Came across this Hellact on a Facebook group.
What's in a number? In the case of a plane's Bureau Number, the answer is quite a lot! These details were recorded in pilots' flight log books, allowing researchers to track who was in which aircraft when. Sometimes that information can tell a really cool story and give a plane a sense of identity.
Take for instance one of the workhorses of Fighting 18: BuNo. 58501. Navy carrier pilots did not typically have regularly-assigned aircraft. As a result, this plane turns up in at least 7 separate pilots' log books, bearing witness to quite a few butts—in addition to some of the largest air and sea battles of World War II.
BuNo. 58501 appears in the annals of Fighting 18 as early as 1 September 1944, almost a week before the squadron began conducting strike operations as part of USS Intrepid's Air Group 18. Lt. Richard Cevoli put the plane through its paces on a training flight, warming it up for the rigors it was soon to face in combat.
From there, BuNo. 58501 participated in virtually every major action undertaken by the squadron. VF-18 Executive Officer Clarence Blouin flew the plane over Angaur in support of the 81st Infantry Division. Charles deMoss was in its cockpit when he shot down two Zero fighters over Formosa a month later. Robert Brownell took it out as part of a search for the remnants of Admiral Kurita's defeated battleship force on 26 October 1944.
BuNo. 58501 survived its tour of duty aboard USS Intrepid because it was in the air on 25 November 1944, when the ship was hit by two kamikazes in the span of only a handful of minutes. Commanding Officer Edward Murphy was flying the plane while leading a strike on Marinduque Island. He helped sink two destroyers before landing at Tacloban. Returning to Intrepid was not an option in the ship's battered state.
Lt. Comdr. Murphy had the honor of giving the plane its final sorties as part of Fighting 18. On 27 November he flew BuNo. 58501 from Leyte to Palau, and the next day flew it to Yap and on to Ulithi, where the squadron ultimately received the news that it was going home.
vf-18 a by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
vf-18 b by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
