Henry M. Mullinnix

Henry Maston Mullinnix

Henry Maston Mullinnix (born July 4, 1892 in Spencer , Indiana , † November 24, 1943 off Butaritari , Gilbert Islands ) was a naval aviator and rear admiral in the United States Navy during World War II .

Life

After finishing school in Attica , Mullinnix briefly attended Purdue University in Lafayette before he was accepted into the United States Naval Academy in 1912 . In 1916 he graduated from the Naval Academy and was transferred as a midshipman to the destroyer Balch , which was used during the First World War off Ireland . After supervising the equipment and commissioning of the destroyers Gridley and Brooks as a technical officer from 1918 to 1921 , he began studying aeronautical engineering at the Postgraduate School, Annapolis and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , which he received in June 1923 with a Master of Science graduated. Mullinnix received his pilot's badge on January 11, 1924 after pilot training at Naval Air Station Pensacola .

He worked from June 1924 to September 1927 in the engine division of the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy Department in Washington, DC, where he was instrumental in the development of air-cooled engines for naval aircraft. He was then transferred to the Saratoga , where he worked from its commissioning on November 16, 1927 to June 27, 1929, first as an officer in charge of the repair department and later as deputy air officer. Until June 1930 he was the commanding officer of Bombing Squadron Two, then Mullinnix served until June 1932 on the staff of Naval Air Station Pensacola. After a year of service in the staff of the Commander, Aircraft, Scouting Force, he was navigator on the USS Wright from June 1933 . From June 1934 to May 1937 he was stationed as an Executive Officer at Fleet Air Base Pearl Harbor, after which Mullinnix returned as XO until June 1938 on the Wright .

The following year, Mullinnix served as an aviation officer on the Commander's Staff, Battle Force, then executive officer of Naval Air Station San Diego. On November 1, 1940, he reported to the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden to supervise the commissioning of the seaplane tender USS Albemarle , which he commanded until March 4, 1941. His next command was the Patrol Wing, Support Force, later renamed Patrol Wing Seven. On July 1, 1941, he was promoted to captain . He gave command of the squadron on March 21, 1942, then Mullinnix served as an air officer. On April 7, 1943, he was given command of the USS Saratoga , which he commanded until August 22, 1943. Promoted to Rear Admiral, he was then given command of the Aircraft Carrier Association Task Group 52.3.

During the Battle of the Gilbert Islands , Admiral Mullinnix was on board his flagship, the escort aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay , when it was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-175 off Butaritari on November 24, 1943 . The escort aircraft carrier exploded and sank with 644 crew members, including Admiral Mullinnix, the ship's commander, Captain Wiltsie and Doris Miller , the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross . Admiral Mullinnix was pronounced dead a year later and was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit .

The US Navy named the destroyer Mullinnix after him. The US military airfield built on Bonriki in December 1943 was also given the nickname Mullinnix Field .

Web links

• Biography on ussmullinnix.org
• Henry M. Mullinnix in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Mullinnix, Henry Maston (1892-1943) in the Pacific War Online Encyclopedia, as of April 30, 2009