Tag Archives: FM-2 Wildcat

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Here we see, some 80 years ago this month, four leaf clover-wearing General Motors FM-2 Wildcats and Grumman TBM-3 Avengers of Composite Squadron (VC) 93 aboard the Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) as they prepare for their first mission supporting the invasion of Okinawa, 25 March 1945. It was VC-93’s inaugural taste of combat. 

Image from Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II, by John Dibbs, Kent Ramsey, and Robert “Cricket” Renner (Osprey Publishing), via Navsource

Petrof Bay’s war diary for the above day, March 25, 1945

Built under a Maritime Commission contract by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, Wash., Petrof Bay was laid down on 15 October 1943; launched on 5 January 1944; and commissioned on 18 February 1944 with Capt. Joseph Lester (“Paddy”) Kane (USNA 1923)– formerly the skipper of the Clemson-class seaplane tender (destroyer) USS McFarland (AVD 14)— in command.

With VC-76 aboard, Petrof Bay had already seen extensive combat in the Philippines with RADM Felix Stump’s Task Unit 77.4.2 (“Taffy II”) that included one probable hit on Yamato, two probable hits on Nagato, two on Kongo, and one on an unidentified cruiser, plus strafing runs on Yamato, the cruisers, and destroyers, going far to avenge the slaughter of Taffy III.

Battle off Samar, 25 October 1944 Japanese battleship Yamato (foreground) and a heavy cruiser in action during the Battle off Samar. The cruiser appears to be either Tone or Chikuma. Photographed from a USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) plane. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-378525

VC-76 went ashore at Guam in early March 1945 to re-equip and retrain after conducting a grueling 786 sorties over Iwo Jima, tapping in the newly formed and above-seen VC-93, which had only a few months prior made their carrier quals off California on sistership USS Matanikau (CVE-101).

Established at NAS Seattle on 23 February 1944, VC-93 had embarked on their trip from California to Hawaii on USS Shamrock Bay (CVE 84) in December and from there to Seadler Harbor, Manus, aboard USS Long Beach (CVE 1) in January 1945, and finally, via USS Barnes (CVE 20) for Guam via Ulithi in February.

While aboard Petrof Bay, VC-93 quickly got broken in, and during the March-April 1945 Okinawa operation, shot down at least 17 enemy planes in addition to flying close air support missions ashore and neutralizing the Japanese airfields on Sakashima from where kamikaze was operating.

In 70 operational days aboard Petrof Bay, VC-93 logged 1,143 Wildcat sorties (in 20 FM-2s) and 598 in the squadron’s 12 Avengers. 

FM 2 Wildcat VC 93 “White 20” over USS Petrof Bay (CVE 80) off Okinawa 1945

Disembarked in Pearl Harbor in June as Petrof Bay headed to California for an overhaul after being 16 months at sea, the Shamrocks crossdecked to the Westbound sistership USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87) where they remained until the end of the war.

VC-93’s war, between Petrof Bay and Steamer Bay, accounted for some 8,500 logged hours in the air across 2,360 sorties. 

VC-93 was disestablished in August 1945 while Petrof Bay, who received five battle stars for World War II service, was placed out of commission, in reserve, in the Boston Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in July 1946 then later sold in 1959 for scrap.

VC-93’s excellent 39-page War History is in the National Archives as is the ship’s own 90-page History. 

An FM-2 (White 29, Bu No. 74512) that had served on Petrof Bay with VC-93 somehow managed to survive and has been on public display for the past 25 years, in her period four-leaf clover livery, on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum at The Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle.

Smokey’s Lucky Witch

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Twenty-year-old Ens. Darrell C. “Smoke” Bennett, USNR, stands beside “Smokey’s Lucky Witch”, his FM-2 Wildcat, onboard the ill-fated Casablanca class escort carrier USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), August 1944. The young aviator strikes a jaunty pose carrying an M1911A1 pistol in a shoulder holster, along with a mag pouch and survival knife on his gun belt, as he leans on the fuselage and exhaust-frosted engine cowling, a Composite Squadron Ten (VC-10) insignia painted below the cockpit windshield, and his plane number (White 27) on the starboard wing.

