First Lieutenant Boyd David Wagner, United States Army Air Corps. (U.S. Air Force)
18 December 1941: First Lieutenant Boyd David (“Buzz”) Wagner, United States Army Air Corps, commanding officer of the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) at Nichols Field, Pasay City, Commonwealth of the Philippines, shot down his fifth Japanese airplane, a Mitsubishi A6M2 Type Zero fighter, with his Curtiss-Wright P-40B Warhawk, near Vigan, Luzon. He became the first U.S. Army “ace” of World War II.
On 12 December 1941, “Buzz” Wagner was flying a lone reconnaissance mission over the airfield at Aparri, which had been captured by the invading Japanese. He was attacked by several Zero fighters but he evaded them, then returned and shot down two of them. As he strafed the airfield he was attacked by more Zeros and shot down two more, bringing his score for the mission to four enemy airplanes shot down.
On 18 December, Lieutenant Wagner lead a flight of four P-40s to attack the enemy-held airfield at Vigan. He and Lieutenant Russell M. Church strafed and bombed the field while two other P-40s covered from overhead. Wagner destroyed nine Japanese aircraft on the ground, but as he passed over the field a Zero took off. Wagner rolled inverted to locate the Zero, then after spotting him, chopped his throttle and allowed the Zero to pass him. This left Wagner in a good position and he shot down his fifth enemy fighter. Lieutenant Church was shot down by ground fire and killed.
A Mitsubishi A6M3 Navy Type 0 Model 22, UI 105, (Allied reporting name “Zeke”, but better known simply as “the Zero”) in the Solomon Islands, May 1943. This fighter is flown by Petty Officer 1st Class Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, 251st Kōkūtai, Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. (Imperial Japanese Navy)
This fifth shoot down made Buzz Wagner the first U.S. Army Air Corps ace of World War II. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in an air battle, 22 December 1941. He was evacuated to Australia in January 1942.
2nd Lieutenant Boyd D. Wagner, Air Corps, United States Army.
Boyd David Wagner was born 26 October 1916 at Emeigh, Pennsylvania. He was the first of two children of Boyd Matthew Wagner, a laborer, and Elizabeth Moody Wagner. After graduating from high school, Wagner enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh, where he majored in aeronautical engineering.
After three years of college, Boyd Wagner enlisted as a flying cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 26 June 1937. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Air Corps Reserve, 16 June 1938. Lieutenant Wagner received advanced flight training and pursuit training, and on 1 October 1938 his commission as a reserve officer was changed to Second Lieutenant, Army Air Corps.
Wagner was promoted to First Lieutenant, Army of the United States, on 9 September 1940. Lieutenant Wagner was assigned to the 24th Pursuit Group in the Philippine Islands, 5 December 1940.
1st Lieutenant Boyd David Wagner, United States Army Air Corps, Philippine Islands, 1 December 1941. (Photograph by Carl Mydans/TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images)Lt. Col. Boyd D. Wagner
Lieutenant Wagner was promoted to the rank of Captain, A.U.S., 30 January 1942. On 11 April 1942, Captain Wagner was again promoted, bypassing the rank of Major, to Lieutenant Colonel, A.U.S. He was assigned to the 8th Fighter Group in New Guinea. On 30 April 1942, while flying a Bell P-39 Airacobra, Wagner shot down another three enemy airplanes. In September 1942, Colonel Wagner was sent back to the United States to train new fighter pilots.
On 29 November 1942, Colonel Wagner disappeared while on a routine flight from Eglin Field, Florida, to Maxwell Field, Alabama, in a Curtiss-Wright P-40K Warhawk, 42-10271. Six weeks later, the wreck of his fighter was found, approximately 4 miles north of Freeport, Florida. Lieutenant Colonel Boyd David Wagner, United States Army Air Corps, had been killed in the crash. His remains are buried at Grandview Cemetery, Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Curtiss-Wright P-40B Warhawks of the 17th Pursuit Squadron, Nichols Field, Luzon, Philippine Islands, early December 1941. This squadron was under the command of 1st Lieutenant Buzz Wagner. (U.S. Air Force)
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation Hawk 81B (P-40B Warhawk) was a single-seat, single-engine pursuit. It was a low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction and used flush riveting to reduce aerodynamic drag. It had an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear. Extensive wind tunnel testing at the NACA Langley laboratories refined the airplane’s design, significantly increasing the top speed.
