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VP-11 / VPB-11 | Black Cat squadron


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VP-11 / VPB-11 | Black Cat squadron

Established as Torpedo & Bombing Squadron NINETEEN-D14 (VT-19D14) on 7 February 1924.
Redesignated Torpedo & Bombing Squadron SIX-D14 (VT-6D14) on 1 July 1927.
Redesignated Patrol Squadron SIX-B (VP-6B) on 1 April 1931.
Redesignated Patrol Squadron SIX-F (VP-6F) on 17 July 1933.
Redesignated Patrol Squadron SIX (VP-6) on 1 October 1937.
Redesignated Patrol Squadron TWENTY-THREE (VP-23) on 1 July 1939.
Redesignated Patrol Squadron ELEVEN (VP-11) on 1 August 1941.
Redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron ELEVEN (VPB-11) on 1 October 1944.
Disestablished on 20 June 1945.

VP-6F was the originator of the squadron's first insignia in 1933. Although official approval of the design was never requested of BuAer, defacto recognition of the new insignia appeared when it was reproduced in the 20 October 1933 issue of the Bureau of Aeronautics Newsletter.

 

The design selected was the Pegasus, a winged horse from Greek mythology. To the Greeks, Pegasus represented the strength embodied in the warhorse combined with the advantage of aerial agility. Colors: white horse with shaded gold wings, on blue field inside red circular border. The same insignia continued in use by the squadron through all its numerous redesignations.

 

Theater-made. Silkscreened on aircraft fabric.

VPB-11-600.jpg

This patch was received as part of a lot from Naval Aviator Howard J. Spreeman (1921-2013). As he explains in the note below, he had first been qualified as an on board radioman, the designation included on the patch.

 

Howard J. Spreeman was born in Appleton, Wisconsin and grew up on a farm near a small local airport which started the dream of Howard becoming an aviator. In 1939 Howard tried to join the Navy and Army Air Corps, but was unsuccessful. He did join the Navy in 1940, was trained as radioman and assigned to Patrol Squadron 23 (PBY Patrol plane) in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. It was at Kaneohe Bay that Petty Officer Spreeman experienced the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941. He survived the attack unscathed, but lost many friends. For the next few months Radioman Spreeman alternated between communication centers in Hawaii and flight assignments. Howard attended flight school in 1944, receiving his Navy Pilot Wings. During his career Howard Spreeman qualified to fly 20 different naval aircraft, accumulation nearly 10,000 flight hours. He made his last flight May 25, 1960 and retired in June 1, 1960. After his retirement he spent five years working in Wisconsin. He then relocated to Carson City in 1965 and worked in the State Prisons system. He retired from the Prison system as a Correctional Captain in 1976.

 

VPB-11-1-600.jpgVPB-11-3-600.jpg

 

VPB-11-2-400.jpg

 

Ens. Spreeman's pilot log is transcribed, here.

 

Below, a PBY-5A shows off some of the Catalina's attributes, long "wet" wings, bulging waist gun positions and dipole radar antennas under each wing. (U.S. Navy).

 

The meaning of PBY:

P = Patrol
B = Bomber
Y = Consolidated Aircraft Corp. (manufacturer)

 

PBY-5A.jpg

 

 

Below, a restored PBY-5A.

 

PBY5A-restored.jpg

 

 

On December 7, 1941 all of VP11's PBY–5 aircraft were damaged or destroyed by the Japanese at NAS Kaneche, Hawaii, VP-11's homeport since July 1941. Undaunted, the squadron commenced sector search from Kaneohe on the same day, operating with any aircraft that could be flown.

In June 1942, the squadron deploy to the forward area. Operating from the Fiji Islands, Noumea, Ndeni, Tulagi and Espiritu Santo, day and night antisubmarine and sector patrols were commenced in conjunction with such memorable operations as the landing at Guadalcanal. From August 1942 to January 1943 VP-11's role change from a passive search mission to an aggressive combat operation. VP-11 crews participated in daring rescue missions, torpedo runs, night bombing attacks, supply missions to Spotters behind Japanese lines in the mountains of Bougainville and even to air-to-air attacks of Japanese patrol aircraft. More than 43 downed airmen were rescued from behind Japanese lines. In October 1942, three VP-11 PBYs were credited with the longest torpedo run in history, a round-trip of 1700 miles, during which a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer were hit with torpedoes and bombs. In November and December VP-11 was assigned night and target of opportunity missions which was the forerunner of the later famous Black Cat operations. In January 1943, VP-11 was relieved and returned to the United States for leave, new aircraft and reorganization.

