Marines bring in his Wildcat

Daily Iberian ^ | June 7, 2007 | Alicia Duplessis

[kms61]

It wasn’t for keeps or to park in his garage, but being surprised with the type of aircraft he used to shoot down six Japanese fighter planes over the Pacific Ocean in 1943 set up a memorable day for retired U.S. Marine Corps pilot Jeff DeBlanc, 86, of St. Martinville.

“I am so very humbled and it’s so nice to see everyone who came out to do this for me,” said DeBlanc as he looked into the crowd sprinkled with young uniformed officers. “As one Marine to another I look at them as veterans that survived the war just like me.”

Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman in 1946 for his heroic moves in the South Pacific, DeBlanc has spent years telling his extraordinary war stories to attentive ears. The private gathering of DeBlanc’s family, friends, and military buddies was spearheaded by Capt. Charlie Simmons who said that the idea to fly in the Grumman F4F Wildcat from Addison, Texas, was done on a whim.

“I was having a casual conversation with Bud Lee and I told him that I thought it would be nice to honor (DeBlanc) in some way,” Simmons said. “I found a guy with a refurbished WWII frontline carrier fighter and everything fell into place from there.”

As the plane arrived at the airport, its olive green wings spread majestically in width detailed on its sides by a large white star trailed by a dark blue stripe.

Once its polished propellers finished slicing through the sunlight, the crowd gathered around to get a peak at a piece of history.

The aircraft was flown in by Michael Burke and is regularly housed at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum.

Simmons said that several of DeBlanc’s friends chipped in to raise roughly $3,000 to get the plane flown in Wednesday to the Acadiana Regional Airport.

DeBlanc’s son, Jeff DeBlanc Jr., said he was proud of his father’s accomplishments and appreciative of what his father’s friends had pulled together to do.

“I am very proud of my dad and it’s a wonderful opportunity for him to the see the plane he actually flew over Guadalcanal in WWII,” said DeBlanc Jr. “He was also excited that the F-18 planes that had the same squadron as him were here too.”

In reference to Tom Brokaw’s best-selling book “The Greatest Generation,” Capt. Bud Forrest said that DeBlanc epitomizes the importance of that generation.

“He’s certified ‘Greatest Generation,’ ” said Forrest. “They didn’t ask for anything. They just went over there, won the war and didn’t think twice about it.”

DeBlanc received celebrity treatment Wednesday as he signed autographs and stood in for dozens of photos with adoring fans of all ages and military branches.

Aside from the specially requested aircraft flown in as a surprise, four other F-18 fighter jets danced over head for DeBlanc’s pleasure as well as for the pleasure of pilots-to-be.

“Jets are really cool,” said DeBlanc’s 8-year-old great-grandson Taylor Romero, who plans to become a pilot in the armed services like his great-grandfather.

“I like that my grandpa was a hero because it lets me know I can be one too.”

Romero was accompanied by his cousins Sean Broussard, 6, Beau Broussard, 4, and DeBlanc’s granddaughter Christie Broussard, who said that after years of hearing her grandfather’s story things still seem surreal.

“My grandfather still has a spear from one of the natives on the island where he was captured hanging in his living room,” Christie said.

Things like the spear and several photos are what make the stories come to life, she said.

Capt. Conrad Milne, USMC, out of NAS Atlanta in Marietta, Ga., was among the four pilots who flew in for the event.

A second pilot, Maj. Kevin Paetzold, spent a portion of the event answering questions from curious civilians about the jet’s maneuvering and fighting capabilities.

“From here we can shoot 478 rounds in four seconds,” he explained, pointing to the jet’s front shooter.

Paetzold said that he was honored to make the trip because of his connection to DeBlanc through his squadron.

“He was in our squadron when he shot down those planes in WWII,” Paetzold said. “The squadron is VMFA-112.”