The P-40B Warhawk was 31 feet, 8¾ inches (9.671 meters) long, with a wingspan of 37 feet, 4 inches (11.379 meters) and overall height of 10 feet, 7 inches (3.226 meters). Its empty weight was 5,590 pounds (2,536 kilograms), and 7,326 pounds (3,323 kilograms) gross. The maximum takeoff weight was 7,600 pounds (3,447 kilograms).
Curtiss-Wright P-40B or C Warhawk, circa 1942. (Niagara Aerospace Museum)
The P-40B was powered by a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,710.597 cubic-inch-displacement (28.032 liter) Allison Engineering Co. V-1710-C15 (V-1710-33), a single overhead cam (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine, which had a Continuous Power Rating of 930 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m., from Sea Level to 12,800 feet (3,901 meters), and 1,150 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. to 14,300 feet (4,359 meters) for Take Off and Military Power. The engine drove a three-bladed Curtiss Electric constant-speed propeller through a 2:1 gear reduction. The V-1710-33 was 8 feet, 2.54 inches (2.503 meters) long, 3 feet, 5.88 inches (1.064 meters) high, and 2 feet, 5.29 inches (0.744 meters) wide. It weighed 1,340 pounds (607.8 kilograms).
Allison Engineering Co. V-1710-33 V-12 aircraft engine at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (NASM)
Heavier than the initial production P-40, the P-40B was slightly slower, with a maximum speed of 352 miles per hour (567 kilometers per hour) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). It had a service ceiling of 32,400 feet (9,876 meters). Its range was 730 miles (1,175 kilometers).
Armament consisted of two air-cooled Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns mounted in the cowling and synchronized to fire forward through the propeller arc, with 380 rounds of ammunition per gun, and four Browning AN-M2 .30-caliber aircraft machine guns, with two in each wing.
Curtiss-Wright produced 13,738 P-40s between 1939 and 1944. 131 of those were P-40B Warhawks.
These Curtiss P-40B Warhawks of the 44th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group, are the same type aircraft flown by Buzz Wagner in combat over the Philippine Islands. (U.S. Air Force)
Captain Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., Air Corps, United States Army, by Deane Keller, 1942. (U.S. Air Force)
10 December 1941:¹ A single B-17C Flying Fortress heavy bomber, 40-2045, departed from Clark Field, on the island of Luzon, Commonwealth of the Philippines, alone and without escort, to search for an enemy aircraft carrier which had been reported near the coastal city of Aparri, at the northern end of the island. The aircraft was under the command of Captain Colin P. Kelly, Jr., Air Corps, United States Army, of the 14th Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group.
Kelly’s Flying Fortress had not been fully fueled or armed because of an impending Japanese air raid. It carried only three 600-pound (272 kilogram) demolition bombs in its bomb bay.
While enroute to their assigned target area, Captain Kelly and his crew sighted a Japanese amphibious assault task force north of Aparri, including what they believed was aFusō-class battleship. The crew was unable to locate the reported aircraft carrier and Kelly decided to return to attack the ships that they had seen earlier.
A Boeing B-17C assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group at Iba Airfield, approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Manila on the island of Luzon, Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands, October 1941. (U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency)
Kelly made two passes at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) while the bombardier, Sergeant Meyer Levin, set up for a precise drop. On the third run, Sergeant Meyer released the three bombs in trail and bracketed the light cruiser IJN Natori. It and an escorting destroyer, IJN Harukaze, were damaged by near misses.
“. . . The battleship [actually, the light cruiser IJN Natori] was seen about 4 miles offshore and moving slowly parallel with the coastline. . . A quartering approach to the longitudinal axis of the ship was being flown. The three bombs were released in train as rapidly as the bombardier could get them away. The first bomb struck about 50 yards short, the next alongside, and the third squarely amidship. . . A great cloud of smoke arose from the point of impact. The forward length of the ship was about 10 degrees off center to portside. The battleship began weaving from side to side and headed toward shore. Large trails of oil followed in its wake. . . .”
