KITS 03/2023

BuNo.02062, Mach. Donald E. Runyon, VF-6,

USS Enterprise, September 1942

Donald Eugene Runyon was a petty officer Aviation

Machinists Mate 1/c and he was so skilled he had officers

for wingmen. He scored six times with Wildcat. This one

served him well to get two of his victories at the very

start of the Guadalcanal campaign on August 8, when he

shot down Zero and Betty. A day before, he also shot down

two enemies with aircraft BuNo. 02125. He joined VF-3 in

December 1942 and stayed with the unit until April 1943.

He did not achieve any aerial victories with the unit, but

the things changed when he joined VF-18 based on the

USS Bunker Hill in September 1943. There, already flying

Hellcats, he added three more kills to finish the war with

11 victories. He was promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade)

rank in May 1943 and to Lieutenant on July 1, 1944. He was

a test pilot at Moffett Field from July 1945 to July 1946 and

served with several units until July 1964, when he retired

in the rank of Commander. The Wildcat BuNo. 02062 sported

the unusual painting of the tombstone with 41 Japanese

roundels symbolizing total score of the VF-6 during their

fighting of Guadalcanal Campaign. Such a painting sported

only nine Wildcats of the unit, the ones which stayed on the

deck of the USS Enterprise on her route from the Solomons

to Hawai. Other Wildcats were flown to USS Saratoga or to

Guadalcanal.

1/Lt. Jefferson J. DeBlanc, VMF-112/121, Henderson Field,

Guadalcanal, January 1943

During his two tours of duty, Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc

scored nine kills in the combats during the Guadalcanal and

Okinawa campaigns. That made him 11th highest scoring

Marines ace. During his mission on January 31, 1943, when

escorting SBSs to attack Japanese ships, he detected

a serious fuel leak, which made his return to base

unlikely. He requested that rescue forces be altered and

continued the mission, which resulted in a fierce combat

with Japanese Ki-43 Oscars. DeBlanc managed to shoot

down five of them but was wounded and had to bail out

himself from his crippled and smoking Wildcat. After many

mishaps he finally managed to get back to the base and to

the hospital on February 12. This Wildcat also received an

enemy burst. It happened on November 12, 1942, with 1/Lt.

Sam Folsom at the controls. He managed to get it home and

the Wildcat was repaired. Mechanics used white aircraftfabric patches to cover the bullet holes, but the patches

lost their white color soon in harsh, dusty environment…

DeBlanc was one of the pilots to use it, although it was

assigned to VMF-121, while he was a member of VMF-112.

this Wildcat is sometimes referred to latter, as it sports 19

kill marks. But the photos are dated to February 1943 when

the VMF-223 was gone from Guadalcanal. According to

some sources, Carl himself stated this aircraft was a nonairworthy aircraft he used for photo session with media at

Espiritu Santo, following the end of the tour on Guadalcanal

(i.e., in second half of October). Together with a mechanic,

they reportedly put 19 kill mark stickers on. But there are no

photos of Carl with this aircraft or in the cockpit ... More to

it, other photos show visibly stained kill marks, one of them

dated to March 22, 1943. Conclusion? It might be operational

aircraft changing units and sporting the kills of all the pilots

flying it. Or it might be really used for some photo session

on Espiritu Santo in late October, but repaired and sent to

Guadalcanal, keeping these kill marks applied. There were

repairs on the right wing and on the fuselage, while roundel

on the upper side of the left half of the wing showed some

damage.

Guadalcanal, Henderson Field,

early 1943

Although good photos of this Wildcat are available, there are

many questions regarding its identity. Usually, the aircraft

is referred to 1/Lt. Marion Carl of VMF-223 or the CO of

this unit, Maj. John L. Smith. Both were bright stars of the

early stage of the Guadalcanal campaign amongst USMC

pilots. The VMF-223 was the first one to land on Henderson

Field together with VMSB-232. From August 20 they were

frantically fighting Japanese aircraft until late October.

Carl got 16,5 of them, Smith 19. That’s one of the reasons

38

INFO Eduard

March 2023