History of Marine Corps Aviation

World War Two

History of Marine Corps Aviation AcePilots Main Page WW2 Marine Aces

The First and Second Marine Aircraft Wings (MAWs) were commissioned in July 1941, the First MAW under Brig. Gen. Roy S. Geiger, at Quantico and the Second MAW under Brig. Gen. Ross E. Rowell, at San Diego.

Each had only one Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) by December 7. Lt. Col. Harold Campbell led MAG-11 at Quantico and Lt. Col. Claude A. Larkin was in charge of MAG-21 almost entirely at Ewa, Hawaii, since January. Deployments by some squadrons and detachments of others had been made from MAG-21 prior to December 7, 1941.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Thus, of the 92 MAG-21 aircraft complement, 44 were deployed and 48 were on the field at Ewa that fateful Sunday morning. The attack at Ewa was simultaneous with similar attacks on all air installations on the island of Oahu. At Ewa, every Marine plane was knocked out of action in the first attack. Aircraft were not widely dispersed because a general warning about the possibility of sabotage had been issued just hours before, and planes were parked near the runways, away from the perimeters of the field area, to protect them from any local action on the ground.

At 0755, two squadrons of Japanese fighters swept in from the northwest on low-altitude strafing runs and, with cannon and machine guns, blazed the parked planes. The strafing runs were repeated again and again until all aircraft were destroyed. MAG-21 lost four Marines killed in the attack, and 13 were wounded. Of the 48 planes, 33 were demolished, with the remainder, except one, suffering major damage. One R3D transport was at Ford Island for repairs and somehow escaped damage in the attacks there.

Fortunately, no carriers were in port on December 7. Enterprise was on the way back from Wake where she had delivered the 12 F4Fs of VMF-211, and Lexington was en route to Midway with 18 SB2U-3s of VMSB-231. One thing was unquestionably clear. The nation was in for a long and bitter fight.

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Wake Island

The doomed struggle of Major Paul Putnam and the isolated Marine fliers.

Battle of Midway

Majors Henderson and Parks died in this battle, but not before their valiant pilots forced the Japanese to decide on a second strike.

The Road Back - Guadalcanal

General Geiger guided the ragtag Cactus Air Force through the most critical weeks of the Pacific War.

The Solomons Campaign

Island hopping up the chain through Munda and Bougainville, and isolating Rabaul.

Central Pacific Operations

Suppressing Japanese garrisons in the by-passed Marshalls

The Philippines

The Marine aviators proved close support on the drive to Manila.

Okinawa

Night fighters and Corsairs against the kamikazes.

Sources:

U.S. Marine Corps Aviation, by Maj. Gen. John P. Condon, at the excellent U.S. Navy Historical Center's public domain web site

History of Marine Corps Aviation in WWII, by Robert Sherrod - the authoritative reference work on this topic

Marines at Pearl Harbor - an excellent web page. All the information, including many dramatic photos, is stuffed onto one web page, so it takes a long time to load. But it's worth the wait. Also many personal stories.

At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, by Gordon Prange and Katherine Dillon The definitive account of Pearl Harbor, which the authors worked on for 39 years. Thoroughly researched, including interviews with Fuchida and Genda. The book debunks the conspiracy theories, and describes fairly the roles of Adm. Kimmel and Gen. Short. Buy ''At Dawn We Slept'' from Amazon.com