— Narrative Report of Flight of Captain Colin P. Kelly, Air Corps, O-20811 (deceased) on Dec 10, 1947, by Eugene L. Eubank, Colonel, Air Corps, Commanding, Headquarters, 5th Bomber Command, Malang, Java, Feb 19, 1942
A Natori-class light cruiser, IJN Yura, photographed circa 1937. (U.S. Navy)
A group of Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 (“Zero”) fighters of the Tainan Kokutai, including the famed fighter ace Petty Officer First Class Saburō Sakai, attacked Kelly’s bomber as it returned to Clark Field, with the first pass killing Technical Sergeant William J. Delehanty and wounding Private First Class Robert E. Altman. The instrument panel was destroyed and oxygen tanks exploded. A second pass by the fighters set the bomber’s left wing on fire. This quickly spread to the fuselage. The two engines on the right wing failed.
坂井 三郎 PO1 Saburō Sakai, Imperial Japanese Navy
Captain Kelly ordered his crew to bail out and though the fire had spread to the flight deck, Kelly remained at the bomber’s controls. Staff Sergeant James E. Halkyard, Private First Class Willard L. Money, and Private Altman were able to escape from the rear of the B-17. The navigator, Second Lieutenant Joe M. Bean, and the bombardier, Sergeant Levin, went out through the nose escape hatch. As co-pilot Lieutenant Donald Robins tried to open the cockpit’s upper escape hatch, the Flying Fortress exploded. Robins was thrown clear and was able to open his parachute.
Boeing B-17C 40-2045 crashed approximately three miles (4.8 kilometers) east of Clark Field. The bodies of Captain Kelly and Sergeant Delehanty were found at the crash site.
The wreckage was found along a rural road 2 miles west of Mount Aryat (Mount Aryat is about 5 miles east of Clark Field). The tail assembly was missing. Parts . . . were scattered over an area of 500 yards. The right wing with two engines still in place remained almost intact although it was burning when the search party arrived. The fuselage and left side of the plane were badly wrecked and burned. T/Sgt Delehanty’s body was lying about 50 yards north of the wreckage. Capt Kelly’s body . . . was found very near the wreckage with his parachute unopened. . . .
— Narrative Report of Flight of Captain Colin P. Kelly, Air Corps, O-20811 (deceased) on Dec 10, 1947, by Eugene L. Eubank, Colonel, Air Corps, Commanding, Headquarters, 5th Bomber Command, Malang, Java, Feb 19, 1942
Captain Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., Air Corps, United States Army. (The New York Times)
Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., was born in Madison County, Florida, 11 July 1915. He was the first of two children of Colin Purdie Kelly, a fresco artist, and Mary Eliza Mays (“Mamie”) Kelly. He had a younger sister, Emmala Mays Kelly. Kelly attended Madison High School, graduating in 1932.
Kelly was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. His stated intention was to become a bomber pilot.
Cadet Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., United States Military Academy, circa 1937. (The Howitzer)
According to his West Point yearbook, “C.P.” Kelly,
“. . . has not devoted all his effort to study and consequently not achieved high academic rank, but he has participated in sports and other activities and has found additional time to enjoy thoroughly West Point. He’s positive in his opinions; vigorous in his actions. All-around ability and a knack for making friends bespeak a bright future for him. . . .”
—The Howitzer of 1937, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, 1937, at Page 218.
Cadet Kelly participated in football, boxing, cross country and track, and sang with the Cadet Chapel choir. Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., graduated from West Point and was commissioned a second lieutenant, Infantry, United States Army, on 12 June 1937.
On 1 August 1937, Lieutenant Kelly married Miss Marion Estelle Wick. The ceremony was held in the Cadet Chapel at West Point. They would have a son, Colin Purdie Kelly III, born at Riverside, California, 6 May 1940. In 1963, “Corky” Kelly would also graduate from the United States Military Academy.
2nd Lieutenant Kelly was assigned to flight training at Randolph Field, Texas. He graduated 13 January 1939, was awarded his pilot’s wings and was transferred from Infantry to the Air Corps. Kelly was then ordered to join the 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy) at March Field, near Riverside, California. He was promoted to first lieutenant 4 June 1940.
