ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 81999
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| Date: | Friday 8 June 1945 |
| Time: | 07:15 |
| Type: |  Vought FG-1D Corsair (Goodyear built) |
| Owner/operator: | VMF-512 USMC |
| Registration: | 87913 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | west of Iromote Jima, Yaeyama Islands -
 Japan
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | USS Gilbert Islands |
Starting June 1 the escort carrier USS Gilbert Islands was attached to a small task force with the mission to bomb and strafe the airfields on the Sakishima Islands near Formosa. The Navy wanted them to suppress the kamikazes coming from that area. The Corsairs of VMF-512 based aboard the Gilbert Islands participated heavily in the ground attack sorties typically carrying 6 or 8 Holy Moses and a 500 lb bomb. The islands had a string of bluffs along the shoreline so the favorite tactic was to fly very low until the last moment, then pop up over the bluffs to attack the targets, hoping the element of surprise would work in their favor. Some of the veterans told me the AA fire was extremely intense. Condon mentions this too: "One of the surrender conditions required the Japanese to uncover all camouflage from gun positions immediately after V-J day.... the sheer number of antiaircraft weapons was unbelievable. Gun pits were tangential down the entire length of ridge lines and far exceeded what had been detected through the camouflage. ...most of the gun emplacements were not suspected." One Corsair was lost on the 6th but its pilot was saved.
The sorties continued and during the next raid, on June 8, 2nd Lt. Logan Millard White, Jr was shot down in his F4U-1D (BuNo 87913) and killed. Maj. Baesler's Muster Roll entry states: "KIA at approximately 0715, 8Jun45, at Iriomote Shima, Sakishima Islands: Lat.24*20' N; Long.122*41' E; Body not recovered." The entry in the Action Report is: "At 0740, 8 June 1945, while engaged in strafing barges at Iriomote Island, the F4U-1D piloted by 2nd Lt. Logan M. White USMCR went into a violent spin and dove into the water. Small pieces of the plane were seen to fly from the plane but no AA was observed in the vicinity. The opinion that the accident was caused by enemy AA fire is unverified."
Sources:
http://www.adamsplanes.com/VMF-512.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iriomote_Island
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=24.333333&lon=122.683333&z=8&m=w&search=24%2020%20N%20122%2041%20E
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Nov-2010 11:55 | ASN archive | Added |
| 08-Jan-2018 21:20 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Feb-2020 12:50 | Iwosh | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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