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Good "Bar Bet Trivia" for VP Types...

Renegade One

Renegade One

Well-Known Member
None
Apologize if this has been mentioned before, but first time I ever heard it:

On This Day In The Navy:
December 10, 1941: PBY piloted by LT Utter of VP-101 shoots down Japanese ZERO in first Navy air-to-air kill during World War II.
 
Renegade One said:
Apologize if this has been mentioned before, but first time I ever heard it:

On This Day In The Navy:
December 10, 1941: PBY piloted by LT Utter of VP-101 shoots down Japanese ZERO in first Navy air-to-air kill during World War II.
Click to expand...
I'd love to see the details on that shootdown.
 
ea6bflyr said:
I'd love to see the details on that shootdown.
Click to expand...
All my quick "Google-Fu" has been able to find:

December 10, 1941: Cavite Navy Yard on Luzon is practically obliterated by Japanese "Nell" (Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bombers) and "Betty" (Mitsubishi G4M1, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) bombers based on Formosa. Destroyers USS Peary (DD-226) and Pillsbury (DD-227), submarines USS Seadragon (SS-194) and Sealion (SS-195), minesweeper USS Bittern (AM-36), and submarine tender USS Otus (AS-20), suffer varying degrees of damage from bombs or bomb fragments; ferry launch Santa Rita (YFB-681) is destroyed by a direct hit. Submarine rescue vessel USS Pigeon (ASR-6) tows Seadragon out of the burning wharf area; minesweeper USS Whippoorwill (AM-35) recovers destroyer USS Peary, enabling both warships to be repaired and returned to service. Minesweeper USS Bittern is gutted by fires. Antiaircraft fire from U.S. guns is ineffective. During the bombing of Manila Bay area, unarmed U.S. freighter SS Sagoland is damaged.

Submarine USS Sea Lion damaged beyond repair by Japanese aircraft at Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines while undergoing a regular overhaul and scuttled there. 4 men died inside the boat during the initial bombing attack.

Not repaired, she was scuttled on 25 December 1941 to prevent her capture by the Japanese.

Minesweeper USS Bittern badly damaged during an air raid on Cavite Navy Yard while undergoing repairs. Although not hit, Bittern suffered extensive damage from fire, near misses, and flying debris from submarine USS Sea Lion moored alongside. Too badly damaged for repair, the minesweeper was scuttled in Manila Bay after her crew had transferred to USS Quail. (Dave Shirlaw)

While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter's PBY Catalina of Patrol Squadron One Hundred One (VP-101) is attacked by three Japanese "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M2, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) of the 3rd Kokutai (Naval Air Corps) based on Formosa; Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter's bow gunner, shoots down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy's first verifiable air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese plane in the Pacific War. Utter, as a commander, will later coordinate the carrier air strikes that lead to the destruction of Japanese battleship Yamato on 7 April 1945."

Hope that helps...
 
Renegade One said:
While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter's PBY Catalina of Patrol Squadron One Hundred One (VP-101) is attacked by three Japanese "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M2, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) of the 3rd Kokutai (Naval Air Corps) based on Formosa; Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter's bow gunner, shoots down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy's first verifiable air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese plane in the Pacific War.
Click to expand...
I'll doff my fedora to the VP p*%es' for the first of few A/A kills in WWII, so crow it up gang, but it was no "Turkey Shoot"!;):p
BzB
 
Renegade One said:
All my quick "Google-Fu" has been able to find:
While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter's PBY Catalina of Patrol Squadron One Hundred One (VP-101) is attacked by three Japanese "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M2, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) of the 3rd Kokutai (Naval Air Corps) based on Formosa; Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter's bow gunner, shoots down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy's first verifiable air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese plane in the Pacific War. Utter, as a commander, will later coordinate the carrier air strikes that lead to the destruction of Japanese battleship Yamato on 7 April 1945."

Hope that helps...
Click to expand...
So it wasn't LT Utter, but BMC Payne, that scored the first Navy air-to-air kill in WWII. Looks like the good LT got the credit in the history books....party foul.
 
ea6bflyr said:
So it wasn't LT Utter, but BMC Payne, that scored the first Navy air-to-air kill in WWII. Looks like the good LT got the credit in the history books....party foul.
Click to expand...
Well, Google entry would indicate that the history is accurate and well-recorded, but, yeah…the "CHINFO News Clip" for "On this day in the Navy" could have had that info.
 
More "Trivia Fun Facts":

1. What Army Air Corps aircraft were the first to takeoff from a navy carrier?
Answer: Curtiss P-36 Hawks were delivered to Hawaii in February 1941 by being loaded on the carrier the USS Enterprise in California, then in a first for the USAAC, flown off the carrier's deck by the P-36's U.S. Army Air Corps pilots when the Enterprise neared the coast of Hawaii.

2. How many Navy/Marine Corps fighter aircraft carried the "F4" designation?
Answer: Six: Boeing F4B, Curtiss F4C, Douglas F4D "Skyray", Grumman F4F "Wildcat", McDonnell F4H "Phantom II" and Vought F4U "Corsair". This was back in the day when each manufacturer used it's own sequential numbering system. The letter designations in the above reflect "manufacturer codes" as used prior to 1962.

3. How many enemy aircraft were shot down by Navy VP/VPB squadrons?
Answer: 385 (flying PBY Catalinas, PV Venturas, PBM Mariners, PB4Y Liberator/Privateers and PB2Y Coronados)

4. Highest scoring VP/VPB squadron in WWII?
Answer: VPB-117, flying PB4Y Liberator/Privateer aircraft: 58 credited kills

I don't have the answers readily to hand, but back in 1996, when I had several "CPO Selectees" in my command, I assigned them a "homework assignment" while signing their "Charge Books":
1. Find out and brief the command how many Navy CPOs have been awarded the Medal of Honor (had to have been a CPO at the time of the action).
2. Find out and brief the command what "Navy Rating" among the CPOs awarded the MOH was most frequently represented?
Seemed an appropriate way of increasing their knowledge on the legacy of the CPO Mess into which they were about to enter...
 
Flash said:
It was VMF-211 flying off Wake Island downing G3M 'Nells', this source says the fighters only got one (it says AAA got the other) while this one says both Nells were downed by Wildcats.
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Coolio..thanks. Google-Fu sez:

"In November 1941, VMF-211 embarked 12 of its 24 Wildcats and 13 of its 29 pilots aboard the USS Enterprise for movement to Wake Island, the scene of the squadron's heroic battle. On December 8, 1941 the Japanese attacked Wake, destroying seven of the aircraft on the ground. Over the next two weeks, the remaining five planes repelled numerous attacks and inflicted great losses on the enemy.

During the course of this defense, the Marine ground forces and VMF-211 caused the loss of at least four enemy warships, including the first major Japanese naval vessels sunk during the Pacific war. The squadron was also credited with 8 aircraft destroyed. After the loss of its last aircraft, the squadron became a ground unit (think TBS…and "Every Marine a Rifleman"….) and fought until the surrender of the atoll. The first Marine airman to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II was VMF-211's Henry T. Elrod.

A planned operation to reinforce Wake Island was deemed too dangerous by the fleet command, and on December 23 Wake Island was finally overrun by a numerically superior enemy."

Semper Fi!
 
These were Old Corps Marines, Can't go anywhere, Liberty sucks, We're outnumbered big time so we may as well fight.
 
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