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VC-41 | USS Corregidor (CVE-58) / USS Makin Island (CVE-93)


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VC-41 | USS Corregidor (CVE-58) / USS Makin Island (CVE-93)

 

Aircraft: FM-1 Wildcat (1943), FM-2 Wildcat (1944-5), TBM-1 Avenger (1943-4), TBM-3E Avenger (1945)

 

 

Embroidered on twill.

 

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As the title, Escort Aircraft Carrier, implies, the CASABLANCA Class CVEs were built as small carriers, capable of carrying a plane complement sufficiently large to protect themselves and escorted convoys against submarine and air attack. The tides and fortunes of war demanded from this type carrier, new functions, different from the original escort conception.

 

USS Corregidor (CVE-58)

 

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Corregidor put to sea on 11 March 1944 for Guadalcanal, arriving there on 21 March. Squadrons included VC-41, VC-42 and VC-83.

 

With the 3rd Fleet, she sortied on 30 March to provide air cover for the landings on Emirau Island, returning to Port Purvis on 14 April. Two days later, she sailed to join the 7th Fleet for air operations at Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) between 22–26 April, then put into Manus Island for replenishment and antisubmarine patrols until 4 May. Embarking Commander, Carrier Division 24 for the Marianas operation, Corregidor provided combat air patrols and anti-aircraft support for the invasion of Saipan from 15–25 June, with her aircraft accounting for at least eight enemy planes. She covered the logistics force off Eniwetok from 1–3 July, then aided in the softening up bombardment of Guam and provided air cover for the invasion until 28 July, when she returned to San Diego for overhaul.

She worked on qualifying pilots in carrier operations at Pearl Harbor from 12 October-21 November 1944. On 26 October, she formed as a hunter-killer group with EscDiv 64, around to check out reported enemy submarine movements between Pearl Harbor and California. On 2 January 1945, this group moved to patrol the area between Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok to protect heavy Allied shipping, returning to Pearl Harbor on 13 February.

Corregidor sailed from Pearl Harbor on 27 February to search for an overdue plane carrying Lieutenant General M.F.Harmon, USA, arriving at Majuro on 20 March.(1) From 21 March-27 April, she conducted an anti-submarine patrol in the vicinity of Japanese-held Wotje and Maloelap in the Marshalls, then off Eniwetok before returning to Pearl Harbor 4 May 1945.

 

 

(1) On February 25, 1945, a C-87A Liberator Express carrying Harmon, and Brigadier General James R. Andersen, his chief of staff, departed Guam for Washington, D.C. via Kwajalein and Hawaii to resolve a dispute Harmon had with Maj. Gen Curtis E. LeMay. Their aircraft reached Kwajalein Island safely, but disappeared the next day after taking off for Hawaii. The aircraft was never found and there were no survivors. Harmon clashed with LeMay, the new commander of the XXI Bomber Command, over command of five long-range fighter groups assigned to the Twentieth Air Force as escorts for strategic bombers, with LeMay prevailing. Harmon objected, contending that the result would be a seriously inefficient use of the forces. Harmon, Frank Maxwell Andrews, Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. and Lesley J. McNair, all lieutenant generals at the time of their deaths, were the highest-ranking Americans to die in World War II.

 

 

USS Makin Island (CVE-93)

 

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VC-41, VC-84 and VC-91 deployed on The USS Makin Island (CVE-93) and sailed 11 Jul 1945 to provide air cover for ships conducting minesweeping and raiding operations in the East China Sea and to launch airstrikes against Japanese targets on the Chinese coast. The objectives of the Task Group (32.1, later 95.8) of which the Makin Island was flagship for ComEsCarPac, commanding officer of the air support group, were fourfold: 1. to cover a mine sweeping operation in the East China Sea; 2. to cut off any or all Japanese shipping or planes attempting to travel between the homeland and the continent; 3. to cover a fast cruiser strike group which was hitting targets of opportunity along the China Coast; 4. to launch air strikes against shipping in the Shanghai Area.

On 13 August she anchored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa.

 

 

Memorial at the National Museum of the Pacific War Museum (Fredericksburg, TX)

 

PacWarMuseum-VC-41USSCorregidorandUSSMak

 

 

Souce:

Campbell, Douglas E. U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard Aircraft Lost During World War II. Volume I. 2011. pp 53, 129.

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Rick as always thanks for your great posts.I have never owned one of those it is about as neat as they come thank you for the education.Scotty

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