Warbird Information Exchange

Never to be forgotten .....


USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)

Part 1

Combat Air Group 84 USS Bunker Hill

•Air Group 84 (VF-84, VB-84, VT-84, VMF-221, VMF-451): 16 Feb - 11 May 45 - Japan, Bonins, Ryukyus.
•VT-84 = 15x Grumman TBM-3D AVENGER
•VB-84 = 15x Curtiss SB2C-4E HELLDIVER
•VF-84 = 27x Chance-Vought F4U-1D CORSAIR,
4x Grumman F6F-5N HELLCAT
6x Grumman F6F-5P HELLCAT
•VMF-221 = 18x Chance-Vought F4U-1D CORSAIR
•VMF-451 = 18x Chance-Vought F4U-1D CORSAIR
March - April 1945 Engagements:
•TG 58.3 Japanese Islands (Tokyo Raids),
•Sinking of Yamato, Okinawa

VF-84 "Wolf Gang" 1 May 1944 to 8 October 1945.

Per Wiki: On 1 May 1944, the first VF-84, known as "Wolf Gang" was established. It was formed around a nucleus of veterans of VF-17 (the original "Jolly Rogers"), an F4U Corsair squadron land-based in the Solomon Islands in late 1943 and early 1944. The new squadron's commanding officer was Lt. Cdr. Roger R.Hedrick, former executive officer of VF-17.

VF-84 was assigned to the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), the original home of VF-17. As part of Task Force 58, the carrier and its air group (including VF-84) participated in the final drive across the central Pacific. Roger Hedrick was promoted to head CAG-84 on the combat loss of the air group's commanding officer, and Lt. Cdr. Raymond "Ted" Hill took over the fighter squadron.

VF-84 took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima; raids on Tokyo and other targets in Japan; the discovery and sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest warship in the world; and support of the invasion of Okinawa, including combat air patrol over the invasion fleet to defend against kamikaze attack, ground support, and combat air patrol over targets on Okinawa.

On 11 May 1945, while off Okinawa, two Japanese kamikazes struck the carrier in quick succession. A bomb carried by one penetrated to the pilots' ready room. 22 members of VF-84 lost their lives in the attack. Both the carrier (then the flagship) and its air group were knocked out of the war. Although VF-84 was reformed in July as an F6F Hellcat squadron, the war ended while it was still at its base in the United States. The squadron was disestablished on 8 October 1945.

While with the task force, the pilots of VF-84 were credited with 92 shootdowns for a loss of 4 Corsairs in air-to-air combat, a ratio of 48:1. Nine of the squadron's pilots became aces.


F4U-1D Corsair of VMF-221 and VF-84 on deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) preparing for the Tokyo Raid


F6F-5P Hellcats of VF-84 on the flight deck of the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) in the Ryuku Islands, Okinawa


F4U-1D Corsairs of VF-84 on the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) preparing to launch


F6F-5P Hellcat of VF-84 on the flight deck of the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


F4U-1D Corsairs of VF-84 on the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


F4U-1D Corsairs of VF-84 on the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


F4U-1D Corsairs of VF-84 on the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


F4U-1D Corsair of VF-84 prepares to launch from the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


F4U-1D Corsairs of CAG-84 on the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17).


F4U-1D Corsairs of VF-84 is on the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) preparing to launch. The Air Group of VF-84, VMF-221, VMF-451 are represented here


F4U-1D Corsairs of CAG-84 on the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


Task Group 58.3, under Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman, departs Ulithi on 10 February 1945. Seen from USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) are USS Cowpens


F4U-1D Corsair of VF-84 launches from the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


F6F-5P Hellcat of VF-84 in position on the flight deck of the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


F4U-1D Corsair aircraft of VF-84 on the deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)


TBM-3, with Torpedo Squadron 84 (VT-84), pictured on the deck of the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17).


