Carrier Air Group SIX

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Carrier Air Group Six
Active15 March 1943 – 29 October 1945
CountryUnited States
Branch
Operation Iceberg

The first Carrier Air Group to use the designation Carrier Air Group SIX was established on 15 March 1943. It was constituted from the squadrons of the Enterprise Air Group which had been disestablished on 1 September 1942 and was initially assigned to USS Enterprise (CV-6). Due to the manner in which the United States Navy determines unit lineage, in which a unit's lineage begins at establishment and ends at disestablishment, the Enterprise Air Group and Carrier Air Group SIX are two separate and distinct units and do not share a lineage.[1]

Operations during WWII

World War II operations by Carrier Air Group SIX[2][3][4]
Period Aircraft carrier Operations Squadrons
Fighter Bomber Torpedo Scout
10 November 1943 – 9 December 1943
Task Force 50
)
Operation Galvanic
 VF-6 VB-6 VT-6
December 1943 – 22 March 1944
Task Force 58
)
Operation Flintlock,[5] Operation Hailstone
 VF-6
VF(N)-78		 VB-6 VT-6
9 March 1945 – 11 April 1945
Task Force 58
)
Operation Iceberg
13 June 1945 – 20 June 1945 USS Hancock (CV-19)
(COMAIRPAC)		 Wake Island
1 July 1945 – 15 August 1945
Task Force 38
)		 air raids on Japan

While flying off Enterprise, the air group provided close air support to the

Kwajalein on 4 December, Enterprise returned to Pearl Harbor on 9 December.[2]

Carrier Air Group Six then embarked on board the new

Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11) to provide air support for the amphibious landings on Kwajalein Atoll from 31 January to 3 February 1944. They also participated in a massive air strike against the Japanese naval base at Truk. The air group destroyed fifty-five enemy planes (twelve in the air and forty-two on the ground) as well as sinking five Japanese ships. Nine planes were lost, with nine pilots and four crewmen dead or missing.[3]

On 9 March 1945, Carrier Air Group Six switched to the new Essex-class aircraft carrier

Minami Daito Jima
and Kyūshū.

Carrier Air Group Six subsequently provided air support for the

U.S. invasion of Okinawa beginning on 1 April until a suicide plane hit the Hancock on 7 April. This forced the carrier off the battle line for repairs. Hancock and Air Group Six returned to action on 13 June and remained at sea until the end of World War II.[4]
Carrier Air Group SIX was disestablished on 29 October 1945.

Second Carrier Air Group to be designated Carrier Air Group SIX

On 1 September 1948 CVBG-5 (which had been established as CVG-17 during WWII) was redesignated Carrier Air Group SIX (CVG-6). This Air Group is not related to the CVG-6 which is the subject of this article and was eventually redesignated Carrier Air Wing Six.

References

  1. ^ Grossnick, Roy A. United States Naval Aviation 1910-1920 Volume II Statistics. Naval History and Heritage Command.
  2. ^ a b "1943". USS Enterprise CV-6 Association. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  3. ^ a b "History of USS Intrepid". USS Intrepid Association. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
  4. ^ a b "Hancock". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
  5. ^ "Unit Citation Air Groups and Squadrons 1943–1972". USS Intrepid Association. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
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