Introduction by
Vadm James Stockdale, USN (Ret)
This is the true story of one of
the Navy's foremost fighter
squadrons, VF-17 and its
charismatic commander, fighter
ace Tom Blackburn, in action
against the Japanese in the
Solomon and Bismarck islands
during World War II.
Most
of us have heard of Greg "Pappy"
Boyington and his Black Sheep
fighter pilots. But it is not
well know that Navy Fighting
Squadron VF-17--called the Jolly
Rogers and sporting the skull
and crossbones on their engine
cowlings--exceeded the combat
record of Boyington's men,
shooting down 154 enemy planes
in the seventy-six days they
were in combat in the South
Pacific. Their job was to
protect American aircraft
carriers and bombers in the
crucial struggle for the
Solomons. VF-17 pilots fought
and drank as hard as any in the
Pacific, and thirteen of
Blackburn's men, himself
included, became aces, each
destroying more than five enemy
aircraft.
Blackburn, only thirty-one years
of age when he took over
Squadron VF-17, was a warm and
affable character to his men,
but a demanding
perfectionist. Flying the F4U
Corsair, one of the first
fighter planes to challenge the
performance of the Japanese
Zero, Blackburn taught his
pilots the fine points of both
carrier operations and aerial
combat. After several
devastating experiences, the
Japanese would simply avoid
contact with Blackburn's
fighters unless there were
bombers to stop. So the bombers
flew with VF-17 to draw out the
Zeros, and eventually Blackburn
and his men cleared the skies
over the Solomons. Here is the
story of a modest but true
American hero. To quote from the
introduction by Vice Admiral
James Stockdale, USN (Ret): "If
ever a man was tailor-made to be
an across-the-board role model
and leader of men flying and
fighting from ships at sea, it
was Tommy Blackburn."
The book as above is out of
print, but has been reprinted as
below and is available at many
book stores including on line
book stores.
The Jolly Rogers : The Story of
Tom Blackburn and Navy Fighting
Squadron Vf-17 by Tom Blackburn,
Eric M. Hammel List Price:
$29.95. Hardcover -
288 pages Reprint edition (June
1997) Pacifica Pr; ISBN:
0935553193 ; Dimensions (in
inches): 1.05 x 9.26 x 6.18
Curators Comments:
Tom
Blackburn passed away in 1994
Chapter 7 of "The Jolly Rogers"
is devoted to the squadron's
training and experiences at NAAS
Manteo. They were at Manteo
while Civil Air Patrol Coastal
Patrol Base 16 was
active. Personnel from VF-17
and Base 16 socialized together
and many became lifelong friends
with documents at the museum
depicting just that.
Documents also record softball
games between the two.
Excerpts from the "Jolly Rogers"
Page
105
paragraph
2.
Following
the
first
abortive
pass,
Ray
Beacham
spotted
a pair
of Zeros
making
gentle S
turns
below
his port
bow. A
steep
high-side
attack
on one
of the
Zekes
produced
no
evidence
of hits,
but the
Zeke
rolled
into a
vertical
dive. Ray
followed
in his
heavier,
faster-diving
Corsair
and
fired a
solid
burst
from 200
yards
dead
astern. The
Zeke
blew up
at about
5,000
feet. We
later
determined
this to
be the
squadron's
first
kill.
Page
165
paragraph
2.
Lt Ray
Beacham,
Davenport's
second-section
leader,
successively
found
his way
into
fights--several
tail
chases
and one
breath-taking
head-on
duel--but
each of
the
Zekes
evaded
fatal
damage
through
radical
maneuvering. His
bullets
even
sent a
Zeke
into a
steep
spiraling
dive,
but the
Japanese
fighter
recovered. Finally,
the
Kittyhawk
Kid
found a
Zeke low
on the
water,
heading
west. He
gave his
Hog full
throttle
and came
up on
the
target's
tail.
Cutting
his
speed,
Ray
opened
fire
from 100
yards,
and the
Zeke
flew
straight
into the
water. On
a hunch,
Ray
turned
back
over the
floating
wreckage
of the
downed
fighter
and,
sure
enough,
he
spotted
a
swimmer
buoyed
up by a
black
life
jacket. He
relayed
a
message
through
Butch
Davenport
to call
the
local PT
boats to
grab the
swimmer.
Page209
paragraph
2.
The
victory--ten
confirmed
kills--was
not
without
cost.
Lt(jg)
Tom
Kropf
disappeared
without
a trace,
and Lt
Ray
Beacham's
Corsair
was
badly
shot up.
Ray got
the
damaged
Hog
Home,
but by
then his
hydraulic
pressure
gauge
read
zero. He
thus had
no
flaps,
and the
CO2
emergency
gear-extension
system
got only
one
wheel
down. Making
matters
hairier,
Ray
reported
that he
had
about 5
inches
of avgas
sloshing
around
in his
Hog's
belly
right
below
the
cockpit,
the
result
of a
busted
fuel
line.
It was
getting
dark,
and Ray
prudently
elected
to make
a water
landing. The
splashdown
was
rough;
the one
wheel
violently
slewed
the F4U
upon
contact
with the
water. The
crash
boat
pulled
Ray from
the
water in
seconds. He
was
briefly
hospitalized
with a
broken
nose,
but he
and we
all knew
he had
fared
well.
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