By 0800 on the morning of February 3rd, Princeton was "maneuvering on various courses throughout the day to remain in the general vicinity of a point about 75 miles southeast of ENIWETOK ATOLL during airstrikes."
At 0659 Princeton began launching the first of 12 fighters and 7 bombers, their target being the airfield on ENGEBI ISLAND, at the northernmost tip of the atoll. The initial strike reported: "6 VT dropped 24 500-pound bombs, all on the runway. 4 VF strafed the southeast tip of the island. Meager light anti-aircraft fire observed from known positions and from the north tip of the island."
The characterization of the AA fire as "meager" caught my eye. There is a term that is used in military aviation, particularly when discussing flight in hostile airspace: "The Golden BB." This characterization is one way of facing, and attempting to dismiss with varying degrees of nonchalance or fatalism or false bravado, the reality of danger. Pilots and aircrews, and I am generalizing here (but only slightly as my family may...perhaps...possibly agree), enjoy being in control and as such will normally do everything in their power to stack the odds in their favor. Acknowledging the existence of the Golden BB — the bullet or shell or missile that has your name on it — is one way of dealing with, rationalizing if you prefer, the reality that some things are just up to the gods.
In Stephen Ambrose's book "Band of Brothers," Captain Ronald Speirs is quoted explaining his philosophy of being able to survive in combat:
"The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function: without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends on it."
Ronald Charles Speirs lived to be 86.
Physical and mental courage also play a part in facing danger. This is especially true when the accompanying fear must be faced for an extended period of time. In the short but incredible book "The Heart of a Man: A Naval Pilot's Vietnam Diary," Lieutenant Frank Elkins, who had no intention of his diary being published, describes the experience profoundly. Flying the A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft over Vietnam day after day after day, and seeing the men he has bonded with vanish from the face of the earth over and over again, still he presses on:
"At 0400 Bob was launched, and as I was taxiing up to the cat, I noticed his aircraft, at about one-half a mile forward of the ship, start a hard left turn. Then I noticed he was descending rapidly, and I grabbed for the mike key. I couldn't say a word before aircraft, bombs and everything hit the water and went up in a 1500-foot fireball. No ejection. No chance for survival. ... He was as good as anybody I ever met at that experience level. Gone. What a waste. ... He has a kid brother aboard who is an enlisted man. I went down with the chaplain and told his brother about Bob's death this morning. He looked so sad. I finished and went out on the catwalk and cried for five minutes or so."
The next night:
"Today, I briefed at 01:00 with the XO as his wingman on the same route I was to fly last night when I showed yellow. When we got to the aircraft, it was last night's scene all over again. Scared. Dread was engulfing me. No horizon. But, knowing that things weren't going to get any better until I had gone out on just such a night as this — thunderstorms everywhere, fog, soup, rain, no horizon — I wouldn't be up to myself again. So, taxiing up to the cat, there was Bob's fireball again, looking at me from 10:30, but I gritted my teeth and went ahead."
Sometimes there is no alternative but to saddle up.
CVLG-23 launched 36 aircraft this day. One of the 12 TBF Avengers on the morning launch was forced to jettison its bombs in the water and return for a forced landing due to mechanical issues.
At 1807, one of the fighter squadrons' Hellcats, aircraft VF-25 "crashed into barrier, parting cable on number two barrier and resulting in minor damage to plane. No personnel were injured."
In the After Action report submitted once FLINTLOCK and CATCHPOLE were completed, CAG Miller commented on the tempo of operations and how the aviators in his charge were encouraged to engage in physical exercise when able. "Those who took their exercise with a grain of salt were always worrying and fretting; in short they were not 'on the ball.'"
To keep morale up, "Ice cream was served in the Ready Room between hops. After supper, two films of Army-Navy Screen Magazine were shown in the Ready Room, then a sedative of about two ounces of whiskey; after which the pilots turned in. Only about 15 of the pilots took a drink of whiskey! During the day, whenever flying was curtailed, pilots not on standby status were encouraged to take sun baths on the forecastle."
Alcohol was banned when I was in the Navy, and it remains so. But I have a friend who preferred tequila. 😳 😂
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