KINGFISHER Goes to War

Air Classics, Jun 2004 by Wainwright, Marshall

THE WORLD WAR TWO COMBAT HISTORY OF VOUGHT'S OS2U KINGFISHER

During World War Two, Vought OS2U Kingfishers, the "eyes of the fleet," took part in all major Pacific actions from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. They spotted Naval gunfire bombarding Jap-held islands from the Solomons to the Marshalls, the Gilberts, the Marianas, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They worked with the PBY Catalina seaplanes to rescue downed pilots by the score from the jeep and fast carrier task forces that attacked those islands.

Some of the most thrilling rescues of the conflict were made by Kingfisher pilots in the Western Pacific, often teaming up with submarines. The two-seat OS2Us would pick up several pilots and taxi miles through rough seas. Fliers would hang onto wings or in life rafts towed behind the plane, until a sub or ship relieved them of their grateful load.

The best-known rescue of the entire war involved Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, America's leading ace of WWI. Rickenbacker was flying to the South Pacific in a B-17 Flying Fortress during October 1942, and the plane went down and for three weeks a huge air-sea search failed to find them. Then on 11 November, fittingly enough WWI's Armistice Day, an OS2U based on Ellice Islands and piloted by Lt. (jg) F.E. Woodward spotted a yellow dye marker on the ocean surface. This same airplane, nicknamed The Bug assigned to the USS Pennsylvania, had escaped major damage in the Jap attack on Pearl Harbor. It took off the next day, 8 December, to search vainly for the Japanese fleet.

Lieutenant Woodward and his gunner/radioman, L.H. Boutte, rescued the B-17's pilot, Capt. W. T. Cherry, and four others. Near nightfall the next day, other survivors were spotted by search planes and Lt. William F. Eadie took The Bug up again, with Bouette accompanying him for the ride.

The Kingfisher landed and picked up the exhausted Rickenbacker and two other men. Unable to fly with that load, Eadie taxied the plane 40 miles to the nearest land. Rickenbacker and one bomber crewman were lashed to the wings and the more seriously-injured B-17 crewman sat on Boutte's lap in the back seat.

Kingfisher pilots assigned to the USS North Carolina featured in two of the wildest rescue operations in the Pacific - one at Truk Atoll and the other on the shores of mainland Japan, the latter in the last days of the war.

Shot down on 9 August 1945, while bombing Ominato airfield, an F4U Corsair flown by Lt. (jg) Vernon T. Coumbre made a deadstick landing five miles offshore. His life raft was quickly driven to the beach by wind and waves. "I hid in a sparse clump of trees the rest of that day," Combre said. "All night long the Japs failed to find me, and at dawn I heard the roar of planes. They proved to be Corsairs and I signaled and tried to paddle out through a small bay, but the surf was against me."

At noon he spotted two Kingfisher float planes flown by Lt. Ralph J. Jacobs and Lt. (jg) Almon P. Oliver, who had volunteered on the North Carolina to rescue him. Escorted by six Corsairs, they headed for Ominato Naval Base and spotted Coumbre running on the beach. Jacobs landed his Kingfisher near the beach, ignoring enemy fire.

"I saw that Coumbre couldn't breast the heavy surf," Jacobs said. "So I stood up and tried to toss him a line. Then a heavy comber shook my plane violently, tossing me from the cockpit into the water."

Jacobs hit the throttle with his foot and the little Kingfisher raced crazily away from the two swimming pilots. Heavy and light Japanese ack-ack trailed the runaway plane. This set the scene for one of the war's most dramatic rescues by a Kingfisher or any other plane.

Over the bullet-splashed waters came the other Kingfisher, flown by Lt. (jg) Oliver, who had won an Air Medal at Iwo Jima for directing gunfire against antiaircraft batteries. Oliver said he was "champing at the bit" under orders to stand by during Jacob's attempt, thought at first the res- cue had been car- ried out.

"When I came down just for a looksee," Oliver said, "I was amazed to see that the cockpit was empty and the seaplane was simply running away under heavy enemy fire."

When he spotted the two swimming pilots, he made what he called his "luckiest landing," under the momentary relief of enemy fire directed at the runaway plane. Although the distance from the North Carolina was almost the maximum range of the Kingfisher, both Jacobs and Oliver had volunteered for the mission they knew would carry them to the mouths of enemy shore batteries defending Tokyo.

Antiaircraft fire shells straddled his sitting Kingfisher as Oliver pulled Coumbre and Jacobs aboard. He was under orders to pick up only Coumbre but Jacobs was not buying that and climbed into the rear cockpit with Coumbre. Although his plane was overweight, Oliver made a successful takeoff and headed back to the North Carolina.

Meanwhile escort fighters finished off Jacob's errant Kingfisher so it would not be captured by the Japs. When the plane with the three men arrived back at the battleship it was found they had enough fuel left only for two more minutes of flying! Both Jacobs and Oliver won the Distinguished Flying Cross for their heroic action in rescuing Coumbre.