Tag Archives: Vella Lavella

Big O

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Some 80 years ago today, on Armistice Day, now Veterans’ Day, we see the svelte 26-year-old fighter pilot that is Major Robert Gordon Owens Jr. of the “Fighting Corsairs” of Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 215, on Vella La Vella, 11 November 1943. Note his M1911 in a shoulder holster along with spare mags and a Ka-Bar on his webbelt.

USMC Photo by Sgt. D. Q. White, U.S. Marine Corps 021206-M-3031H-101

USMC Photo by Sgt. D. Q. White, U.S. Marine Corps, 021206-M-3031H-101

The squadron, formed as Marine Scout Bomber Squadron 244 (VMSB-244) in March 1942, by September had been redesignated as VMSB-242 and then hung up its SBDs in favor of F4F Wildcats to become VMF-215. Then, by the time they made it to MCAS Ewa in Hawaii in February 1943, they transitioned to the gull-winged F4U Corsair and, on 14 August, landed the first Allied plane at the newly captured Munda airfield in the Solomons where they immediately began operating to cover the landings on nearby Vella Lavella– where they set up shop in November.

It was Maj. Ownes that made the inaugural Munda flight.

The first fighter plane to land on Munda Point airfield in New Georgia after its capture by Allied forces was a VMF-215 Corsair flown by Maj Robert G. Owens, Jr., on 14 August 1943. Flight operations began immediately to cover the Vella Lavella landings.

By the end of the war, VMF-215 was credited with shooting down 137 enemy aircraft, the fourth most in Marine Corps aviation history, and counted 10 aces in its wardroom– including Owens who had 7 kills and another 5 probable.

Original caption: Decoration of Marine Flyers in the South Pacific is often as informal as pictured here. These fighter pilots, at the end of a day’s flights against the enemy, line up by a revetment to be decorated by their skipper. In the background is a Corsair fighter plane. Photo shows, left to right: 1st Lt. Robert E. Clark reading citations, Major Robert G. Owens Jr., Major James L. Neefus, LtCol. Herbert H. Williamson, 1stLt. Lincoln F. Deetz, (Gold Star), 1st Lt. Bennie P. O’Dell (Air Medal), 1st Lt. David R. Moak (Air Medal), Capt. Don Aldrich (Purple Heart), 1stLt. Drury E. McCall (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Robert M. Hanson (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Thomas M. Tomlinson (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Otto K. Williams (Air Medal), and 1st Lt. Grafton S. Stidger (Purple Heart).

VMF-215 had probably the best insignia of any Corsair squadron.

Reformed after the war to fly jets, VMF-215 flew F9Fs, F4Ds, and, finally, the F-8 Crusader, before they were disestablished for the final time in 1970.

As for Owens, “Big O” picked up the Navy Cross, five awards of Distinguished Flying Cross, eleven Air Medals, and a Purple Heart for the wounds he received when shot down by Japanese flak over Rabaul. He went on to be a career Devil, commanding the 3rd and later the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing during Vietnam, and retired in 1972 as a major general after 33 years of active service. He has a fantastic oral history online in the Library of Congress. 

MG Owens passed in 2007, aged 90, and is buried in Arlington.

Warship Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021: A Hell of a Night

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021: A Hell of a Night

As I am currently roaming around the wilds of Utah all week, today’s WWeds is shorter than normal, but I trust no less interesting.

USS Selfridge (DD-357) NH 63121

Here we see the Porter-class tin can USS Selfridge (DD-357), the second warship named after the very sinkable Thomas O. Selfridge which we have covered a few times in the past, in her gleaming pre-war lines.

Fast forward to the night of 6 October 1943, some 78 years ago today. The place, Northwest of Vella Lavella in the hotly contested Solomon Islands. There, three American destroyers– Selfridge, Chevalier, and O’Bannon— bumped into a convoy of barges and auxiliaries escorted by nine destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy — Akigumo, Fumizuki, Isokaze, Kazagumo, Matsukaze, Samidare, Shigure, Yūnagi, and Yūgumo— with the latter equipped with the formidable Long Lance torpedo.

The confused, swirling action by moonlight and searchlight lasted less than an hour and left Yūgumo and Chevalier on the bottom while O’Bannon and Selfridge were seriously damaged and left to the field of battle when the Japanese withdrew to attend to their convoy which was filled with evacuated Japanese soldiers.

Selfridge suffered 13 killed, 11 wounded, and 36 missing, with most of those carried away with a hit to her bow from two Long Lances.

As noted by a Navy damage control report, “At 2306-1/2, a torpedo detonated at about frame 40, starboard. There was some indication that a second torpedo detonated almost simultaneously at frame 30, port. The bow severed completely at about frame 40 and floated aft on the starboard side.”

Battle of Vella LaVella (II) 6th-7th October 1943 Damaged USS SELFRIDGE (DD-357) after the battle. Her bow had been wrecked by a Japanese destroyer torpedo in this action. Note 5″/38 twin gun. Alongside is USS O’BANNON (D-450), which damaged her bow in a collision during the action. 80-G-274873.

Extensive details of the damage and how it was repaired while only barely off the line at Purvis Bay and at Noumea, here while the full period 54-page report of the engagement from Selfridge’s skipper’s point of view, here. 

Selfridge steamed 6,200 miles back to the West Coast with a temporary bow fitted, arriving at Mare Island looking, well, abbreviated.

USS Selfridge (DD-357), coming into Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for bow blown off just forward of the bridge in a heroic action in the Battle of Vella Lavella on October 6, 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-316295

Permanent repairs, including the installation of a new bow, were made at Mare Island and, after refresher training out of San Diego, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 May 1944 in time to join the forces staging for the invasion of the Marianas.

USS Selfridge (DD-357), steaming out to sea after repairs at Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Repairs were completed in the spring of 1944. 80-G-316296

Rejoining the war, Selfridge was active in the Philippines and the liberation of Guam, before switching oceans to escort convoys across the Atlantic in 1945, earning four battle stars for her WWII service.

Decommissioned on 15 October 1945, Selfridge was struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1945; sold to George H. Nutman, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y.; removed from Navy custody on 20 December 1946, and scrapped in October 1947.

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Of coral, Seebees, and Black Sheep

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Click to big up

Click to big up

In late 1943, the 58th NMCB (Seebees) started scratching out a 3600×150-ish foot runway out of the coral of Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands archipelago. This barren strip, Barakoma Airfield, was the front line of the naval war in the South Pacific for ten months. From its harsh environment operated a Navy F6F Hellcat squadron (VF-40) as well no less than five USMC Corsair squadrons to include the famous VF-214 “The Black Sheep.” The first landing at the newly built strip was September 24, 1943 by VMF-214 pilots Greg “Pappy” Boyington and Mo Fisher.

These forces were hard pressed during the Bougainville Campaign and the reduction of Rabaul.

However, once the Japanese had been pushed back towards their home islands,  Barakoma was not needed and by June 1944, had been abandoned.

It is abandoned still. Rumor is you can walk the old perimeter and find enough parts to build your own F4U from the ground up and half a Zero. Of course you have to fight the jungle for it, but still.