ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 81037
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| Date: | Thursday 2 September 1943 |
| Time: | 09:05 |
| Type: |  Grumman TBF-1 Avenger |
| Owner/operator: | VT-24, US Navy |
| Registration: | 06258 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | East of Baker Island -
 U.S. Minor Outlying Islands
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | CV-24 Belleau Wood |
Assigned to Task Group (TG) 11.2, the new American aircraft carriers Belleau Wood and Princeton departed Pearl Harbor on 25 August 1943 in company with seven escorts. The warships crossed the equator on 1 September and arrived off Baker Island, some 400 miles east of the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands, that same day. The two carriers flew CAP and ASP missions in the area for the next two weeks, protecting Army troops and Navy construction battalions ("Seabees") as they built an airstrip on the island.
At 0905 hrs on 2 September, Belleau Wood was launching aircraft for patrol when the TBF-1 Buno 06258 of VT-24 crashed on take-off off starboard bow at 0° 14' N 175° 41' W. The pilot, Ens Warren Omark, and his air gunner, AOM3C Max E Shady, were rescued by the destroyer USS Spence at 0920 hrs but the radioman, ARM2C Frank Raitt, was lost when the depth charges carried by the plane detonated as it sank. This explosion also hit AOM3C Shady who sustained injuried to chest, abdomen and brain.
Sources:
War Diary of CV-24 Belleau Wood, 2 September 1943 (https://www.fold3.com/image/270268336)
War Diary of DD-512 Spence, 2 September 1943 (https://www.fold3.com/image/270297524)
https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/USN/LLSep43.htm
http://www.naval-history.net/WW2UScasaaDB-USNbyNameR.htm
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/belleau-wood-cv-24-i.html
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/princeton-iv.html
https://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=0.233333&lon=-175.683333&z=9
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Nov-2010 11:55 | ASN archive | Added |
| 01-Oct-2021 09:52 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 29-Nov-2021 23:19 | Ron Averes | Updated [Country] |
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