My only question is where were the encounters? I would naturally
assume in the Atlantic somewhere around France...
Rob
Norway, I believe. The Corsairs never encountered the Luftwaffe, IIRC,
but the British Hellcats did.
Cheers,
Yeah, I found a site that tells the story of the Hellcats and Cosairs
with Tirpitz, but no action by German fighters, just the ship's AA
guns:
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/tirpitz/history/tiropertungsten.html
Rob
Some info I found:
The only fighter-to-fighter FAA F6F action took place in May 1944. On
8 May, F6F's from the Fleet Air Arm's No. 800 Squadron (Lieut. Comdr.
SJ Hall, DSC, RN), off HMS Emperor, while escorting a flight of
Barracudas were jumped a mixed group of Me-109's and FW-190's. Two
F6F's were lost, one, probably, to anti-aircraft fire (one source
indicates that both F6Fs were lost in a mid-air collision, not to any
German fire of any kind); the RN pilots were creditied with 2 Me-109's
and one FW-190. Available Luftwaffe loss listings show three Me-109Gs
lost in this action, werk# 14697 (Ofw. Kurt), 10347 (Uffz. Brettin),
and unknown # (Fw. Horst). On the Luftwaffe side, Uffz. Hallstick
claimed two F6Fs and Lieut. Prenzler claimed one.
On 26 March 1945, FM-2's from 882 Squadron (Lieut Comdr. GAM Flood,
RNVR) off HMS Searcher were escorting a flight of TBMs along the coast
of Norway when attacked by a flight of eight III Gruppe JG 5 Me-109Gs.
The Wildcats pilots claimed to have shot down four of the Me-109Gs at
a cost of one Wildcat damaged. A fifth 109 was claimed as damaged. As
near as can be determined from available Luftwaffe loss lists, there
were three 109's lost, werk# 412398 (Fw. Hermannn Jaeger), 782139
(Uffz. Gottfried Rösch), and 782270 (Fw. Heinrich Dreisbach). One
other 109 crashed, (pilot unknown) on landing, however the information
available does not indicate if the crash was due to pilot error or
from battle damage. Damage to this airplane was noted as 25%.
Available Luftwaffe credits lists show no claims from this action.
Rob
Brian
Thanks for the credit, Rob.
Please forgive me for forgetting to post your credit Mr. Leonard. I
was combing through a whole bunch of forums and only found your name
when I searched my internet History. This was from your postings at
the Warbird forum.
Please understand that I search through many different forums for info
as well as Google navigation and when I do find info I tend to post
rather quickly. Alot of posts are copied from forum-to-forum and not
all give credits. In this case, however, I did miss your name on the
side bar- sorry.
I am usually multi-tasking between the NG and working on my own sites.
Excellent information Mr. Leonard, FWIW.
BTW, do you have anything to add on Fw-190s vs Allied naval
fighters???
Rob
Just jerking your chain, Rob, no intent, no harm, no foul . . . and
only the very youngest in my office call me "Mr Leonard" and only
until they figure out that I ignore them when they do.
No, as far as I can determing these were the only fighter to fighter
actions involving US built carrier fighters. F4Us never tangled with
any Luftwaffe fighters. Can't comment on non-US made carriers
fighters, Seafires, and such, vs Luftwaffe fighters . . . never looked
into it.
Rich
Was the last the last Fleet air arm kill in WW2 (in eto) not done by a
wildcat?
guy
Don't know, as I said, it is not something I've looked into. My
inquiries in this vein were limited to US built carrier VF types in
air action outside the Pacific.
On the other hand, FAA Corsair and Seafires were responsible for not a
few Japanese planes in the spring and summer of 45 in the Pacific; I
believe the last Seafire victory was on 15 August 45.
Rich
Dont know but the first wildcat kill was by two Martlets of No. 804
Squadron
which shot down a Junkers Ju 88 bomber near Scapa Flow on Christmas Day 1940
Keith
Thanks for answering my original question, which concerned France. Do
you have any more details?
Rob
For USN F6Fs the only action over Europe transpired during the
invasion of southern France in August 1944. USS Tulagi with VOF-1
(Lieut. Comdr. WF Bringle, USN) and USS Kasaan Bay embarking VF-74
(Lieut. Comdr. HB Bass, USN), both squadrons, operating F6F-5s,
provided coverage for the landings. VF-74 also operated a 7-plane
F6F-3N night fighter detachment from Ajaccio on the island of Corsica.
On the day of the invasion, 15 August, VF-74 flew 60 sorties, VOF-1,
40 sorties, all ground support missions.
On the morning of 19 August, a four-plane division of VOF-1 pilots
spotted the first German aircraft, three He-111's. The Americans were
too short on fuel and could not attack. Two of the Americans were
forced to land on HMS Emperor due to their fuel state. Later that day,
two He-111's were spotted by another VOF-1 division and were promptly
shot down, this occurring near the village of Vienne. Lieut. Poucel
and Ens. Wood teamed up to bring down one and Ens. Robinson brought
down the second. Soon thereafter, in the same vicinity, a third He-111
was shot down by Ens. Wood. That same morning, a division of VF-74
pilots led by Lieut. Comdr. Bass brought down a Ju-88 and in the
afternoon another division attacked a Do-217 with split credits to
going to Lieut. (j.g.) Castanedo and Ens. Hullard.
On 21 August, pilots from VOF-1 shot down three Ju-52 transports north
of Marseille. Two were credited to Lieut. (j.g.) Olszewski; one went
to Ens. Yenter. Operating for two weeks in support of the invasion,
these two squadrons were credited with destroying 825 trucks and
vehicles, damaging 334 more and destroying or otherwise immobilizing
84 locomotives. German aircraft shot down: VOF-1: 6, VF-74: 2.
