One thing that really stands out in my memory is that I was on the docks, early one morning, and saw this PBY flying in towards the Air Station. The Pilot had one engine feathered and he came in low over Chris Horkins Island to land in the bay. No sooner had he hit the water and his other engine cut out. We put on beaching gear and towed him in on to the ramp. As the sailors got out, they kissed the ground. I asked one of them why the prop was feathered as they were coming in and he said that they were low on fuel and did it to save fuel. I asked him why they had cut the other engine so fast on hitting the water. The man answered "We didn't cut it, we ran out of fuel."

Donald Butler: (VP-14)

Bob (Clark) was Co-Pilot to Ens. Bill Tanner and it was Bob who spotted the two-man sub following a towed barge into Pearl Harbor. I was along on that trip and I'll never forget Bob's insistence to Bill Tanner that he had, indeed, seen a sub.

The popular press led us down many a rosy path. The Jap became a little fellow with tombstone teeth and thick eye glasses who was merely a copycat. Let him start a war and our mighty navy would blow his navy right out of the water within a month. Another was the Norden Bomb Sight. It was boasted that any one of our big bombers could drop a bomb into a pickle barrel from 20,000 ft.

The Army shamelessly promoted this fiction with pictures of a bombardier carrying his bomb sight in a black canvas bag to his airplane accompanied by two armed soldiers, guns at the ready. This was our 'Top Secret Weapon' The sight was all right except that it required a very stable platform and some time to adjust the rate motors for actual ground speed, establish correct crab for drift, good weather, free of most clouds and it would also help if the target sat still and no one was shooting at you.

Francis J Lencioni: (VB-102)

On this date 4/7/43, Lt. H Bonn flew into the water on a night take-off, resulting in the loss of all aboard. I had been assigned to Bonn's crew. I obviously was not on that flight. Because of this tragic event, I became an unassigned, substitute PP2P, spared to continue flying.

7/7/43 - LCDR Van Voorhis and his crew were all lost on a mission to attack and destroy Japanese installations on Kapingamarangi Island. "My assignment at this time, was to fly as replacement Pilot for Crew 1 whenever the Skipper chose not to fly his patrols. He choose to fly this mission - I was bumped - so again I was spared to fly other missions.

5/30/44 (VPB-102) - On this particular flight, I was Pilot, flying in the #4 position of a Diamond Formation pattern. We were at 2,500 ft above ground level, over the Palomar Mountain area, when a fighter dove vertically, right through our formation, clipping off about 10 feet of #3's wing. The Fighter continued directly into the ground. #3, piloted by Luke Sauder, began spiraling in a tight left turn, subsequently crashing into the ground, killing all aboard.
NOTE: At the morning tactical briefing, I was assigned the #3 position in the Diamond Formation. However, during the formation join-up, Luke "aced" me out of the position and I had to fly #4. Spared again.....

Hank Schab: (VB-102)