VB-116 | VPB-116 | "Blue Raiders" | Walt Disney Studios design

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VB-116 | VPB-116 | "Blue Raiders" | Walt Disney Studios design

 

 

Lineage
Established as Bombing Squadron ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN (VB-116) on 1 December 1943.

Redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN (VPB-116) on 1 October 1944.

 

Aircraft
PB4Y-1 Mar 1943
PB4Y-2 1945

 

Insignia: Zeus leaning over a cloud holding a bomb in upraised right hand and Neptune's trident in his left hand peering over a cloud for a target. The analogy is straightforward, with a nautical Zeus, king of the gods, wielding Father Neptune’s traditional weapon, the trident, against the foe. The primary allusion to the squadron’s mission was the upraised bomb in Zeus’ right hand.

Embroidered on twill. Design by Walt Disney Studios.

 

 

Summary of Squadron Activities

1 Dec 1943–May 1944: VB-116 was established at NAAS Camp Kearney, Calif., under the operational control of FAW-14. No aircraft were assigned to the squadron until March 1944, when the first PB4Y-1 Liberator was received.

 

24 May–Jun 1944: The squadron’s advance echelon departed aboard Breton Woods (CVE 23) for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The squadron aircrews departed in three-aircraft elements beginning on 2 June 1944. Upon arrival at NAS Kaneohe, Hawaii, the squadron began the combat training syllabus for crews destined for the South Pacific combat zone. Training consisted of navigation, gunnery, bombing and aircraft recognition. Operational patrols of the approaches to Hawaii were conducted during the training phase.

 

7 Jul–24 Aug 1944: VB-116 was deployed to Eniwetok, commencing operational patrols and sector searches by the 12th. Truk and Ponape were the frequent targets of the squadron’s missions. Occasional escorts were provided for VD-4 during low level photographic reconnaissance flights over Truk. During the first two weeks of August, VB-116 flew several missions with VB-109 against enemy positions on Truk, Wake Island and Ponape. From 17–24 August 1944, the squadron flew special search patrols with VB-102 operating from Isley and East Fields, Saipan.

 

27 Aug 1944: VB-116 was relocated to North Field, Tinian, coming under the operational control of FAW-1. The squadron conducted long-range sector searches and made frequent attacks on enemy shipping. During the Palau landings the squadron provided coverage for the task force.

 

12 Oct 1944: Lieutenant William M. Miller and his crew, in company with another VPB-116 aircraft flown by Lieutenant William B. Oliver, searched the waters off Iwo Jima for survivors of a squadron plane believed lost in that area. When enemy fighters rose to intercept the pair they continued their sweep and withdrew in company together. In the ensuing air-to-air combat the two bombers downed six of the eight attacking fighters. Miller and Oliver were subsequently awarded the Navy Cross for their actions.

 

4 Mar 1945: VPB-116 began staging missions through Iwo Jima on its patrols. The outbound patrol leg consisted of 1,200 miles via Iwo Jima and the leg of the patrol to Tinian was 1,000 miles. On 1 April a detachment of three aircraft was deployed to the forward base at Iwo Jima.

 

5 Apr 1945: VPB-116 was relocated to Peleliu to fly three daytime search sectors and one night ASW patrol. The squadron returned to its previous sites at Tinian and Iwo Jima on 30 April. The Iwo Jima detachment was enlarged when the tempo of operations and available targets shifted closer to the Japanese home islands. On 1 May 1945, operational control of the squadron was shifted to FAW-18. Missions from May to the end of the war entailed sector searches, ASW patrols and weather flights for the fleet. The squadron ceased combat operations in September and assumed the primary mission of weather flights until rotated back to the U.S. in October 1945.

 

27 Aug 1945: In a little-known twist of history, VPB-116 stole the limelight from General Douglas McArthur and his staff. It has been widely recorded in the history books that Colonel Charles Tench, a member of MacArthur’s staff, was the first American to set foot on Japanese soil at the Atsugi naval air base on 28 August. In fact, Lieutenant Commander Walter C. Michaels, commanding officer of VPB-116, landed at Atsugi in his PB4Y-2 Privateer on Monday, 27 August 1945. It was recorded in the war diary of the squadron that Michaels was experiencing “mechanical difficulties” which were repaired, and he returned to Iwo Jima completed the same day.

 

Source:

Roberts, Michael D. Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons. Naval Historical Center. Washington, DC. 2000. Volume 2 p 623.
National Geographic Society. Insignia and Decorations of the U. S. Armed Forces. Revised, December, 1944. p 178.