WELCOME TO US Navy Torpedo BOMBING Squadron 21 (VT-21)
INTRODUCTION
On the night of July 7, 1943, US Navy pilot Lt(jg) Murray Charlton “Chile” McKinney was returning from a combat mission to Bougainville in his badly shot-up VT-21 Squadron TBF #125 and ditched off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. His turret gunner, ARM2c Jacob Casper “Jack” Durner, Jr., had been killed by a night fighter an hour before. Chile and Jack went down with the plane. The radioman survived and was rescued in 5-minutes thanks to Chile's skillful flying.
Chile (like the food) is my first cousin, one generation removed. His mother was my grandaunt, Aunt Octo, whom I remember fondly and who died in 1972 a few days before my sixteenth birthday. I was born sixteen years after Chile was killed in action and never heard of him. I suspect that the memory of his loss was too painful for the family to speak about. By all accounts he was charismatic, smart and liked by all. My mother and her sister were Chile's first cousins, and my grandparents his aunt and uncle. Chile wrote a letter dated March 19, 1943 from the South Pacific to my grandparents, W.D. and Juanita Lemon, who were dairy farmers north of Sulphur Springs, Texas. Chile asked if he could "fly" Papa Lemon's tractor when he got home; and if mom was a High School senior yet; and about my aunt’s husband, H.B. Onley, who was training to be a B-17 pilot; and asked how milk tasted; and modestly said that he had been "tangling with the Japs" some. Chile's letter is on the "Research Downloads" page and the "Project TBF Avenger #125" Facebook page.
Imagine my surprise when I recently learned about Chile for the first time while researching our family tree. He was a hero, a TBF Avenger combat pilot awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, who died along with his turret gunner Jack Durner, fighting in the famous battle for Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands after “probably” sinking a Japanese destroyer. I knew this was the first significant Pacific Island battle and allied victory against the Empire of Japan. My dad was a Navy veteran who served aboard USS LST-495 and fought at the battle for Okinawa in 1945 and I have always been interested in the history of the Pacific war. I was astonished to eventually discover that Chile had ditched his badly shot-up TBF off the north coast of Guadalcanal, where he and Jack went down with the plane. Their bodies were never recovered. His radioman, ARM2c Richard Thomas "Dick" Dole, survived. Chile had spotted the USS Skylark (AM-63) and ditched near her so that Dole was rescued in 5-minutes. The description of the crash and Dole's rescue in Skylark's War Diary became critical facts that helped determine a sonar-search-box location with a high probability of finding TBF #125.
For six years, I researched Chile, Jack and Dick; their Squadron; the circumstances of Chile and Jacks' deaths and Dick's rescue; and the probable location of TBF #125. This website tells their story and also the story of VT-21, designated VGS-11 on their first Guadalcanal combat tour. The 1943 photograph above is of a 3-man TBF crew boarding their Avenger, just like Chile, Jack and Dick did at Henderson Field that late Wednesday afternoon on July 7, 1943, for their night mission to enemy-held Bougainville Island, 300-miles northwest of Guadalcanal. It would be Chile and Jack's last. Some of this story has been learned from documents provided by Chile's nephew and my cousin, Andrew "Andy" Hardin and his son Blaine, to whom I am grateful.
VT-21, TBF #125 Crew, Henderson Field, Guadalcanal
PILOT
RADIO/BOMBARDIER/TAIL GUNNER
TURRET GUNNER
Lt(jg) MURRAY CHARLTON "CHILE" MCKINNEY, USNR. Born Sulphur Springs, TX 16 Apr 1920. Chile graduated from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX in 1941 & married fellow TCU alumna Ruth Allen Priest on 31 Jul 1942 in Seattle, WA where he was stationed with VGS-11. He enlisted in the Navy V-5 program 7 May 1941. No children. KIA 7 July 1943.
DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS & PURPLE HEART
TURRET GUNNER
RADIO/BOMBARDIER/TAIL GUNNER
TURRET GUNNER
ARM2c JACOB CASPER "JACK" DURNER, JR., USNR. Born in Norwalk, CT on 19 Aug 1921. Known as Jack, he was a popular student & gifted athlete. Jack & Dick Dole were also assigned to Seattle & VGS-11 which became VT-21. He enlisted 21 Mar 1942 and was engaged to Yvonne Topp. Named in Chile's Guadalcanal Diary on 19 Feb 1943: "Durner, my gunner, has malaria". KIA 7 July 1943.
PURPLE HEART
RADIO/BOMBARDIER/TAIL GUNNER
RADIO/BOMBARDIER/TAIL GUNNER
RADIO/BOMBARDIER/TAIL GUNNER
ARM2c RICHARD THOMAS "DICK" DOLE, USNR. Born Des Moines, IA 26 Nov 1922. Survived the crash off Lunga Point & rescued by USS Skylark with a broken wrist. He married, had 2 children & died 11 Oct 1993 in Brandon, MS at age 70. This is his Des Moines Roosevelt HS 1941 senior picture. He attended Drake University after the war. Enlisted 25 Jan 1942. WIA 7 July 1943.
