September 2nd, 1944
No hop for VB. VT has ASP at the present we are refueling all ships at sea.
September 3rd, 4th, 5th
Sent out an ASP VB sent out 12 VBs, 16 VFs, 6 VFBs, 9 VTs strike on ship
All landed safely. I had 2 ASPs and flew the new plane for 1 hr.
D - 9
September 6th, 1944
Got briefed for Pellilu Islands in the Palau group. 36 VFs, 12 VBs and 10
VTs will go out at 1500. I'm not scheduled until 0630.
September 7th
Sent 5 strikes over Pellilu, I had #1, bombed and strafed barracks and air
field. Plenty of small caliber AA. All returned safely - Cmdr Mini is leading
the strike.
VFB. The crew of one FBF got out OL. One man of the other TBF bailed out
and was rescued. The other two went in and so did Kramer of VFB - (he used
to be a bomber pilot)
September 8th
sent out a Strikes on At 06:30. ASP strike at -7 At 12:45 I had the second
strike on Palau. All VBs landed safely. We lost two TBFs and one
September 9th (my mother's birthday)
We are over the Philippine area. We'll have the 2nd hop on Mindinao. 600
planes at Mindinao It is a highly mountainous place. Some winding rivers
and swamps. Lot of native villages and they were signaling us with fires.
The Japs have a lot of shipping there. Target is about 120 miles from the
coast. We took off at 0900 and landed at 1230 Out target was airfields but
we caught large tankers in the harbor. The leader and my pilot got hits on
them. One blew up and the other didn't sink but the Japs beached it.
Japs are trying to arm Mindinao to stop invasion. A convoy of ammunition
ships was attacked and some blew up while our cruisers and tin cans came
after them. No anti aircraft fire but there were enemy planes in the raid.
Flew over Del Monte - lots of plantations and native canoes, pineapples and
jute. Our fighters caught hell from Jap fighters and shot down 6 Zekes. Also
a large Maves Flying Boat.
Altogether we sent out 4 strikes. Again I have the 1st hop at 0600. Target
airfields (over 60 miles North zone. One large Jap transport was shot down
by our fighters. Altogether we are sending out 4 strikes on Mindinao. J.
Mathews and Bob Krueger made a water landing off our starboard beam. Outside
of that all planes returned and landed aboard. One fighter went down.
September 10th
Took off at 0600 -raining hard and the air was rough. Timed take off to go
when flight deck is on way up. About a mile from Mindinao we caught fire
in our bomb bays. We dropped out bombs and returned to the ship at about
0830. It was electrical. Only 6 planes took off on 2nd hop. We are landing
planes at the present. Rough seas 30' to 40' waves.
September 11th
The task group is refueling. ASP at 1230. 5 bombers, 5 fighters. Tomorrow
we were scheduled to Mindinao but the targets there weren't suitable so we
will go north and hit the islands of Cebu Negros and Nikayan. We are to be
briefed right now.
September 12th
We sent 3 strikes over Cebu. I had the first one. Cebu has a lot of oil
refineries and a large airfield. We stirred a lot of Zekes and Oscars. I
saw a few at least 4 get flamed and one of our VB gunners got one. I had
one make a run on me but he over shot us and we used dive flaps to slow us
up - whew. Did shoot at an Oscar on 3 different runs and a VF finally got
him. Lt. Riggs shot down 6, McCampbell got 4 more and a couple of other guys
got many more. 27 all totaled.
There was AA but not much. Many ships were sunk. My pilot got a direct his
on an oil refinery burning furiously. We did more damage today than ever
before. We lost 2 TBFs and 2 VFs. The last strike is still up. The islands
are very pretty. All of the bombers returned safely. We had bogies on the
radar all night. At GQ all night as Jap night fighters tried to catch us.
Our fighters got 8 more.
September 13th
We went out our first strike 0600. I have the 4th strike today, again airfield
and ships target.. Lost one VB. Lt. Downey and Golden got hit by AA. Lost
one gunner-Duncan dead in rear seat hit by a 20 mm shell.
September 14th
Burial at sea for Duncan. Sad! No strikes through 19th. Sept. 20th will strike
Manila.
