Greatest Aircraft Carrier Duel - March ‘99 World War II Feature

During that frenetic interception, however, Lt. j.g. Alexander Vraciu of Lexington outperformed McCampbell, weaving his way through the enemy formation to pick off six enemy aircraft. Vraciu downed his initial quarry from a distance of only 200 feet and quickly reacted to avoid damage from the dive bomber’s debris. He then crept toward a pair of dive bombers and shot down the trailing Judy before splashing the lead plane. Every minute brought the action continuously closer to Lexington, which meant that not only was the carrier in danger, but Vraciu and other American pilots would have to fly directly into their own ships’ anti-aircraft fire to chase attacking enemy planes.

Vraciu scanned the skies, which by now were dotted with speeding Hellcats, plunging enemy planes, and hundreds of lethal bursts of anti-aircraft fire. He warned Lexington: “Don’t see how we can possibly shoos ‘em all down. Too many!” But he nevertheless chased after, and downed, a fourth dive bomber. Three other Judys zoomed into view as they began their final runs on ships below, and Vraciu followed them. He quickly downed the first but was forced into a perilous vertical dive to stop the second before it dropped its bomb on a destroyer. With anti-aircraft fire intensifying, Vraciu caught up to the enemy plane and destroyed it, then pulled out of his dive to avoid crashing into the water. Battleship anti-aircraft fire downed the final enemy dive bomber.

Vraciu headed back to Lexington, where he was almost killed by his own ship’s fire. Shouting into his radio that he was an American, Vraciu finally landed. As he walked away from his plane, a tired Vraciu glanced toward Admiral Mitscher on the bridge and held up six fingers to indicate his success.

Other pilots experienced spectacular missions. Lieutenant William B. Lamb of Princeton attacked a group of 12 enemy dive bombers even though only one of his six guns operated correctly. As other Hellcats joined in, Lamb knocked down three planes. Lieutenant junior grade P.C. Thomas of Bataan almost latched onto more than he could handle when he charged at one enemy plane. The Japanese pilot, obviously one of the few savvy Japanese aviators in the sky, so beautifully executed a series of maneuvers to avoid Thomas that the American flier later said, “It was like trying to catch a flea on a hot griddle.” He destroyed the enemy plane after other Hellcats ringed the enemy pilot on three sides and forced him to fly a straight course. Essex pilot Ensign C.W. Plant got on the wrong side of another skilled enemy pilot, who bounced a stream of bullets off Plant’s armor plate before being destroyed by an assisting Hellcat. When Plant returned to Essex, amazed service personnel counted 150 bullet holes in his fighter.

Only 20 Japanese planes in that unfortunate second raid broke through the aerial intercept to approach Mitscher’s ships, but they broke against a heavy anti-aircraft screen. A handful of dive bombers eluded all defenses and attacked scattered targets. Four singled out the carrier Wasp, but adept maneuvering by its skipper, Captain C.A.F. Sprague, avoided serious damage. Ozawa’s second raid achieved little in expending itself. Ninety-seven of the 128 planes fell to watery graves in 30 intense minutes of action.

At least the survivors of the second raid could claim they located the American ships, something most pilots in Ozawa’s third raid could not say. In the third raid, 47 planes lifted off between 10 and 10:15 a.m., but over half lost their bearings and turned back to their carriers without firing a shot. Twenty planes did spot Mitscher and forced a brief attack on Rear Adm. William K. Harrill’s three carriers of Task Group 58.4, but inflicted only minor damage while losing seven planes.

The fourth raid accomplished little more. As in the third raid, 49 of the 82 planes that launched by 11:30 a.m. failed to locate Task Force 58 and flew on to the Japanese airstrip at Guam, where waiting Hellcats shot down 30 as they attempted to land. Some pilots broke through the American intercept to deliver their loads, none of which caused serious damage.