LIMITED TIME OFFER
$2 / Month
Subscribe now for only $3.99 $2 a month!
Unlimited Website Access, Thousands of Searchable Articles, Warfare Newsletter, and more.
Photo Credit: In this painting by Jack Fellows, Curtiss SB2C Helldiver aircraft of VMSB-244 ("Bombing Banshees") are shown off of Mindinao in June 1944. VMSB-244 went on to attack targets on Leyte Island prior to December 1944. VMSB-244 was the first USMC squadron to operate the SB2C, which was in the Philippines.
By Eric Hammel
After the Japanese stopped resisting in the skies over Rabaul and pulled their aircraft out of the Solomons and Bismarcks battle area in mid-February 1944, it began to appear that U.S. Marine Air’s glory days were over.
From August 20, 1942, until February 17, 1944, Marine Air had carved a significant, perhaps central, position for itself in the prosecution of the grinding war in the South Pacific. Several thousand Marine pilots and bomber crewmen had taken a leading role in b
Join The Conversation
Comments
4 thoughts on “Marine Air Power in the Philippines”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
View All Comments
4 thoughts on “Marine Air Power in the Philippines”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Tacloban airstrip was actually on the northeast coast of Leyte, not the west coast.
thank you. My dad was a vmf 211 pilot 1943-1944, I want to find photos and any info on his time there. Hope you can guide me.
I also want to find info and photos of VMF 211 Zamboanga 1945. I am fascinated by my collection of photos from 13 th AF P-38;s and specifically VMF 211 as these were taken from that group by their Marine Corps photographer. These photos show the KI 43 Oscar Tail sign, some high ranking officers. The name Acre, and possibly Meyer may be some of the names of USMC personnel. 13th AF p-38 showing name Capt. Sommerich’s “Saint Luis Blues II”, yes II not the same as his first Saint Loise Blues seen on Website.
My father, 1st Lt Cecil Wilson, was a Corsair pilot with VMF-218 and was credited with gunning down a Japanese “Zeke” (aka Zero) on his birthday 12/11/1944.