Note the exhaust-streaked cowling and nose art. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-243864

Just three months after the above image was snapped, Gambier Bay was lost during the “Sacrifice of Taffy 3” in the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944– the only American aircraft carrier sunk by enemy surface gunfire during WW II.

Bennett was in the air at the time and was able to divert to nearby Tacloban Field, where the Army was setting up a base for P-61s and P-38s. The field, only partially constructed and very recently liberated from the Japanese, turned into muddy chaos as dozens of homeless Wildcats and Avengers were forced to land there throughout 25 October. Not to be deterred, pilots helped Army aerodrome personnel refuel and reload with anything available, then took back off to try and chase away the Japanese surface group.

After continuing to operate from fields around Leyte, VC-10, which had lost 10 men on 25 October as well as most of its planes, was shipped back home to be reconstituted at NAAS Ventura and would end the war on one of Gambier Bay’s sisters, USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70).

Bennett would survive WWII as well as later service in Korea, continue his Navy career as a pilot, a flight instructor, and as Commander Fleet Air Miramar, retiring in 1965. CDR Bennett received the following decorations: Air Medal (5), Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Citation, Korean Presidential Unit Citation, WWII Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal (Europe), National Defense Service Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, Korean Service Medal, and the United Nations Service Medal.

Retiring to the Florida panhandle after a second career as a corporate and personal pilot to Hollywood types, CDR Bennett was a well-known supporter of the Pensacola National Naval Aviation Museum, where one of his former airframes was on display, and the USS Gambier Bay Association. 

CDR Bennett passed in 2020, aged 96, and is interred at Barrancas National Cemetery, Pensacola, leaving behind “two sons, seven grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.”.

For more on Taffy 3, be sure to check out “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” by James D. Hornfischer.

Smokey’s Lucky Witch, 77 Years Ago Today

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Ensign Darrell C. “Smoke” Bennett, A-V(N), USNR, stands beside his plane, a General Motors FM-2 Wildcat fighter, on board the Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), 1 August 1944. According to reports, he had just arrived to join COMPRON (VC) 10 as Gambier Bay made Guam that day. 

Note pinup art and nickname Smokey’s Lucky Witch adorning the engine cowling; what appears to be a Composite Squadron Ten (VC-10) insignia below the cockpit windshield; plane numbers (27) in white on the wing leading edge and in black under the lip of the cowling; and Bennett’s flight gear and .45 caliber M1911A1 pistol carried in a shoulder holster. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-243864

Born in Hamburg, Iowa 30 March 1924, “Smoke” Bennett joined the Navy as an aviation cadet volunteer 1 October 1943, age 19, and was a deployed combat pilot on his first flattop just 10 months later. He spent most of the war in ground support missions from escort carriers supporting the liberation of the Philippines and narrowly avoided going down with Gambier Bay in the Battle off Samar just two months after the above image was snapped.

He would survive WWII as well as later service in Korea, continue his Navy career as a pilot, a flight instructor, and as Commander Fleet Air Miramar, retiring in 1965. CDR Bennett received the following decorations: Air Medal (5), Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Citation, Korean Presidential Unit Citation, WWII Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal (Europe), National Defense Service Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, Korean Service Medal, and the United Nations Service Medal.

Retiring to the Florida panhandle after a second career as a corporate and personal pilot to Hollywood types, CDR Bennett was a well-known supporter of the Pensacola National Naval Aviation Museum, where one of his former airframes was on display, and the USS Gambier Bay Association. He passed last December, age 96, leaving behind “two sons, seven grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.”

Three war cats in formation

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FM_Wildcat_F6F_Hellcat_and_F8F_Bearcat_warbirds_in_flight

Three Grumman-designed fighters of the Confederate Air Force in flight (front to back): A General Motors FM-2 Wildcat (although painted as an F4F-3 of the USS Ranger’s airwing, VF-4 “Fighting Four” squadron), a Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, and a Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat.  The lineage is unmistakable. U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.253.7383.025