taxtp
Good one Ordie, great badge too. Imagine being in that position ?
Cheers
Tony
The photo on the Floatplane/Seaplane Group Build 2012 badge was taken from the deck of the USS Tang, SS-306. It depicts an OS2U Kingfisher from the USS North Carolina, BB-55, flown by Lt. (jg) John A. Burns, with Aubrey J. Gill, ARM2, as his radioman. On the wings are seven rescued Navy fliers. The occassion was the April 29-30, 1944 - and last - raid on Truk Lagoon. While the Hellcats and Avengers are credited with with destroying well over 100 Japanese aircraft on the ground in that raid, 26 American planes, crewed by 46 naval airmen, were shot down over the lagoon in so-doing. The Japanese AAA, no longer having ships in the lagoon to protect, was all concentrated kill-box fashion, right around the airfield. Most of the airmen from the stricken planes parachuted or ditched into the lagoon in water too shallow for submarines to run submerged. Also, most of the lagoon lay under the observers and guns of Japanese artillary emplacements, making it too great a risk for subs to run on the surface. Every available seaplane and floatplane in the area was thus deployed to rescue the downed fliers.
Burns was initially working in tandem with another OS2U, piloted by a Lt. Dowdle. He watched from the air as Dowdle put his Kingfisher down on waves reaching as high as five feet, only to be immediately flipped over by a strong gust of wind. Undeterred, Burns made a rough landing in the water, gathered up Dowdle, his radioman, and the Hellcat pilot Dowdle was trying to pick up when he capsized. Being too heavy for takeoff, Burns then proceeded, under fire, to taxi out of the lagoon and over the reef, where he was able to deliver the three fliers to the waiting USS Tang. He then headed back into the lagoon.
At one point, a gust of wind almost tipped Burns' plane over, but Petty Officer Gill deftly scrambled out to the tip of the high wing, and brought it back down on the water. Locating and picking up seven more aircrew while meandering the lagoon under fire, Burns then taxied back out over the reef and delivered them to the Tang, too, after waiting five hours for the sub to reappear. Low on fuel, and their plane having popped a good number of rivets while being buffeted by the rough seas in the lagoon, Burns and Gill were taken aboard the Tang along with the ten men they'd rescued that day. The venerable Kingfisher was then destroyed by machinegun fire from the Tang, having way more than justified its cost. More than half of the 46 downed Americans were rescued from Truk Lagoon by seaplanes and floatplanes.
Lt. (jg) John A. Burns was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions.
That's one of the many reasons I love floatplanes. They have a great part in a rich, largely untold history of rescues and humanitarian deeds, many undertaken at great personal risk.
Here are some more photos taken of Burns' plane, etc., from the Tang that day: The first is another view of the OS2U waiting for the Tang to close up; the second is of rescued aircrew being brought aboard the Tang; and the third is of Burns' plane being destroyed by machinegun fire from the Tang. Enjoy!
