Category Archives: USAF

One part of Louisiana is always Chennault’s

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The University of Louisiana Monroe has released an updated Brand Guide, which focuses on realigning the ULM brand with the story of the P-40 Warhawk aircraft, and in particular, those flown by the AVG and its later 23rd Fighter Group in WWII.

Of note, the U.S. military has granted ULM special permission to use a variation of the circa 1941 “meatball” roundel in ULM colors in perpetuity.

As noted by the school:

The new edition of the ULM Brand Guide introduces several new visual assets inspired by the P-40 Warhawk, the plane flown by General Claire Lee Chennault’s Flying Tigers of the American Volunteer Group in the Second Sino-Japanese War in China prior to WWII. Chennault is a Northeast Louisiana native whose connection to the area was a contributing factor to ULM selecting “Warhawks” as its new mascot in 2006.

Suitably, the Tigers of the AVG, though they flew for Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT, which lost its mainland China privileges in 1949, are still celebrated there, where the Liuzhou Military Museum has on exhibition more than 1,000 artifacts, from flight suits and arm patches to letters and diaries, honoring those men.

Fitting that Chennault said later in life:

It is my fondest hope that the sign of the Flying Tiger will remain aloft just as long as it is needed and that it will always be remembered on both shores of the Pacific as the symbol of two great peoples working toward a common goal in war and peace.

Claire Chennault, “Flying Tiger” P-40B Warhawk, Artist: Darrell Lum. USAF DF-SC-84-04112

WWII echoes

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I love passing by the Trent Lott Gulfport Combat Readiness Center, which houses various Guard and Air Guard units, just outside the municipal airport from which I often fly out.

It is a historic base, with the Guard’s AVCRAD unit having a great display of an AH-1S Cobra, OH-58A, and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior on pedestals. That part of the base, besides lots of use in the recent sandbox wars, was a training area for the helicopter crews of Eagle Claw back in 1979.

Moving past the Guard area to the Air Guard portion, the old 200×80-foot circa 1942 Army Air Corps hangar, which has recently been restored, features an early WWII U.S. “meatball” roundel.

Back during WWII, Gulfport Army Airfield trained ground crews on B-17s, B-24s, B-26s, and B-29s.

It became a primer of sorts for units headed to the South Pacific. If they could endure the 95-degree/95-percent humidity/95-percent chance of rain/Hurricane inbound days that is the Mississippi Gulf South summer, odds were they would do Okay in New Guinea or the Solomon Islands.

It lived on into the Cold War as the Gulfport Air Force Base until 1957, continuing as a Guard base.

And, true to form, the hangar had a group of visiting F-35s aboard, likely from Eglin.

The DOD’s 1981 Handgun Holdings

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According to the House Subcommittee on Investigations at the time, in July 1981, there were 412,339 .45 caliber pistols and 127,745 .38 caliber revolvers in the inventories of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

The last procurement of the .45 caliber pistol occurred in 1945. Since that time, the existing inventory has been maintained by rebuilding and reconditioning the worn weapons. Department of Defense witnesses testified that $1.5 million is currently budgeted for the procurement of replacement components for those handguns. They also testified that “field reports indicate that it is reaching the end of its maintainable life.”

The NYT, the previous month, gave the figure as a slightly different 418,000 .45s and 136,000 .38s, which may include guns in USCG inventory not otherwise captured by Navy figures.

As you can see in the article, even then, the Army speculated on selling the surplus guns to the public via the CMP (at the time run by the Army directly under DCM).

Of course, it would take four years before Beretta 92F became the M9 and 37 years before CMP sold the first batch of surplus 1911s to the public in 2018, but I digress.

Pretty Ponies

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80 years ago. Official wartime caption: “After a strafing mission, North American P-51 Mustangs snuggle under the wing of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress for the trip back to Iwo Jima, Bonin islands. July 1945.”

U.S. Air Force Number B67967AC. National Archives Identifier. 204834881 (B&W). Similar images in the series include 59049AC/204834866, 67967AC/204834875, and A67967AC/204834878, all of the same four-plane stack through what looks to be the same window, that of the B-29’s portside remote gunner.

The tail number of the closest fighter, 44-72864, indicates that it is a North American P-51D-25-NA and is almost surely from the 7th Fighter Command’s “Sunsetters.”

The Very Long Range escort missions flown by Iwo Jima’s P-51s– note the twin drop tanks under each of the fighters– were grueling 1,500-mile round trips escorting B-29s over Japan. They were extremely dangerous, and under arguably worse flying conditions than the 8th AF had over Germany, all things considered.

