Francis Clifden Sullivan

Second Lieutenant Francis Sullivan, a recently-commissioned scout bomber pilot, was assigned to overseas duty with VMSB-141. After briefly acclimating at New Caledonia, Sullivan joined the squadron’s forward echelon at Guadalcanal on 1 October 1942 and was soon flying combat missions out of Henderson Field.

Japanese forces on Guadalcanal relied on convoys of fast destroyers to deliver supplies and reinforcements. Intercepting these shipments was a high priority, so when a convoy was reported on 7 November 1942, the Cactus Air Force assembled a strike force. The allocated bombers, led by Major Joseph Sailer, Jr., included three Navy TBF Avengers and seven Marine SBD Dauntlesses. Lieutenant Sullivan and PFC John A. Kovacs flew SBD-3 #03273 on this strike.

Sailer’s force found the Japanese ships between 100-120 miles from Guadalcanal, and immediately commenced their attack. The destroyers spread out and put up a storm of anti-aircraft fire, while eighteen escort floatplanes engaged the Americans. Army P-39s took on the fighters while the bombers made their attack runs. More Marine fighters arrived just in time to see Sailer’s SBDs diving on the ships. Several hits were reported, and Army and Marine fighter pilots claimed several kills. However, due to clouds and squalls over the target area, keeping accurate track of individual planes was difficult, and the bombers did not notice a plane missing until on their way back to Guadalcanal.

The SBD with Sullivan and Kovacs aboard failed to return to Henderson Field. It was last known to be over the Japanese ships, but its exact fate is not known. One American plane was shot down in the attack, but VMF-121 reported this as the F4F flown by ace 2Lt. Cecil J. Doyle. With no eyewitnesses to their fate, Sullivan and Kovacs were posted as missing after the mission, and ultimately declared dead on 8 November 1943.