A Boeing B-17B Flying Fortress at March Field, Riverside, California, 1940. (LIFE Magazine)
Lieutenant Kelly was assigned to the 11th Bombardment Group (Heavy) at Hickam Field, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, in April 1941. At about this time, he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain. Kelly served as a squadron operations officer and B-17 check pilot. Nine B-17s of the 14th Bombardment Squadron of the 11th Group were sent to Clark Field in the Philippine Islands, to join the 19th Bombardment Group. Flying to Midway Island, Wake Island, Port Moresby, New Guinea, and Darwin, Australia, they traveled approximately 10,000 miles (16,093 kilometers), 5–12 September 1941. For his actions during this transoceanic flight, Captain Kelly was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
During a reconnaissance mission to Formosa (Taiwan) on 5 December 1941, Captain Kelly observed a large number of Japanese ships steaming toward Luzon. His squadron was then relocated to Del Monte Field on the island of Mindanao.
The Distinguished Service Cross
General Douglas MacArthur later said, “It is my profound sorrow that Colin Kelly is not here. I do not know the dignity of Captain Kelly’s birth, but I do know the glory of his death. He died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with a faith in his heart and victory his end. God has taken him unto Himself, a gallant soldier who did his duty.”
Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr. was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, posthumously. The medal was presented to Mrs. Colin P. Kelly, Jr., by Major General Barney McKinney Giles, U.S. Army Air Corps.
Following the war, Captain Kelly’s remains were returned to the United States, and interred at the Oak Ridge Cemetery, Madison, Florida.
Kelly’s B-17 was the first Flying Fortress in U.S. service to be lost in air combat in World War II.
Boeing B-17C 40-2049, similar to Colin Kelly’s 40-2045. (U.S. Air Force)
The Boeing Model 299H, designated B-17C, was the second production variant ordered by the U.S. Army Air Corps. 38 were built by Boeing, however 20 of these were transferred to Great Britain’s Royal Air Force, designated Fortress B.I. They were initially assigned to No. 90 Squadron.²
The B-17C was 67 feet, 10.6 inches (20.691 meters long with a wingspan of 103 feet, 9⅜ inches (31.633 meters) and the overall height was 15 feet, 5 inches (4.699 meters). The B-17C had an empty weight of 29,021 pounds (13,164 kilograms), gross weight of 39,320 pounds (17,835 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 49,650 pounds (22,521 kilograms).
A Boeing B-17C assigned to Wright Field in natural metal finish, circa 1940. (Rudy Arnold Photographic Collection, National Air and Space Museum Archives, NASM-XRA-0119)
It was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, 1,823.129-cubic-inch-displacement (29.875 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 9 C666A (R-1820-65) nine-cylinder radial engines. These engines were rated at 1,000 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m., and 1,200 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m., for takeoff. They drove three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed propellers through a 0.5625:1 gear reduction. The R-1820-65 was 3 feet, 11.59 inches (1.209 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.12 inches (1.400 meters) in diameter, and weighed 1,315 pounds (596 kilograms).
The maximum speed of the B-17C was 323 miles per hour (520 kilometers per hour) at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters). Its service ceiling was 37,000 feet (11,278 meters) and the maximum range was 3,400 miles (5,472 kilometers).
The B-17C could carry 4,800 pounds (2,177 kilograms) of bombs. Defensive armament consisted of one .30-caliber air-cooled machine gun and four .50-caliber machine guns.
According to one source, all eighteen B-17Cs in service with the Army Air Corps were returned to Boeing in January 1941 to be upgraded to the B-17D configuration.
A Boeing B-17C Flying Fortress, similar to Colin Kelly’s 40-2045. The Air Corps began camouflaging its B-17s in olive drab and neutral gray during Spring 1941. (U.S. Air Force)
¹ 10 December in the Commonwealth of the Philippines, which is west of the International Date Line. This would have been 9 December in the United States of America.
² A 1941 book, War Wings: Fighting Airplanes of the American and British Air Forces, by David C. Cooke, published by Robert M. McBride & Company, New York, refers to the B-17C in British service as the “Seattle,” which is in keeping with the R.A.F.’s system of naming bombers after cities.
