting Ten, the famous Sundowners squadron on Guadalcanal. There were also instructors who joined the ranks of Fighting Eight and the remainder of the squadron complement was filled out with new ensigns from graduating classes at Pensacola, Corpus Christi and Jacksonville. Veterans and recruits, Fighting Eight be- came a bona fide unit on June 1, 1943, at Norfolk, Virginia. From there out it was Pungo Point, a training field located near Virginia Beach. Daily schedules called for eight-and up-hours of flying per day, and simulated attack sweeps covered Eastern Vir- ginia, stretched into North Carolina, and occasionally gave Bermuda a damn good scare. Perhaps most lasting of the nostalgic attach- ments held by Fighting Eight was the social side of their highly business-like life. Week- end parties covered Virginia Beach like an American pup tent would cover a Jap soldier, social expeditionary forces ranged as far afield as Washington, D. C., where at least one- third of the Capitol's three million office sec- retaries were influenced in one way or another by Fighting Eight's ambassadors of good nature. Not one of the Hghter pilots will forget the parties conjured up by the Skipper: the eats and drinks, the company and the music were unforgettable. It was during the off-hours that the squadron took on a per- sonality, evolved its characters, and accum- ulated a wealth of material for reminiscing during the long days and short nights of a Pacific war. , . . And then they went to sea. October, the skies were blue, and the trees at Pungd formed myriad patterns of Au tumn color. They took their cruise boxes, the charts and squad- ron supplies, their personal baggage aboard a sister ship of the Bunker Hill. Fighting Eight had gone to sea, and for the next month they went through that period of carrier training known as Shakedown, Simulated attacks on the ship, friendly dogfights overhead, and precision-made interceptions of attacking forces. They flew until the sight of a landing signals officer made them dizzy, they exer- cised until the sound of Pratt-Witney en- gines became as hum-drum as trafllc noises on Times Square. It was all part of a Navy fighter pilot's training , . . ,-fr' If vibe- ff -ffjii.g...f-g,igi---' 553- 3 if -wv'i--iZfif'i,f-fa-riff ,-fl' Fighting Eight reached the Pacific in late Autumn of 1943. Unavoidable delays helfi them at bay until Spring, when at an Ameri- can Naval Base they joined U.S.S. Bunker Hill. Within a matter of a few days after they came to this ship, their Hellcats Were roaring over enemy territory, carrying the fight for control of the Pacific skies to the very backyard of Tojo's airmen. TIICY wrecked land installations in the Palau gr011P,