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Old 09-03-2018, 05:28 PM
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Hydro Junkie
 
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Okay, it had to be Ensign James Daniels III. This comes from an after action report from VF-6:
Launched by Enterprise shortly before 1700 7 December 1941, six Fighting Six Wildcats escorted a strike consisting of 18 Torpedo Six TBDs, and six VB-6 Dauntlesses fitted with smoke generators to mask the TBDs as they approached their targets. Unable to locate an enemy carrier reported to be 100 miles southeast of Enterprise's Task Force 8, the strike returned to the Big E after nightfall. While the VF-6 Wildcats under LT(jg) Francis "Fritz" Hebel were directed to land on Oahu, the remaining planes were allowed to return to Enterprise.

VF-6 approached the Army's Hickam Field, near Pearl Harbor, at about 2110. Though word of the planes' expected arrival had been repeatedly broadcast to all ships and batteries in the area, their appearance triggered a panic, and within seconds the night sky was bright with tracers. ENS Herbert Menges immediately fell victim to the storm of anti-aircraft fire: the first US naval fighter pilot to die in the Pacific War.
LT(jg) Hebel suffered a severe skull fracture ditching his shot-up F4F near Wheeler Field, while LT(jg) Eric Allen bailed out at low altitude over Pearl Harbor, receiving a bullet wound and internal injuries before landing in oily water near the minesweeper Vireo (AM-52). Both men succumbed to their injuries on 8 December.

ENS James Daniels was the only one of the six airmen to land on an airfield proper (Ford Island Naval Air Station). ENS Gayle Hermann set down on a small golf course on Ford Island, while ENS David Flynn's F4F apparently ran out of fuel, forcing him to parachute into a cane field near Barbers Point.

With a loss of three pilots and four aircraft, 7 December 1941 saw VF-6's worst casualties through June 1942.
  • 6-F-1 LT(jg) Francis F. Hebel fractured skull while ditching shot up Wildcat off Barbers Point, died next day
  • 6-F-15 ENS Herbert H. Menges shot down and killed by AA
  • 6-F-5 ENS James G. Daniels III landed on ford Island's airstrip
  • 6-F-12 LT(jg) Eric Allen Jr. received bullet wound and internal injuries, bailed out over Pearl harbor, died next day
  • 3-F-15 ENS Gayle L. Hermann landed on a golf course on Ford Island
  • 6-F-4 ENS David R. Flynn ran out of fuel and bailed out near Barbers Point

Last edited by Hydro Junkie; 09-03-2018 at 05:37 PM.