V Division: The Aviation Detachment

V Division: The Aviation Detachment. Eyes In The Sky. , The V Division was part of the Gunnery Department. The Aviation Detachment had 23 men: 3 officers and 20 enlisted men. The enlisted rates were aviation aerographer's mate, aviation machinist's mate, aviation metalsmith, aviation ordnanceman, aviation radioman, and a photographer and storekeeper. Two men flew in a plane: pilot and passenger, who served as radioman/gunner., Crew Memories , "One of the more colorful characters on board was our senior aviator Lt. 'Dipsy' Dowdle. Dipsy was a frustrated fighter pilot and a salty flier. When we stopped at Pearl Harbor on our way to the Pacific in October 1944 the captain received a complaint from the beach and an order from the air base commander to ground Dipsy while in Hawaii because he kept buzzing the airfield and challenged the fighter pilots to a dog fight! His battle station was at the catapult in case the Kingfishers had to be launched., During one Japanese air attack a Japanese torpedo bomber launched his weapon, which missed, and flew low over the fantail. As he flew over he thumbed his nose at Dipsy who was standing on the deck. Dipsy was incensed and requested a Thompson sub-machine gun from our armory to take to his battle station thereafter. No one is going to thumb his nose at me again, he declared. The fact the gun's range was only 25 yards did not phase him a bit." , Captain Tracy Wilder, USN, Retired, "Usually the Aviation Radioman was the rear seat man and that was his battle station. Certain of the V Division members who drew flight pay had to fly a minimum of four hours each month to keep their flight pay. The mandatory hours were rescinded either in July or August of 1942; thereafter the rear seat man who was both radioman and gunner on the .30 caliber machine gun in the rear seat flew with the plane to which he was assigned." , Robert Cashman, Aviation Machinist's Mate, (captions) , Officers and crew posing in front of the Kingfisher, early 1945. kneeling: Chief John Fugate and aviators Almon Oliver, Paul Wogan and Roscoe Werder. Second Row: Marquez, Copus, Kontz, McDonald, Sullivan, and Sneider. Back row: Cox, Means, Gronley, Fennel, Gannon, and Foley., In flight over Kwajalein Atoll, early 1944 , Returning from spotting landings over Okinawa, March 1945