[skysurfer808]

My childhood friend and aviation mentor Vice Admiral Aurand had a whole slew of stories he told me, but the most memorable was the Lae Salamaua strike done on March 10, 1942 by the Lexington and Yorktown against the Japanese landing force there. Aurand flew with Scouting 2, which was a highly trained and experienced outfit. The strike force consisted of Wildcat, Dauntlesss, and Devastators. In order to protect the task force from Japanese air power in Rabaul (this was after O'Hare's famous action) the carriers launched from south of New Guinea, thus making it necessary for the bombers to fly across the Owen Stanley mountain range. These are 15,000 feet mountains, and Aurand related to me that the fuel pumps on those aircraft were cutting out at that altitude, thus making it necessary for the pilots to use their own hand wobble pumps to keep fuel flow to their engines. He said he his head was bobbing up and down, and when he looked around his formation, he could see the same thing all around. The Lex TBDs nearly didn't make it, it was only due to glider experience of their CO that they were able to catch a lucky series of thermals that lifted them over the mountains without having to ditch their fish. When the strike force got to the target the dive bombers began their runs. Unfortunately when they descended to their release altitudes, their windsheilds and telescopic gunsights fogged over (warm air on cold airframes) thus causing them to bomb blind. Despite all that, the strike was a success. The Lex and Yorktown air groups managed to sink a total of 3 Japanese transports, and damage 6 more. Admiral Aurand managed to drop his main bomb on what appeared to be a cruiser (actually a minelayer) and his little ones on a transport. The minelayer was hit badly, while the transport ran aground. For this, he was awarded the Navy Cross. Still, the fight was not over, for after the strike they had an encounter with a little Nakajima Dave floatplane, which got in a running fight with Aurand and several other SBDs. Neither side claimed any blood in this, though one SBD was shot down by ground fire. Still, 3 transports for 1 Dauntless is a good exchange rate in any war (except for the unlucky pilot and gunner of that Dauntless). Admiral Aurand was able to meet the Japanese tail gunner of the Dave in the late 1950s, while he serving as Naval Advisor to President Eisenhower. Aurand went on to fly nightfighter Hellcats, and command VF(N)-76, which was the first nightfighter Hellcat unit to deploy with the fleet. He was stationed aboard the Bunker Hill, with Squadron dets all over the fleet. He managed to get 3 victories flying the F6F-3N, but the most interesting was one in which he was flying along, canopy cracked open, goggles resting on the back oh his head, enjoying a smoke, when all of a sudden a Zero crossed his path. He said he was all elbows as he got himself re-situated, and got on its tail to blast it out of the sky.

Now since these stories were related to me personally at a very young age, they really are my most admired combat tales.

Skysurfer808