Regrouped in 1943, VP-11 return to operations in the Southwest Pacific basing aircraft in Perth, and small bays from New Guinea to the Philippine Islands. On its second combat tour, VP-11 engaged in the famous Black Cat operations which cost the enemy 100,000 tons of critical wartime shipping with another 100,000 tons, including combat ships, damaged. Painted black, the PBY-5 Catalinas would locate their targets and strike by night in dangerous but devastating low level glide bombing attacks at masthead heights. For these Black Cat operations, Patrol Squadron 11 (redesignated Patrol Bombing squadron 11), became one of the first squadrons and Naval history to receive the Presidential Unit Citation. In December 1944, after achieving a memorable and honorable combat record, from December 7, 1941 to December 1944, more than 250 individual awards, commendations and metals were earned by the men of VP 11. Patrol squadron 11 returned to the United States for decommissioning.

Not many civilians knew what a PBY was until the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. That changed when hundreds of newspaper photos showed the crumpled, blazing PBYs of the six Navy patrol squadrons based at Kaneohe NAS and Ford Island. They had been 81 fine airplanes, most of them new. Only four flyable Catalinas survived, three of them because they had been aloft at the time of the Japanese attack. One of those became the first U.S. aircraft to attack the Japanese, when it bombed a midget submarine an hour before the main assault.

The Cats and other PBYs were surprisingly effective bombers, under the right conditions. Of the 60 Axis submarines sunk by the Navy in all theaters of the war, 25 went down under bombs from PBYs, plus one spotted by a PBY but sunk by a destroyer. Another 13 were sunk by PB4Ys—the Navy version of the B-24 Liberator—giving Consolidated aircraft credit for almost two-thirds of all subs sunk by the U.S. in WWII. More were deep-sixed by RAF Coastal Command Catalinas and Liberators, but a British Catalina’s most celebrated feat was spotting the battleship Bismarck after it sank the Royal Navy battle cruiser Hood and scuttled away under cover of fog. The Cat didn’t sink the Bismarck, but appropriately, the critical, crippling blow was left to another antique, the Fairey Swordfish. For the U.S. Catalinas, the equivalent of the RAF’s sink-the-Bismarck moment was the brief break in Pacific clouds through which a Navy PBY crew saw the Japanese fleet racing toward Midway.

The PBY’s bombing career started less auspiciously. The first-ever U.S. offensive airstrike of the Pacific War, which came nearly four months before the Doolittle Raid, was flown by six PBYs out of Ambon Island, in the Dutch East Indies, to bomb a Japanese base at Jolo, in the southwest Philippines. PBYs were the only airplanes with the range to make the 1,600-mile round trip. Four of the six were shot down by Japanese fighters, and in his post-action report, one of the surviving pilots wrote, “It is impossible to outrun fighters with a PBY-4. Under no circumstances should PBYs be allowed to come in contact with enemy fighters unless protected by fighter convoy.” A PBY typically cruised at 105 to 125 mph, which meant that a well-armed Cessna could have taken one on.

Particularly in the Pacific theater, air-sea rescue PBYs called Dumbos retrieved thousands of ditched pilots and shipwrecked seamen, often under fire and usually in seas that would have trashed a lesser boat. One Dumbo landed three times to pick up downed bomber crews and eventually took off with 25 extra men aboard; for that mission, Navy Lieutenant Nathan Gordon became the only PBY pilot to be awarded a Medal of Honor. Another Cat needed a three-mile takeoff run to lift a total of 63, including its own crew, and the pounding probably popped half the rivets in the hull. But the record goes to the Australian Catalina that carried 87 Dutch sailors—standing room only, thank you—after Japanese bombers mauled their freighter. With 15,000 pounds of passengers alone, to say nothing of the airplane’s fuel and crew weight, that put the RAAF PBY well over gross, but the Cat’s basic weight-and-balance rule was that if the payload hadn’t yet sunk the boat, it would somehow take off.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-JwmYO_IOs

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1FJFWTCw64

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0W0kBDqj-M

 

 

Chronology of Significant Events in VP-11 / VPB-11
(Squadron history from 7 Feb 1924 to WWII removed as not pertinent to this post.)