Lieutenants Kenneth Marlar Taylor and George Schwartz Welch, Air Corps, United States Army. (U.S. Air Force)
On the morning of December 7, 1941, very few American fighter pilots were able to get airborne to fight the Japanese attackers. Ken Taylor and George Schwartz were two of them.
Distinguished Service Cross
Second Lieutenants Kenneth Marlar Taylor and George S. Welch took two Curtiss-Wright P-40B Warhawk fighters from a remote airfield at Haleiwa, on the northwestern side of the island of Oahu, and against overwhelming odds, each shot down four enemy airplanes: Welch shot down three Aichi D3A Type 99 “Val” dive bombers and one Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 (“Zero”) fighter. Taylor also shot down four Japanese airplanes.
Although both officers were nominated for the Medal of Honor by General Henry H. (“Hap”) Arnold, they were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
During the War, Welch flew the Bell P-39 Airacobra and Lockheed P-38 Lightning on 348 combat missions. He had 16 confirmed aerial victories over Japanese airplanes and rose to the rank of Major.
Suffering from malaria, George Welch was out of combat and recuperating in Australia. When North American Aviation approached General Arnold to recommend a highly experienced fighter pilot as a test pilot for the P-51H Mustang, Arnold suggested Welch and authorized his resignation from the Air Corps.
Aichi D3A Type 99 dive bomber, “Val”. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)
George Welch tested the P-51H, XP-86 Sabre and YF-100A Super Sabre for North American Aviation. Reportedly, while demonstrating the F-86 Sabre’s capabilities to Air Force pilots during the Korean War, he shot down as many as six MiG 15s.
George Welch was killed while testing a F-100A Super Sabre, 12 October 1954.
A Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 Model 21, A1-108, flown by PO2c Sakae Mori, takes of from IJN Akagi, an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 7 December 1941. (U.S. Navy)
Ken Taylor scored two more victories at Guadalcanal before wounds received in an air raid sent him back to the United States. He remained in the Air Force until he retired in 1971 with the rank of Brigadier General. He died in 2006.
Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk, circa 1940. (Rudy Arnold Collection/NASM)
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation Hawk 81B (P-40B Warhawk) was a single-seat, single-engine pursuit. It was a low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction, and used flush riveting to reduce aerodynamic drag. It had an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear. Extensive wind tunnel testing at the NACA Langley laboratories refined the airplane’s design, significantly increasing the top speed.
The P-40B Warhawk was 31 feet, 8¾ inches (9.671 meters) long, with a wingspan of 37 feet, 4 inches (11.379 meters). Its empty weight was 5,590 pounds (2,536 kilograms), and 7,326 pounds (3,323 kilograms) gross. The maximum takeoff weight was 7,600 pounds (3,447 kilograms).
The P-40B was powered by a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,710.60-cubic-inch-displacement (28.032 liter) Allison Engineering Co. V-1710-C15 (V-1710-33), a single overhead cam (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine, which produced 1,040 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m., and turned a three-bladed Curtiss Electric constant-speed propeller through a 2:1 gear reduction. The V-1710-33 was 8 feet, 2.54 inches (2.503 meters) long, 3 feet, 5.88 inches (1.064 meters) high, and 2 feet, 5.29 inches (0.744 meters) wide. It weighed 1,340 pounds (607.8 kilograms).
Allison Engineering Co. V-1710-33 V-12 aircraft engine at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (NASM)
Heavier than the initial production P-40, the P-40B was slightly slower, with a maximum speed of 352 miles per hour (567 kilometers per hour) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). It had a service ceiling of 32,400 feet (9,876 meters) and range of 730 miles (1,175 kilometers).
Armament consisted of two air-cooled Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns mounted in the cowlingabove the engine and synchronized to fire forward through the propeller arc, with 380 rounds per gun, and four Browning M2 .30-caliber aircraft machine guns, with two in each wing.
Curtiss-Wright produced 13,738 P-40s between 1939 and 1944. 131 of those were P-40B Warhawks.
