HOME | DD

Description
This Aircraft was flown by Lt. Cdr. John Thomas "Tommy" Blackburn (1913 — March 21, 1994)

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/7…
He led VF-17 - the Jolly Rogers (January 1943–May 1944) to become the greatest fighter squadron with confirmed 154 enemy kills (an 8:1 loss ratio) plus 75 probable kills. They sank five transport ships and barges. No plane they escorted was ever shot down, not even in flights against Rabaul. In 76 days of combat they flew 8577 combat hours and produced 13 flying aces.

www.leisuregalleries.com/aabla…

Blackburn was credited with 11 aerial victories

static.rcgroups.net/forums/att…

The squadron deployed aboard USS Buker Hill and worked hard to adapt the F4U Corsair to the carrier environment, which necessitated some design changes, resulting in the F4U-1A model.
The Jolly Rogers deployed to the Pacific, but upon arrival there the Navy decided to initially land base its Corsairs The squadron flew to Guadalcanal on October 26 where it received orders to begin operating out of Ondongo (which means "Place of Death") on the island of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. They arrived on the 27th, just in time to participate in providing air cover for the Landings at Cape Torokina, near Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville Island on 1 November; this drew attention from the considerable Japanese presence at their bastion of Rabaul. Blackburn and his Jolly Rogers were assigned the high cover mission for the landings and ran into a wave of Japanese Val dive bombers escorted by A6M Zero fighters. Blackburn downed 2 and the squadron 3 more in their combat debut.
On November 8, 1943, The Jolly Rogers faced their biggest test to date when 6 Jolly Rogers faced an attack of 15 Japanese Val dive bombers escorted by 24 Zeros. Hedrick launched with a flight of 8 Corsairs, but lost 2 when they aborted. In the engagement, VF-17 downed 3 fighters and damaged 4 others with no losses. In its two tours of duty in the Solomon Islands, VF-17 had 152 aerial victories and produced 11 aces. Blackburn ranked third with 11 victories behind Hedrick with 12 and Ira Kepford who led the squadron with 17. VF-17 finished its last combat tour in the Solomons on May 10, 1944 and many pilots were reassigned.

i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64…

Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tho…
acepilots.com/usn_blackburn.ht…

Description
This Aircraft was flown by Lt. Cdr. John Thomas "Tommy" Blackburn (1913 — March 21, 1994)

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/7…
He led VF-17 - the Jolly Rogers (January 1943–May 1944) to become the greatest fighter squadron with confirmed 154 enemy kills (an 8:1 loss ratio) plus 75 probable kills. They sank five transport ships and barges. No plane they escorted was ever shot down, not even in flights against Rabaul. In 76 days of combat they flew 8577 combat hours and produced 13 flying aces.

www.leisuregalleries.com/aabla…

Blackburn was credited with 11 aerial victories

static.rcgroups.net/forums/att…

The squadron deployed aboard USS Buker Hill and worked hard to adapt the F4U Corsair to the carrier environment, which necessitated some design changes, resulting in the F4U-1A model.
The Jolly Rogers deployed to the Pacific, but upon arrival there the Navy decided to initially land base its Corsairs The squadron flew to Guadalcanal on October 26 where it received orders to begin operating out of Ondongo (which means "Place of Death") on the island of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. They arrived on the 27th, just in time to participate in providing air cover for the Landings at Cape Torokina, near Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville Island on 1 November; this drew attention from the considerable Japanese presence at their bastion of Rabaul. Blackburn and his Jolly Rogers were assigned the high cover mission for the landings and ran into a wave of Japanese Val dive bombers escorted by A6M Zero fighters. Blackburn downed 2 and the squadron 3 more in their combat debut.
On November 8, 1943, The Jolly Rogers faced their biggest test to date when 6 Jolly Rogers faced an attack of 15 Japanese Val dive bombers escorted by 24 Zeros. Hedrick launched with a flight of 8 Corsairs, but lost 2 when they aborted. In the engagement, VF-17 downed 3 fighters and damaged 4 others with no losses. In its two tours of duty in the Solomon Islands, VF-17 had 152 aerial victories and produced 11 aces. Blackburn ranked third with 11 victories behind Hedrick with 12 and Ira Kepford who led the squadron with 17. VF-17 finished its last combat tour in the Solomons on May 10, 1944 and many pilots were reassigned.

i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64…

Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tho…
acepilots.com/usn_blackburn.ht…