TOO CLOSE! A spout of water shoots high into the air perilously close to the baby carrier, USS Gambier Bay as the result of a near miss by a Japanese fighter bomber.

A Wildcat Fighter that had crashed on the GAMBlER BAY's deck was being pushed by many of the flight deck crew, to the ditching ramp, on the port side of the flight deck, when a Japanese pilot squinted through his bomb sight and lined up on the GAMBIER BAY for the kill.

Captain Goodwin had this bogey in sight, as the 'Tony' came at us, in a steep dive, our forward-starboard 20's and 40's opened up. The Captain at the last moment gave the command for hard Starboard rudder. This action caused the Japanese pilot to over shoot his target, as shown in photo, because of the executed turn that placed the GAMBlER BAY inside the arc of the falling bomb. Our anti aircraft guns knocked down this as well as three other aircraft, during the Marianas Campaign.

During this campaign, our Squadron too was busy. They bombed, gunned, and rocketed the enemy on the islands. Enemy AA fire also took its toll of our aircraft. Many of you may not have known that three of our aircraft were shot down. The pilots J. Stewart, Lee Giger, and Jess Holleman survived. Lost were 2 crewmen, J.Bacon & H. Rivers. (See Squadron "Faces Of Our Kia's"). Our Squadron shot down many enemy aircraft in this campaign. (SEE Chronology - LINKS BELOW)

Chronology
Go to June 17, 1944
Go to June 18, 1944
Go to June 19, 1944
Messages from the Captain