Airdrop

"THE P-38S scrambled, SHOT THE Corsair down INTO THE ST. JOHNS RIVER, AND ITS PILOT swam home. FOR A WHILE AFTER THAT, no one BUZZED THE HOTEL."

Does anyone remember?

Barrett Tillman's article "Taming the Corsair" in your October 2004 issue triggered this memory: the year was 1942 or 1943. The place was Jacksonville, Florida. War was raging in Europe and the Pacific. Jacksonville was a very busy place, and Jacksonville NAS was in full operation. We saw PBY Catalina patrol bombers many times a day as they flew on patrol seeking German U-boats. Chance Vought OS2U Kingfisher observation planes were common sights and so was the occasional blimp.

The U.S. Army Air Corps established an Aircraft Warning Center on the upper floors of the Barnett National Bank in downtown Jacksonville. It was started and run by Capt. W. Raymond Gower, and it tracked all civilian and military aircraft throughout the northern Florida/southern Georgia region. Mr. Steven A. Fifield was one of the bank officers. And in Jacksonville, the George Washington Hotel was the tallest building.

Capt. Gower was occasionally called because a Navy plane was buzzing the hotel. He would check out the report and then call JAX NAS to report it to the Navy. Nothing was done, and it kept happening, but repeated calls to the base had no effect. Capt. Gower therefore contacted his superior officers and was told that two Lockheed P-38 Lightnings would be sent to Jacksonville's Municipal Airport and would be on "standby alert." When a plane buzzed the hotel, they would scramble to take care of the offender.

Then a pilot in a Vought F4U Corsair buzzed the hotel. The P-38s scrambled, shot the Corsair down into the St. Johns River, and its pilot swam home. For a while after that, no one buzzed the hotel.

Does anyone remember anything about this incident, or the Aircraft Warning Center, or Capt. Gower? If you do, I would enjoy hearing from you. I am his son, and I am trying to discover stories from his past.

ALBERT D. GOWER

316 UNION ST., HATFIELD, PA 19440

(215) 368-5838

Court-martial Q&A

In James H. Farmer's review of "The Final Countdown" in the December 2004 issue's "Videos of Note" column, he alludes to a court-martial that resulted from VF-84's (The Jolly Rogers) participation in the movie. I searched high and low across the Internet for information about this, but I couldn't find anything. Could he expand on this or explain it? I was in the Navy on the USS Bainbridge from 1985 through 1991, and that movie was often shown on the ship. A few people who worked in the engine room had served on the Nimitz at the time of the filming, and I don't ever recall them mentioning a court-martial. That one line from the review certainly has me perplexed!

ED FIGULI

EMAIL

When "Final Countdown" was released, the CBS show "60 Minutes" aired a segment, which I have on VHS tape somewhere, about the pending court-martial of the VF-84 CO for reported "under-the-table" dealings with the production company, which was then headed by Kirk's son Vincent Douglas.

-Jim Farmer

More Toko-Ri insight

The men of the Valley Forge and the Essex certainly have a claim to the "Bridges of Toko-Ri" because Michener was on board, but so do the men of the carrier Princeton and Air Group 19. While researching an article on the torpedo attack on the Hwachon Dam, I discovered that it was the CO of VF-193, Lt. Cmdr. Clement Craig, flying a F9F Panther, who noticed the railroad bridges and tunnels in the canyon walls. R. Adm. Oftsie, Commander of Task Force 77, ordered immediate strikes. The first was led by the CO of the AD Skyraider squadron VA-195, Lt. Cmdr. "Swede" Carlson. They dropped one span and threw two others out of alignment. To the pilots on Princeton, the area became known as "Carlson's Canyon." The North Koreans began repairs immediately, and all the carriers of TF-7 7 were sent on harassing attacks. Finally, back-to-back strikes from the carriers were sent in, and they collapsed all six spans. The Communists gave up and used a bypass with trucks across the canyon floor. During the final attacks, Johnny Magda, a WW II ace and leader of the Blue Angels when they were absorbed into Fleet Squadron VF-191, was shot down and killed. Michener recognized a good story when he heard one.

The picture is from the Princeton cruise book of Carlson's Canyon.

R.R. POWELL

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA

Re: the "Bridges at Toko-Ri" article. I had the feeling that there was a lot involved when I saw some of Wayne Spence's mail and some of the inputs from the AD squadrons. There is no question in my mind that those bridges were hit numerous times and that all the squadrons had a shot at one time or another. It was nice to see the material gathered, researched and presented as Warren Thompson did. Great job.

I enjoyed the article, and a number of my old squadron mates have indicated that they did, too.

DONALD "JAKE" MALLICK

EMAIL

Induction status

The article on Steve Pisanos in the December 2004 issue told the interesting and exciting story of one of our country's aviation heroes. One fact needs to be established, however.