Lawrence Gauthier, 80, said that he has known DeBlanc since he was 5 years old growing up in St. Martinville. The two would later become pilots and shared the same squadron.

“This is fantastic and he deserves it,” Gauthier said. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

DeBlanc is the last living Medal of Honor recipient in the state of Louisiana. He retired as a colonel in 1972.

[donmeaker]

The P-40 had a 14 to 1 kill ratio against Jap planes in China.

Assymetrical warfare is the way to go. Dogfighting just gets you shot. Slash and go wins.

[Vision]

The Zero had a twin 20mm cannon and twin 13.7mm MGs, which, imho, gave it a fire power advantage over both the Wildcat and the Hellcat’s six 0.50 Cal.

Why?

[donmeaker]

Eric Hartmann called the P-47 a “20mm sponge”.

Great plane. If the Army Air Corps kept them they could have used them instead of A-1s in Vietnam.

[VOA]

Speaking as a never-served civilian that would have been easy meat in
any dogfight...

Of all the luminaries on The History Channel’s “Dogfights”, DeBlanc’s
monologue on the “Guadacanal” episode is just the greatest. When he
recalls his plea to his group to stick together and that he’s making
a one-way trip with a leaking gas tank,
then he drawls out “Now, ah ain’t no hero...”
Just classic.
Better dialogue than 99.99% of all the war-time movies made in Hollyweird.

My next favorite is Robin Olds of WWII and Vietnam conflict.
And the pilot (name escapes me) that pursues a likely Russian pilot
back into China in the “Mig Alley” episode, blowing the holy cr-p out
of a row of Migs.

But for one favorite episode, I go with the underdogs of “Long Odds”.

Links below:

Dogfights: Guadalcanal DVD
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=76951

Dogfights: Long Odds DVD
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=77190

Dogfights: MiG Alley DVD
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=76923

[fso301]

The Zero had a twin 20mm cannon and twin 13.7mm MGs, which, imho, gave it a fire power advantage over both the Wildcat and the Hellcat’s six 0.50 Cal. The Hellcat was an entirely new airframe.

Number and caliber are important but you also need to know the rate of fire and velocity to make a final determination of pounds of steel on target and energy delivered on target per unit time.

[VOA]

“If anyone wants to see a Wildcat, there is one on display in the concourse
O’Hare airport in Chicago.”

And for the younguns’ that want to know...
1. Why the plane was placed there
AND
2. Why it’s “O’Hare” airport

here’s a link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O’Hare

“Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune,
suggested a name change of Chicago’s Orchard Depot Airport as tribute
to Butch O’Hare. On September 19, 1949, the Chicago, Illinois airport
was renamed O’Hare International Airport. “

“The aircraft was restored by the Air Classics Museum to look like
the exact one that O’Hare flew, and is exhibited in Terminal Two at
the west end of the ticketing lobby to honor
O’Hare International Airport’s namesake.”

[ryan71]

“An olive green Wildcat — I don’t think so”

That caught my attention, as well. I’ve never seen a picture of a Wildcat, Hellcat, or Corsair with olive green paint.

[yarddog]

I read a great book about Erich Hartmann. His Father, a Dr. was a medical missionary to China and his mother a blonde bombshell.

He was the all time ace of aces and deserves to be much more famous than he is. 352 confirmed kills and the Germans were the most unforgiving in crediting an air to air kill. They literally required proof before giving the pilot credit.

[GATOR NAVY]

I’m guessing it was a weight factor since that seemed to be their primary consideration for just about everything else.

[GATOR NAVY]

Zeros had 7.7mm machine guns, not 13.7mm. Rifle caliber machine guns didn’t have near the punch of a .50 cal BMG, especially against studier US aircraft.

The Zero’s 20mm cannon is a heavy hitter but it has two major drawbacks. It has a slow rate of fire and a very limited ammo supply (60 rounds per gun IIRC). A great weapon against a big, slow bomber. Not so great against a small, nimble fighter.

