Corsair Markings and Nose Art of VMF-512 |
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Starting in Dec 1944 the unit was based at Santa Barbara where each plane had large letters and numbers such as 'EE54' on the fuselage (they may have been that way in Mojave). The squadron embarked on the USS Gilbert Islands in March 1945 and the EE markings survived at most a few weeks after which the 18 Corsairs and 2 F6Fs of VMF-512 were numbered (arguably) in the sequence 10 - 29 with 19 and 29 being the 2 F6Fs. Nose art took hold and then, most likely in July, white recognition stripes were added in accordance with new regulations. In their final livery the 18 Corsairs were all-blue with white recognition stripes and nose art on most. Here's #13 'Miss Nellie' dressed up like this. I have no information about the markings when VMF-512 was based at Pollocksville and Mojave, i.e., before their days in Santa Barbara. Images on this page are thumbnails... please click on one to view a larger version. Large EE markings
What were the other numbers? There were 18 Corsairs in the carrier squadron and EE54 - EE66 covers 13 aircraft. I don't know for sure the first and last sequence numbers but I know one of the F6Fs was EE70. Since the 2 F6Fs joined VMF-512 late in Santa Barbara perhaps EE70 was the last or next to last in the sequence. My best guess is the 18 Corsairs were EE52 through EE69 and the 2 F6Fs EE70 and EE71 or perhaps EE51-68 with the F6Fs as EE69-70. These large markings were seen on the carrier for a little while. Here's a photocopy of a page captioned at the National Archives "the first catapult launch..." and dated March 10, 1945 showing EE55. The subject of the next photo, EE62, is the set-up for the formal portraits of the pilots in the cockpit but is not dated. Another undated image from the carrier shows Ron Spjeldet with Hard Hearted Hanna where an EE marked plane can be seen in the background. Ron remembers his Hanna might have been EE62. These numbers were repainted at least once - note the Santa Barbara pictures have solid letters while the ones from the carrier are done with a stencil. Small number markings
What was the range of numbers? I have photos where the Corsairs are from 11 to 28. The Hellcats were numbers 19 and 29, perhaps selected at random but I doubt the Marines did things that way. Noticing that half the Corsairs fit between 19 and 29 I think the other Corsairs were numbered 10-18 thus placing an F6F at the ends of the two sequences 10-18 and 20-28 thereby accounting for the 18 Corsairs. The transition date to the small markings may be estimated from a few dated photos taken by the USN photographers. Major Mueller's Corsair crashed on May 23, the first day of combat for the Gilbert Islands. The large EE marking is gone. The USS Gilbert Islands sailed from San Diego April 12 and so the changeover to the small numbers happened within a few weeks, perhaps even before the carrier left San Diego April 12 for the Pacific. Data
markings Aircraft
bureau numbers (BuNo) Please note the 3 FG-1As were flown by Lt. Spjeldet during April 21-23 while he was on land in Oahu. These BuNos were not seen in his days on the carrier. I believe they were not on the carrier.
White
recognition stripes During the Balikpapan operation June 30 - July 3 the TBMs don't yet have the stripes. The earliest dated photo with stripes is this photo of P87 over the edge, dated at the National Archives Aug 13. Between July 7 and July 29 the carrier's planes were on land at Tacloban where the CVE recognition markings must have been painted on. Some of the vets refer to these as invasion stripes. Photos of
the individual planes There's evidence that some of the Corsairs were renumbered since the photos of numbers 11 and 26 both show The Mad Cossack. My 2 photos of Susie Q show a 6 portside and a beginning 2 on the starboard side. I'm listing Susie Q as 16 to avoid conflict with The Mad Cossack 26. Click here to see a slide show of just nose art close ups. 10 11 The Mad Cossack 12 13 Miss Nellie 14 15 16 Susie Q 17 18 19 F6F 20 21 The Brooklyn Butcher 22 Grand Slam 24 25 Semper Fi 26 The Mad Cossack 27 28 29 F6F Also, one was named Hard Hearted Hanna. Pilot Ron Spjeldet says this was the other Corsair destroyed when Maj. Mueller crashed on May 23. The War Diary records its BuNo as 82842 but I don't know its small number. By my count 9 Corsairs show nose art (using The Mad Cossack twice). Numbers 12 and 15 are the only two with both the port and starboard views showing no art indicating 9 of 11 have nose art with no information for the other 7 planes. Note to modelers and artists: if you do one of these please send photos of your work. |
This site was last updated 04/27/08