Although the two navy squadrons lost 17 aircraft combined, 13 were
lost to ground fire and the others were operational accidents. None
were shot down by German aircraft. Among the 7 pilots lost (2 from
VOF-1 and 5 from VF-74) was the CO of VF-74, Lieut. Comdr. H. Brinkley
Bass (USNA 38), killed by antiaircraft fire while strafing near
Chamelet on 20 August.
Fleet Air Arm fighter squadrons also supported the landings of
Operation Dragoon and, as did their USN counterparts, roamed far and
wide in ground attack and support missions. None of the FAA squadrons
encountered Luftwaffe aircraft in these operations. FAA fighter
squadrons in Operation Dragoon were Numbers 800 (Lieut. Comdr. SJ
Hall, DSC, RN) in F6F-3s off HMS Emperor; 807 (Lieut. Comdr. (A) LGC
Reece, RNZNVR) in Seafire LIIIs off HMS Hunter; 809 (Lieut. Comdr. (A)
HDB Eadon, RNVR) in Seafire LIIIs off HMS Stalker; 879 (Lieut. Comdr.
(A) RJH Grose, RNVR) in Seafire LIIIs off HMS Attacker; 881 (Lieut.
Comdr. (A) LA Hordern, DSC, RNVR) in Wildcat VIs off HMS Pursuer; 882
(Lieut. Comdr. (A) GR Henderson, DSC, RNVR ) in Wildcat Vs off HMS
Searcher; and 899 (Lieut. Comdr. (A) RB Howarth, RNVR) in Seafire
LIIIs off HMS Khedive.
Operation Dragoon also saw one of the more unusually equipped USN
squadrons in action. It was presumed by the US Navy that aerial naval
gunfire spotters would be of value over the beachheads established by
invading allied forces, but that their standard aircraft, the OS2U and
the SOC would be too vulnerable to roving German fighters. To remedy
that situation it was decided to train the USN flyers to perform their
spotting missions from high performance fighters.
For Operation Dragoon, the training for this began when four naval
aviators from USS Brooklyn's VCS-8 (Lieut. DA Liane, USN) reported to
Berteaux, Algeria, on 15 January 1944 to begin transition to the P-40.
They were joined about a month later by aviators from USS
Philadelphia. Training continued through spring, and in April the
entire group transitioned to P-51's.
On 21 April, the navy flyers were formally attached to the 111th
Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, flying F-6A's and they began to fly
missions as they qualified in type. In July, the VCS-8 pilots received
10 new P-51C's which they flew during the invasion of southern France.
By August 30, with the land operations reaching outside the range of
naval gunfire support, the pilots turned their P-51's over to 111 TRS
and returned to their ships.
Earlier, on the other side of France, another of those unusually
equipped USN squadrons, VCS-7 had similarly operated over the beaches
of Normandy. VCS-7 flew the Spitfire Vb. VCS-7 was established on 8
May 1944, made up of 17 VCS and Battleship Observation (VO) pilots
from the battleships Nevada, Arkansas, and Texas and the cruisers
Quincy, Tuscaloosa, and Augusta. The squadron began training in
Spitfire Vb's at Middle Wallop, Hampshire under the direction of
Colonel GW Peck of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, Ninth Air
Force. The Navy pilots were trained in defensive fighter tactics,
aerobatics, combat formation flying and spotting procedures. Lieut.
Comdr. W Denton, Jr., USN, senior aviator from Quincy, took command on
May 28th. The squadron was determined to be fully operational that
same day and moved to Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Lee-on-Solent.
At Lee-on-Solent there were five naval squadrons, four FAA and VCS-7.
The four FAA squadrons, Nos. 808 (Lieut. Comdr. JF Rankin, DSC, RN),
897 (Lieut. Comdr. WC Simpson, DSC, RN), 885 (Lieut. Comdr. SL
Devonald, RN), and 886 (Lieut. Comdr. PEI Bailey, RN), were assigned
Seafire III's. VCS-7 had Spitfire Vb's. The squadrons' aircraft were
pooled to insure maximum availability. This meant that VCS-7 flew
whatever type was available, either Seafire or Spitfire.
German aerial opposition was rarely encountered. VCS-7 pilots had four
recorded encounters with German fighters, and suffered no losses, but
neither did they score any victories. Losses to anti-aircraft fire
were also small, with only one pilot lost. The VCS-7 after action
reports record only this one loss as the total for the operational
period, but other sources report upwards to seven aircraft lost to
enemy fire and one operational loss. It is entirely probably that both
are correct except that the VCS-7 reports only the pilot loss not the
loss of aircraft not resulting in a personnel loss. VCS-7 flew
approximately 200 combat sorties between 6 and 25 June. On 26 June, as
the fighting had moved beyond the range of naval gunfire, the squadron
was disestablished and the pilots returned to their ships.
Rich
Excellent info Rich!
Keep it coming :)
Rob
> Were any F6Fs involved in the invasion of Southern France?
Yes, both USS Tulagi (CVE-72) and USS Kasaan Bay (CVE-69) shipped a
flight of F6Fs when they operated in support of Operation Dragoon.
ISTC that some British Hellcats also participated but don't hold me to that.
Cheers,
Just checked Keith,
I was ***part*** right
Wildcats of 882 got the last kills of German fighters by the FAA (4
Bf109s) on 23/3/1945 off Norway,
they also (same sqdn) fought the last FAA combat vs Ju 88s on 8?/
5/1945 off Denmark
cheers
Guy