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| LtCdr. Patrick D. Fleming * 1918 - 1956
squadron: VF-80 (Vorse's
Vipers)
Ship: USS Ticonderoga, Hancock
Kills: 19 Plane: F6F
Medals: Navy Cross |
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Fleming was an "Army brat" and an
Annapolis graduate, the only ace from the class of 1941. He did a
surface tour in cruisers, then applied for flight training. He
won his wings in 1943 and was promptly assigned to be an
instructor. He joined VF-80 in March, 1944.
His brief fighter career demonstrated the dominance of the U.S.
Navy's carriers and Hellcats in the later stages of the
Pacific War. Fleming engaged only nineteen targets during six
combat missions between Nov. 5, 1944 and Feb. 17, 1945; he shot
down all nineteen. His first kill was a Zero, over Manila, his
only single victory.
After the war, he served at the Navy's famous Pax River test
center, where he lived near Marion Carl's family. In January,
1947, General Curtis LeMay invited him to transfer to the new
USAF Strategic Air Command (SAC) as a Lt. Col. He died in 1956
when he bailed out of a B-52, but his chute caught fire.
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Navy History
Fleming's carrier, Ticonderoga (CV-14), gave
aerial support to the Mindoro landings in the Philippines in
mid-December 1944. At dawn on Dec. 14, the Hellcats started
things with a series of fighter sweeps. VF-80 was one of the few
squadrons to find combat when its fliers caught 27 Zeros trying
to reinforce Mindoro. "Vorse's Vipers" shot down
nineteen of them, four by Pat Fleming. On Jan. 3, 1945, the fast
carriers went after Formosa, but bad weather prevented most
squadrons from getting through. VF-80 did get to its objective
and swept the area looking for targets; "P.D." Fleming
found and shot down three.
As the kamikaze threat grew, the Navy increased the number of
fighters on the carriers. When the VF squadrons exceeded 70
planes, they became increasingly awkward to administer, and many
squadrons split into more manageable VF and VBF (fighter-bomber)
squadrons. Frequently the two squadrons ran the same type of
missions and both usually flew Hellcats. So it was with VF-80; on
Jan. 10, 1945, VBF-80 was established, with Pat Fleming as its
exec. While the distinctions between the two squadrons were
mainly administrative, the records show that Fleming scored ten
with VF-80 and nine more with VBF-80.
The carriers struck at Formosa again on the 21st, fiercely
engaged by kamikazes. Three groups came at Ticonderoga, one
hitting it with a 550-lb. bomb. As fires raged from this hit,
another one crashed into the carrier's island, bringing the
fatalities to 143. Several VF-80 pilots, including Pat Fleming
manned the AA guns after the first attack. When the second Zero
hit, a piece of falling debris hit Fleming on the helmet and
knocked him overboard. A nearby destroyer rescued him. Due to the
extensive damage to Ticonderoga, the air group transferred to
Hancock (CV-19)
In mid-February, the carriers hit the Home Islands themselves,
for the first time since the Doolittle raid of April, 1942.
Fleming led nine VBF-80 Grummans on a Feb. 16 fighter-bomber
attack on the Mobara airfield; they successfully bombed three of
its five hangars. He spotted three Zeros high above and zoomed up
to engage them. Approaching from behind, he burned two
immediately, then chased and exploded another pair. He also hit
another from behind (for a confirmed or probable kill, depending
on the source). Fleming's Navy Cross citation for the mission
credited him with five kills. The next day, Feb. 17, he closed
his score with four more victories over Japan. VBF-80 went home
in March, 1945.
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Air Force History
After World War II, Fleming resigned his commision in the navy
and tranferred to the Air Force. Prompted by an invitation from
General Curtis LeMay, Fleming became a Lt. Col. as part of the
new USAF Strategic Air Command and participated in several projects as a test pilot. During the Korean Conflict, Fleming commanded a bombing group
One of the problems experienced by all early jet fighters was
their relatively limited range and endurance as compared to
conventional piston-engine fighters. One idea that was given
serious thought at the time was for jet fighters to be towed like
gliders behind bombers until they reached the combat zone. These
fighters would then be cut free, start their engines, and engage
in combat. When combat was over, the fighters would re-link to
the bombers for the tow back home.