Of note:

One of the greatest limiting factors of fighter escorts from Iwo was the human factor. The B-29 was heated and pressurized. Compared to the unheated, unpressurized P-51, the bomber crews sat in secure comfort. The punishment on the fighter pilots’ bodies was compounded by the extremely high altitudes they flew to escort the bombers, usually more than 30,000 feet. This was several thousand feet higher than fighter pilots flew in Europe, escorting B-17 and B-24 bombers. The round trip from Iwo to Japan and back was nine hours, spent in a physically battered state.

While 44-72864’s service history is unknown, it probably didn’t end well.

Take a gander at the 18 closest known P-51 serials to that frame, via Baugher:

72848 (530th FS, 311th FG, 14th AF) crashed after takeoff in China while on an administration mission from Sian to Peishiyi on Sep 12, 1945. MACR 14929. Pilot killed.

72851 (457th FS, 506th FG) in a landing accident at North Field, Iwo Jima Aug 2, 1945. The pilot survived, but the aircraft was destroyed.

72860 (457th FS, 506th FG) crashed from unknown cause at North Field, Iwo Jima Aug 5, 1945. The pilot was killed and the aircraft was destroyed.

72863 (72nd FS, 21st FG) shot down by AAA N of Koriyama, Japan Aug 1, 1945. MACR 14842. The pilot bailed out but was killed.

72865 (46th FS, 21st FG) crashed on takeoff at Central Field, Iwo Jima Jul 2, 1945. The pilot survived, but the aircraft was destroyed.

72866 (78th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF) in a landing accident at South Field, Iwo Jima Jun 7, 1944. The pilot survived, the aircraft was badly damaged, and it is unknown if repaired.

72867 w/o? 16 Sep 1947. Landing accident at Johnson AB, Japan 5FG-4FS

72869 (46th FS, 21st FG) in a landing accident at Central Field, Iwo Jima Jun 26, 1945. The pilot survived, the aircraft was badly damaged, and it is unknown if repaired.

72870 w/o? 16 Sep 1946 Landing accident at Johnson AB, Japan 314CW-8PRS

72871 (46th FS, 21st FG) crashed from unknown cause 19 mi N of Iwo Jima on Jun 7, 1945. The pilot bailed out and was rescued.

72872 (45th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF) crashed 150 mi from S of Osaka, Japan due to turbulent weather on Jun 1, 1945. MACR 14641. Pilot killed.

72873 (46th FS, 21st FG) hit by AAA over Hanshin Airfield, Osaka, Japan, and crashed in Osaka Bay, Japan Aug 8, 1945. MACR 14837. Believe that he was captured and killed.

72879 (21st FG, 72nd FS) crashed into the sea during a strafing run over Arita-cho, Oki-gun, Wakayama Prefecture, Yuasa, Japan Aug 8, 1945. MACR 14841

72883 (458th FS, 506th FG) was shot down by AAA and crashed N of Mount Fujiyama, Japan Jul 8, 1945. MACR 14733. The pilot bailed out and was MIA, believed killed.

72885 (457th FS, 506th FG) crashed 360 mi from Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean due to turbulent weather on Jun 1, 1945. MACR 14634. Pilot killed.

72886 (72nd FS) 21st FG) collided in midair with P-51D 44-63969 and crashed 14 mi S of Kita Iwo Jima Jul 13, 1945. The pilot bailed out and survived, but the aircraft was destroyed.

72892 506th FG 462nd FS. Lost in a midair collision in the traffic pattern over North Field on Aug 28, 1945, with P-51D 44-72550

72893 w/o 5 Aug 1947 takeoff accident at Johnson AB, Japan 35FG-39FS

So long, Tiger

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Best known in the West as the Freedom Fighter or Tiger II in later models, the Northrop F-5 in Taiwan, the Republic of China, will always be remembered as the Tiger, a 60-year love affair that ended last week.

The first seven F-5As and two F-5Bs, shipped to Taipei under the U.S. Military Assistance Program in 1965, entered service with the RoCAF in 1965, serving as frontline air defense fighters.

This ultimately led to a force of 83 F-5A/Bs by the early 1970s (of which half were loaned to the South Vietnam Air Force and never returned, backfilled by aircraft from the USAF).

Local assembly of E and F-models began under the “Tiger Peace” Project in 1973, with Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) eventually assembling 308 aircraft domestically, making the country the world’s largest F‑5 operator with over 336 operational aircraft in 1986 when the AIDC assembly line closed.

It was the stuff of recruiting posters.

Relegated to secondary tasks after the mid-1990s as the RoCAF obtained F-16s, Mirage 2000s, and domestic AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo fighters, the F-5 E/F endured as a trainer and reserve fighter while some were converted to RF-5E Tigergazer recon aircraft.

In late 2024, the training aircraft mission was taken over by the AIDC T-BE5A Brave Eagle (an updated Ching-kuo) while Tigergazers were replaced by dedicated AN/VDS-5 (later Phoenix Eye and MS-110) recon-pod carrying “Leo Gazer” RF-16As as the last 46 F-5/RF-5 frames were cued up to withdraw from service. This capped 40 straight years of F-5E/F service with the RoCAF alone.

To commemorate the occasion of the type’s retirement, last week on 4 July, five Tigers (F-5F: 5398 and 5413, RF-5E: 5504, 5505, and 5507) took to the skies from Hualien Air Base for a last flyby over and along Taiwan’s east coast, the end of an era.

As noted eloquently by the RocAF last week:

Some voices fade away with the curtain.
Some spirits live on through the years.
The F-5E/F and RF-5E are not just the names of aircraft models,
but also the epitome of a period of the Air Force.
They have accompanied us through the forefront of combat readiness and have also entered the deepest part of the memories of the Chinese people, and are deeply rooted in the hearts of every comrade who has driven, maintained, and guided them.
Pilots guard the nation. Iron wings defend the skies.
Generations rise to protect this land.
The spirit of steel endures.

While the F-5 continues to be flown by 15 other countries, most in Latin America and Asia, as the U.S. Navy has been big on keeping F-5s in an aggressor role, with the Marines recently acquiring 22 retired F-5E/Fs from the Swiss Air Force, we may see the final RoCAF F-5s in Stateside service.

Lighting it off, CBI style

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Official period caption: Independence Day celebration at a 10th Air Force Base “somewhere in India,” 4 July 1945. Lockheed P-38 Lightnings fire their 50 cal. machine guns and 20mm cannon.

These are possibly the “Twin Dragons” of the 80th FG’s 459th Fighter Squadron (459th FS), which at the time were based at Dudhkundi, supporting operations over Burma.

(U.S. Air Force Number 62693AC. National Archives Identifier 204961221)

Stay safe out there in your own little part of America this weekend, gents.

85 Pounds of Survival

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Original caption: “Early in the morning, the pilot of the North American P-51D Mustang ‘Tamra,’ heads for his plane. He carries approximately 85 pounds of personal equipment including a parachute, lifebelt, life raft, seat, survival vest, helmet, and goggles. Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. July 1945.”

USAAF Photo 68067AC, National Archives Identifier 204982187

And from the back:

USAAF Photo 67959AC, National Archives Identifier 204982142

The pilot is identified as LT Ceil A. “Denny” Dennis of the 45th Fighter Squadron, 7th Fighter Command, 20th Air Force.

The above images were likely taken at Iwo’s South Field, where the 45th called home from March through November 1945, with most of that escorting B-29s over Japan on very long-range missions, a task that earned the squadron a Distinguished Unit Citation. These 7-8 hour flights were grueling in the cramped cockpit of the P-51, and so hard on the planes that ground crews had to change the engine’s spark plugs after every VLR to avoid fouling, as prolonged low-RPM cruising with giant drop tanks burned them out.

The history of the unit goes back to 22 November 1940, when the War Department authorized the 45th Pursuit Squadron (fighter), and it was stood up a week later as part of the new 15th Pursuit Group, Wheeler Field, Hawaii Territory.

Flying P-26 Peashooters– which they had during the attack on Pearl Harbor– the 45th remained in Hawaii on air defense tasking in P-39s and P-40s until October 1943 when, transferred to the front lines of the war in the Central Pacific, leapfrogging from Nanumea to Abermama to Makin Island. During this more offensive phase of their war, they transitioned to the P-47, and, by late 1944, had moved up to the Cadillac of the sky– the P-51.

Shuttered for six years post-war, they stood back up for Korea where they flew F-86 Sabres, then moved on to the F-100, F-84F, and F-4– which they flew in Vietnam– before downshifting to the COIN role in the A-37 Dragonfly and finally transitioned to the A-10 Warthog in 1981– which they still operate out of Davis–Monthan, at least for now.

As for Denny, born in September 1923, in Blackfoot, Idaho, he joined the Army Air Corps, aged 20, in early 1944. Completing flight training at Luke Field in Arizona, he was sent to the Pacific immediately upon graduation and joined the 45th for the duration. He survived the war, retired from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel in 1983, and spent much time as a volunteer at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho. Lt. Col. Dennis passed in 2013, age 89, leaving several children and grandchildren.

Echoes of OBOE 2 at 80

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This week marks the 80th Anniversary of the landing at Balikpapan, Borneo. The “Ploesti of the Pacific” was finally being liberated after weeks of systematic attack by the “Jungle Air Force” of the “Fighting” 13th AAF’s bombers and fighters operating out of New Guinea and the Solomons.

As we have covered in the past, it was the peak of the U.S. Navy’s WWII UDT operations.

Official period caption: “On July 1, 1945, Americans and Australians island-hopped right into the center of the rich, Japanese-held oil fields of Balikpapan, Borneo. Units of the Navy’s Seventh Fleet paved the way for the Australian landing. In the bombardment that preceded the landings at Balikpapan, Seventh Fleet units fired over 10,000 rockets. LCI(B) 338 opens up in the first of two rocket runs made by these craft on the beach. Rockets have proven to be very effective “persuaders” in the Navy’s amphibious landings. National Archives Identifier 153724649

Underwater demolition swimmer, SF1c John Regan gets a drink and smoke after setting charges off Balikpapan, circa early July 1945. Note his sheath knife 80-G-274698

Underwater demolition swimmer, SF1c John Regan gets a drink and smoke after setting charges off Balikpapan, circa early July 1945. Note his sheath knife 80-G-274698

Going further, Operation OBOE 2 comprised the Australian 7th Division, composed of the 18th, 21st, and 25th Infantry Brigades and the 1st Armoured Regiment AIF (RNSWL) ‘A’ and B’ Sqns, complete with their 50 or so Matilda II tanks.

Barring Gallipoli, this was the largest amphibious landing in Australia’s history.

USCG-manned USS LST 66 headed for a hot beach at Balikpapan. Note the oil tanks ashore. Commissioned on 12 April 1943, LST-66 was on her 12th series of landings after hitting the beach with Marines and soldiers at Cape Gloucester, Saidor, Hollandia, Toem-Wakde-Sarmi, Biak, Noemfoor, Cape Sansapor, Morotai, Leyte, Lingayen, and Mindanao, earning eight battle stars. NARA 26-G-4741

Australian landing craft reach the beach at Balikpapan to launch the invasion of Borneo’s greatest oil refining district. Beach installations and anti-aircraft positions inland still smoke from a pre-invasion pounding by bombers and fighters of the (U.S. Air Force Number 58861AC)

Original caption: This is the Balikpapan Invasion scene snapped by Coast Guard Combat Photographer James L. Lonergan as his own picture was taken by a fellow Coast Guard Photographer, Gerald C. Anker, from an adjoining LCVP. Note the identical posters in each photo of the Aussie wading ashore, the group behind the tractor, and the Coast Guardsmen bending over the bow of the vessel. A few moments later both photographers narrowly escaped death from Jap snipers when they sought a vantage point from which to “shoot” the entire invasion beach. NARA 26-G-4721

Patrols of 29 Bn, 18th Brigade (Australian) move cautiously into the village area of Penadjam, Balikpapan, Borneo, under sniper fire. 5 July, 1945. SC 374826 Photographer: Lt. Novak. U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.

The 25-ton Matilda II carried a 40 mm QF 2-pounder main gun, a hull-mounted GPMG, and, while slow at 15 mph on its twin Leylan engines, may have been dead meat on a European battlefield in 1945 but was aces in the Pacific.

Balikpapan, Borneo, 30 July 1945. Matilda tanks of A squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment AIF (RNSWL), being overhauled in the unit’s open-air workshop. AWM 112525

Australian 1st Armoured Regt AIF (RNSW Lancers) Matilda II in action at Balikpapan, July 1945, shown clearing a former Japanese-held Royal Dutch Shell oil refinery complex.

Oil Refinery Balikpapan OBOE 2 Australian Matilda tank ‘B Sqn 1st Armoured Regiment AWM 110916

One of the Balikpapan Matildas, “Ace,” is preserved at the NSW Lancers Memorial Museum in Parramatta.

The Museum will be holding a display on Sunday, 6th July, in Lancer Barracks to commemorate the Balikpapan anniversary. All are welcome. If you are in the area…

Quicksink anti-ship munition, now in 500-pound format (B-2 can carry 80)

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“Rapidus Obruo” = I am overwhelmed by the rapidity

The Air Force Research Laboratory recently vetted a 500-pound variant of the Quicksink system in live-fire tests conducted via a B-2 from the Air Combat Command’s 53rd Wing out of Eglin AFB.

