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Home Town New York
Date of Passing Jan 01, 1956
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The Navy's fighter pilots fought the entire war in the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to the Home Islands. In 1942, flying F4F Wildcats, the Navy fighter pilots barely held their own against the Japanese Zeros. A handful of heroes like O'Hare, McCuskey, and Vejtasa scored some notable successes. The Navy contributed fighting squadrons to the Guadalcanal campaign, but did not achieve big results until late 1943, when the F4U Corsairs and F6F Hellcats arrived.
The Hellcats in particular, operating from the simultaneously-arriving Essex-class carriers, began to decimate the outclassed Japanese fliers. From the Gilberts, up through the Marshalls and the Marianas, the carrier-based Hellcats swept the skies. (One notable unit, VF-17, the Jolly Rogers, under its CO, Tommy Blackburn, flew F4U Corsairs from land bases in the Solomons.
In the huge aerial battles of the Philippine Sea (Marianas Turkey Shoot) and Leyte Gulf, the navy aces essentially destroyed the Japanese aerial forces. After that, in the tough campaigns for Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Home Islands, the U.S. naval aviators faced poorly trained, but deadly, kamikaze pilots.
Fleming was an "Army brat" and an Annapolis graduate, the only ace from the class of 1941. He did a surface tour in cruisers, then applied for flight training. He won his wings in 1943 and was promptly assigned to be an instructor. He joined VF-80 in March, 1944.
His brief fighter career demonstrated the dominance of the U.S. Navy's carriers and Hellcats in the later stages of the Pacific War. Fleming engaged only nineteen targets during six combat missions between Nov. 5, 1944 and Feb. 17, 1945; he shot down all nineteen. His first kill was a Zero, over Manila, his only single victory.
Fleming's carrier, Ticonderoga (CV-14), gave aerial support to the Mindoro landings in the Philippines in mid-December 1944. At dawn on Dec. 14, the Hellcats started things with a series of fighter sweeps. VF-80 was one of the few squadrons to find combat when its fliers caught 27 Zeros trying to reinforce Mindoro. "Vorse's Vipers" shot down nineteen of them, four by Pat Fleming. On Jan. 3, 1945, the fast carriers went after Formosa, but bad weather prevented most squadrons from getting through. VF-80 did get to its objective and swept the area looking for targets; "P.D." Fleming found and shot down three.
As the kamikaze threat grew, the Navy increased the number of fighters on the carriers. When the VF squadrons exceeded 70 planes, they became increasingly awkward to administer, and many squadrons split into more manageable VF and VBF (fighter-bomber) squadrons. Frequently the two squadrons ran the same type of missions and both usually flew Hellcats. So it was with VF-80; on Jan. 10, 1945, VBF-80 was established, with Pat Fleming as its exec. While the distinctions between the two squadrons were mainly administrative, the records show that Fleming scored ten with VF-80 and nine more with VBF-80.
The carriers struck at Formosa again on the 21st, fiercely engaged by kamikazes. Three groups came at Ticonderoga, one hitting it with a 550-lb. bomb. As fires raged from this hit, another one crashed into the carrier's island, bringing the fatalities to 143. Several VF-80 pilots, including Pat Fleming manned the AA guns after the first attack. When the second Zero hit, a piece of falling debris hit Fleming on the helmet and knocked him overboard. A nearby destroyer rescued him. Due to the extensive damage to Ticonderoga, the air group transferred to Hancock (CV-19)
In mid-February, the carriers hit the Home Islands themselves, for the first time since the Doolittle raid of April, 1942. Fleming led nine VBF-80 Grummans on a Feb. 16 fighter-bomber attack on the Mobara airfield; they successfully bombed three of its five hangars. He spotted three Zeros high above and zoomed up to engage them. Approaching from behind, he burned two immediately, then chased and exploded another pair. He also hit another from behind (for a confirmed or probable kill, depending on the source). Fleming's Navy Cross citation for the mission credited him with five kills. The next day, Feb. 17, he closed his score with four more victories over Japan. VBF-80 went home in March, 1945.
