African intermezzo

Text: Jan Bobek

Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz

Cat. No. 82203

Whoever stood on board the escort carrier USS Cabot in April 1945 and had the opportunity to see the Hellcat flown by VF-29 commander Lt. Cdr. “Bill” Eder, probably stared in disbelief at the score that was marked on both sides of the fuselage under the cockpit overlay. In addition to the symbols of nearly forty bombing missions, there were seven Japanese aircraft shot down, nine other Japanese planes destroyed on the ground, and, rather unusually, three French flags added.

Behind Eder was clearly a successful combat career that had taken him beyond the Pacific. From VF-29, which was reformed in the spring of 1944, he built an outstanding unit that notched 113 certain victories and lost only five missing and two killed pilots. Eder was not only the commander of VF-29 at the time, but he also led the entire Carrier Air Group of the USS Cabot.

Willard Ernest Eder was born on September 27, 1916, in Buffalo, Wyoming. He was descended from German immigrants on his father's side. Grandfather Olof was from Darmstadt, Upper Hesse, and grandmother Dorothea, née Rehder, was born in Holstein. On his mother's side, Eder had Irish and probably German ancestry.

In 1938 he graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in political science, interrupted his service in the Army and joined the Navy. At the beginning of the Pacific War, he served in VF-3 aboard the USS Saratoga. After she was torpedoed he was transferred to the USS Lexington. This gave him the opportunity to train and fight with the best naval fighter aviators of the time, as the unit commander was Lt. John S. Thach and other officers included Edward H. O'Hare.

During the Battle of Bougainville on February 20, 1942, Eder shared destruction of G4M Betty of 4th Kōkūtai´s 2nd Chūtai, led by Lt. Masayoshi Nakagawa. The formation of nine bombers was completely destroyed and Eder received a DFC. The legendary combat fought by Lt. O'Hare on the same day, took place during a skirmish with the 1st Chūtai of the 4th Kōkūtai.

Eder became a member of VF-2 aboard the USS Lexington in April 1942 and received the Navy Cross for his performance in the Battle of the Coral Sea, during which he scored one Zero in combat with fighters from Shōkaku on May 8, 1942, and also scored one probable kill of a fixed gear aircraft.

Eder's next unit became VGF-29, which was established in July 1942 at NAS Norfolk under the command of Lt. J. T. Blackburn, who later became commander of VF-17, a unit with Corsair fighters in the Solomon Islands area. VGF-29 embarked aboard the escort carrier USS Santee in early October 1942 and became part of the task force involved in the North African landings.

Allied forces landed in North Africa as part of Operation Torch on November 8, 1942, including Free French forces. Canada, the Netherlands and Australia also participated with their naval vessels. The landings occurred in northwest Morocco and in the Oran and Algiers areas of Algeria. The aim of the operation was not only to land and open a second front on African soil, but also to pressure the forces of Vichist France to change sides. The Americans were in a very strange situation. Not only were the French their traditional ally, but the U.S. government in 1940, unlike the British, recognized the Vichy government. In the Moroccan area, their opponents were French pilots with Curtiss H.75 fighters, and the Americans soon noticed emblem of a Sioux head on their fuselages, the symbol of the American Lafayette Squadron of World War I. 

Experienced U.S. Navy aviators aboard four aircraft carriers met unexpected resistance and lost 46 aircraft during the three days of fighting, albeit in part due to accidents or crews losing their bearings. For instance Tom Blackburn spent two days at sea after running out of fuel. The USS Santee's suffered the highest losses, losing ten Wildcats, four Dauntlesses, and seven Avengers. One airman was killed, two were wounded, and four were taken prisoner. Three fighter pilots from VGF-29 received Silver Stars for this operation, including “Bill” Eder, who destroyed three French bombers on the ground. VGF-29, later redesignated VF-29, participated in anti-submarine patrols in the South Atlantic for one year beginning in December 1942.

A large number of Vichy units switched to the Allied side in the second half of November 1942. , but some naval officers, for example, did not share this decision. The commander of the submarine Le Tonnant attempted to torpedo an American aircraft carrier, probably the USS Ranger. The submarine then headed for Cadiz, Spain, where its crew sank it.