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24 aircraft serving with VF-3 at Midway?
According to the book "No Higher Honor" Dibb was flying fighter No.23
A stirring quote from that book:
Finally, as Thach looked toward a Zero against which he was maneuvering, he saw a glint from the sun out of the corner of his eye. It was the Yorktown Dauntlesses starting their dives on the Soryu, eight miles away.
"It looked like a beautiful waterfall, sliver waterfall, those dive bombers coming down." he recalled. A short time later the Zeros slacked off, and Thach looked around at the sea for the frist time. Three carriers, the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu were in flames
According to the book "No Higher Honor" Dibb was flying fighter No.23
A stirring quote from that book:
Finally, as Thach looked toward a Zero against which he was maneuvering, he saw a glint from the sun out of the corner of his eye. It was the Yorktown Dauntlesses starting their dives on the Soryu, eight miles away.
"It looked like a beautiful waterfall, sliver waterfall, those dive bombers coming down." he recalled. A short time later the Zeros slacked off, and Thach looked around at the sea for the frist time. Three carriers, the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu were in flames
Well just found this via the NNAM. Looks like Thach flew the same aircraft on both missions that fateful June day. Now this throws everything on its head. 5171 was #1. So then Dibb was flying #23 and most published works of recent are incorrect. I'll take Thach's logbook as the most trusted source in this case. Thanks for the help.
Awesome! But why does Thach's logbook say 5171 for both flights? Last minute change?
Because just like everyone else from VF-3 & VF-42 (and, I suppose survivors of VB-3, VB-5 & VT-3) the post Midway log books were built from memory, that is re-constituted. All the original log books went down with the ship, including Thach's.
In reconstituting his, my father, with an assist from other VF-42 survivors was able to reach back to the beginning of May 1942, recording missions/flights in which others participated and a general idea of the time for each. His total hours up to 30 April 1942, 635.3, was already a matter of record from a squadron report submitted on 1 May . . . there was a copy ashore at MCAS Ewa where the rump squadron HQ was located. Anyway, he starts what is clearly labeled a Logbook #2 , on 4 May 1942, but since neither he nor anyone else was sure of BNs there is no entry in that column. The May page includes combat flights during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Last two entries for May, one sans a BN were a F4F-4 familiarization flight (0.8 hours) on 29 June and a 2.2 hour flight in BN 5244 (and here I'll really confuse you), F-26 from NAS Kaneohe to USS Yorktown at sea. June 1942 only shows but seven flights. Three were on the 4th, a total of 6.2 hours all in BN 5244 (F-13); one on the 5th of 3.2 hours also in BN 5244; one on the 6th, 2.3 hours, evidently in a different plane as the BN is not recorded; another 3.2 hour flight on the 9th with no BN recorded; and, lastly in BN 5244 a 2.9 hour flight from Hornet to Ewa. Point being, they recorded what they knew. I'd suggest that Thach had no idea of F-23's BN so sitting there at NAS Kaneohe after returning, he simply used the BN of his surviving mount.
My father was the VF-3/VF-42 XO. In that capacity he declared Thach's mount from the morning strike escort, BN 5093 (F-23) to be too shot up for further flight until totally repaired. Fortunately, aboard, ready to go, fully gassed, unscathed, and up until then unused, was Thach's nominally assigned BN 5171 (F-1); this was the plane Thach flew in the CAP scramble against the B5N attack. If you look a photos Yorktown stopped after the torpedo hit you can clearly see F-23 parked, wings folded near the island. Oh, and all this F-this and F-that, VF-3 used only numeric identifiers, no "F". And to eliminate confusion BN 5244 was originally F-26, but after Don Lovelace was killed in BN 5146, the original F-13, my father, the senior of the VF-42 contingent and next senior in the squadron became XO. Unbeknownst to him, the VF maintenance folks, VF-42 to a man, hearing of the change, struck his plane BN 5244 and his wingman, Johnnie Adams', plane below and painted on new side numbers, 13 and 14. So BN 5244 went from 26 to 13 and BN 4245 went from 27 to 14. That is how they appeared the next morning. There was, indeed, a pecking order of where in the numbering one might appear. Side numbers for XOs were generally as close to the middle of the numbering as possible . . . makes sense when you think about it.
My father did not see Thach again until one day in early October 1944 Thach shows up at ComFAirWest and tells John Crommelin he's stealing his director of VF training, my father, to be his assistant Ops Officer in TF-38, VAdm McCain's staff. Just when Dad was beginning to enjoy flying the Aleutian Zero on a regular basis.
NNAM is the National Museum of Naval Aviation
Thank You very much.#5 is Richard G Crommelin. #6 well I'm going to think about that.
Thank You very much again.Taking trusty magnifier in hand and a squadron photo of VF-3/8/42 aboard Hornet, it appears to me that the mystery aviator is Dan Sheedy of VF-3.