After the war, he served at the Navy's famous Pax River test center, where he lived near Marion Carl's family. In January, 1947, General Curtis LeMay invited him to transfer to the new USAF Strategic Air Command (SAC) as a Lt. Col. He died in 1956 when he bailed out of a B-52, but his chute caught fire.
F6F Hellcat
U.S.S. Ticonderoga (CV-14)
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transferring to the new U.S. Air Force in September 1947. Col Fleming continued on as a test pilot with the Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Edwards AFB, California, until December 1949. His next assignment was as a project officer with the 4925th Special Weapons Group at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, from January to September 1950, followed by service with B-47 Project WIBAC at MacDill AFB, Florida, from September 1950 to January 1952. During this time he participated in Project 52 AFR-18 with the 306th Bomb Wing at MacDill, which used modified B-47 Stratojet bombers to make reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union. Col Fleming transferred to Headquarters Strategic Air Command at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, in January 1952, serving there until June 1953, when he joined the 98th Bomb Wing at Fairchild AFB, Washington. While with the 98th BW, he deployed to Japan, flying combat missions during the last month of the Korean War, and remaining in theater until returning to the U.S. in December 1953. Col Fleming's final assignment was as Deputy Commander of the 93rd Bomb Wing at Castle AFB, California, from January 1954 until he was killed in the first B-52 Stratofortress crash on February 16, 1956.
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Awarded posthumously for actions during the Cold War
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal (Army Design) (Posthumously) to Colonel Patrick Dawson Fleming (NSN: 0-100296), United States Air Force, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States, from February 1954 to February 1956. As Deputy Wing Commander, 93d Bombardment Wing (Heavy), Colonel Fleming was directly instrumental in developing more efficient, safer, and easier methods for utilizing equipment in training of personnel in modern jet bombardment operations. His depth of knowledge and profound understanding of aircraft performance and bombardment operations, and his ability to lecture, educate and indoctrinate personnel in methods of improving procedures, significantly contributed to the successful conversion of this wing to jet bombardment aircraft. The untiring efforts and adept resourcefulness and dedicated devotion of Colonel Fleming to the attainment of a high state of combat readiness greatly improved the managerial effectiveness of the command aircraft conversion and training program. His actions may be readily associated with the increased operational capability of the Strategic Air Command. The outstanding contributions to national security rendered by Colonel Fleming have reflected the greatest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.
General Orders: Department of the Air Force, General Orders No. 60 (1956)
She was decommissioned in early 1976, and sold for scrap later that year.
Construction and commissioning The ship was laid down as Ticonderoga on 26 January 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass. It was renamed Hancock 1 May 1943 in response to an offer from the John Hancock life insurance company to conduct a special bond drive to raise money for the ship if that name was used. (The shipyard is in the company's home state.) The company's bond drive raised enough money to both build the ship and operate it for the first year.[2] The ship was launched 24 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson. Hancock was commissioned 15 April 1944, with Captain Fred C. Dickey in command.
Hancock got underway the following afternoon for a rendezvous point 375 nmi (690 km) west of theMarianas where units of Vice Admiral Mitscher's Fast Carrier Task Force 38 (TF 38) were assembling in preparation for the daring cruise to raid Japanese air and sea bases in the Ryūkyūs, Formosa, and thePhilippines. Thus enemy air power was paralyzed during General MacArthur's invasion of Leyte. When the armada arrived off the Ryukyu Islands on 10 October 1944,Hancock's planes rose off her deck to wreak destruction upon Okinawanairfields and shipping. Her planes destroyed seven enemy aircraft on the ground and assisted in the destruction of a submarine tender, 12 torpedo boats, 2 midget submarines, four cargo ships, and a number ofsampans. Next on the agenda were Formosan air bases where on 12 October Hancock's pilots downed six enemy planes and destroyed nine more on the ground. She also reported one cargo ship definitely sunk, three probably destroyed, and several others damaged.
