Air Group 4 During World War II - Casablanca to Tokyo

Torpedo Squadron Four - A Cockpit View of World War II - Revised, Updated Edition, 2011

Book
Video

Torpedo
Squadron 4:
A Cockpit
View of
World War II
(First Edition)

Fighting
Squadron 4:
The Red
Rippers

Killing-Pat-Garrett-The-Wild-Wests-Most-Famous-Lawman

Visitor
Stats

Dedicated to those who
served in VT-4, VB-4, VF-4,
VMF-124 and VMF-213

Overview

Air Group 4 (AG-4), carrying the numerical designation from its first aircraft carrier, the USS Ranger (CV-4) saw action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of War.

The USS Ranger was operating in the Atlantic when the United States entered the war. In this theater, the Ranger Air Group was involved in Operation Torch to support the North African campaign and Operation Leader, attacks on German shipping and port facilities along the Norwegian coast. In addition, a major responsibility of the Ranger Air Group was antisub patrol and convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic.

See "Operation Leader Strike on German Shipping along the Coast of Norway," video interview with LCDR Gerald W. Thomas.

Air Group 4 was aboard the Ranger when German submarine commander Lt. Otto Von Bulow, decorated by Hitler with the Knights Cross, was credited with sinking the ship. The true story of this false report is given here. A Re-enactment by Ron Gottardi of a 15 Feb 1944 CBS Radio news broadcast of Face the Nation in which the Captain of the USS Ranger discusses the false report is here: The Unsinking of the USS Ranger (CV-4).

Air Group 4 was reformed and transferred to the Pacific in July 1944 to fly from the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) and the USS Essex (CV-9).

The Essex was launching an Air Group 4 strike group on the afternoon of November 25, 1944 when a Japanese kamikaze crashed into the flight deck.

See "Kamikaze Pilot Strikes USS Essex - November 25, 1944," a video interview with LCDR Gerald W. Thomas.

Air Group 4 participated in the first carrier task force strikes on Tokyo and the Japanese mainland.

Combat and carrier operations took the lives of one Air Group 4 commander, two Torpedo 4 skippers, one Fighting 4 skipper, and several other pilots and crewmen. Both Germany and Japan held Air Group 4 personnel as POWs during WWII. A full report on Air Group 4´s Prisoners of War and Missing in Action is given here.

After the War

Air Group 4 reformed after returning to the States in May 1945 with a complete change of personnel. The new Air Group dropped the Marine fighters and brought back the "Top Hat" dive-bombers flying SB2C-5 Helldivers. The Torpedo Squadron continued with new TBM Avengers. Two fighter squadrons with F4U Corsairs completed the Air Group. The new Air Group 4 identifier on the tail of the planes was a large white T running the length of the tail fin.

On V-J Day in August 1945, the new VT-4 Squadron flew a formation of Avengers over Groton and New London, Connecticut forming "VJ" for victory and "4" for VT-4.

Naval Aviation News summarized the WWII exploits of Air Group 4 in the Pacific as follows:

The total number of Japanese planes shot down by Air Group 4 and their Marine contingent was 83, with 13 more listed as possible. On the ground, the Air Group destroyed or damaged 297 aircraft.
Air Group Four´s record of surface craft destroyed was impressive. It sank 2 Japanese destroyers, 2 destroyer escorts, and probably sank a light cruiser and 3 more destroyers. Eleven destroyer escorts were severely damaged. In addition, AG-4 sank 13 merchant ships, probably sank 14 more, and damaged 70. The total tonnage of ships sunk was 361,530.

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