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On half a wing and a prayer. The day before the amphibious assault on Iwo Jima, the starving and doomed Japanese garrison on Chichijima, the next island in the archipelago, came under attack by carrier-based aircraft of the United States Navy. The island was used as the primary site for Japanese long-range radio relay operations and surveillance activity in the Pacific. Avengers were used to take out the two radio stations on the island, but they faced anti-aircraft fire. This Avenger from USS Bennington, flown by Lieutenant Robert King, was one of three Avengers attacking Chichijima’s airfield. Another of the Avengers was hit by flak which blew its right wing off. That Avenger rolled hard right and into a spin, hitting King’s Avenger. The left wing of the dying Avenger struck and crumpled the rear fuselage of King’s “Turkey” and its propeller chewed off half the port wing. With the aircraft out of control at 9,000 feet, King ordered his two crewmen (Jim Dye and Grady York) to bail out, but, as he was attempting to get out himself, the aircraft righted itself and he regained control. The other Avenger spun out of control into the sea, killing all on board. The two crewmen landed close to the shore of Chichijima, waded ashore and were captured. Sadly, they were later executed by the desperate and unstable Japanese, as were six other US Navy airmen shot down in the same period. King made it back to the carrier, escorted by squadron mates, ditched and was picked up. He was, however, devastated by survivor’s guilt. In this photo we can see the tension in his shoulders as he fights the controls with both hands. Photo: US Navy
Douglas SBD "Dauntless" dive bomber balanced on nose after crash landing on carrier flight deck, June 21, 1943
Squadron Leader J A F MacLachlan, the one-armed Commanding Officer of No 1 Squadron RAF, standing beside his all-black Hawker Hurricane Mark IIC night fighter, 'JX-Q', at Tangmere, Sussex. MacLachlan was wounded in action in February 1941, and his arm was so severely damaged that it was amputated and replaced with an artificial limb. He continued to fly for several years, where he shot down 16 German and Italian aircraft over 250 missions. In July 1942, he crashed over France and he died from his injuries at a military hospital
Ensign Ardon R. Ives of Fighting-Bombing Squadron VBF-9 crashed his F6F-5 Hellcat through the barrier on USS Lexington (Essex-class) and ruptured the center-line fuel tank, Feb 1945, western Pacific
Bf110D of III/ZG76