As they repelled an enemy air raid that evening, Hancock's gunners accounted for a Japanese plane and drove off countless others during seven hours of uninterrupted general quarters. The following morning her planes resumed their assault, knocking out ammunition dumps,hangars, barracks, and industrial plants ashore and damaging an enemy transport. As Japanese planes again attacked the Americans during their second night off Formosa, Hancock's antiaircraft fire brought down another raider which crashed about 500 yd (460 m) off her flight deck. On the morning of the third day of operations against this enemy stronghold Hancock lashed out again at airfields and shipping before retiring to the southeast with her task force. As the American ships withdrew a heavy force of Japanese aircraft roared in for a parting crack. One dropped a bomb off Hancock's port bow a few seconds before being hit by the carrier's guns and crashing into the sea. Another bomb penetrated a gun platform but exploded harmlessly in the water. The surviving attackers then turned tail, and the task force was thereafter unmolested as they sailed toward the Philippines to support the landings at Leyte.
On 18 October, she launched planes against airfields and shipping at Laoag, Aparri, and Camiguin Island in Northern Luzon. Her planes struck the islands of Cebu, Panay, Negros, and Masbate, pounding enemy airfields and shipping. The next day, she retired toward Ulithi with Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr.'s TG 38.1.
She received orders on 23 October to turn back to the area off Samar to assist in the search for units of the Japanese fleet reportedly closing Leyte to challenge the American fleet, and to destroy amphibious forces which were struggling to take the island from Japan. Hancock did not reach Samar in time to assist the heroic escort carriers and destroyers of "Taffy 3" during the main action of the Battle off Samar, but her planes did manage to lash the fleeing Japanese Center Force as it passed through the San Bernardino Strait. Hancock then rejoined Rear Admiral Bogan's Task Group with which she struck airfields and shipping in the vicinity of Manila on 29 October 1944. During operations through 19 November, her planes gave direct support to advancing Army troops and attacked Japanese shipping over a 350 mi (560 km) area. She became flagship of the Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38) on 17 November 1944 when Admiral McCain came on board.
Unfavorable weather prevented operations until 25 November, when a kamikaze roared toward Hancock, diving out of the sun. Antiaircraft fire exploded the plane some 300 ft (90 m) above the ship, but a section of its fuselage landed amid ships, and a part of the wing hit the flight deck and burst into flames. Prompt and skillful teamwork quickly extinguished the blaze and prevented serious damage.
Hancock returned to Ulithi on 27 November and departed from that island with her task group to maintain air patrol over enemy airfields on Luzon to prevent kamikazes from attacking amphibious vessels of the landing force in Mindoro. The first strikes were launched on 14 December againstClark and Angeles Airfields as well as enemy ground targets on Salvador Island. The next day her planes struck installations at Masinloc, San Fernando, and Cabanatuan, while fighter patrols kept the Japanese airmen down. Her planes also attacked shipping in Manila Bay.
Hancock encountered a severe typhoon on 17 December and rode out the storm in waves which broke over her flight deck, some 55 ft (20 m) above her waterline. She put into Ulithi 24 December and got underway six days later to attack airfields and shipping around the South China Sea. Her planes struck hard blows at Luzon airfields on 7-8 January 1945 and turned their attention back to Formosa on 9 January, hitting fiercely at airfields and the Toko Seaplane Station . An enemy convoy north of Camranh Bay, Indochina was the next victim, with two ships sunk and 11 damaged. That afternoon Hancock launched strikes against airfields at Saigon and shipping on the northeastern bulge of French Indochina. Strikes by the fast and mobile carrier force continued through 16 January, hitting Hainan Island in the Gulf of Tonkin, the Pescadores Islands, and shipping in the harbor of Hong Kong. Raids against Formosa were resumed on 20 January. The next afternoon one of her planes returning from a sortie made a normal landing, taxied to a point abreast of the island, and disintegrated in a blinding explosion which killed 50 men and injured 75 others. Again outstanding work quickly brought the fires under control in time to land other planes which were still aloft. She returned to formation and launched strikes against Okinawa the next morning.
