![]() One can make out the white letters "GA_R." Interestingly, when Gayler transferred into VF-2 as squadron XO, he did not retain the airplane with his combat record painted on the fuselage. Confirmation of the fact that this was Gayler's assigned airplane in VF-3 came upon closer examination of some white lettering that appears in Petrel's photograph beneath encrustation on the fuselage right below the canopy rail. With shared kills, plane captains oftentimes painted a full Japanese battle flag on the side of their pilots' airplanes. He also shot down one aircraft on the Mastrike in which he also dropped bombs. He claimed one bomber shot down and two shared kills on Feb. During Gayler's time in VF-3, he participated in two air-to-air actions. ![]() Research into the air-to-air tally for VF-3 shows that only one pilot could claim that number. It came on March 10, 1942, against a Japanese airfield at Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea.įour Wildcat pilots dropped 30-lb. F4F-3 Wildcats did not drop many bombs, so it did not take long to discover that during VF-3's combat in February-March 1942, there was only one instance of a bombing mission. fragmentation bomb painted next to one of the four Japanese flags. The four Japanese battle flags indicated that it was someone with claims of four kills, who also had participated in a bombing mission, the latter noted by the black 30 lb. This was the airplane photographed by Petrel's submersible.Ĭlues to the aircraft's history, and to whom it was assigned in VF-3, abounded. Vorse, Jr., who had flown combat with the "Felix the Cat" squadron. One of the former VF-3 airplanes was given the side number F-5 and assigned to Lt. With the press of events, evidently no effort was made to mask the markings the VF-3 aircraft already had on them, notably the squadron insignia, Japanese "Rising Sun" flags that signified air-to-air kills, and silhouettes of bombs to denote air-to-ground attacks. In addition, twelve pilots from the "Felix the Cat" squadron transferred to VF-2.Īs part of the squadron's organization of its airplanes, maintainers assigned all of them new side numbers. True, Fighting Squadron (VF) 3 had flown from the deck of the carrier earlier in World War II, but by the time of the Battle of the Coral SeaMay 7-8, 1942, VF-3 was based ashore in Hawaii. However, a closer inspection of the historical record reveals that prior to going aboard Lexington on Apfor what would be the ship's final cruise, VF-2 took possession of nineteen of VF-3's Wildcats for the upcoming voyage. Among them was an F4F-3 Wildcatwith an insignia of "Felix the Cat" insignia painted on it, which at first glance seemed out of place. This particular expedition brought the added bonus of finding the wrecks of a number of airplanes from the flattop's embarked air group, which were spotted on the flight deck or blown overboard when she went down. Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy vessels lost during World War II. The 36 prisoners were transferred to Flag at Savannah, then taken to Philadelphia to be tried for their lives as "pirates"-one of the early test cases by which this doctrine of "piracy" proved impracticable to enforce.With the discovery of the wreck of Lexington (CV 2) in the depths of the Coral Sea, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his team on board the research vessel Petrel, added another chapter to their recent record of discoveries of U.S. Purviance, USN, noted laconically in his log, "Got out the boats and picked up the crew," thus learning Petrel's name and the fact that two of her men had drowned he took no time then to file a report. Lawrence unlimbered her fo'c'sle battery, made two hits, "one of which struck her bows." Petrel sank in 30 minutes. William Perry ran up the Confederate flag and 1 fired three shots one passed through the pursuer's "mainsail and took a splinter out of the main yard," whereupon St. Sold by the State to Henry Buist, Maier Triest and eight other Charlestonians, who were issued a letter of marque, 10 July 1861 at Charleston, Petrel's life as a privateer was short: off her home port on her first cruise, 28 July, she was overhauled and sunk by USS St. She had been Charleston pilot boat Eclipse when purchased for the Revenue Service. Revenue Cutter William Aiken, taken over by South Carolina in December 1860, on secession.
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