A flight of six Curtiss-Wright P-40B Warhawks of the 44th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group, over the island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, 9:00 a.m., 1 August 1941. (U.S. Air Force)
Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 Model 21 (“Zero”) fighters ready for takeoff aboard an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 7 December 1941. (Imperial Japanese Navy)Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 Model 21 (“Zero”) fighters prepare for takeoff aboard IJN Akagi, 7 December 1941. (Imperial Japanese Navy)A Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 Model 21, A1-108, flown by PO2c Sakae Mori, takes of from IJN Akagi, an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 7 December 1941. (U.S. Navy)
The Shikishima Kamikaze unit is offered a toast of water as a farewell, 25 October 1944. At left is Lieutenant Yukio Seki (with cup in his hands). Commander Asaiki Tamai, with his back to the camera, is next to him. At center, also facing away from the camera, is Vice Admiral Takjiro Onishi.
25 October 1944: During The Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Divine Wind Special Attack Unit (Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, or 神風特別攻撃隊) carries out its first mission, an attack on two task groups of United States Navy escort aircraft carriers near the island of Samar in the Philippine Sea.
Prior to the Kamikaze attack of 25 October 1944, there had been other suicide attacks by Japanese pilots, possibly beginning as early as the attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 7 December 1941. But the idea of intentional suicide attacks was proposed by Captain Motoharu Okamura, IJN, and studies began 15 June 1944.
Midshipman Yukio Seji, IJN,1939.
The first unit of 23 pilots, Unit Shikishima, was selected by Commander Asaichi Tamai. Lieutenant Yukio Seki (29 September 1921–25 October 1944) was appointed the unit’s commanding officer.
At 7:40 a.m., 25 October, six Japanese airplanes from Davao, Mindanao, attacked three Sangamon-class escort carriers of Task Group 77.4.1 (called “Taffy 1”), under the command of Rear Admiral Thomas Lamison (“Tommy”) Sprague, USN.
One airplane struck USS Santee (CVE-29) on the forward port side of the flight deck and continued through, blowing a 15 foot × 30 foot (4.6 × 9.1 meters) hole in the hangar deck. Fortunately eight 1,000 pound (454 kilogram) bombs located there did not explode. The resulting fire was extinguished by 7:51 a.m. In addition to the airplane’s pilot,16 sailors were killed and 27 wounded.
Five minutes later, at 7:57 a.m., Santee was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo launched by the Japanese Type B3 submarine, I-56.
USS Santee (CVE-29) being hit by a torpedo fired from the Japanese submarine I-56, 0757, 25 October 1944. (Naval History and Heritage Command NH 71526)
Immediately after the crash aboard Santee, another Kamikaze circled USS Suwanee (CVE-27). It was hit by antiaircraft gunfire and headed toward USS Sangamon (CVE-26). A 5-inch shell fired by Suwanee brought it down short of Sangamon. At the same time, another Kamikaze nearly hit USS Petroff Bay (CVE-80), a Casablanca-class escort carrier, but was shot down by antiaircraft fire.
Suwanee shot down a second Zero and damaged a third. This airplane rolled over, and trailing smoke, hit the escort carrier’s flight deck forward of the aft elevator. Its bomb exploded between the flight and hangar decks.
“Effect of a crash dive on Suwanee flight deck. A 250 kilogram (551 pound) bomb has just exploded between flight and hangar decks and fire billows out, 25 October 1944. (Naval History and Heritage Command NH 71528)
Within two hours the flight deck damage had been repaired, though the elevator remained inoperative. Flight operations resumed at 10:09 a.m.
Five Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 Model 21 Reisen fighters (commonly referred to as the “Zero”, and also known by the Allied reporting name Zeke) led by Lieutenant Seki departed Malabacat, Luzon, and headed toward Task Force 77.4.3 (“Taffy 3”), under the command of Rear Admiral Clifton Albert Frederick (“Ziggy”) Sprague, USN. (Ziggy Sprague was not related to Tommy Sprague.)
Prior to this mission, Lieutenant Seki was interviewed by war correspondent Masashi Onoda. Seki is reported to have said, “Japan’s future is bleak if it is forced to kill one of its best pilots. I am not going on this mission for the Emperor or for the Empire. . . I am going because I was ordered to!”
Most of Taffy 3 had just survived an attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy’s overwhelming Center Force, consisting of the Japanese super battleship Yamato, battleships Nagato, Kongo, Haruna, cruisers Haguro, Chokai, Kumano, Suzuya, Chikuma, Tone, and two destroyer squadrons, in The Battle off Samar.