Hancock reached Ulithi on 25 January where Admiral McCain left the ship and relinquished command of the 5th Fleet. She sortied with the ships of her task group on 10 February and launched strikes against airfields in the vicinity of Tokyo on 16 February. On that day, her air group, Air Group 80, downed 71 enemy planes, and accounted for 12 more the next. Her planes hit the enemy naval bases at Chichi Jima and Haha Jima on 19 February. These raids were conducted to isolate Iwo Jima from air and sea support when Marines hit the beaches of that island to begin one of the most bloody and fierce campaigns of the war. Hancock took station off this island to provide tactical support through 22 February, hitting enemy airfields and strafing Japanese troops ashore.
Returning to waters off the enemy home islands, Hancock launched her planes against targets on northern Honshū, making a diversionary raid on the Nansei-shoto islands on 1 March before returning to Ulithi on 4 March.
Back in Japanese waters Hancock joined other carriers in strikes against Kyūshū airfields, southwestern Honshū and shipping in the Inland Sea of Japan on 18 March. Hancock was refueling destroyer USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) on 20 March when kamikazes attacked the task force. One plane dove for the two ships but was disintegrated by gunfire when about 700 ft (210 m) overhead. Fragments of the plane hit Hancock's deck while its engine and bomb crashed the fantail of the destroyer. Hancock's gunners shot down another plane as it neared the release point of its bombing run on the carrier.
Hancock was reassigned to Carrier TG 58.3 with which she struck the Nansei-shoto islands from 23- 27 March and Minami Daito Island and Kyūshū at the end of the month.
When the 10th Army landed on the western coast of Okinawa on 1 April, Hancock was on hand to provide close air support. A kamikaze cartwheeled across her flight deck on 7 April and crashed into a group of planes while its bomb hit the port catapult to cause a tremendous explosion. Although 62 men were killed and 71 wounded, heroic efforts doused the fires within half an hour enabling her to be back in action before an hour had passed.
Hancock was detached from her task group on 9 April and steamed to Pearl Harbor for repairs. She sailed back into action 13 June and left lethal calling cards at Wake Island on 20 June en route to the Philippines. Hancock sailed from San Pedro Bay with the other carriers on 1 July and attacked Tokyo airfields on 10 July. She continued to operate in Japanese waters until she received confirmation of Japan's capitulation on 15 August 1945 when she recalled her planes from their deadly missions before they reached their targets. However planes of her photo division were attacked by seven enemy aircraft over Sagami Wan. Three were shot down and a fourth escaped in a trail of smoke. Later that afternoon planes of Hancock's air patrol shot down a Japanese torpedo plane as it dived on a British task force. Her planes flew missions over Japan in search of prison camps, dropping supplies and medicine, on 25 August. Information collected during these flights led to landings under command of Commodore R. W. Simpson which brought doctors and supplies to all Allied prisoner of war encampments.
When the formal surrender of the Japanese government was signed on board battleship Missouri, Hancock's planes flew overhead. The carrier entered Tokyo Bay on 10 September 1945 and sailed on 30 September embarking 1,500 passengers at Okinawa for transportation toSan Pedro, California, where she arrived on 21 October. Hancock was fitted out for Operation Magic Carpet duty at San Pedro and sailed for Seeadler Harbor, Manus, Admiralty Islands on 2 November. On her return voyage she carried 4,000 passengers who were debarked at San Diego on 4 December. A week later Hancock departed for her second Magic Carpet voyage, embarking 3,773 passengers at Manila for return to Alameda, California on 20 January 1946. She embarked Air Group 7 at San Diego on 18 February for air operations off the coast of California. She sailed from San Diego on 11 March to embark men of two air groups and aircraft at Pearl Harbor for transportation to Saipan, arriving on 1 April. After receiving two other air groups on board at Saipan, she loaded a cargo of aircraft at Guam and steamed by way of Pearl Harbor to Alameda, arriving on 23 April. She then steamed to Seattle, Washington on 29 April to await inactivation. The proud ship decommissioned and entered the reserve fleet at Bremerton, Washington.
Pacific Fleet
Hancock commenced the SCB-27C conversion and modernization to an attack aircraft carrier inPuget Sound 15 December 1951 and was reclassified CVA-19 on 1 October 1952. She recommissioned on 15 February 1954, Captain W. S. Butts in command. She was the first carrier of the United States Fleet with steam catapults capable of launching high performance jets.