[MediaMole]

There is very little evidence that any Marine or Navy aircraft flying out of Henderson were painted OD green. They really weren’t in any position to do major maintenance on the aircraft during the battle of Guadalcanal. Most of the aircraft were flown until they were worn out, shot down or too badly damaged to fly again. Then the usable parts were stripped off and used to keep the remaining aircraft flying.

The reference to OD green on the restored aircraft sounds like the reporter was vamping a description of an event he didn’t witness. The only actual flying F4F Wildcat is in the early war blue-gray over white scheme. Most of the others in existence are General Motors FM2 Wildcats, which are late war aircraft.

[wolficatZ]

It’s great to know DeBlanc is still with us to share his experiences..

Gunther Rall is the highest scoring WWII ace still surviving, he published a book of his aviation career in 2004.

The also is a very good older series from the 90’s called “Hunters in the Sky”, noteworthy because it contains some candid interviews with some of the great fighter pilots of WWII, most who have since passed on; Saburo Sakai, Adolph Galland, Joseph Gabreski, and many others.

With the development of the “Thatch Weave” tactic, the F4Fs became very competitive against the A6M Zeros.

Anyone interested in the most thoroughly researched and detailed accounts of the air battles these Wildcats took part in during the first years of the war should read “First Team And the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942”

A superb book..

[VOA]

Thanks for your mention of the reference materials.
After seeing how the WWII “Dogfights” went down, I’ll definitely
get some extra reading in (when time permits!).

I’m a total sucker for WWII warbirds. Fortunately I get a mainline-fix
once a year with the local “Salute To Veterans” airshow.
http://www.salute.org

It’s even gotten more exciting in the past couple of years with the
appearance of well-meaning but snarky anti-war activists.
It is a hoot to just take the “informational” papers they offer to
airshow attendees...and after a walk of maybe 10 paces, turn the papers
over to “Operation Simply Shred”.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=simplyshred

[fso301]

Rifle caliber machine guns didn’t have near the punch of a .50 cal BMG, especially against studier US aircraft

In a fighter -vs- figter situation or attempt to bring down a bomber from the rear I would agree. However, in a frontal attack on a bomber formation, the high cyclic rate of fire of the 8mm class machineguns used by German reciprocating engine fighters gave a higher probability of hitting a bomber crew member, especially the pilot and co-pilot on the initial "12 O'Clock/12 O'Clock High" attack run. In a fighter -vs- fighter role which the German pilots were generally under orders to avoid, the 8mm was inadequate against the tough American fighters, esopecially the P-47.

I read one account of a battle damaged P-47 returning to base coming under attack by a German pilot who was out of cannon ammo. The German peppered the P-47 with 8mm until he expended all of his 8mm but couldn't bring the "Jug" down.

[Plutarch]

I read a great book about Erich Hartmann. His Father, a Dr. was a medical missionary to China and his mother a blonde bombshell.

I was going to look up a color photograph of a Wildcat from WWII, but instead I got distracted to go looking for a photo of the Teutonic blonde bombshell. I think there is some rule that if you mention the aesthetic attributes of a female at FR, you are obligated to post the pic.

Erich's parents Dr. Alfred Hartmann & Elisabeth Machtholf

[wolficatZ]

Thanks for the link to Salute to Veterans 2007, looks like it was a great event.

I haven’t been to any airshows since I moved to AZ, I been to the Pima Museum in Tucson many times, one of my fave places of all time.

The Wildcat is one warbird I would love to see in person..

Here’s one of my airshow vids I made with my little Canon 8mm way back in ‘99..I got really lucky and found a spot away from the crowd near the taxiway;a very memorable moment for me..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GD1y8u_iQLI

[kms61]

the 20mm cannons had a slow rate of fire, which made them somewhat impractical in many situations.

[CoolPapaBoze]

Hey, that was in Lafayette, my home town! Aaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!