Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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.

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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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Q15 ' 5 ?5 1 I I v l 1 i i . longest, the most monotonous. But at that time, the horizon was rosy. It was seven days .to Pearl. Seven days of simulated attacks and grand weather. The islands broke from the horizon the morning of 23 Qctober, green and wreathed in clouds. It was nearly every- body's Hrst view of Hawaii, and it made a strong impression. The ship slid into the harbor and tied up. There followed two days of liberty, during which souvenirs were bought and sent homeward. Then CarDiv QQ cast off again and set course for the vast reaches to the west. Eniwetok provided the initial view of a battle Held with its denuded palm trees. It was a short look and was quickly replaced by the end- less horizon of the sea as the ship and her im- patient crew sped on. Ulithi, but a few weeks an American base, provided the next anchor- age. Here the Squadron first realized the grimness of war, as mines, torn from their moorings by heavy weather, began exploding on protecting reefs and were found drifting be- tween the ships, necessitating a machine gun and searchlight watch. Kossol Passage in the Palau Islands was where the ship and VC 85 were given their first assignment, providing air coverage for convoys approaching and depart- ing Leyte Gulf. In the light of later develop- ments this was a tame job, but it looked big then. The convoys were guarded with the Fighter races down deck on fly-away. zeal of a hen protecting her young. Cn the rare occasions when one of the patrols caught a glimpse of Jap-held Mindanao, it was re-told in the ready room as a major occurrence. These days, though they were dull and un- eventful, broke the Squadron in gradually to the complications of combat flying and sharp- ened carrier operations to the point -where few faults could be found. The days crept slowly past and on 23 November CarDiv 29 was re- lieved and set course for the Admiralty Islands. What happened next is a chapter many would prefer to forget. It was painful. Be- Avenger ready for catapulting into the sunrise.