Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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torpedo attacks on windmills, swooping down over the rolling prairie, and sweated out nav- igation problems to Grand Coulee and Spo- kane. Spring verged on Summer when the Squad- ron began to pack away the endless gear and prepared to move again. On 30 May the ma- jority of officers and men piled aboard a train and settled themselves for the long ride south to the Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Holtville, Calif. Twenty-one of the pilots manned the planes and lifted away in the still morning air, leaving Pasco behind, a memory, pleasant and fresh. Through the Columbia Gorge, then south past the mountains and marshlands of Oregon into California. Down the Hat valley past Sacramento they swept, dipped low like so many pigeons and alighted at Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco. The next morning they were off again. A gassing stop at San Diego, then inland over the coastal mountains where Holtville greeted them with a blast of heat. Elsewhere in the world night is meant for sleep. Not at Holtville. When dusk cast long shadows over the desert, men began to stir and engines roared. Night tactics, night bombing, night gunnery, until every pilot felt at home in the black loneliness that comes high above the earth after dark. They wore shorts andbaseball caps and acquired deep tans from the burning sun. The torpedo pilots moved over to Salton Sea for five days and learned to hit with rockets while the fighters took a brief rest. The landing signal officers appeared and lost no time in making themselves known. Day after day they stood in the run- ways and moved the bright little paddles until their arms were leaden and their eyes achec.. But the efforts told as approaches became surer and more precise. It was not in the Squad- ronjs blood to stay in one place too long, and itchy feet soon found solace when on I4 July Holtville was evacuated and the trek made to Brown Field, perched high atop Ctay Mesa overlooking San Diego. Brown Field was regarded as a final buffing plant for Squadrons about to go aboard a carrier for combat duty, and excitement ran high, for few in VC 85 had ever served aboard ship. Training was devoted to carrier tactics, breakups, and landings. Frequently VC 85 teamed up with her sister squadrons in ffgroup gropesf' and attacked coastal areas in sim- ulated beach assaults or flew out for the fre- 145 quent invasions of San Clemente Island, sixty miles westward from North Island. The lighter pilots moved en masse to the craggy held on that island for a final week of gunnery drill, but, beset by a low and persistent blanket of fog, they had to content themselves with lively games of baseball on the taxi strip. I Top: Flight deck being respotted with aid of tractors, renin: The uOld lN4an', briefs squadron in ready room, below: Avenger engine being given check on flight deck.

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.AX lillllllt' STORY UI' Yti H3 QBy lat. lYillit1111 ll. liettrns. USNR. Nltttttlroii .Xir Lfoinbgtt lntelligenee Ullieeixl Cold and giuiy. the dgnyii ol' 12 xl1111t1g11'y 11111 found 21 light rain slirouding the builtliiigs gintl I'llllXN'ilyS ol' the Naygil .Xir Station. Seattle. Neither the ehill nor the lltlling min were 1111- usual: yet o11 that inorning. Ll group ol' lllt'll arose who were to be joined by Ll Vtllllllltlll txntse into a eon11no11 body and they alone. pt-rltgtps. felt the presence of the hour. Clad i11 blues. with gray gloves. they drifted to lmltiiigttr No. ig: i11 groups. talking ol' tl1e liutttre and ol the sexi. The eomniissioning CCl'CI11OI1y was brief. .X bundled up Lieutenant ciO1l'lIHLlIlClL'l' read the Squadron orders. Nobody heztrd hiin. tiny- wayg his yoiee was lost in the 1'o111' ol' ll 'llilf turning up o11 tl1e apron. It CllCll1il llllllll'l'. They were liOl'I'UCCl, united: they were now members of Composite Sqtttidron 83. insteqid of nameless souls lost in tt llight pool. lioin that cltiy Ull the work be xx ith its lt1x111'io11stltigtrtersaiid t'2ig3fnlifCS:31iE3ii only to l111'11isl1 the planes and equipment ililll'll, on -to .l.lIlll4ll'y. it was left behind as the ililllus Qllltl l'f1l s l'U2ll't'f'l away in formation. dt-y1i11.11io11 l'.1s11o. Wtisliiiigtoii. Barremwindz sxxelil l'11st11 ttitlltl well lit' l't'g2lI'ClCd as the base tl1.1t tlitl the most lor tl1e Squadron. Ag the tlgtys l'llllllllt'll past, eoiirdiiiation matured with eyery tlitihtg unity and precision came to be the l'lllt' instegicl ol' the exeeption. The old l9-1l 's lowly oll' tltiy by tlany to praetiee gunnery, .Xt lirst, the sleexes equine bztelt with scarcely 3 bullet hole to intliegtte that they l1ad been under lire. but, as the xyeelts lengthened into months, Qlt't'lll'Lll'y klllllllltll :incl sleeves became riddled and torn to the delight of the fighter pilots, Meqiiixxliile. the torpedo planes l1ad not been idle. lXletl1ocliet1lly. they were loaded with waiter-lilletl boinbs :ind set o11t to practice Ulitle boinbing. The pilots made simulated 5 lldfll' l ifhtz1- Jl,H'1l nfygf, UV!! ' f' L1 7 l ' ' ' IH lrtrr' W. N 1 , . 1 I!'l' emslig l,,.f,,,,,. 'II' I I urelr: Sl.d-l'l!lS by wftitintg fm. fmllwl dwk 'U 'H' lylrylllmlb initio hifi yt., mn, Mk' E A HM' .UNA hmm, Mvimion mmm pull from 'fS'1 'e axmlill 'll US- I '1' 1 :lit ilirtk 111 Xu nut in llliihl - . 1 ' 11' 1 lv ' l

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Fox Flag two-blocked for recovering planes. t X tht N VH li M0111 to August was barely a week old when the order came to embark OD the USS. .lI11lt'f1.s1w11' .S'l1'111'f.s CCVE gil for carrier qualifications. With pounding hearts the ofliecrs and men thutnped up the gangway and watched the planes hoisted aboard, one by one. This was it! For the next eight days the ship ehased weather and qualifications were run ofl' when the eeiling lifted. Learning the ways of a ship. the men began to talk like veterans and spoke easually of Hthe bcachfi although that word had never before been associated with shore life. Onee back at Brown Field they walked with a new lift and looked haughtily at green pilots who had yet to qualify. The Squadron then left Brown Field and settled at the Naval Air Station, San Diego, on North Island. For nine days the pilots en- gaged in maneuvers and praetieed bounee drill. On the tenth day they climbed into the planes and taxied in a long, winding queue to Pier 'CFOXM to join forces with the USS. Lunga Pain! CCVE Qzll, their ship and their new home. It was an auspicious occasion that night when Captain Washburn strode into the ready room and welcomed them aboard. If there was ever a feeling of strangeness it was dissipated then. They belonged. That cruise lasted ten days. It was followed by two others as the ship and the Squadron practiced teamwork, strove for precision. lie- tween disembarking and embarking, the men made the most of their waning moments in the States. The Squadron received new planes, shiny with paint and throbbing with power. Good-byes were said and re-said until finally the word came to shove off for duty with the Pacific Fleet.