HISTORY

and was the most experienced pilot in the

squadron after Mangrum, stood on his

brakes and ran up his engine, then soared

up to join his leader. Second Lieutenant

Henry “Hank” Hise, a 22-year-old Texan

who had graduated from flight school the

previous May with a shade over 200 hours

in his logbook, maneuvered his scout

bomber on the deck as the crew hooked

the airplane to the catapult. He and the

other nine “nuggets” had never seen

a Dauntless before they reported to the

painstakingly trained his men to survive

against the otherwise unbeatable Zero.

He later recalled those weeks spent

working to prepare his novices for the

unknown rigors of combat: “We all had to

qualify on an aircraft carrier, which we did.

We spent as much time as we could flying

on Saturdays and Sundays and every

other day, doing gunnery and dummy

runs and anything that would help to give

people quick experience or quick training.

It was the first experience that I’d ever had

“It was a trying first night. We are nervous and

jumpy as there are snipers all around us, just

waiting for someone to stick [his] nose out.”

(2/Lt Eugene Arthur Trowbridge; VMF-223)

squadron in late June. A minute later, the

force of the catapult caused Lieutenant

Hise to forcibly pull back on his joystick,

pulling the Dauntless’s nose high enough

to nearly stall. He quickly jammed the stick

forward and fought to keep the bomber

out of the water. Regaining control, he

joined up on Mangrum and Baldinus.

The first of the 19 blue-grey F4F-4

Wildcat fighters was pushed into position

on the catapult. Squadron commander

Major John L. Smith made a lastminute check of his engine and controls.

Extremely intelligent and able, he had a

demonstrated ability to adapt quickly to

changed conditions; most who knew him

said he often appeared to be in a bad mood.

He had only flown fighters since a month

before the attack on Pearl Harbor and

had worked his young replacements hard

since the squadron had been informed,

they were headed for the South Pacific.

He had never trained other aviators and

never been in combat. Fortunately, he

was a superb natural fighter tactician,

a

confident

innovator

who

had

trying to train anybody, but it seemed to

me that gunnery was the most important

thing, so we concentrated on gunnery

more than anything else, which was

a good thing after we found out where we

were going.”

The F4F-4 Smith flew was unlike its

predecessor, the F4F-3; this Wildcat

sported folding wings, allowing more of

them to operate from an aircraft carrier.

Armament was increased from four to

six .50-caliber machine guns, increasing

the weight of fire, though the ammunition

load remained the same which reduced

total firing time by 14 seconds, an eternity

in air combat. Most Wildcat pilots did

not see this as an improvement. The

weight of the additional guns and the

folding wings reduced the alreadysluggish performance of the fighter

even more. At Guadalcanal, the pilots

would need every bit of warning time

the coastwatchers could provide to

struggle up to 20,000 feet in time to be

in position for an attack on the incoming

Japanese.

Smith was followed in quick succession

by Captain Marion Carl, newly-promoted

to Executive Officer, and fellow Midway

veteran Division Leaders Captains

Clayton Canfield and Roy Corry and their

young charges, who had an average of

250 flying hours in their logbooks and

were eight weeks out of flight school.

At 1455 hours, Yamamoto’s staff received

a report from the second Mavis that the

carrier and its escorts were retiring

south. Neither of the big flying boats had

seen the launch of Marine Air Group 23 to

Guadalcanal.

With the Marine aircraft launched, the

vulnerable carrier reversed course and

headed out of range at full speed. The 31

blue-grey airplanes headed north into the

cloudy unknown.

Two hours later, Guadalcanal hove into

view. While Smith’s Wildcats flew cover,

the SBDs landed. Mangrum followed

a ground-control jeep to the dispersal

area and jumped to the ground as soon

as his plane's engine stopped. He had

his hand wrung profusely by General

Vandegrift, while thousands of thankful

Marines shouted themselves hoarse and

pounded one another black and blue in

a thundering release of emotion. The

cavalry had arrived.

Lieutenant Gene Trowbridge later wrote in

his diary: “[We] sight the [air]field at 1600.

We are really welcomed by the troops

as the Japs have been taking their time

bombing them and they figure we will help

them quite a lot. We are all bedded down

for the night and get ready for a nice sleep

when, bang, the whole world seems to

explode. The Japs are coming and some of

their cruisers and destroyers are shelling

us and the troops. It was a trying first

night. We are nervous and jumpy as there

are snipers all around us, just waiting for

someone to stick [his] nose out.”

Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command

Before taking off from the deck of the USS Long Island ...

10

INFO Eduard

March 2023