FIFTY YEARS AGO....
Part 6.....Courtesy of THE HOOK Magazine
Armistice talks between UN and communist representatives had resumed on April 26,1953 after being recessed for 199 days. As the tempo of the war quickened, heavy and bitter fighting developed all along the previous static front lines, as the communists attempted to regain lost ground prior to a negotiated peace. For TF-77 the tempo was likewise hectic, as its carriers launched sorties in poor weather to support the ground troops. With each day, records (tons of bombs and rockets delivered on targets, total number of days at sea, number of sorties flown) fell by the wayside. PHILIPPINE SEA, BOXER, PRINCETON and LA.KE CHAMPLUN (CVA39) conducted round-the-clock ops 14 and 15 June as TF-77 provided frontline support for the First ROK Corps in its bloody battle to regain "Anchor Hill." For a period of three days during this time, PHIL SEAS suffered engineering problems that forced the use of three screws, and sometimes two. Effecting repairs at sea, the carrier remained on the line, meeting her commitments.
On July 27, 1953 (ironically the day upon which CVG-9 was to rotate home) the armistice stilled the guns in Korea - but not before PHILIPPINE SEA had launched 49 sorties prior to the truce. During CVA-47s last deployment of the war CVG-9 had flown 7,243 sorties, logged 16,841.7 hours of flight time and 7,704 traps. PHIL SEAs planes had delivered 8,941,030 lbs of bombs and fired some 385,989 round of .50 cal and 618,897 rounds of 20MM. PHILIPPINE SEA soon sailed for home and reach Alameda on August 14, 1953, where she off-loaded her air group. Proceeding to North Island the next day, the ship soon staged another change of command, as Captain William S. Harris relieved CAPT Ramsey - whose cigar, dungaree cap and ready smile had become enduring symbols to his crew. As August drew to a close, the carrier entered drydock at Hunter's Point for overhaul.
PHILIPPINE SEA began training off the coast of Southern California on 9 January 1954, operating out of San Diego and logged her 60,000th arrested landing. After conducting CarQuals for the pilots of Air Group Five (VF-51, 53 & 54 and VF-92 and detachments from VC-35, II & 3), the ship sailed for the far east on March 12, 1954. The attack carrier reached Pearl Harbor a week later and, after her operational readiness inspection (ORI) sailed for Westpac on April 3rd.
After conducting task group operations out of the Philippines into late June, CVA-47 sailed for Hong Kong, arriving the 25th for a three-day visit. Returning to Manila briefly, the carrier departed for Yokosuka, arriving on July 2 for a two-week port period. She sailed to take part in routine training operations on July 16. However, an international incident interrupted the routine.
On the morning of July 22, 1954, an Air Cathay airliner was proceeding at 9,000 feet on a routine flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong. Steering clear of Red Chinese Hainan Island, the airliner- her nationality plainly indicated by a 3 x 5 British flag painted on the tail-was 50 miles southeast of Hainan when two Lovochkin LA-7s attacked her. Cannon and machine gun fire from the Chinese fighters set an engine ablaze and punctured a fuel tank. While pilot Philip Blown took evasive action, the two communist fighters took turns riddling the fuselage as their victim slanted towards the water. Blown, a veteran of the Royal Australian Air Force, declared that the attacking pilots "...knew what they were doing. They shot us down with the intention of killing us." Six American had been among the 18 passengers on board, including a family of five. Of these, Leonard Parish and his two little boys died.
At that time PHILIPPINE SEA-Flagship for COMCARDIV 3 - RADM Harry D. Felt-was off the coast of French Indochina, in the waters south of the Paracel Islands, in company with HORNET (CVA-12), which had VADM William K. Phillips (COMFIRSTFLT) embarked. VADM Phillips received a dispatch from NS Sangley Point, in the Philippines telling of a British commercial airliner in distress and losing altitude southeast of Hainan Island. Phillips immediately directed RADM Felt to conduct a search.
The first launch of the day was canceled and flight schedule was altered to develop a search plan and brief flight leaders. Knowing that the probably course of the Air Cathay flight was near communist territory, Felt instructed his pilots to not approach land closer than 15 miles. As planning proceeded, the task group steered toward Hainan while two destroyers, operating independently north of the task group, were sent in the direction of the airliner's projected track.
At 0925 PHILIPPINE SEA launched ajet combat air patrol (CAP), ajet rescue air patrol (RESCAP), ASW (GATOR) aircraft for communications relay, and a search flight of AD-4s. Less than one hour later, at 1030, the force picked up a radio broadcast originating in Hong Kong that gave the last believed position of the missing plane, plus word that a dinghy had been sighted. At 1044 HORNET launched ajet RESCAP, a CAP and ten Skyraiders to take part in the search. Planes from the two carriers arrived in the vicinity of the crash ten minutes before noon and at 1200 HORNET ADs reported a USAF Grumman SA-16A Albatross rescue aircraft from Clark Field engaged in rescue operations three miles south of Tachao Tao Island, covered by British and French aircraft. The HORNET pilots further reported seeing a survivor being picked up from a life raft, and a smoke flare. At 1639 VADM Phillips ordered the search operations suspended after receiving a dispatch from Commander, Naval Forces, Philippines. The task group retired southward having flown 42 search and 64 CAP sorties.
A resumption of the search for survivors soon followed. At 0234 on July 25, 1954 the task group received a dispatch from CNO to CINCPACFLT directing COMFIRSTFLT to continue search and rescue operations for "possible remaining survivors." Within a quarter of an hour the task group was proceeding northward; by 0800 the ships were operating 200 miles south-southeast of Hainan. An hour later, air group and squadron commanders were briefed to: (1) "search thoroughly the area of the crash and along the line of predicted drift northeast of the sire, (2) that locating rafts and/or survivors were the primary objects of the search, (3) that small offshore islands were to be carefully inspected, with attention paid to "populated areas where a white man might be hidden, with similar searches to be conducted of junks and sampans." Lasting, pilots were instructed to "not use guns unless attacked or unless aircraft make threatening moves......"
While the destroyers ROWE (DD-564) and HUNT (DD-674) operated on a rescue and watchdog 18 miles east of Tachao Tao, the carriers launched aircraft: A RESCAP of F9Fs east of Tai Chow Island, an ASW patrol and search patrol of ADs and a low-altitude search and escort CAP of Skyraiders and Corsairs. Air ops continued for nearly 6 1/2 hours, until secured for the day at 1729 as the task group out for the night beyond range of shore-based air. The aviators had flown 40 search and 52 CAP/RESCAP sorties.
The pace of operations quickened on the 26th. At 0900 the carriers, steaming into
the wind, began launching aircraft. CVG-5's 16 planes were led by CAG-5, CDR George C.
"Duke" Duncan, flying a Skyraider.
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