7 Dec 1941: During the attack on Pearl Harbor the majority of the squadron’s aircraft at NAS Kaneohe were destroyed or damaged beyond repair. One witness to the carnage, an Army P-40 pilot, Lieutenant George S. Welch, 46th Pursuit Group, Wheeler Field, stated that the Japanese dive bombers were stacked up over the airfields in a "...regular traffic pattern around the field. They never got more than 100 to 200 feet high . . . they flew around with their pattern to the right. When they returned, they used the same formation and signals that we do — shallow left run, wiggling the wings. They would come back into formation, peel off and come down again. There was no resistance . . . so that they had a perfect pattern, and could pick out individual ships that they could see weren’t on fire and shoot at them with both their 7.7s and 30-mm cannon."

1 Apr 1942: Losses were replaced in April with new PBY-5 seaplanes from the U.S., equipped with ASE radar for spotting ships on the ocean surface. Sector searches around Oahu were begun as soon as crews could be checked out on the new equipment.

30 Apr 1942: A two-aircraft detachment was sent to Johnston Island for sector searches. Two new crews relieved the detachment each week. On 29 May the detachment size was increased to six aircraft.

20 May 1942: A three-plane detachment was sent to Barking Sands, Kauai. On 22 May the detachment was increased by three aircraft.

1 Jul 1942: VP-11 deployed to Suva, Fiji Islands. Over the next several months the squadron would be moved from Suva to Noumea, New Caledonia, Tongatabu and Espiritu Santo to conduct search and reconnaissance missions in connection with the landings at Guadalcanal and other fleet operations in the South Pacific.

13 Jul 1942: A three-plane detachment was sent to Noumea.

17 Jul 1942: One aircraft was dispatched to Auckland, returning on 19 July.

26 Jul 1942: A three-plane detachment was sent to Tongatabu, with two aircraft returning to Suva on 28 July.

1 Aug 1942: The Noumea detachment was increased by three aircraft. Tender support was provided by Curtiss (AV 4). The next day the detachment was further supplemented by two aircraft from VP-14.

4 Aug 1942: VP-11 headquarters was shifted from Suva to Saweni Beach with six aircraft, the remainder still based at Noumea. The headquarters group was provided tender support by McFarland (AVD 14).

11 Aug 1942: The Noumea detachment was redeployed with Curtiss (AV 4) to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides.

7 Sep 1942: VP-11 claimed one submarine kill but a postwar review of Japanese records indicates no loss of a Japanese submarine on that date and location.

29 Oct 1942: Lieutenant F. Joe Hill and his crew spoted a surface submarine about three miles off his starboard beam. The submarine crash-dived and was below the surface when Hill dropped his two 650 pound depth charges. A large quantity of oil appeared and remained on the surface the following day. Postwar records indicate the submarine sunk by Lieutenant Hill was I-172, Lieutenant Commander Takeshi Ota commanding. I-172 was lost with all 91 hands aboard, including Rear Admiral Yoshisuke Okamoto, Commander of the 12th Squadron of the Kure Submarine Flotilla.

5 Nov 1942: VP-11 claimed a third submarine sunk but a postwar review of Japanese records indicates no loss of a Japanese submarine on that date and location.

1 Feb 1943: VP-11 was withdrawn from combat and returned to NAS San Diego, Calif., for refit and home leave.

20 Apr 1943: The reforming of the squadron was completed on this date. Aircrews flew the transpac to Kaneohe on 21 April, while the remainder of ground personnel and assets departed on transports. Upon arrival all hands undertook intensive combat preparation while simultaneously conducting patrols over the ocean in the Hawaiian area.