The Kamikazes approached the task group at very low altitude, avoiding radar, then climbed to 5,000–6,000 feet (1,524–1,829 meters). They appeared so suddenly that the fleet’s combat air patrol was unable to intercept. At 10:50 a.m., the first Zero attacked USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71), apparently aiming for the carrier’s bridge. It missed, but passed over the island, crashed the port catwalk, and bounced into the sea. The bomb it carried exploded and seriously damaged the ship.
“A Japanese kamikaze pilot in a Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Reisen (“Zero,” or “Zeke”) crash dives on the U.S. Navy escort carrier USS White Plains (CVE-66) on 25 October 1944. The aircraft missed the flight deck and impacted the water just off the port quarter of the ship.” (Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-288882)
Two Zeros attacking USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) were shot down. Two more dived on USS White Plains (CVE-66) but were driven off by the carrier’s 40 millimeter Bofors antiaircraft guns. One, smoking from a hit, turned away and dived toward the escort carrier USS St. Lo (CVE-63). At 10:51, St. Lo‘s guns opened fire, but this fighter, identified as a Mitsubishi A6M5 Type 0 Model 52 Reisen, crashed through the flight deck and exploded in flames.¹
An explosion aboard USS St. Lo (CVE-63), immediately after being hit by a kamikaze, 10:51 a.m., 25 October 1944. Photograph taken from USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71). (National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-270513)
In his classic 15-volume History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, USNR, describes what followed:
“Quickly there followed seven explosions of torpedoes and bombs on the hangar deck. Great sections of the flight deck and elevator and entire planes were hurled hundreds of feet into the air. The ship blazed from stem to stern, and at 1125 the unluckily renamed ² St. Lo foundered under a cloud of dense smoke.
“The second member of this pair partly circled the formation, turned, and started a run on White Plains, which maneuvered to evade with hard left rudder. The plane came weaving under fire of all after guns; a torrent of blazing tracers could be seen entering its fuselage and wing roots. When only a few yards astern, it rolled over and dove, missing the port catwalk by inches and exploding between that level and the water. The flight deck was showered with debris and fragments of the pilot, and eleven men were injured.
RADM S. E. Morison, USNR, ca. 1953
“As Kitkun Bay was steaming on course 200° at 1110, she sighted 15 Judys [Yokosuka D4Y Suisei dive bombers]approaching the formation from astern, distant about five miles. She launched twoWildcats by catapult for combat air patrol, but not in time. She and the three remaining carriers, Fanshaw Bay, White Plains and Kalinin Bay were without screen, owing to rescue work. One of the three Kamikazes got through the C.A.P. and dove at Kitkun Bay from astern. Its wings were shot off as it neared the ship, and just in time, for the bomb struck the water 25 yards on the starboard bow and parts of the plane hit the forecastle. Kalinin Bay received a crash dive on her flight deck which damaged it badly, but the fires then started were quenched in less than five minutes. A second plane crashed after her stack and two others dove but missed. AdmiralSprague’s flagship, the lucky “Fannie Bee,” alone alone sustained no damage in this assault.”
—History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XII, Leyte—June 1944–January 1945, by Rear Admiral Samuel Elliot Morison, USNR. Chapter XIII, Section 3, at Page 302. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1988
“10:55 a.m. A major explosion occurs on USS St. Lo (CVE 63).” (National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-27051)
Of St. Lo‘s crew of 889 men, 113 were killed or missing, and another 30 later died of wounds.
Taffy 3’s remaining screening ships,³ the Fletcher-class destroyer USS Heerman (DD-531), with the Butler-class destroyer escorts USS John C. Butler (DE-339), USS Dennis (DE-405) and USS Raymond (DE-341), searched for survivors of the sunken St. Lo. They recovered 754 men.
USS St. Lo (CVE-63) burning in Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. (National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-47041)The remains of a Yokosuka D4Y Suisei dive bomber aboard USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71), 25 October 1944. (United States Navy)Damage to the flight deck of USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68), 25 October 1944. (National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-270510)
Just after noon on 26 October, another group of Kamikazes attacked Taffy 1. The task group’s combat air patrol saved Santee from 12 Judys. Sangamon and Petroff Bay were narrowly missed.