We’ve talked about Quicksink before, which takes a “dumb” bomb and adds a guidance kit to it to make a ship-hungry LGB, essentially a “Maritime JDAM.” The Air Force has been stacking up wrecks off the Florida coast at a steady pace.

Why the big deal about a 500-pound Quicksink? Capacity, baby.

A single B-52, in theory, could carry as many as 24 such munitions internally in its post-IWBU carriage, while a B-2 could tote a staggering 80. Speaking of Naval Air, a P-8 Poseidon could carry at least five internally, while an F-18E/F could carry a dozen, albeit with a much shorter range, while the F-35 could carry a six-pack in its weapons bay.

“Quicksink offers an affordable, game-changing solution to rapidly and efficiently sink maritime targets,” said Col. Dan Lehoski, 53rd Wing commander. “AFRL’s 500-pound Quicksink variant adds options for the warfighter and enhances operational flexibility.”

Woleai, back in the news after 80 years

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An isolated coral atoll of 22 islands inhabited by about 1,000 locals, Woleai is 35nm away from the nearest other inhabited island (which has a population of about 500) and is 400 miles away from the nearest serious airport in Guam.

The current civil airfield, an overgrown 1,200-foot strip that hasn’t been used in two decades, is listed as “closed for repairs.” The most reliable physical connection to the outside world these days is a semi-regular four-day boat service with Yap, some 350 miles away.

Considered part of the Caroline Islands under the Spanish from 1686 on, and briefly under the Germans from 1899, the Japanese navy scooped up the chain in 1914 as part of the Emperor’s contribution to the Great War. Post-Versailles, the Japanese retained Woleai under the South Seas Mandate and during WWII transformed it into a fortress, complete with a 3,300-foot airstrip (Falalap Airfield), seaplane base, and port facilities, protected by a 6,000-strong garrison.

Starting in late March 1944 and continuing for the next 18 months, the U.S. military turned the airfield and harbor at Woleai into a smoking ruin as extensively detailed in NARA reports.

Woleai under attack, 1 April 1944, by Navy carrier-based aircraft. US Air Force Reference Number: 60226AC

Japanese airfield on the Island of Woleai Atoll under attack by Task Force 58 planes, probably on 1 April 1944. 80-G-45318

The first large raids, by TF 58 F6Fs, SBDs, and TBFs from USS Lexington (CV 16), USS Bunker Hill (CV 19), and USS Hornet (CV 12), were followed after August 1944 by Army tactical air (P-47s, etc) flying from recently occupied Saipan. Then came regular airstrikes by land-based Navy bombers and flying boats (PB4Y-1s, PV-1s, and PBY-5s) of VD-5, VPB-133, VP-33, VP-52, VB-150, and VPB-151.

Left to wither on the vine, the garrison had constricted to just over 1,600 when USS Sloat (DE-245) arrived two weeks after VJ Day with the unarmed 9,300-ton Japanese hospital Takasago Maru to accept the island’s surrender. It was all very unceremonial.

Unlike other islands in the Pacific, there were no documented holdouts on Woleai. The Japanese there just wanted to go home.

Members of the Japanese garrison on Woleai Island in the Caroline Islands about to be evacuated by a waiting ship. Japanese prisoners are searched by US Marine Corps enlisted men. The Japanese appeared to be in good physical shape, in direct contrast to those found on other islands. 80-G-495722

Japanese rifles and samurai swords are neatly stacked by members of the Japanese garrison on tiny Woleai, an island in the Carolines just west of Truk, preparatory to being evacuated by US Pacific Units cleaning up by-passed islands in the Pacific, September 1945. 80-G-485723

Three days later, with the garrison loaded on Takasago Maru and the garrison’s weapons and interesting equipment stowed aboard Sloat, the two vessels went their separate ways.

Administered by the Navy (U.S. Naval Base Woleai for a time) as a Trust Territory until 1979, the Carolines became the Federated States of Micronesia, and Woleai soon after the Cold War became a backwater for real. I can’t find where a U.S. warship has visited the island since Johnson was in office (USS Brister (DER-327) in February 1965).

So it should not be surprising that the Chinese government just recently broke ground on a new airport project in Wolei.

Did we mention this is just 400 miles from Guam?

As noted by The Island Times, “The FSM maintains diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China, while Palau and the Marshall Islands, which also have Compacts of Free Association with the United States, recognize Taiwan.”

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