VMF(N)-532 | Marine Night Fighting Squadron 532 | The Night Fighters

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VMF(N)-532 | Marine Night Fighting Squadron 532 | The Night Fighters

 

Commissioned: April 1, 1943 at Cherry Point
Deactivated: May 31, 1947
Nickname of Unit: The Night Fighters
Aircraft Employed: SB2A-4, SNJ-4, F4U-1, F4U-2, F6F-3, F6F-3N, F7F-2N

 

Deployment

Gilberts | January-February, 1944 (F4U-2)
Marshalls | February-June, 1944 (F4U-2)
Marianas | July-October, 1944 (F4U-2)

 

 

Type I | Silkscreened on chamois leather

 

 

Type II | Australian embroidery on wool

 

 

 

Upon establishing at Cherry Point in April 1943,VMF(N)-532, led by Everette Vaughan, faced a demanding training cycle in order to get its F4U-2 Corsairs ready for combat. There was no wartime Christmas for VMF(N)-532, as Vaughan's unit arrived in San Diego on December 24 and headed to Ewa two days later. Arriving on Tarawa, in the Gilberts, on January 13, 1944, the Corsairs immediately began flying night combat air patrols. The squadron was much in demand, moving to Roi, in the Marshalls, via Makin on February 15. Thereafter, VMF(N)-532 shifted to Engebi.

 

Opportunities for engaging enemy aircraft were extremely rare. In fact, the squadron had only one night's shooting. Shortly after midnight on April 14 1Lt Joel Bonner was vectored onto a contact 30 miles south-southwest of Engebi. He got close enough to fire upon a "Betty", scoring visible hits before the bomber disappeared from sight. He was credited with a probable kill, but had to bail out of his shot-up Corsair. Another F4U was lost that same night with its pilot when 1Lt Don Spatz was given a mistaken vector that led into the expanse of the Pacific. Barely 30 minutes later 1Lt Ed Sovik and Capt Howard Bollman latched onto a pair of Mitsubishi bombers due west of the base. Both were splashed, reviling the US Marine Corps with its only night kills in the Central Pacific.

 

Vaughan's Corsairs remained at Engebi until June 11, then flew back to Roi. Lacking aerial targets, the night fighters began nocturnal attacks upon Wotje. Shifting to Saipan in July, VMF(N)-532 later capped the southern Marianas and Guam. Vaughan rolled out in September, having commended for 16 months. Capt John Colby led the squadron back to Miramar in late October 1944, it's Pacific combat tour had caused eight aircraft between February and September. In early December the unit moved to Eagle Mountain Lake for training until war's end.

F4U-2 Corsairs of VMF(N)-532 aboard USS Windham Bay (CVE-92) on 12 July 1945

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Millstein, Jeff. U. S. Marine Corps Aviation Unit Insignia 1941-1946. p 99.

Tillman, Barrett. U. S. Marine Corps Fighter Squadrons of World War II. pp 144-145.