P-80A serial number 44-84995 was transferred to Wright Field for
use in testing of the feasibility of this idea. An attachment bar
for the cable tow was installed in the nose of the P-80A. It
could be engaged or released by the pilot. The cable not only
provided a tow, it also provided electrical power to the P-80A.
Several tests were carried out in which the aircraft was towed
behind a Boeing B-29A-10-BN (42-93921).
On September 23, 1947, Lt. Col Pat Fleming took off and
attempted to link up in midair to the B-29 tow cable. After
several attempts were frustrated by air turbulence from the B-29,
he finally succeeded in linking up to the end of the tow cable.
He was towed through the air for 10 minutes. When it came time to
unhook, the tow bar stubbornly refused to release. Fleming
finally maneuvered underneath the B-29, where the bomber's
bow wave snapped the attachment point backwards, blocking his
forward view. Fleming managed to land safely, but the program was
immediately terminated as being impractical. 44-84995 was
eventually repaired and restored to standard P-80A configuration
and returned to active service.
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X1 rocket program
Colonel Fleming (USAF) was one of the test pilots of the first
of the rocket-powered research aircraft. The X-1 (originally
designated the XS-1), was a bullet-shaped airplane that was built
by the Bell Aircraft Company for the US Air Force and the NACA.
The mission of the X-1 was to investigate the transonic speed
range (speeds from just below to just above the speed of sound)
and, if possible, to break the "sound barrier."
The X-1 would go on to achieve a maximum speed of Mach 1.45 or
957mph on March 26th 1948 in the hands of Chuck Yeager .
Colonel Fleming (USAF) flew in the X1 on October 6th 1949. The X1
was the first in a line of X- aircraft leading to the space
shuttle of today.
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Project 52 AFR-18
Project 52 AFR-18, originally envisioned using two modified
B-47Bs from the 306th Bomb Wing, MacDill AFB, Fla., to make deep
penetrations over Siberia via widely different routes. Two top
crews were selected for the mission and were briefed by LeMay
personally. The primary crew was led by Col. Donald E. Hillman,
deputy commander of the 306th, with Maj. Lester E. Gunter as
copilot and Maj. Edward A. Timmins as navigator.
The backup crew was led by Col. Patrick D. Fleming. His crew
consisted of Maj. Lloyd F. Fields as copilot and William J.
Reilly as navigator. The approved route took the B-47s from
Eielson AFB, Alaska, north to a refueling point near Point
Barrow, then west past Wrangel Island to a point near Ambarchik.
It then turned southeast, to parallel the length of the
Chukotskiy peninsula to Provideniya, thence east to return to
Eielson.
The two B-47s took off on Oct. 15, 1952, following the two KC-97
tankers assigned to them for support. After refueling, Fleming
flew to an area over the Chukchi Sea, taking up a racetrack
pattern.
The mission proceeded as briefed, with Hillman flying at
40,000 feet at 480 knots true airspeed, presenting a difficult
target to intercept. The Soviet air force, however, was ready,
and after two targets had been photographed, the Americans became
aware that they were being tracked by MiGs. Hillman broke radio
silence to alert Fleming of the possibility of an attack. Gunter
turned his seat 180 degrees to prepare his rear turret for
firing, but the MiGs were unable to get into position and the
rest of the mission went off without incident.
The flight lasted nearly eight hours and covered roughly 3,500
miles, 800 of them in Soviet territory. The photographs revealed
that the Soviet air force was not massing their Tu-4s for an
attack.
Project 52 AFR-18 was embraced by newly inaugurated President
Eisenhower, who was so deeply convinced of the need for
reconnaissance some said he had a "Pearl Harbor
complex." In any event, he took great political risks to
back long-range reconnaissance, including the development of
specialized aircraft for the role. Eisenhower was quite good at
photo interpretation and often would inspect intelligence photos
himself, magnifying glass in hand.
