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WWII NAVAL AVIATOR FLIGHT LOGBOOKS


KASTAUFFER
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Flight Log to Ens. Joseph Riddle. He was KIA Feb 4, 1943 during an attack on Japanese Ships near New Georgia. He was serving with VGS-12.

 

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The year is incorrect on the top of the page. It should be 1943.

 

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Torpedo Squadron 8 logbook to an enlisted man who MISSED the Battle of Midway. He was in the Squadron before Midway and was in combat at Guadalcanal.

 

Here is an entry from March of 1942 with George Gay as his pilot

 

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Combat at Guadalcanal. The last entry on Oct 1 was a flight that his plane was shot down in. He and his pilot walked through Japanese held territory in the Jungle and made it back to Henderson.

 

 

 

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Logbook from a Navy Photographer serving with VT-40 on the USS Suwannee. His log records his photo missions in a TBF mainly over Okinawa. He earned the DFC and Air Medal

 

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Flightlog to a Radioman with VT-15 on the USS Essex. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf his pilot earned a Navy Cross and he earned a DFC for the same action. Here is his pilot's citation

 

GOODWIN, HARRY ALLEN

Citation:

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Harry Allen Goodwin, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, U.S. Navy (Reserve), for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier- based Navy Torpedo Plane in Torpedo Squadron FIFTEEN (VT-15), embarked from the U.S.S. ESSEX (CV-9), in action against enemy Japanese surface forces over the Sibuyan Sea during the Battle for Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Islands on 25 October 1944. In the face of heavy and accurate antiaircraft fire, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Goodwin participated in a vigorous and determined glide-bombing attack on enemy ships, scoring a torpedo hit from close range on an enemy carrier, contributing materially to its sinking. Undaunted in the face of relentless, devastating antiaircraft fire, he rendered gallant service during the bitterly fought engagement in which all carriers, a light cruiser and a destroyer of the enemy's task force were sunk and heavy bomb and torpedo damage inflicted on battleships and other important naval units. By his daring airmanship, exceptional courage and steadfast devotion to duty through a perilous assignment, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Goodwin contributed materially to the sinking of this valuable enemy fighting unit and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

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Flightlog to a Radioman who served with VT-11 on the USS Hornet . He also was active during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
sonofaFlyingDeuce

Ahoy, Militaria members. I just became a member and was intrigued to see the collection of naval aviator flight logs and would like to present mine. I have my father's complete set of seven logs that start from October 9, 1940 when he was a college student participating in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) through to his retirement in December, 1962 as a Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel. Dad, W. O. "Pappy" Reid, noted in his last book that he had flown a total of 6,111.7 hours piloting every aircraft type the Corps had: fighters (prop and jet), helicopters, transports (2 and 4 'conventional' engine and 4 engine turboprop). Pappy, in itemizing his aviation career in his book #5, also noted some of the now classic pre-war civilian craft he flew such as the Waco, Stinson, Taylorcraft, and even the Ford Tri-Motor! The photo is a display of the seven flight logs.

 

My following posts will show some pages from book #2.

 

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sonofaFlyingDeuce

Then 1st. Lt. and later Capt. W.O. "Pappy" Reid flew F4U-1 Corsairs with VMF-222, "The Flying Deuces" from Oct., 1942 at MCAB, Santa Barbara (Goleta), Hawaii, Midway, and for the first three tours in the Solomon Islands (Munda, Vella Lavella, Bougainville, and briefly on Green Island). The best account of the squadron's history during this period (VMF-222 also went on with other flight echelon cohorts to the Philippines and Okinawa) can be found in Capt. John Foster's book "Hell in the Heavens" who was in the first cohort with my father and some of the pilots I knew as a kid. The book was published in 1961 and unfortunately, is out of print; but can be found on Amazon or Ebay.

 

This is the first page of Dad's combat sorties after arrival at Munda, New Georgia, on September 5, 1943. Note that the entries are in red ink after Sept 13 as these entries signify flights in the combat zone (apparently either Dad didn't know that until 9/5 or it only became policy/custom after the 12th. But then knowing the Marine Corps, they weren't issued red ink and had to supply their own). In later years Dad added his handwritten notes in the blue ink. During the first six-week tour, Dad flew wing to the section leader of Division 1 (who was the CO) in the first tour and later he became a division leader.

 

 

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sonofaFlyingDeuce

This is another interesting page documenting one of Dad's last weeks in combat (third tour) when VMF-222 was "vagabonding" around the northern Solomon air fields because they had to quickly evacuate from Piva Yoke air field on Bougainville when the Japanese tried to retake Bougainville. The entry on the 17th was when Dad had jumped a Zeke (or Zero) and it pulled up on him a was making a head-on attack. The two planes played "chicken" (at 500 MPH closing speed) until they simultaneously (and thankfully) pulled to the left to avoid a collision. However, the Zero got on Dad's tail and shot him up before he could out run the Zero!

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Kurt...What a FANTASTIC group of logbooks you have posted !!! Looks like you cornered the market on torp logs ! Thanks for posting and I am eagerly waiting to see the next batch....Mark

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow Kurt. Those are amazing! Love 'Cactus' on the Guadalcanal one. Those are all just stellar!

 

I don't have anything that nearly matches what has been posted here so far, but if you guys don't mind I'll add some of mine. I find logbooks fascinating and if I had to pick one particular 'piece' of militaria to collect, it would be a very tough toss up between logbooks and photographs!

 

Ok...So here is my first.....short late war book belonging to a crewmember of VPB-142. Flew in PV2 Harpoon's which I thought was neat. Has a few 'good' entries.

 

Basic intro to his book. I always like the 'key' :-)

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