Shangri La (CV 38) - Naval Cruise Book

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Ship and plane bombardment - Okinawa. ising more misery for the Japanese ere many strikes left his late command's decks. Swinging north after strikes on Okinawa, in support of hard-pressed ground troops, Task Force 38 steamed through fog off Okinawa to a fueling rendezvous in preparation for strikes against Kyushu, southernmost of the home islands. The Shangrz'-La's Hrst strike against Kyushu airfnelds met with fierce and experi- enced enemy patrols. Hitting airflelds at Kagoshima, Chiran, and Izumi, the returning planes spotted two downed Yorktown planes off lbusuki. Orbiting above the fallen flyers, they were jumped by twenty or thirty Jap planes manned by top enemy pilots.

Page 48 text:

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Native tombs after bombing - Okinawa. During the dogfight seven Corsair pilots were downed or suffered such severe damage that they Were unable to return to the ship. One pilot Was rescued by searching destroyers while another F4U made it back to the ship in a plane so riddled it had to be stripped and jettisoned. Air Group 85 knocked down one Jack, one Tojo, and one Oscar for a very uneven score on the first strike day, June Z, l945. Returning with a vengeance at sunrise the following morning, twenty-four planes from Air Group 85 found about thirty Jap fighters Waiting over the target, Chiran Airfield. The Japs dove through a cloud layer at 22,000 feet to open the melee which was fought over enemy airields with enemy ack-ack