Flight Journal – September 2019

18 FlightJournal.com

sharp-shooting hellcat

WequalifiedaboardthenewUSSEssex(CV

9)inFebruary1943,werereadytogoinMay

andtraversedthePanamaCanal.Iwasmore

experiencedthansomeofmybuddiesinVF-9,

butmostofushadjust 50 to 80 hoursinthe

F6F.Laterinthewar,pilotsstartedwith300.

WeraidedWakeIslandonOctober5,1943.

Thatwasmyfirstrealfight.

Thatday,mysquadroncommanderCdr.

PhilTorreywasfirsttoshootdownaZero.He

saidnoonewouldeveragaintalkaboutthe

Zerobeingsuperior.Idivedintoaformationof

Zeros,lineduponeinmygunsightandfired

ashortburst.Althoughtheywouldlaterlabel

me“OneSlug”McWhorterbecausetheysaidI

wasveryfrugalwiththetaxpayers’.50-caliber

bullets,therealreasonIdidn’tfireasecond

burstwasthattheZeroblewupinfrontofme.

Ihadscoredmyfirstair-to-airkill.Iwastold

thatatWakeweshotdown 22 Japaneseaircraft

whilelosingsixinair-to-airbattle.

    Iflew 89 combatmissions.Themost

memorablewasagainstRabaul—theoneI

beganthisaccountwith—onNovember11,

1943.TheJapaneseweremassingwarshipsat

RabaultothreatenourguysonBougainville,

sotheysentusdown.

Wewereapprehensive.Wewerelaunched

from 150 milessoutheastofRabaul,escorting

ourtaskforce’sSBDDauntlessdivebombers

The TBM Avenger/F6F Hellcat mix was common, as

seen here during flight deck operations aboard the USS

Monterey, CVL-26 operating in the Marshall/Gilberts

Campaign of late 1943. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)

The Hellcat’s unique double wing-fold design is evident as deck hands prepare for an April 9,
1943 flight from the USS Essex (CV 9) by a Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat of Fighter Squadron Nine,
or VF-9. (Photos courtesy of the U.S. Navy, via Robert F. Dorr)

Typical of Hellcat operations like those in which McWhorter

participated, a Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat of Fighter Squadron

One, or VF-1 “Top Hatters,” prepares for launch from USS

Yorktown (CV 5) during fighting in the Marianas Islands on

June 19, 1944.