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History of Marine Corps Aviation
The Solomons Campaign
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In mid-February 1943, the Japanese troops evacuated Guadalcanal. Increasingly, the U.S. forces, and Marine aviators, went over to the offensive.
A major reorganization of the area command structure took place at this time, and Rear Admiral Charlie Mason came to Guadalcanal as Commander, Air Solomons, short-titled ComAirSols. Six weeks later, Admiral Marc Mitscher relieved Mason and stayed in the job until late July, when he was relieved by General Nate Twining of the Army Air Corps. The command passed from service to service until the Solomons were put in the "backwater" category and Rabaul had been bypassed and rendered useless.
As these changes developed, and as more fighters, bombers and fields became available, the staffs of the fighter and strike commands grew in size and special qualifications. The switch to assault operations set the pattern for many similar chain-type offensives en route to Japan The first move forward was taken in late February as troops landed unopposed on the Russell Islands, 55 miles to the northwest. Navy Seabees had completed a field in six weeks, and a Marine air group was in full operation.
Corsairs
There were several other important items which marked the operations in the early months of 1943 as the drive "up the slot" got under way. First, was the arrival of VMF-124 in early February, equipped with the first of the Vought F4U Corsairs in the South Pacific theater, the "Bent-Wing Bird" to the Marines and Whistling Death to the Japanese. Since the Corsair had real performance superiority over the Japanese combat aircraft and much greater range than the F4F, things really began to happen in the daily routine of the air campaign. Within three months, all eight Marine fighter squadrons in the Solomons were not only equipped with the Corsair, but each squadron had been thoroughly trained in its employment and maintenance. This was just 12 months after the sorry situation faced by the Marine pilots at Midway.
AirSols routinely struck the airfields of southern Bougainville with escorted heavy bombers, night attacks by Navy and Marine Corps TBFs, and some mining at night of the harbor areas by the TBFs. The shorter-range SBDs, as well, were invariably escorted in their routine reduction efforts against the fields in New Georgia. However, this does not mean that the defending Japanese had tossed in the towel; their fighter presence was made known repeatedly and invariably with surprise. Almost as if to make known the fact that they were still "up there," down the slot they would periodically come, attacking ships at Tulagi or standing off the beaches of Guadalcanal. With allied strength at constantly growing levels, these forays were not only literally destroying Japanese naval aviation but, in the process, they were creating an ever-growing number of Marine, Army Air Corps and Navy fighter aces.
The change in the character of air operations at this time, from defense to offense, meant that most of the contacts with Japanese fighters, and in the case of the bombers with AA, were strictly in hostile territory. This increased emphasis on survival techniques, coast watcher networks, and rescue operations - the famed "Dumbo" missions.
New Georgia
The next big show was the assault on the central New Georgia airfields in order to be comfortably within fighter range of southern Bougainville. This began with initial landings of two companies of the 4th Marine Raider Battalion at the southern tip of New Georgia on June 24. The Japanese resisted these incursions fiercely with heavy air attacks and clouds of fighters, but they were met on D-day by a 32-plane, combat air patrol which was relieved on station from the fields at the Russells and Guadalcanal.On July 9, the planned push from Rendova and New Georgia for the airfield at Munda Point began and, on the first day, the troops advanced half the distance to the field and were then stopped cold. Instead of a quick thrust to the airfield, it took the better part of six weeks to gain it and three Army divisions instead of the originally planned one. It was finally taken on August 5, and in nine days the Seabees had done enough so that two Marine squadrons could commence operations, VMFs 123 and 124. Big strikes were run day and night against Ballale and Kahili, the major Japanese fields in southern Bougainville. In defending Munda, it is interesting to note that the Japanese expended 358 planes. Of the total, the Marines got 187, with the Army, Navy, New Zealanders and the AA sharing the balance. The cost was 94 aircraft, 34 of them Marine.
Close Air Support
During the Munda and associated operations, attempts were made to accomplish a version of what later became the Marine close air support system. However, the difficulties of determining accurate positions in the jungle terrain made it impossible to achieve complete success. Attempts were made, which included air liaison parties with ground units, and a good deal was learned which refined subsequent operations, but it was a long way to the smooth doctrine which became operational in the Philippines. On August 15, landings were made at Barakoma on Vella Lavella without much problem on the ground. However, as was anticipated, at only 90 miles from Kahili airfield the Japanese were overhead early and often. Again, continuous combat air patrols from Munda, similar to those at Guadalcanal and the Russells, for the landings there ensured that not one ship was hit during daylight. As was becoming customary, the Seabees built a field for Marine fighters at Barakoma in short order. With that, plus the fields in the Munda area and the newly-formed Bomber Command from Guadalcanal, Kahili, Ballale, and the Shortlands began to feel the allied presence "in spades."
