USS Wasp returned to the combat zone in July 1945 and 2 days after arriving all aircraft aboard were repainted with the letter code X. VF-86 originally named the Sundowners but BuAer realized that name was taken by VF-11 and they went with Wild Hares. In the short time they were in the combat zone in March then July and August they managed 12 kills despite hunting had thinned out.
Their final kill came August 15 at 1:30 when Lt. Cdr. Cleo J Dobson got his only kill of the war. Dobson was an SBD pilot for most the war and was on the Enterprise the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. The last kill of the war would come 30 minutes later from another Hellcat pilot, Ensign Clarence A. Moore of Belleau Wood.
