HISTORY

Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command

Wildcats on Guadalcanal in the fall of 1942. A group of B-17s is overflying Henderson Field.

work and would be back. As yet nothing

stood in their path. A three-ship convoy

from Noumea arrived after the Japanese

dparted. The ships brought five days of

food, which, along with captured Japanese

provisions, gave the Marines a two-week

food supply. To stretch the supplies as far

as possible, the Marines were limited to

two meals per day.

dugouts, with slit trenches close by.

Malarial mosquitos were numerous. The

fliers would be issued Japanese mosquito

netting, something the “mud marines”

could only hope for. The facilities were

crude, but Henderson Field was ready.

It was just in time.

Despite all the effort, Henderson Field

could barely be described as an airfield.

“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.”

(Maj. John L. Smith, VMF-223)

12

INFO Eduard

It was an irregularly shaped blob cut out

of the island growth, half in and half out

of a coconut grove, with a runway that

was too short and too few revetments

to protect the aircraft from shrapnel.

In mid-September, several weeks after

Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command

Henderson is Ready

On August 19, CUB-1 and the 1st Engineer

Battalion reported Henderson was fit

to support air operations. The airfield

was now 3,800-foot strip 150 feet wide,

covered with gravel, with a dirt taxiway

and parking area destined to become

fields of mud in the many rainstorms. The

airfield was surrounded by a tenuously

held defensive line extending from Point

Cruz on the west to the Ilu River on the

east, leaving the field only a quarter mile

from a mile-long piece of high ground

that would come to be known in Marine

history as “Bloody Ridge.” There were

no protective revetments and aircraft

maintenance would test American

ingenuity throughout their time on the

island. The only structure on the field

was a wooden tower the Japanese had

constructed which became known as

“The Pagoda.” Time Magazine reporter

Robert Sherrod, who landed with the

Marines, described living conditions at

the field as “appalling” with sleeping

choices limited to mud-floor tents or

their arrival on the island, MAG-23 group

executive officer Lt. Colonel Charles Fike

finally wrote the August 20, 1942, entry

in the group’s War Diary: “Upon arrival it

was found that a servicing detachment

of approximately 140 men, commanded

by Ensign Polk, of CUB-1, were available

for fueling, rearming, and servicing

of aircraft. All fueling was done by means

of hand pumps directly from drums.

Rearming was done without the aid

of bomb-handling trucks, bomb carts,

or bomb hoists. The enlisted men

of CUB-l, although willing and intelligent,

had, for the most part, less than four

months’ service, as a result of which

they required the closest supervision.

Considering the attending difficulties,

Ensign Polk handled this situation

remarkably well. His attitude was at all

times cooperative.”

To be continued...

A major innovation in the F4F-4 version was the "So-Wing" folding system, designed by Leroy Grumman himself.

Here, mechanics demonstrate the system’s space-saving capabilities on an aircraft belonging to VF-3 at NAS

Kaneohe, Oahu, May 29, 1942.

March 2023