She was off San Diego on 7 May 1954 for operations along the coast of California that included the 17 June launching of the first aircraft to take off a United States carrier by means of a steam catapult. After a year of operations along the Pacific coast that included testing of Sparrow I andRegulus missiles and Cutlass jet aircraft, she sailed on 10 August 1955 for 7th Fleet operations ranging from the shores of Japan to the Philippines and Okinawa. She returned to San Diego on 15 March 1956 and decommissioned on 13 April for her SCB-125 conversion that included the installation of an angled flight deck.
Hancock recommissioned on 15 November 1956 for training out of San Diego until 6 April 1957, when she again sailed for Hawaii and the Far East. She returned to San Francisco on 18 September 1957 and again departed for Japan on 15 February 1958. She was a unit of powerful carrier task groups taking station off Taiwan when the Nationalist Chinese islands of Quemoyand Matsu were threatened with Communist invasion in August 1959. The carrier returned to San Francisco on 2 October for overhaul in theSan Francisco Naval Shipyard, followed by rigorous at sea training out of San Diego. On 1 August 1959, she sailed to reinforce the 7th Fleet as troubles in Laos demanded the watchful presence of powerful American forces in water off southeast Asia. She returned to San Francisco on 18 January 1960 and put to sea early in February to participate in a new demonstration of communications by reflecting ultra-high-frequencywaves off the moon. She again departed in August to steam with the 7th Fleet in waters off Laos until lessening of tension in that area permitted operations ranging from Japan to the Philippines.
Hancock returned to San Francisco in March 1961, then entered the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an overhaul that gave her new electronics gear and many other improvements. She again set sail for Far Eastern waters on 2 February 1962, patrolling in the South China Sea as crisis and strife mounted both in Laos and in South Vietnam. She again appeared off Quemoy and Matsu in June to stem a threatened Communist invasion there, then trained along the coast of Japan and in waters reaching to Okinawa. She returned to San Francisco on 7 October, made a brief cruise to the coast of Hawaii while qualifying pilots then again sailed on 7 June 1963 for the Far East.
Hancock joined in combined defense exercises along the coast of South Korea, then deployed off the coast of South Vietnam after the coup which resulted in the death of President Diem. She entered the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard on 16 January 1964 for modernization that included installation of a new ordnance system, hull repairs, and aluminum decking for her flight deck. She celebrated her 20th birthday on 2 June while visiting San Diego. The carrier made a training cruise to Hawaii, then departed Alameda on 21 October for another tour of duty with the 7th Fleet in the Far East.
Vietnam War
Hancock reached Japan on 19 November and soon was on patrol at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. She remained active in Vietnamese waters until heading for home early in the spring of 1965.
November found the carrier steaming back to the war zone. She was on patrol off Vietnam on 16 December; and, but for brief respites at Hong Kong, the Philippines, or Japan, Hancock remained on station launching her planes for strikes at enemy positions ashore until returning to Alameda on 1 August 1966. Her outstanding record during this combat tour won her the Navy Unit Commendation.
Following operations off the West Coast, Hancock returned to Vietnam early in 1967 and resumed her strikes against Communist positions. After fighting during most of the first half of 1967, she returned to Alameda on 22 July and promptly began preparations for returning to battle.
In the summer of 1969 she was back in Alameda preparing for yet another deployment to southeast Asia. In July, while in pre-deployment night landing exercises, an F-8 came in too low and crashed into the round-down splitting the aircraft into two pieces which hurtled down the deck and erupted in a massive fuel fed fire. While no lives were lost, damage to the flight deck was extensive, resulting in a frenetic 24/7 repair effort to be ready by the deployment date.
Aircraft from Hancock, along with those from Ranger and Oriskany, joined with other planes for air strikes against North Vietnamese missile and antiaircraft sites south of the 19th parallel in response to attacks on unarmed U.S. reconnaissance aircraft on 21-22 November 1970 (Operation Freedom Bait). Hancock alternated with Ranger and Kitty Hawk on Yankee Station until 10 May 1971, when she was relieved byMidway.
(For more reading see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hancock_(CVA-19) )