A Zeke crashes into the flight deck of USS Suwanee (CVE-27), 1240 hours, 26 October 1944. (National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-270613)
At 12:40 p.m., a Zero crashed onto Suwanee‘s flight deck and hit a torpedo bomber which had just landed. Both airplanes exploded. Nine more of Suwannee‘s airplanes caught fire. 85 sailors were killed, 58 were missing and 102 wounded, some of whom later died of their injuries.
USS Midway (CVE-63) at San Diego, California, April 1944. It is painted in a three color disruptive camouflage. The ship would be renamed USS St. Lo three months later. (National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-47028)
USS St. Lo (CVE-63) was a Casablanca-class escort aircraft carrier. Originally designated an auxiliary aircraft carrier, USS Chapin (ACV-63), the ship was laid down by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, Washington, 23 January 1943, under a Maritime Commission contract (M.C. Hull 1100). Chapin was renamed USS Midway (CVE-63) on 3 April 1943.
Midway was launched 17 August 1943, and commissioned 23 October 1943. Captain Francis Joseph McKenna, USN, was in command. The ship cost $6,033,429.05.
On 10 October 1944, Midway was renamed USS St. Lo (CVE-63), just 15 days before she was sunk.
St. Lo had an overall length 512 feet, 3 inches (156.14 meters), beam of 65 feet, 2 inches (19.86 meters) and maximum draft of 22 feet 4 inches (6.81 meters). The extreme width of the flight deck was 108 feet, 1 inch (32.95 meters). The ship had a full load displacement of 10,902 long tons (11,077 metric tons). It was powered by four Babcock & Wilcox boilers of 9,000 shaft horsepower (6,700 kilowatts), feeding two Skinner Unaflow vertical reciprocating steam engines, which turned two screws capable of driving it at 19 knots (22 statute miles per hour/35 kilometers per hour). The carrier had an unrefueled range of 10,240 nautical miles (11,784 statute miles/18,965 kilometers) at 15 knots (17 statute miles per hour/28 kilometers per hour).
“St. LO (CVE-63) slows to a stop as she is abandoned in an orderly manner. Note the men going down lines into the water.” (National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-270511)
The flight deck was equipped with one steam catapult and two elevators.
St. Lo was armed by one 5-inch, 38-caliber (127 millimeter) dual purpose naval gun, sixteen 40 millimeter Bofors automatic antiaircraft guns, and twenty 20 millimeter Oerlikon autocannon. She carried 672 rounds of 5-inch, 3,298 rounds of 40 millimeter cannon shells, and 7,440 rounds of 20 millimeter shells. The carrier also carried 1,350 rounds of .45 ACP small arms ammunition.⁴
St. Lo carried 27 aircraft, including Grumman F4F or General Motors/Eastern Aircraft FM Wildcat fighters and Grumman TBF or General Motors TBM Avenger torpedo bombers.
The wreck of USS St. Lo is located near N. 11° 1′ 12″, E. 126° 2′ 24″.
¹ Historian John Toland named Lieutenant Seki as the pilot of this airplane, but Lieutenant Junior Grade Hiroshi Nishizawa, IJN, flying one of the A6M5 escorting fighters, reported that Seki’s airplane bounced off the deck of the carrier and its bomb did not explode. It crashed into the sea. He observed a second plane crash onto St. Lo, and its bomb did explode. Nishizawa was killed the following day, 26 October 1944.
² It is an old sailors’ superstition that it is unlucky to rename a ship. USS St. Lo had been laid down as USS Chapin Bay in January 1943. On 3 April 1943, it was renamed USS Midway. In order to free the name Midway for the new large aircraft carrier CVB-41, as well to commemorate the Battle of Saint-Lô, USS Midway was renamed USS St. Lo on 10 October 1944.
³ Along with USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), Taffy 3’s escorting Fletcher-class destroyers, USS Hoel (DD-503) and USS Johnston (DD-557) and the Butler-class destroyer escort, USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), were sunk several hours earlier by enemy naval gunfire during The Battle off Samar, when they heroically counterattacked the Center Force.
⁴ Naval History and Heritage Command, “Midway II (CVE-63)”
