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Lt. Oscar I. Chenoweth, VF-38, Segi Point airstrip, New Georgia Island,
September 1943
Ens. Gordon A. Stanley, VF-27, USS Princeton (CVL-23), October 1944
Oscar Ivan Chenoweth was born on July 16,
1917, in Salem, Oregon. Having graduated from
the High School he continued his studies at the
Oregon State University however he interrupted
his education and in October of the same year
enlisted in the US Navy. Having completed the
fighter training Ens. Chenoweth flew as an
instructor at a training unit. In the middle of 1943,
he was assigned to VF-38 operating in the Pacific.
Here he achieved his fist kill on September
15, 1943, when he shot down a Japanese Zero
nearby Ballale island. Since January 1944
he flew Corsairs with VF-17 achieving another
7.5 victories over Japanese aircraft. Since June
1944 he was in command of the dive bomber
squadron. In 1954 he retired from the US Navy
and worked for Chance Vought. He passed away
on May 9, 1968, due to a heart attack. Red outline
of the national markings was discontinued as of
August 14, 1943, because of possible confusion
with the Japanese Hinomaru. There is no
photographic proof that Chenoweth’s aircraft
carried the red outlines at the time of his first
kill. It is possible, that in this time it sported blue-
outlined markings.
Gordon Arthur Stanley, born on July 13, 1921, in
Seattle, Washington state, shot down eight enemy
airplanes in the course of World War Two. All of
them he achieved flying with VF-27. This unit
became famous thanks to its unique marking
– cat mouth and eyes painted by Robert Burnell
on all noses of the Hellcats belonging to this unit.
Most of the Hellcats sporting the cat mouth with
eyes were lost on October 24, 1944, during the
Battle of Leyte Gulf. The aircraft ended up on the
ocean bottom together with Light Aircraft Carrier
Princeton, which was sunk by the single bomb
launched from the D4Y Suisei (Judy) dive-bomber.
Afterwards VF-27 operated from the board
of CVL-22 Independence, however without the
cat-mouth and eyes markings.
KITS 11/2024
INFO Eduard60
November 2024