1945-Contin ued
58 under Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, the second
was Task Group 52.2 under Rear Admiral Calvin T.
Durgin. On 16-17 February Mitscher moved against
Japan with nine heavy and five light carriers in four
groups, and two heavy carriers in a night group.
Carrier aircraft hit Japanese air bases in the Tokyo
plains. From 19 to 23 February, his forces supported
Marine Corps landings and operations on Iwo lima
and flew neutralization strikes against the Bonins. On
25 February, he returned for a second strike on Tokyo.
On 1 March he struck at Okinawa and the Ryukyus
and then retired to Ulithi, leaving in his wake 648
enemy aircraft destroyed and 30,000 tons of merchant
shipping sunk.
Task Group 52.2 began the campaign with nine
escort carriers; it was later augmented by two more
escort carriers and one night CV. On 16-18 February,
Admiral Durgin carried out air strikes on Iwo Jima's
shore defenses to reduce their resistance to the
impending Marine Corps landing. From 19 February to
11 March he flew missions in direct support of Marine
Corps ground operations and neutralized airstrips in
the Bonins.
In counter attacks, the Japanese were not entirely
unsuccessful. On 21 February a Kamikaze raid upon
Task Group 52 sank the escort carrier Bismarck Sea,
seriously damaged Saratoga, and did minor damage to
Lunga Point. But new air defense elements in the U.S.
Fleet were functional and noteworthy; they included the
altitude-determining radar on LSTs and a Night Fighter
Director in the Air Support Commander's organization.
Other U.S. operations deserve mention. Task Group
50.5, under Commodore Dixwell Ketcham, was based
in the Marianas. The Group's shore-based aircraft con-
ducted shipping reconnaissance and air-sea rescue
between Japan and Iwo Jima. They also flew offensive
screens for carrier raids and expeditionary forces.
Similar operations were carried out by patrol planes of
Fleet Air Wing 1 from tenders anchored in the lee of
Iwo Jima (28 Feb-8 Mar). Marine Corps Observation
Squadrons 4 and 5, which arrived on CVEs and on
LSTs equipped with Brodie gear, began operations
from Iwo Jima airfields on 27 February. Army fighters
were flown in from Saipan on 6 March, and Marine
Corps Torpedo Squadron 242 arrived on 8 March; they
flew day and night combat air patrols and provided all
air support upon the departure of the last CVEs on 11
March. Iwo lima was secured on 16 March.
19 February Commander, Fleet Air Wing 1 went to
sea aboard Hamlin to direct patrol squadrons in sup-
port of the Iwo Jima campaign and remained in the
area until the island was secure.
UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995
149
26 February Headquarters, Fleet Air Wing 17 was
established ashore at Clark Field on Luzon.
3 March The Naval Air Transport Service was reor-
ganized and established as a Fleet Command with
headquarters at NAAS Oakland, Calif., to operate
under the immediate direction of COMINCH and CNO.
3 March The Naval Air Technical Training
Command was incorporated into the Naval Air
Training Command.
7 March Commanding Officer, CGAS Floyd Bennett
Field, N.Y., reported that a dunking sonar suspended
from an XHOS-l helicopter had been tested success-
fully.
7 March The tandem rotor XHRP-X transport heli-
copter, built under Navy contract by P-V Engineering
Forum made its first flight at the contractor's plant at
Sharon Hill, Pa., with Frank N. Piasecki as pilot and
George N. Towson as copilot.
8 March A rocket powered Gorgon air-to-air missile
was launched from a PBY-5A and achieved an estimat-
ed speed of 550 mph in its first powered test flight,
conducted off Cape May, N.J., under the direction of
Lieutenant Commander Moulton B. Taylor.
17 March Responsibility for evacuating wounded
personnel was assigned to the Naval Air Transport
Service.
18 March-21 June The Okinawa Campaign-The
last and, for naval forces, the most violent of the major
amphibious campaigns of World War II was supported
by three separately operating carrier forces, by tender-
based patrol squadrons, by Marine and Army air units
based in the immediate area and by Army and Navy
air units based in other areas. On 28 Maya change in
overall command from the Fifth Fleet (Admiral R. A.
Spruance) to the Third Fleet (Admiral William F.
Halsey) took place, which changed all task number
designations from the 50s to the 30s. (In this account,
first designations are used throughout.)
The fast carriers of Task Force 58 (Vice Admiral
Marc A. Mitscher) began the attack. With an original
strength of 10 heavy and six light carriers, this force
launched neutralization strikes on Kyushu, Japan
(18-22 Mar), destroying 482 enemy aircraft by air
attack and another 46 by ship's gunfire, and began
pre-assault strikes on Okinawa (23 Mar). During these
preliminaries, Kamikaze pilots, employing convention-
al aircraft, bombs, and Baka flying bombs (first
observed on 21 Mar) retaliated with attacks which seri-

49