September 20th
No strikes but we are on our way to Manila. We will send 4 strikes over Manila
starting at 0600 with VF sweep. They have a lot of warships and large wharfs
in Manila Bay. 8 CAS 9 CLs 2 BBs also a lot of DDs. About 50 cargo ships
also the airfields are 6500 feet long and are concrete. Over 500 planes on
fields. Nichols and Clark Fields are the targets. The anti aircraft fire
is heavy and intense. We dropped window in order to foul up their radar control
with their AA guns. Must watch our low pullouts - also smudge pots to hide
hangers.
September 21, 1944
We sent two strikes over Manila. I have 2nd and 4th. Back later (I hope).
Had both hops and AA was heavy. All VBs, VFs, VTs returned safely. We sent
off another strike at 1330. Another one goes up at 1430. The two remaining
strikes all returned safely. Spotted a large convoy of large AOs (oiler)
and AKs (cargo ship), - VT and VB went after them and carried fish and depth
charges. Tomorrow they have the same scheduled. We now have 96 strikes.
September 22nd
We sent 2 strikes over Manila. I had 2nd at 0800. Hit wharfs in harbor -
lot of smoke and AA. Heading away from Manila as a typhoon is headed there.
September 23rd
Still had to fly ASP at 0545. Seas very rough and landing is tricky. Have
to catch cut on up swing of flight deck. My pilot flew but another spare
gunner flew in my place. We are headed away from the Phillippines.
September 24th
We sent 4 strikes to Coron which was about 350 miles away. The next strike
went to Cebu and the third strike went to Cebu. All planes returned except
one fighter. Lt. Gaver who was a bomber pilot went in. We now have 101 strikes.
Will re-bomb and heaven knows what's next. I flew extra hop with Lt. Turner
- got a hit on a large pier. I flew back 1 ½ hour.
September 25th
VT has ASP and that is all. All planes returned safely. At GQ all night.
Sent up night fighters as Japs have Float planes that are all around us.
The islands are continuously under attack by troops and ships. BBs and CVs
are shelling the Japs - like the 4th of July. All landed safely.
September 26th
No hops for VBs. Pulled out each night as subs are in area - also midget
subs. Saw a few movies. Next operation is not known to air group. We had
a lone Jap plane high above the task force and the whole fleet shot at it
but it just flew around and looked us over. It finally got a way. At Manila
the Japs put up barrage balloons to ward off strafing attacks. They also
had smudge pots to smoke out the fields and planes.
Manila Bay was completely covered with an oil slick. 35 ships were sunk.
AG 15 sunk, 7 large AK and 1 destroyer. We sent two strikes after another
convoy at Coron. They carried wing tasks with 100 pound bombs in the bomb
bay. Two destroyers were sunk and a cruiser was badly damaged.
Hit and run on Nansei Slioto Islands. Refuel the 11th then two days at Formosa
- 8 strikes unless we sight Jap fleet. Halsey is really looking for it. No
dope on AA at Formosa. 13,000,000 people settled on Formosa. Large hydro
electric plant - 3 dams - large railroads - large and highly protected air
fields.
September 27th
We pulled into the northern coral reef at Palau and dropped anchor at 07:32.
The troops are still fighting on the islands and we can see the islands way
off our port quarter. Within the next four days we'll know where we will
be going. Various nights we pulled out of the atoll because a sub was only
9 miles away. We saw a few movies.
September 30th
We pulled out of Palau at 07:30 and are at sea at the time I'm writing this.
We have no idea what our next operation will be.
Miscellaneous:
We captured Saipan in 25 days. We captured Tinian August 1st.
Guam is progressing rapidly. We have captured Orote Pennisula and the air
stip. We are still sending air support over there. Guam was captured in 22
days but there is still fighting going on.
Palau Group. Augnar was taken by the 81st division army. Pelkui was taken
by the Marines with very hard fighting. Babbletramp has 26000 Jap troops
on it at present. The Japs are sending float planes to harass our troops
on Pelelui.
Air Group 9 had 36 strikes after 9 months of combat time
Air Group 15 has 120 strikes up to Sept. 22. Sept. 30. Still not definite
as to where we will go. Possibles - Mindinoa (invasion), Yap (invasion) -
back to Manila. Final strikes about 250.
