Dave Goessling
Airman
I recently learned that my (long deceased) uncle was a mechanic on Corsairs assigned to VMF 322 in Okinawa. I'm trying to learn some more about his unit and its actions. There's a Wikipedia page about it:
But it doesn't have much detail about its activities. It does say this:
This unit history says that ship was an LST:
I found a few other pages that said the unit was primarily engaged in defending other ships against kamikaze attacks, and later bombing the Japanese mainland.
This interesting page is about a Ki-61 that the unit captured and flew on Okinawa.
I'd like to model one of this units Corsairs. The few photos I've found show a simple all-blue scheme with simple ID number and a painted nose.
Some sources show the nose as white, some as yellow. Thoughts?
Can anyone help me learn more about the unit? Thanks in advance for any info.
But it doesn't have much detail about its activities. It does say this:
"The squadron was part of the Battle of Okinawa and on 3 April 1945, over 150 of its members were killed when its lead support element was struck by a Kamikaze. "
There's a family legend that my uncle was on that ship and of course survived. This unit history says that ship was an LST:
I found a few other pages that said the unit was primarily engaged in defending other ships against kamikaze attacks, and later bombing the Japanese mainland.
This interesting page is about a Ki-61 that the unit captured and flew on Okinawa.
I'd like to model one of this units Corsairs. The few photos I've found show a simple all-blue scheme with simple ID number and a painted nose.
Some sources show the nose as white, some as yellow. Thoughts?
Can anyone help me learn more about the unit? Thanks in advance for any info.