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Several names became prominent in the fighter ace category at this stage of the Solomons operation. Famous among them were Marines Greg "Pappy" Boyington, Ken Walsh, Bob Hanson, Don Aldrich and Wilbur Thomas.
Bougainville
September and October 1943 sounded the death knell for Japanese air operations from southern Bougainville as a result of the intensive operations. Ballale and Kahili began to take on the same lunar-landscape look that had signaled the end of operations at Munda and Vila plantation a few weeks before. But it was not the Japanese custom to give up without making it a costly affair in the air as on the ground.Almost daily dive-bombing and strafing attacks were the routine life of the Japanese defenders but, in spite of these, operational aircraft continued to appear in the photo coverage of the airfields, Admiral W. F. Halsey, and Adm. Nimitz had, some time before the reduction of Kahili, Ballale and the Shortlands, made the decision that the last step closest to
Rabaul would involve a total bypass of southern Bougainville. Under consideration were two much more lightly held areas of central Bougainville: Empress August Bay on the west coast, and Kieta on the eastern side. The decision was for Torokina Point at Empress August Bay and D-day was set for November 1. October became an extremely busy month with preparatory attacks from every possible base in the general area, from Rabaul to southern Bougainville. Included were commitments from General Douglas MacArthur for heavy air attacks on Rabaul and Kavieng, and planned carrier air assaults on Rabaul.
The main landings at Torokina put the assault elements of the 3rd Marine Division ashore as planned, with the forward echelon of the 1st Marine Air Wing and its fighter command, on November 1. Opposition was light but very effective. There was no airfield left on D-day, nothing but a narrow coconut grove at Torokina Point. Nevertheless, on D-day plus 1, the fighter command was on the air with radar coverage and air- ground communications, controlling 32 fighter patrol overhead. This continued until the Seabees finished enough of the Torokina strip 40 days later.
In addition to control of the day fighter patrols, a Marine-manned New Zealand ground control intercept radar was landed early in the operation for the control of night-fighters, but was not sited until about the time Torokina airfield was completed. Night-fighters from VMF(N)-531, however, were overhead nightly and were controlled by either the fighter command or by the fighter directors on ships of the task forces in the area. VMF(N)-531 was the first Marine night-fighter squadron and was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Schwable, one of the earliest Marine night-fighter pioneers. The squadron was equipped with Lockheed PV-1 Venturas. They were hardly suitable for the task but, until the later night versions of the F4U and F6F became available, they filled the breach.
The Bougainville operation was resisted by the Japanese with air attacks, day and night; by surface strikes against the amphibious force; and by reinforcement of the defenses around the perimeter.
When operations began from Torokina Point, the doom of Rabaul was at hand. Large fighter sweeps began in mid-December which were staged through Torokina to top off the fuel tanks, rebrief the various flight leaders and coordinate launch, rendezvous and departure. These sweeps were typically comprised of over 100 fighters and, at first, included P-40s, F4Fs, F4Us and P- 38s. Results were usually about eight to 10 Japanese shot down for each allied loss. The fighter sweeps were later reduced in size to be more manageable and, between December 17 and January 1, a total of 147 Japanese were reportedly destroyed over Rabaul by this tactic. There was no letup in the strikes on Rabaul and its complex of fields. However, it was a matter of bypass again, once the SBDs and TBFs began operating from the Piva strips.
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Sources:
U.S. Marine Corps Aviation, by Maj. Gen. John P. Condon, at the excellent U.S. Navy Historical Center's public domain web siteHistory
of Marine Corps Aviation in WWII
, by Robert Sherrod - the
authoritative reference work on this topic
 
One of the many well-thumbed Osprey 'Aircraft of the Aces' books in my collection. Fairly strong emphasis on U.S. Marine Corps use of the F4U, but also with chapters on the U.S. Navy's fliers and British Corsairs. It features interviews with Marines Ken Walsh, Jim Cupp, Rog Conant, Bob Owens, and Ed Olander (of the Black Sheep Squadron). Also Roger Hedrick of the Jolly Rogers is interviewed at length. As always with this series, the B&W period photos are great, like the one "with the crew chief standing by with a fire extinguisher in case of an emergency" when starting the engine. Just like at LaGuardia airport! Also includes 24 color plates of Corsairs from various units (although the nose art decorations aren't much by 8AF standards), and the tables of Corsairs in both branches of the service. |