First Team And The Guadalcanal Campaign : Naval Fighter Combat From August To November 1942

794 Pages·2013·12.43 MB·English

by  Lundstrom

The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign
The First Team
and the
Guadalcanal Campaign
Naval Fighter Combat from August to
November 1942
JOHN B. LUNDSTROM
NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS · ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
This book has been brought to publication
with the generous assistance of Edward S. and Joyce I. Miller.
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
©1994 by the United States Naval Institute All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or
by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
First Naval Institute Press paperback edition, 2005
ISBN 978-1-61251-165-8
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Lundstrom, John B.
The first team and the Guadalcanal campaign : naval fighter combat from August to November, 1942 /
John B. Lundstrom.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographic references and index.
1. World War, 1939–1945—Aerial operations, American. 2. World War, 1939–Naval operations,
American. 3. Guadalcanal Island (Solomon Islands), Battle of, 1942–1943. I. Title.
D790.L79 1993
940.54′4923—dc20
93-8184
16 15 14 13 12 11 9 8 7 6 5 4
To Sandy and Rachel, who make it all possible
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Special Note
Abbreviations and Special Terms
PART I Amphibious Offensive
1 The New Mission
2 South to Guadalcanal
3 “Sock ’em in the Solomons!”
4 D plus One
5 The Waiting Game
PART II Battle of the Eastern Solomons
6 Sinking the Ryūjō
7 Riposte—The Kidō Butai Attack on Task Force 61
8 Mutual Retreat
9 “Let’s not let this offensive die on the vine”
PART III Fighting Five at CACTUS
10 The Japanese Offensive
11 The Loss of the Wasp
12 The Lull
13 The Attacks Resume
14 “Doggone ball of weather”: The Hornet’s Bougainville Raid
15 Sparring with the Tokyo Express
16 CACTUS in Peril
PART IV The Battle of Santa Cruz
17 The “Hottest Potato”
18 The Big October Offensive Unfolds
19 Pounding the Shōkaku and Zuihō
20 “Hornet hurt”
21 “The Big E” Survives
22 Defeat and Retreat
PART V The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
23 Holding the SoPac Line
24 The Death of the Hiei
25 “A dive and torpedo bombers’ paradise”
26 Mopping Up
Conclusion
Appendixes
1 The Significance of the Captured Zero
2 List of U.S. Navy Fighter Pilots
3 Bureau Numbers of Fighter Aircraft
4 Fighting Colors, Insignia, and Markings
5 Fighting Five Nonflying Personnel
Notes
Sources
Index
Foreword
John B. Lundstrom’s First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign is an
enthralling, well-documented, nonjudgmental sequel to The First Team. Like his
initial volume, it presents in intimate detail the intense, punishing combat action
as it occurred, offering valuable insights into those difficult early flattop
engagements in support of our tenuous foothold on Guadalcanal.
One of the most fascinating chapters of the carrier war in the Pacific was the
magnificent exploits of a small number of naval aviators who played a vital role
in helping bring to a standstill the powerful Japanese thrust in the southern
Solomons. Orphaned by costly carrier sea battles, including the sinking of the
Wasp and Hornet and battering of the Enterprise, these much-needed fliers and
their aircraft were gratefully welcomed ashore to operate alongside their Marine
and Army Air counterparts from a rough-and-ready jungle airfield located
precariously near the front lines on Guadalcanal. They provided a terrific boost
to the beleaguered shore-based contingents holding the line. After a crucial
three-month series of bitter, retaliatory air battles, this CACTUS Air Force
succeeded; a determined enemy was forced to abandon its plans to retake
Guadalcanal.
Because our air and ground efforts were defensive in nature, it is difficult to
assess fairly the general progress of our carrier operations during this period.
They had little going for them, but this special breed swallowed hard and made
sure that it would be enough to stem the tide until America’s industrial might
made possible the scheduled 1943 phase-in of the new Essex- and Independence-
class carriers with their improved fighter aircraft. Many of our imaginations
were captured by the impressive enemy plane tallies compiled by shore-based
Marine fighter pilots Joe Foss, John Smith, Bob Galer, and Marion Carl at
Guadalcanal. It seems fitting to note also that with a little more ammo and alert
fighter help “Swede” Vejtasa, one of VF-10’s unsung heroes, might have run his
score to an even dozen in one day off the “Big E” at the Battle of Santa Cruz,
instead of having to settle for only a “miserly” seven on that one flight.
Realizing that statistics do not always tell the whole story in regard to the
loss ratio in fighter-to-fighter combat, it would be prudent to recognize that in
most of our early engagements our fighters were outnumbered. Battle losses
tended to even out by the end of 1942, when the availability of fighter aircraft on
our side improved substantially. As regards the change of quality of naval carrier
pilots, Japan’s pilot training program did not meet its mass-production
requirements. When the war began, their pilots were trained to a high degree of
combat efficiency. But after heavy attrition and the destruction of the best carrier
squadrons, there were insufficient quality replacements to remain combat ready.
Japanese carrier aviation never seemed to recover from the heavy casualties
suffered in 1942. This produced a new uncertainty in subsequent aerial combat,
of course: not knowing if one was going to face a wily veteran or a raw recruit.
Many lessons were learned from the experiences of the First Team in the
early days of the war. With the distinct advantage of a dominant fighter aircraft,
those of us who followed in Hellcats and Corsairs had all the confidence in the
world to fly “aggressive-smart” against a highly dedicated enemy. Our First
Team predecessors—with special credit to our fighter leaders, Jimmy Thach,
Jimmy Flatley, and “Butch” O’Hare—have earned our heartfelt thanks.
Cdr. Alex Vraciu, USN (Ret.)