Distingushed Flying Cross
Six months later, in April 1953, Colonel Hillman was
reassigned to SAC headquarters and ordered to report to General
LeMay's office. When he entered, General LeMay stood up and
closed the door. Without saying a word, he pinned a Distinguished
Flying Cross (DFC) on Hillman's blouse. When he saw the
puzzled look on Hillman's face, LeMay gave him a slight and
rare smile. "It's secret," he said. The two other
members of Hillman's crew, as well as Colonel Fleming and his
crew, also received DFCs. The award citations said only that they
were for "extraordinary achievement while participating in
aerial flight."
The B-47B overflight had consequences far beyond the
intelligence it had returned. The mission had established the
precedent for subsequent overflight operations. The president of
the United States, acting on the advice of the JCS, the DCI, and
the secretaries of defense and state, had authorized a covert
deep overflight of a hostile power. The presidentís
decision to approve or disapprove the mission was on a
case-by-case basis, as a result of his assessment of the risks
versus the importance of the flight to the national security of
the United States.
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Director of Operations - Castle Air Force Base
-1955
Col. Walter J. Boyne (USAF-Ret.), author, aviation historian,
chairman of the Wingspan Channel and founder of the National Air
& Space Museum. Boyne recalls an experience with Colonel
Fleming after a simulated mission in a b-47
My most memorable experiences in the B-47 at Castle were bonehead
mistakes I made and was lucky to survive. The first one came on a
united simulated combat mission, during which the entire wing was
launched, just as if war had been declared.
The mission was to be a long one, and fuel management was
critical, as it always was in the B-47. During the climb-out, the
radar observer reported that the bomb-bay doors' position
indicator showed that they might not be fully closed and locked.
This was bad news, for if the doors were even slightly open, the
increased drag would increase fuel consumption to a point at
which we would not be able to complete the mission as planned.
McCarty leveled the plane off at 25,000 feet, and I volunteered
to go down and take a look. This involved getting out of my seat,
edging a few feet down the narrow, equipment-filled aisle,
opening the entrance door and then climbing down the entrance
ladder to the crawlway that led back about 15 feet to the bomb
bay. We had to depressurize to open the door to get to the
passageway, so I hooked up the emergency oxygen walk-around
bottle, which had a nominal 10-minute duration - just enough to
get down and back, or so I thought.
I got all the way to the point at which I could see that the
bomb-bay doors were indeed up and locked, when all of a sudden,
things went black. McCarty saw that my legs had stopped moving,
so he made an emergency descent. I came to at about 10,000 feet,
climbed back up into my seat, and we landed.
Afterward, I had a private interview with Director of Operations
Col. Pat Fleming, a 19-victory ace for the Navy during WW II. He
had a reputation as a disciplinarian, and I expected him to tear
off a piece of my tail, but he was as kind as he could be, making
sure first of all that I was really OK. He then made notes on the
incident, which showed that a walk-around bottle might have a
10-minute supply when sitting in an altitude chamber but not when
you were crawling around the inside of a B-47.
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First B-52 crash - 1956
On February 16, 1956, Deputy Wing Commander of the 93rd Bomb
Wing Colonel Patrick Dawson Fleming USAF , Korean War Veteran and
World War II Naval Ace was killed after his parachute caught fire
while bailing out of a B-52b which crashed over Tracy, California
shortly after it took off from nearby Castle Air Base. In world
war II, Fleming received the Navy Cross and was the navy's
4th all time ace with 19 kills. While a member of the USAF he was
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Colonel Fleming was one
of the most highly skilled, dedicated and well respected aviators
of his time.
Follw the link to a news article on the crash
Fifty-year anniversary of a B-52 crash
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David C. Schilling Award - Flight
Trophy
In 1957 Colonel Fleming was posthumously awarded the
David C. Schilling trophy. The Schilling Award is presented by
the AFA. Originally named the Flight Trophy for distinguished
service in the field of flight.
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