Carrier Air Wing Sixteen

Carrier Air Wing Sixteen - CVW-16 -
active	September 1, 1960 to June 30, 1971
Country	United States
Armed forces	United States Navy

The Carrier Air Wing Sixteen (CVW-16) was an aircraft wing ( Carrier Air Wing ) of the US Navy .

history

Second World War

CVG-16 aircraft land on USS Lexington in November 1943

The squadron was set up on November 16, 1942 as Carrier Air Group Sixteen (CVG-16) on Naval Air Station (NAS) Quonset Point (Rhode Island) and in May 1943 assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington , which was just in service . The squadron consisted of the squadrons VF-16 (equipped with 36 Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat ), VB-16 (34 Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless ), VT-16 (20 Grumman TBF-1 Avenger ) and VFN-76 (6 Grumman F6F-3N Hellcat ). The carrier squadron remained on the Lexington until August 1944. In August 1943, the Lexington reached Pearl Harbor . The first deployment took place in September with an attack on Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands . Makin was attacked in October . In November, CVG-16 was operating in the Marshall Islands to cover the Gilbert Islands landings . The VF-16 fighter squadron shot down 29 Japanese aircraft in two days. On December 4, 1944, the Kwajalein squadron attacked the Marshall Islands. In the evening, the Lexington was hit by an aircraft torpedo, so that the carrier had to return to the USA. CVG-16 therefore remained from December 1943 to March 1944 on O'ahu until the Lexington returned. In April 1944 one of the most successful fighter pilots in the US Navy , Alexander Vraciu, was assigned to the squadron.

Three F-3B of the VF-161 squadron of the USS Oriskany 1963/64

From April 1944, the squadron flew attacks on Japanese bases in New Guinea to cover the landings there. On April 28, the CVG-16 aircraft attacked the Japanese naval base in Truk . In June 1944, the squadron was used in the battle of the Philippine Sea. Here the fighter pilots of the carrier combat groups could shoot down over 200 Japanese planes, so that this became known as the " Mariana Turkey Shoot " ( The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot ). Squadron VF-16 received the most kills (46). After returning to Pearl Harbor , the squadron was transferred back to the USA. The VB-16 and VB-20 bomber squadrons (the latter stationed on the Enterprise ) were the last to use the Douglas SBD Dauntless on the aircraft carriers of the Fast Carrier Task Force here in July 1944 . After that, the Dauntless was replaced by the Curtiss SB2C-4E Helldiver .

In January 1945, Carrier Air Group Sixteen was assigned to the new aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard . A training period in the Caribbean followed until the beginning of March before Bon Homme Richard was relocated to the Pacific through the Panama Canal . On May 5, 1945, the squadron left the carrier again and was transferred to Saipan .

A VA-163 Squadron A-4E during an emergency landing on the USS Oriskany in 1967

In June 1945, CVG-16 was then moved to the Randolph . From July 1, 1945 to the armistice on August 15, 1945, the squadron flew numerous attacks on the Japanese island of Honschu , such as Tokyo , Nagoya , Kobe and Hakodate . The last attack was flown on August 15 at Kisarazu Airfield in the Tokyo area. The Randolph was relocated back to the USA and reached Norfolk (Virginia) in early October 1945 . Here CVG-16 left the carrier and was decommissioned on November 16, 1945.

Vietnam

The Carrier Air Group Sixteen (CVG-16) was not set up again until September 1, 1960. In the second half of 1962 the first mission to the Western Pacific took place on the Oriskany . During this mission, the US Marine Corps Fighter Squadron VMF-232 was part of the squadron. During the next mission on the same carrier in 1963/64, Carrier Air Group Sixteen (CVG-16) was renamed Carrier Air Wing Sixteen (CVW-16) . In 1965, 1966 and 1967 there were three more voyages in the Vietnam War on the Oriskany . During these missions, the CVW-16 had the highest loss rate of any carrier squadron deployed . On a total of 122 days of operation, 20 pilots were killed, seven were captured and 39 of the squadron's aircraft were lost.

A-7B and A-4C of the CVW-16 on the USS Ticonderoga in 1969

On October 26, 1966, there was also a catastrophic fire in the hangar deck on the Oriskany , in which 44 crew members died and six aircraft were destroyed. In 1969 CVW-16 made another mission off Vietnam on the Ticonderoga . During this mission, the VA-25 and VA-87 attack squadrons were equipped with Vought A-7B Corsair II , as otherwise only with CVW-19 on an Essex-class carrier . In 1970 the squadron was to be relocated to the Midway aircraft carrier , which was being converted. Since the Midway-class aircraft carriers were almost twice the size of the Essex-class aircraft carriers on which CVW-16 had previously been used, most of the squadron's squadrons were replaced and equipped with more powerful aircraft types, especially the F-4B Phantom , A-6E Intruder and E-2B Hawkeye . The rebuilding of the Midway took much longer than expected. Therefore, CVW-16 was decommissioned on June 30, 1971. All squadrons switched to the CVW-5 and were eventually used on the Midway .

Composition 1969

The US Navy has had a fixed system for identifying squadrons or squadrons ( Visual Identification System for Naval Aircraft ) since 1945 . Initially, this consisted of geometric patterns on the tail unit. However, since these were difficult to remember or to describe, letters were introduced as early as June 1945 to distinguish the squadrons. In 1957 the individual letters were replaced by doubles. In general, the squadrons of the Atlantic Fleet have an "A" as their first letter and those of the Pacific Fleet an "N". The Carrier Air Wing Sixteen was recognized by the code ( tail code ) AH . It was the only squadron in the Pacific Fleet that had an identifier beginning with "A". The individual squadrons of a squadron are numbered in increments of 100, the aircraft of the squadron commander ( Commander, Air Group (CAG) ) can be recognized by the tactical number ending in "00".

The following squadrons were part of the squadron during the last mission from February 1 to September 18, 1969 on the Ticonderoga :

Four F-4Bs of the CVW-16 in 1971, before the squadron was disbanded in favor of the CVW-5

tactical number	Season	Aircraft type	Nickname
100	VF-111	F-8H Crusader	Sundowners
200	VF-162	F-8J Crusader	Hunters
300	VA-87	A-7B Corsair II	Golden Warriors
400	VA-112	A-4C Skyhawk	Broncos
500	VA-25	A-7B Corsair II	Fist of the Fleet
600	VFP-63 Det. 14	RF-8G Crusader	Eyes of the Fleet
614-616	VAQ-130 Det. 14	EKA-3B Skywarrior	Zappers
010	VAW-111 Det. 14	E-1B tracer	Hunters
UP 04-06	HC-1 Det. 4	UH-2C Seasprite	Pacific Fleet Angels

References

1. ↑ ^{a b} Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l6/lexington-v.htm
3. ↑ http://www.ussbhr.org/CVG-16_Patch_Page.html
4. ↑ http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/carriers/cv15.htm
5. ↑ http://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/pdf/app15.pdf
6. ↑ http://www.gonavy.jp/CVG-CVG16f.html
7. ↑ http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p4013coll2&CISOPTR=560
8. ↑ http://www.navybuddies.com/cv/cv34.htm
9. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.gonavy.jp/CVW-AHf.html
10. ↑ http://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/pdf/app23.pdf

Web links

• Study on the use of the CVW-16 in the Vietnam War (PDF file; 1.36 MB)