Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon B
It's been claimed or discussed on various internet sites, although of course that doesn't necessarily confirm it.
It's now also noted as Vorse's plane on Wikipedia, on the TBD Devastator page under Surviving Aircraft.
That Wildcat was very likely flown by more than one pilot. Those flags did not necessarily represent the pilot operating it at Coral Sea.
During the battle, between CAP and escort assignments, pilots were very likely flying any plane that was ready and available.
Those flags probably represent actions that occurred prior to the Coral Sea engagement.
It's also interesting to note that the digit in F-5 has been painted over, so the plane might have been re-assigned at some point. |
The wikipedia entry is pure speculation.
People are using the April assignments and the Lundstrom book to point to Vorse as the pilot of F-5, but were changes before the Coral Sea battle. I'm going with Gaylor as "GA" and "R" are visible under the crud and his a/c was on deck when the ship went down. As XO of Fighting 2 he would have had his "own" aircraft and with his bombing sorte on the Lae raid in February he would have sported a bomb on his kill board alongside his air victories. There wasn't a lot of plane swapping as the fighters were deployed by division and the same four pilots flew together. VF-2 had 21 aircraft and 22 pilots.