TBM-3 with Torpedo Squadron Eighty-Four (VT-84), pictured in flight


Flight deck personnel work on an SB2C-4 of Bombing Squadron 84 (VB-84) on board USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)

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Part 2

On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the invasion of Okinawa, Bunker Hill was struck and severely damaged by two Japanese kamikaze planes. An A6M Zero fighter plane emerged from low cloud cover, dove toward the flight deck and dropped a 550-pound (250 kilogram) bomb that penetrated the flight deck and exited from the side of the ship at gallery deck level before exploding in the ocean.[3] The Zero next crashed onto the carrier's flight deck, destroying parked warplanes full of aviation fuel and ammunition, causing a large fire. The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea. Then, a short 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, plunged into its suicide dive. The Zero went through the antiaircraft fire, dropped a 550-pound bomb, and then crashed into the flight deck near the carrier's "island", as kamikazes were trained to aim for the island superstructure. The bomb penetrated the flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place. Bunker Hill lost a total of 346 sailors and airmen killed, 43 more missing (and never found), and 264 wounded. She was heavily damaged and was sent to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard for repairs. She was still in the shipyard when the war ended in mid-August 1945.

Footage here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz_rUyOY_JY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnzpNm_oTqM

Ogawa's kamikaze attack


On the morning of 11 May 1945, USS Bunker Hill, flagship of Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher, participated as part of TG 58.3 in carrier operations in the sea 122 kilometres east of Okinawa, supporting the Okinawa invasion. Bunker Hill and the Fifth Fleet sortied from Ulithi in February, 1945, for strikes against Okinawa and the Home Islands. Bunker Hill had provided aircraft for the massive effort to sink the Japanese battleship Yamato on 7 April.

On May 11, the Japanese Navy carried out a massive kamikaze mission called Kikusui Rokugi Sakusen (Operation Kikusui "Floating Chrysanthemums" No. 6). On the early morning, pilots of the Tokkōtai suicide squadrons took off from their bases, among those pilots, there was Kiyoshi Ogawa, a member of the Dai-nana Showa-tai Squadron, flying a Zero, modified to carry a 250 kg (550-pound) bomb underneath the fuselage. That day, Ensign Ogawa was ready to make a suicide attack on American ships near Okinawa.

Off the coast of Okinawa, Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, along with Yasunori Seizo, another Zero pilot of his squadron, sighted the Bunker Hill. On Mother's Day, May 11, 1945, Bunker Hill had been at sea and in continuous action for 58 days. With a slight lull that day, the ship was at condition One Easy, with ventilators open and the crew, including Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher, commander of Task Force 58, trying to relax. At 1004, Marine Captain James E. Swett, flying his F4U-1C Corsair on Combat air patrol, frantically radioed "Alert! Alert! Two planes diving on the Bunker Hill!"

Ogawa and his comrade had just swept down on the Bunker Hill so quickly that her gunners barely had time to respond. Ogawa's wingman released a 550-lb bomb which smashed through the flight deck and out the side, exploding just above the water. The aircraft crashed into the flight deck and skidded over the side, destroying nearly all of the 34 fully armed and fueled planes parked on the flight deck. At the same time, Ogawa was completing his dive with his Zero through the AA fire, aiming for the flight deck near the bridge of the ship to cause the most damage, as kamikaze pilots were trained to do. At nearly a vertical dive, Ogawa dropped his 550-lb bomb just before impact with the flight deck, crashing near the island at about 1005 hours.

The 550 pound bomb penetrated Bunker Hill's flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions occurred. The bomb smashed through the flight deck, but did not make it through the hangar deck where it exploded. Bunker Hill's armor protecting the machinery spaces below had proven effective. A significant improvement of Essex class ships like the Bunker Hill over the other US carriers at the time was that they were equipped with a more heavily armored deck, plus a second armored deck on the hangar level designed to detonate bombs before they reached the vital machinery and electronic spaces below.

Ogawa's bomb blew a large hole into the flightdeck close to the bridge. On the flagbridge, Vice-Admiral Mitscher barely escaped, but lost many of his staff officers including his own medical officer.

Many of Bunker Hill's pilots died either in their planes or inside the skin of the ship during the attack. 30 fighter pilots of Bunker Hill's Air Group CVG-84 were killed in the ready room by the explosion of the bomb which immediately burned all oxygen in the room and asphyxiated the men.

His flagship in bad shape, Vice-Admiral Mitscher decided to leave the ship as long as he still could. Destroyer English (DD-696) went close alongside Bunker Hill, to help in fighting fires, and to take off Vice-Admiral Mitscher, transferring his flag to the newly repaired carrier Enterprise.

