Warbird Information Exchange

I'm a little late, but I have been a big Pearl Harbor and Philippine buff for a long time. Pearl Harbor day is always remember, but the valiant fight put up by Philippine and American forces in the Islands of the Philippines must also be remembered. Im just giving a quick brief history. Read "Doomed At the Start" for a complete air combat history.


When word got out about the attack on Pearl Harbor the FEAF command launched every available aircraft airborne. The 24th Pursuit Group comprised of P-40B's, P-40E's, P-35A's, NA A-27's and various models of the P-26 Peashooter(most of the P-26's had been turned over to the PAAC squadrons, But more then a few P-26's were kept by USAAC squadrons for various hack duties). The 24thPG comprised the 3rd, 17th, 20th, 21st, and 34th Pursuit Squadrons. Fog and bad weather delayed the Japanese on Formosa from making an attack. This would have been a good time for B-18 and B-17 aircraft to attack the Japanese island, and a plan was being made to do just that. As most aircraft landed to fuel and collect what was going on, the Japanese were on their way to attack the American air bases. The 20th PS was equipped the the P-40B and many were about to take off from Clark Field when bombers started to drop their bombs. Many P-40 pilots began to take off during the bomb drop. Several pilots were killed when bombs erupted near their aircraft. One pilot, Lt. Max Louk, was trapped inside his cockpit, unable to open his jammed canopy, after his P-40B was hit with a bomb and burned to death. Three P-40B pilots were able to get airborne and engage the Japanese. Lt. Joe Moore shot down one aircraft and Lt. Gilmore shot down two.

Elements of the 3rd and 21st PS where about to land at Iba Field when the field was attacked. Several P-40E's engaged the Japanese. Iba field was a total loss after the attack.

The 17th PS with 17 P-40E's led by Lt. Boyd Buzz Wagner was patrolling the Manila area but never noticed the action below them!

The P-40E's were not very effective because tech orders said to disarm the reloading handles on all the P-40E's. So if in flight the guns jammed the pilot would have to land and manually recharge the guns. The Guns where also newly installed and many did not have the cosmoline removed after shipment. The P-35's also managed to destroy several Japanese aircraft and also strafed Japanese troop ships. PAAC P-26' engaged Japanese fighters. Destroying several.

That said, the 24th did put up a good fight and did bloody the nose of the Japanese. But lack of supplies and an ever advancing enemy put the nail in the coffin.

Never forgot the men of the 24th PG and all those in the FEAF aka "Far East Air Force"!!!!!! These men are heroes.

Lt. Gies, Lt. Crellin, Lt Louk, unknown at Clark:


Lt. Joe Moore:


Lt. Max Louk,


P-40B's at Clark Field:


Lt. White 20th PS:

_________________
Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

Just a quick point of information. The 21st Pursuit was based at Nichols. They were in the air near Manila at the time of the attack on Clark and several members engaged Zeros after the bombing took place, including Sam Grashio whose P-40 was damaged by a 20mm hit in a wing.

Duane

My bad..... Thanks for the correction!

_________________
Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

In 2002 I was on a trip to the Philippines with a number of Bataan vets. Several of them were former enlisted members of the 17th and 34th Pursuit and the 19th BG. I learned a lot.

Duane

I knew a number of the 24th PG veterans and spent 15 years writing them, Death March survivors, and other Allied pilots ( Dutch, RAAF, RAF, RNZAF) veterans. They were quite a wonderful group of people. I went to the 20th Pursuit Sdn reunion in 1996. I loved seeing these pictures. The one of Joe Moore I had never seen before. He was a close friend and possessed a clear memory until his passing.
I would love to see more pics of P-40's, P-35As in the Philippines. Pics of the pilots would be great also. Jim Fossey, J. Jack Gates, Herb Ellis, Sam Grashio, Ralph Levenberg, Jim Brown were all close friends of mine. They don't receive enough credit for their heroism. Jim Fossey survived the Death March and the sinking of the Oroku Maru hell ship. Through a chance meeting with another survivor, I obtained copies of drawings one of the survivors made of the sinking of the ship.

God Bless them all. Great great people

Nathan,

Herb Ellis and I talked at length about the gun problems. There were three. You mentioned the Wright Field tech order to remove the hydraulic gun chargers. That was a horrible idea left many with no way to defend themselves against swarms of Zeros.
The second was that, according to Herb Ellis, the guns in that batch of P-40E's were built by Kelvinator- the refrigerator company. Kelvinator had no experience with guns and no factory to produce them. But they were the low bidder. Herb said the joke of the day was that the Kelvinator guns were better for making ice cubes than killing Japanese. The third was the mandatory use of World War One .50 cal ammo that had been sitting in the depot since the end of that war. The same depot housed the .30 cal, grenades, tank ammo, etc that afflicted the US Army during the entire campaign. The tanks of the 192nd and 194th Tank Battalions were sent without oil for the 37 mm guns. Many of the barrels were burned out during the bombing of Clark Field on Dec. 8th as the tanks fired at passing Zeros.
Bataan Uncensored is one of the best books one could read on the tank battles in the Philippines.
Winston Jones who commanded the batteries of 155 mm Long Tom guns was another great hero.

As a small footnote to the Philippines Campaign, one of my ancestors, Lt. Commander Edward Lea of the Union Navy died with Jonathon M. Wainwright's grandfather aboard the Harriet Lane during the Battle of Galveston, Texas during the Civil War. Edward Lea died in the arms of his father, Confederate Major General Albert Miller Lea.

I posted this on one of the P-35 build threads a couple years ago:

Captured Japanese photo of P-35A and B-18 at Clark Field; got it from fold3.com.

_________________

All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

"For those of you not familiar with the tragedy of the Oryoku Maru, a post mission photo is posted below. The Oryoku Maru was attacked and sunk in Subic Bay with the loss of approximately 300 POW's. POW's were allowed to swim ashore once the Japanese had reached shore. While these POW's were trying to swim toward the shore, some were machine gunned and killed. Some most likely died by drowning.
After approx. a week of being held in a cramped tennis court, they were transferred to another ship in Lingayen Gulf and transported to Formosa where their 2nd ship was also attacked by U.S. forces and heavily damaged with heavy loss of life. The survivors were moved to a third ship and eventually only about 500 of the original 1619 made it to Japan."

_________________
Zero Surprise!!...

The tennis courts were still there when I was at Subic in 2002.

Duane

One gentleman I met from the 17th Pursuit told me that Wagner had a reputation as a ladies man and pranged a P-35A up in Baguio when he went to visit a "friend". No idea if it's true, and anyone who's been in the military knows how rumors start. But it does fit with the mystique.

A couple more photos of the Oryoku Maru tragedy.

_________________
Zero Surprise!!...

Some of the Curtiss P-40B's from the Pursuit Squadrons flying out of Clark Field and others in the Philippines during the months of 1941








... "Humans being cruel to humans will never end, until there are no more humans that remain" ....



POW cemetery at Mukden




Hanowa POW camp, 14 Sept 45


Daily ration for a POW in Japan


POW's being evacuated from Wakayame beach in Japan after the surrender.


Surviving POW's from Manchuria on the hangar deck of the USS Block Island. On their way home.




Liberated in Japan, these guys were taken prisoner on Corregidor. The paratroopers behind them also fought on Leyte.

_________________
Zero Surprise!!...