Page 54
Lt. (jg) Dean S. Laird, USS Ranger (CV-4),
Operation Leader, October 1943
Dean Samuel “Diz” Laird was the only US Navy
ace with kills on both the Pacific and European
battlefields. He also served in the Korean War
and Vietnam War after the World War II. Laird
shot down 5.75 enemy aircraft in combat and
damaged one. Two of his victims were German
Ju 88 and He 115 aircraft, shot down in October
1943 near Norway during Operation Leader.
The others were Japanese aircraft. Laird flew
138 combat sorties during World War II and was
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and
the Congressional Gold Medal, among other
awards. He flew the F4F Wildcats and then the
F6F Hellcats and was assigned to the aircraft
carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) from November 1942
to March 1943. From November 1944 to March
1945, he operated from the USS Essex (CV-9).
In 1969, he was one of the three lead pilots in the
movie Tora! Tora! Tora! Laird helped reenact the
attack on Pearl Harbor during its filming and flew
approximately 164 hours during the production.
VMF-441, Nanumea, November 1943
Marine Fighting Squadron 441 (VMF-441) was
formed on October 1, 1942 at Tutuila, American
Samoa, from part of VMF-111 and flew F4F
Wildcats. By the end of May 1943, the entire
squadron moved to Funafuti in the Ellice Islands,
followed by another move to Nanumea Base on
September 28, 1943. The squadron moved back to
Tutuila in December 1943, where it rearmed to the
F4U-1 Corsair. VMF-441 was also known as “The
Blackjacks”. The unit was credited with a total
of 49 aircraft shot down during World War II and
was inactivated after the surrender of Japan on
July 11, 1946. The Wildcat shown here wore non-
standard camouflage with a third shade of Semi-
Gloss Sea Blue added to the original older Blue
Gray/Light Gray scheme on the upper fuselage
and wing surfaces. The nose of the aircraft was
decorated with a white “Little Joe” inscription on
the left side of the engine cowling with a dice
motif.
KITS 04/2024
INFO Eduard54
April 2024