Of the Bunker Hill's crew, 373 perished, 264 were wounded and 43 were missing. Hundreds of crewmen had been either blown overboard or were forced to jump to escape the fires. Captain James E. Swett collected about 24 of the circling airplanes, mostly F4U Corsairs, and they dropped dye markers and Mae Wests for the crewmen swimming in the oily water around the stricken carrier.[8] The Bunker Hill finally was saved and the crippled carrier sailed the 7,000 miles to Puget Sound Navy Yard under her own steam. Upon arrival, she was called the "most extensively damaged ship" ever to enter the yard, her repairs took the rest of the war.

According to Robert Schock, a U.S. Navy diver on board the USS Bunker Hill, Ensign Ogawa's aircraft was not completely destroyed after penetrating the flight deck, but remained partially intact and did not catch fire. Instead, the wreckage rested on the hangar deck of Bunker Hill, half awash in water, with live wires sparking all around. Schock found Ensign Ogawa dead in the cockpit, and removed Ogawa's name tag from his flight suit, along with a letter Ogawa carried with him on his last mission, some photographs, a belt from Ogawa's parachute harness, and a large smashed aviator watch of the type that Japanese pilots wore around their necks.

Veteran's grandson gives personal effects back to Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa's mother.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Doin ... 937231.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyoshi_Ogawa

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Part 3


USS Bunker Hill ablaze from two Kamikaze hits in less than 30 seconds apart.


USS Bunker Hill ablaze.


USS Bunker Hill ablaze.


F6F-5 Hellcat aircraft of VF-12, VBF-12 watch the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) burning from the deck of USS Randolph (CV-15).

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Part 4


USS Bunker Hill after two hits


Rescue operations under way.


Transferring casualties from USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) to USS Wilkes-Barre (CL-103), 11 May 1945


USS Bunker Hill CV-17 and USS Pasadena CL-65 1945


Rescue and support operations under way.


Massive damage and destruction to both the ship and it's air wing.

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“With bottomless pockets...anything is possible”

Part 5


Massive damage and destruction to both the ship and it's air wing.


Tending to casualties


Damage control


Massive damage


Massive damage

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Part 6


USS Bunker Hill with help from the USS Sperry 11 May 1945


Extensive elevator damage


Extensive elevator damage


Massive damage and destruction to both the ship and it's air wing.


Horrible results and damage


Massive deck damage


Massive deck damage


Massive interior damage


Destroyed Grumman Avenger


Hospital ship Bountiful taking on casualties

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Part 7


Interior damage


Removing wounded














Somber realities of War

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Bugler plays Taps 31 years to the Day after the ship was damaged by 2 suicide planes? 31 years after 1945 ain't 1973 in my math. Must be some of that new math!

Seriously?!!!!

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Part 8


Air Group 83 on the USS ESSEX (CV-9) with the USS Bunker Hill in flames in the background


USS Bunker Hill damage



USS Bunker Hill damage

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Part 9

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Part 10

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“With bottomless pockets...anything is possible”

Mark - another excellent set of images. Major Archie Donahue, USMC, was the Ops Officer and a flight leader with VMF-451 on the Bunker Hill. He later served as the Operations Officer of the CAF and gave me my first fighter check ride. He once told me this story about his flight that had landed just before the carrier was hit. He started the story to me with "Did I ever tell you about the time I saved all but one member of my flight?"

"I was just coming in with my flight from the morning cover flight," Donahue recalled. "We were all tired, and since we'd seen and done nothing that morning, I just wanted to release my men from duty, telling the intelligence officer, 'We're not going to debrief.' Hank Ellis was going to turn me in at the bridge, but nothing happened—Ellis canceled the briefing. So we all went down to our bunks except for one pilot who stayed to write a letter to his wife. So 10 minutes after we landed, I had taken off my uniform and was climbing into my bunk to get some sleep when they hit! I ran topside and went along the ship with the chaplain, Father Delaney, who was giving last rites. As it turned out, though, the only member of VMF-451 I lost was the pilot who stayed to write a letter to his wife. All the others survived."

You can read more about him, including this text, at http://www.historynet.com/archie-donahue-wwii-ace-pilot.htm if you are interested. He finished the war with 14 kills. He was a real gentleman. Archie passed away in 2007.

Randy

I call that devine intervention.Great story,thanks for posting.

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Hang The Expense

I noticed in the last photo, the prop blades appear to be "puffed up" . I suppose this was caused from the intense heat and hollow steel propeller blades?