22 May 1943: Combat training was completed at Kaneohe. VP-11 aircrews departed for Perth, Australia, followed later by ground crew and squadron assets in transports. Upon arrival in Perth on 8 June aircrews commenced combat search and reconnaissance patrols in the southwest Pacific under the operational control of FAW-10.

9 Sep 1943: VP-11 departed for Brisbane, and then to New Guinea and Palm Island. The squadron came under the operational control of FAW-17 and relieved VP-101. Black Cat (PVY’s painted black) nighttime operations commenced in the areas around New Guinea, New Ireland, and the Bismarck Sea.

1 Oct–19 Nov 1943: VP-11 was based aboard San Pablo (AVP 30) in Jenkins Bay. Night searches for surface ships were conducted, and bombing attacks on Japanese installations on Garove Island were conducted over several nights. On 9 October, Half Moon (AVP 26) relieved San Pablo.

16 Nov 1943: Lieutenant Jack D. Cruze and his crew were exceptionally busy during the period 1 to 9 November. They attacked Japanese facilities in the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Sea under severe weather conditions and strafed enemy merchant vessels, barges, shore installations and wharves. On the night of 16 November they located the biggest target yet, a Japanese task force. Despite the heavy concentration of fire from the escorts, Cruze made a low-level bombing attack that destroyed a large transport in the task force. For his courage under fire and aggressive pursuit of the enemy during this period, Lieutenant Cruze was awarded the Navy Cross.

19 Nov 1943: VP-11, relieved at Jenkins Bay by VP-52, reported to Port Moresby to relieve VP-101. On 23 November Black Cat operations were commenced in conjunction with daytime attacks by the 5th Bombardment Group, 5th USAAF.

30 Dec 1943: VP-11 transferred to Palm Island, Australia, and was taken off combat operations. Routine administrative and passenger flights were conducted daily to Port Moresby, Samari and Brisbane.

10 Feb 1944: The squadron returned to Perth to conduct convoy patrols in Australian waters under the operational control of FAW-10.

19 Jul 1944: VP-11 returned to New Guinea and Schouten Islands for Black Cat night combat operations under the operational control of FAW-17. A three-aircraft detachment was sent to Woendi Lagoon, Biak.

23 Aug 1944: VP-11 continued to conduct Black Cat operations after its transfer to Middleburg Island.

18 Sep 1944: The squadron continued Black Cat operations while based on Schouten Island and Morotai until 21 September when daytime operations were then started. Daytime operations consisted of antisubmarine patrols and air-sea rescue missions in the South Pacific.

1 Oct 1944: VP-11 was redesignated VPB-11. On 6 October the squadron was stationed at Morotai with tender support provided by San Pablo (AVP 30). Air-sea rescue and routine ASW patrols were conducted daily. On 12 October half of the squadron was quartered aboard Orca (AVP 49) to provide more room for the crews.

14 Nov 1944: The squadron was relocated to Woendi with 15 aircraft. On 5 December VPB-11 was moved to Morotai, then back to Woendi on the 11th for boarding on Pocomoke (AV 9) and transportation back to the U.S.

19 Dec 1944: VPB-11 was officially withdrawn from combat and 15 aircraft and crews departed Woendi for return to NAS San Diego, Calif.

20 Jun 1945: VPB-11 was disestablished at NAS San Diego, Calif.

 

 

Sources:

PBY Catalina International Association

VP-11 Public Affairs Office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Very cool, and insignia that I have never seen before. Thanks again for your thorough work and posting one of the insignia from your vast collection.

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Rick you never cease to amaze the members of this Forum.We all owe you a debt of gratitude your posts are like, and this is a very high compliment just like the Keller Army books fantastic.Scotty

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Rick you never cease to amaze the members of this Forum.We all owe you a debt of gratitude your posts are like, and this is a very high compliment, just like the Keller Army books fantastic.Scotty

 

Scotty,

 

Thanks for your wonderful comment. It means a lot coming from you. I've learned quite a bit over the years from you and others I look up to, and want to pass it on. Along the way I have been fortunate to acquire some pretty neat stuff and for the benefit of others will continue to share some of it with users, today and in the future, of the Forum.

 

Rick

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