VBF-85 was stationed on the U.S.S. Shangri-La (CV-38) in 1945. VBF-85 branch was assigned F4U-1D/FG-1D's and the VF-85 was assigned the C-hogs. Depending who was assigned what missions, time of day and which aircraft were ready and easy to get to the deck the two branches flew each others planes regularly.
The first one has the familiar Lighting Bolt "G" code that was designated for the Shangri-La. This system was used from January 1945 to about mid July 1945. Mid July there was a change to single or double letters as there were just to many symbols to remember to ID aircraft groups. At this point is when a "Z" was used to id the Shangri-La air group. The second has this code and found a story on
http://vbf-85.com/home.html about Lt. Richard T. Schaeffer.
"As one of the most senior officers assigned to VBF-85, Richard was the leader of his 2 aircraft section and 4 aircraft division. In flight the formation would have his section wingman trailing off to one side and the other section leader off to his other side, forming an elongated V of 4 aircraft. At 05:30 in the morning he launched with 8 Corsairs from VBF-85, 6 SB2C Helldivers from VB-85, and accompanied by 2 photo-recon F6F Hellcats from VF-85 to record their attack results on the Japanese Imperial Aircraft Factory in Tokyo.
During the attack his Corsair was damaged and his radio became inoperative, probably shot up. En-route back to the U.S.S. Shangri-La, he motioned to his long-time wingman, Ens. Allen Philipp, in a circular motion then pointed to the water. He couldn’t make the safety of the carrier and had to set it down. Descending and setting up for a ditch, Ens. Philipp said he made a nice water landing. However, watching in orbit over the downed plane, he never saw Richard get out of the stricken aircraft’s cockpit. As Ens. Philipp circled the location for 45 minutes that early morning on July 30th, 1945, he witnessed FG-1D Corsair, side #14, BuNo 87884, sink under the waves taking Richard with it and saw nothing more.
Four days earlier Schaeffer's roommate, Lt.Cdr. "Tex" O'Neill--the squadron's Executive Officer-- had received transfer orders and Schaeffer was tentatively scheduled to replace him as the new XO. Lt. Schaeffer "may" have already been--or was going to be--advanced to Lt.Cdr [what his records show after the war]. The war ended 16 days later; the squadron was returned to the U.S. and disbanded; and Richard Schaeffer and 35 of his fellow Air Group 85 pilots didn't live to see it happen."
lb3 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
lb2 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
lb1 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
z1 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
z2 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
z3 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
