Air war Korea

Air Classics, Feb 2001 by Schonhut, Robert E

In the November 2000 issue, Mr. Don G. Porter of VS-892 left out a few details in his letter. In January 1951, our squadron, VS-23, boarded the troopship Breckenridge along with 2775 Marines of the Seventh Fleet Marine Division One. Half of the squadron personnel went by ship while the other half went by Martin JRM Caroline Mars. We were to replace VS-892 on the USS Bairoko (CVE-116).

After we docked at Yokosuka, Japan, after 14 days at sea, we off-loaded our av gear, got on a truck to Atsugi to get quarters and roll up our sleeves and see what we had for aircraft. When we saw this junk, we thought we were ina boneyard shabbier aircraft you could. not find. Well, our squadron maintenance officer, Mr. Bomber, laid out the challenge to get the Avengers back into airworthy condition...ASAP. Our maintenance men were the top dogs of TBM maintenance and we were fully operational in less than 24 days.

To me, the real hero at Atsugi Naval Air Station was VP-772 (USNR) flying Consolidated PB4Y-2S Privateers. Their mission was dropping flares on enemy targets. A flight would leave Atsugi late in the afternoon and head out over the China Sea where they would meet up with USMC F7F Tigercats. Hopefully, they would return the next morning. It wasn't unusual to see flak and bullet holes in those Privateers every morning. In all the years I've read Air Classics, I've never seen an article on VP-772.

Robert E. Schonhut USN/USAF (Ret.) 7758 Barclay Ave. Charleston, SC 29418-3208