PURPLE HEART & COMMENDATION RIBBON
the final mission & Richard Dole's rescue off LUNGA POINT
7 July, Night Mission to Kahili ANCHORAGE, Bougainville Isl.
7 July, Night Mission to Kahili ANCHORAGE, Bougainville Isl.
7 July, Night Mission to Kahili ANCHORAGE, Bougainville Isl.
Chile attacked and likely sank a Japanese destroyer off Kahili airfield. Antiaircraft fire badly damaged his TBF. Minutes later a night fighter attacked, killing Jack in his turret & doing more damage. Chile nursed the TBF 300-mi back to Guadalcanal. With no radio or landing gear, he ditched off Lunga Point. Dole, who was in the middle seat, survived. Chile & Jack went down with TBF #125.
USS Skylark's war diary account of Dole's Rescue
7 July, Night Mission to Kahili ANCHORAGE, Bougainville Isl.
7 July, Night Mission to Kahili ANCHORAGE, Bougainville Isl.
At 11:10pm Skylark observed a TBF crash & sink with a brief surface fire about 1-nm away. At 11:11pm she changed speed to 10-kn on course 200-T toward the crash, stopping engines at 11:15pm, bearing 195-T from shore Beacon 'G' & rescued R.T. DOLE, ARM3c, VT21, TBF #125. At 11:20pm she zig-zagged back to Lunga Beach using shore Beacon 'E' & transferred Dole to the 52nd Field Hospital.
USS Skylark (AM-63) Outer screen anti-sub duty
7 July, Night Mission to Kahili ANCHORAGE, Bougainville Isl.
USS Skylark (AM-63) Outer screen anti-sub duty
At 5:45am with Dole ashore, Skylark "resumed her patrol from Beacon 'E' westward". No distance is given, but it provides the beacon & direction toward the crash. Skylark's Jun & Jul deck logs state she most often patrolled at 6 to 8,000-yds. Using these distances from Beacons 'E' & 'F' & the pilot's standard approach, the crash area can be closely estimated as described on the July 7, 1943 page.
Guadalcanal 1943: Feb & Mar VGS-11. May, Jun, Jul, Aug VT-21
VT-21 Guadalcanal Roster
VT-21 Combat Air Crews Aug '43
VT-21 Combat Air Crews Aug '43
Guadalcanal (codename "Cactus") VT-21 Roster naming combat crews & Squadron Officers & showing victories & losses. 20 KIA are underlined with a cross symbol including JC Durner Jr & Lt(jg) MC McKinney. Actual KIA is 17. Edward M. Peck, Stanley W. Tefft & Jesse Scott, Jr. are listed as KIA but are MIA & were still evading the enemy in August when this roster was created. All 3 survived.
VT-21 Combat Air Crews Aug '43
VT-21 Combat Air Crews Aug '43
VT-21 Combat Air Crews Aug '43
VT-21 combat crews at their Lunga Point camp at the end of a 2nd Guadalcanal tour from 4 Jun to 3 Aug 1943. On their 1st tour from 1 Feb to 8 Mar they were VGS-11. After Guadalcanal, VT-21 was assigned to the carrier USS Belleau Wood where 24 VT-21 were KIA during a kamikaze attack off Leyte on 30 Oct 1944, including 9 VT-21 Guadalcanal veterans. 5 VT-21 pilots went to VT-13 on the USS Franklin.
all VT-21 personnel Aug '43
VT-21 Combat Air Crews Aug '43
all VT-21 personnel Aug '43
The open background (ocean), deep sand foreground & river mango trees indicate this is Lunga Point. Also, VT-21 C.O. RL Savage states in a letter that Chile's TBF "was so badly damaged...he attempted a water landing just off the beach from our camp"; Chile's 16 Jun diary entry states "we live about 60-yds from the beach" & his 7 Feb letter states he "bathes & washes clothes in the [Lunga] River"
VT-21 / VGS-11 Flew the Grumman TBF-1 Avenger Torpedo Bomber
Grumman TBF-1 Avenger
TBF #126 Bougainville Isl. 1944
TBF/tbm Avenger 3-Man Crew
The TBF Avenger was named to avenge Pearl Harbor & was the largest single-engine aircraft in WW-II on any side. It was nicknamed the Turkey & was said to fly like a truck. Its maximum ceiling was 30,000-ft & had a range of 1,000-mi fully loaded. Later models made by General Motors were designated TBM Avengers. Between 1942 & 1945, the total number of TBFs & TBMs built was 9,839.
TBF/tbm Avenger 3-Man Crew
TBF #126 Bougainville Isl. 1944
TBF/tbm Avenger 3-Man Crew
Navy TBFs/TBMs had a 3-man crew: an officer pilot & petty officer turret gunner & radioman/bombardier/tail gunner (aka stinger or ventral gun). Although designed to deliver a single 2,000-lb torpedo, the TBF/TBM could also deliver a 2,000-lb bomb or four 500-lb bombs. Machine guns included 1-.50-cal in the turret, 1-.30-cal stinger & 1 synchronized .30-cal in the cowling fired by the pilot.
TBF #126 Bougainville Isl. 1944
TBF #126 Bougainville Isl. 1944
TBF #126 Bougainville Isl. 1944
The AN-M66 2,000-lb bomb in the foreground is likely TBF #126's next load. Because of the TBF/TBM torpedo-delivery design, they could not dive bomb, they had to glide bomb. Glide bombing required a longer, shallower & slower angle of attack, exposing the TBF/TBM to far more enemy fire than the Navy Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber.