The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot

[Fog]

Vraciu is also wearing the same yellow leather flight gloves that were still being issued in 1966. Don't remember when we switched to the combo leather/synthetic material stuff, but they were institutional gray and had zero cool to them - although they were cooler to wear than the solid leather. FWIW.

 

[brownshoe]

BzB, what a great story! Did you start out on subs or in NAVAV? Did you wear Dolphins as well as Gold Wings?

Ask BzB about the nickname he'd acquired. His words, not mine: "Arrrggghhh….and it stuck like a dog turd on a shoe!"

Steve

(Man, I'm in for it now!)

 

[bunk22]

Classic pic of a legend:icon_smil

7

One of the most notable and successful participants in the Turkey Shoot was crack shot (as in hunter) David McCampbell who translated his hunting skill into ability to aerial gunnery mastering deflection shooting so that his victories were made with minimal expenditure of ammunition (.50 Cal). He downed 7 attacking Japanese aircraft during a single mission in the Turkey Shoot setting a record broken a few months later (by him) in Battle of Leyte Gulf where he downed 9 in one sortie (thereby disrupting large formation of attacking Japanese aircraft, a feat that resulted in his being awarded the Medal of Honor). He ended up as the Navy's top ace with 34 victories in aerial combat and was credited with another 24 destroyed on the ground.

 

[Owen]

Yes, "Dashing Dave McCampbell" from Bessemer, AL was one of the best
gunnery guys of all time. The F6F had, I believe, about 24 seconds of
firing time from its' six .50s. Imagine seven kills, and later nine kills on
a single mission.

 

[Gatordev]

I learned these facts shortly after reporting aboard CAVALLA as an ETSN in 1955. The whole crew took great pride in the Boat's WWII combat record...even 10+ years later!
BzB

BzB,

What was the large "tumor" on the Cavalla from your picture? Updated sonar? My dad was on two newer fleet boats (one was -421) and it didn't have the big bump. -421 went to the Turks shortly after my dad left her but her sister ship still sits in the Baltimore harbor.

Thanks for sharing... Just took the family to see the Alabama the other day. Still quite an impressive site~ Thanks for sharing that info. I was blessed to take my daughter and family there. Lots of history contained within. Always proud to see what others have done before, and to currently serve in the same military.

Out of curiosity, was a -60B there in the park? We delivered her last fall but I'm not sure if she's been prepped and put on display yet.

 

[BusyBee604]

BzB,

What was the large "tumor" on the Cavalla from your picture? Updated sonar? My dad was on two newer fleet boats (one was -421) and it didn't have the big bump. -421 went to the Turks shortly after my dad left her but her sister ship still sits in the Baltimore harbor.

Gator, ha ha "tumor", love that! You're right, it's a SONAR dome array, housing a semi-circle of about 20 directional Hydrophones. CAVALLA & her 3 sister-subs constituted Submarine Development Group TWO (SUBDEVGRUTWO) in New Lodon, CT. They were redesignated from SS to SSK (SSK=Sub Killers), sorta like a VX Squadron for Submarines.

They were tasked with testing the latest Sonars, "smart" torpedos & developing Submarine ASW tactics. These were the forerunners of our modern Fast Attack Submarines.

Your Dad's Boat was USS TRUTTA (SS-421).
BzB

 

[Gatordev]

Gator, ha ha "tumor", love that! You're right, it's a SONAR dome array, housing a semi-circle of about 20 directional Hydrophones. CAVALLA & her 3 sister-subs constituted Submarine Development Group TWO (SUBDEVGRUTWO) in New Lodon, CT. They were redesignated from SS to SSK (SSK=Sub Killers), sorta like a VX Squadron for Submarines.

They were tasked with testing the latest Sonars, "smart" torpedos & developing Submarine ASW tactics. These were the forerunners of our modern Fast Attack Submarines.

Your Dad's Boat was USS TRUTTA (SS-421).
BzB

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. And yes, TRUTTA was his "main" boat. I still have a Zippo (still works!) from that boat that I inherited along with all his Navy "stuff." He was on another for a short time, but the bulk of his time was on TRUTTA. He got out just short of 4 years (the Navy was letting officers go in '69), but valued his time in the Navy.