The F4-U Corsair and
the Black Sheep
Reviewed by Major
John Hopkins, USMC (Ret.)
ON BOYINGTON’S WING: The Wartime Journal of Black Sheep fighter ace Lt. Col.
Robert W. McClurg with Leon Marketos. Heritage Books Inc., Bowie, Md.
World War II is just a history to read
about for most Americans. The war with the Axis Powers of Germany, Japan,
and Italy was a true world war. The war in the Pacific with Japan and the
air war between Corsairs and Zeros, Zekes, Sallys, and Tonys is covered in
the Combat Reports contained in this book. This is the only true story
about the Black Sheep squadron written by one that was there and lived it as
a wingman! However, Boyington and Frank Walton, VMF-214 Intelligence
Officer, are original squadron members who both wrote books considered
noteworthy about the Black Sheep. The story Bob McClurg tells will help the
reader understand the men who flew in their magnificent flying machines such
as the Corsair. You come to realize that of the 51 who served in VMF-214 as
Boyington’s Black Sheep, only a few remain. These precious few have shared
their stories with the grace and modesty that we have come to expect in the
Greatest Generation. Yet they are my heroes and also have become my
friends. As former Marines, we still remain a “Band of Brothers.”
What is a Wingman? Whenever the fighter
pilots of VMF-214 Black Sheep flew a mission, they always did so in pairs.
There was a lead pilot and the other pilot who protected him flew the other
plane and was the “wingman”. Lt. Col. Bob McClurg was one of Pappy
Boyington’s many wingmen. The actual Combat Reports read like most. Just
the facts with the who, what, where, and when, and sometimes a how, and with
no emotion. Bob McClurg has taken these reports and put you beside him as
he flew his Corsair as Pappy’s wingman.
But this is also a love story of a boy
losing his father and a widowed mother keeping him and his siblings together
as a family. It is so obvious McClurg loved his God, country, corps and
Mom. The letters he sent home are part of the story. Becoming an Ace may
have been an accident, or was it? Maybe it was because Boyington saw a
pilot with no experience in Corsairs and taught him how to fly. As McClurg
tells it, “He (Pappy) literally taught me to fly the Corsair in that I only
had 21 hours of fighter time when I got over there.” Or maybe there is a
lot of luck when his engine stops at 25,000 feet and he noses over the plane
to get air speed which may start the engine. If not, then a watery death at
sea. The many times the radio stops working or the compass fails, he
guesses the way home. God surely showed the way. The book mentions New
Hebrides, Espirito Santo, Vella Lavella and other islands made famous by a
television show that has portrayed the Black Sheep as misfits. Nothing
could be further from the truth as Major Boyington picked the best young men
he could find to join the Black Sheep. But we must remember that Boyington
was unconventional and used his knowledge, experience and cunning to
assemble the squadron and make it in his image. Pappy had already become an
Ace (5 planes shot down) while flying with Claire Chennault and the Flying
Tigers in China. Lt. McClurg becomes an Ace and so do 8 others. The
squadron total was 154 enemy planes.
Not in the book, but part of history
is that a former Black Sheep Ace became an Ace in Korea, one flew in
Vietnam. There is also the sad event of friendly fire that resulted in the
deaths of sailors in a PT Boat and a Black Sheep named Alexander. The Black
Sheep coat of arms was designed as VMF-214 drops the name Swashbucklers. It
would have been inappropriate to adopt the name they first thought about,
“Boyington’s Bastards.” Boyington was shot down in 1944 and presumed dead,
but survived as a prisoner of war of the Japanese and was later awarded the
Medal of Honor. Lt. Col. McClurg is credited with downing seven enemy
planes and with two probable. His decorations include the Distinguished
Flying Cross with 4 stars, Air Medal with seven stars, and two Presidential
Unit Citations. Doolittle Raiders, Flying Tigers, Tuskegee Airmen, Black
Sheep are all heroes of WWII. We honor them all and Tom Emrich, Bruce
Matheson, Henry Bourgeois, Jim Hill, Harry Johnson, Bill Heier, Fred Losch,
Glenn Bowers, and Bob McClurg. Come back to South Carolina, your friend and
ours, Don Fisher is here at peace.
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