B11F042 Franklin Mint SBD-1 Dauntless U.S.M.C. "VMSB-232" EWA, Pearl Harbor

Description

"Red Devils" - With the tension in the Pacific increasing, VMB-2 was deployed to Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, Oahu, Hawaii. Early 1941 also saw the transition from the colorful pre-war scheme to the tactical, and less colorful light grey scheme, but still the Red Devil insignia was absent. On July 1st, 1941, in anticipation of the large expansion Marine Aviation was about to undergo, VMB-2 became VMSB-232, the designation it carried during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during which one member of the squadron was killed and nine of the squadrons aircraft were destroyed, with ten more requiring major overhaul. On Wake Island, a Red Devil detachment suffered twenty five enlisted Marines killed or captured while assisting in the defense of the doomed island.
On August 20th, 1942, the squadron became part of the Cactus Air Force and flew SBD Dauntlesses from Guadalcanal's 3,000-foot dirt runway, Henderson Field. The Red Devils became the first Marine dive bomber squadron to fly against the Japanese. They left Guadalcanal on October 12th, 1942 and headed for Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California where they were redesignated yet again as Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 232 (VMTB-232), flying newly acquired Grumman TBF Avengers. They returned to the Pacific in July 1943 when they were originally based out of Espiritu Santo. From there they moved to Munda in order to support allied forces during the Bougainville landings in November 1943.
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