William Anderson Aycrigg II

Lieutenant Aycrigg and VMF-422 arrived in the South Pacific on 24 January 1944, catapulting from the USS Kalinin Bay and landing on the newly-christened Hawkins Field on the newly-won island of Betio, Tarawa atoll. The squadron was to fly long-distance from Tarawa to Nanumea in the Ellice Islands (Tuvalu). The invasion of the Marshall Islands was underway, and it was anticipated that VMF-422 would base out of an airfield soon to be captured.

The flight of 23 Corsairs departed on the morning of 25 January and proceeded without incident until about fifteen minutes flying time from Nanumea. There, they encountered a “violent tropical hurricane” with rain so thick they could not see straight ahead. The squadron headed down to the deck to fly through the weather; when they emerged, five planes were missing and only three pilots responded to radio calls.

A few minutes later, VMF-422 entered a second weather front presumed to be over Nanumea itself. The planes were again battered and separated; only fifteen managed to get through, and they were unsure of their exact position. They attempted to locate Funafuti, but with squadron commander Major John S. MacLaughlan out of contact, Captain Cloyd Jeans decided to abandon the mission and head for a friendly airfield at Nui.

Flying through the heavy weather drained the fighters’ fuel tanks faster, and at 1530 hours, Lieutenant Aycrigg noticed his gauge on empty. He radioed his predicament to the rest of the flight, ditched F4U-1 #17990 in the water, and was observed in his life raft. With other Corsairs running low, Captain Jeans decided to have the rest of the flight ditch their Corsairs – rationalizing that they stood a better chance of being rescued if they stayed together. Fourteen fighters formed a traffic circle around Aycrigg and splashed down one after the other.

“Lieutenant Aycrigg and another pilot landed about seven miles apart and the remaining thirteen landed between them,” noted a post-war search report. “All of these pilots were picked up with the exception of Lieutenant Aycrigg.” After two days on rubber rafts, enduring heavy seas and hungry sharks, the pilots were spotted by a float plane and picked up by destroyers. Flares – presumed to be Aycrigg – were seen on the horizon, but an exhaustive area search could not find the missing pilot.

Only one of the 23 Corsairs that departed from Tarawa managed to reach Funafuti. Six VMF-422 pilots lost their lives in the ill-fated ferry mission.