Marine Night Fighter Squadron 534 (VMF(N)-534) was a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

squadron that was commissioned during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was the fourth night fighter squadron commissioned in the service and participated in limited combat operations throughout 1944 and 1945 during Marine Corps operations over

Kwajalein Atoll Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...

and the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

. The squadron was decommissioned on May 31, 1947, as part of the post-war draw down of the service. Since then, no other Marine Corps squadron has carried the lineage and honors of VMF(N)-534.

History

Commissioning, training and, deployment

VMF(N)-534 was commissioned on October 1, 1943, at

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

on the authority of Marine Corps Dispatch 292038, dated September 23, 1943. The squadron received its first F6F-3N night fighter on December 1, 1943, and commenced training in eastern North Carolina until departing for the

west coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

on April 1, 1944. Squadron member arrived at Marine Corps Air Depot Miramar between April 4–7 and later departed

Naval Air Station North Island Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado (N ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

on April 19, 1944, on board the .

Operations in the Central Pacific

The squadron arrived at

Naval Advance Base Espiritu Santo Naval Advance Base Espiritu Santo or Naval Base Espiritu Santo, most often just called ''Espiritu Santo'', was a major advance Naval base that the U.S. Navy Seabees built during World War II to support the Allied effort in the Pacific. The base ...

on May 4, 1944, and flew into

Luganville Airfield Luganville Airfield or Bomber Field #3 is a former World War II airfield on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands at the Espiritu Santo Naval Base. History World War II The Seabees of the 40th Naval Construction Battalion arr ...

the next day joining

Marine Aircraft Group 21 Marine Aviation and Training Support Group 21 (MATSG-21) is a United States Marine Corps aviation training Group (air force unit), group that was originally established in 1922 as the 2nd Aviation Group. During World War II the unit was known as ...

. It remained there for nearly a month before the flight echelon departed on June 2, 1944, on the . The squadron's ground personnel were split between the , , and the . After 65 days at sea, VMF(N)-534's, as part of

, took off from the USS ''Santee'', becoming the first aviation unit to land on

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

as they touched down on

Orote Field Orote Field is a former air base in the United States territory of Guam built by the Empire of Japan with Chamorro forced labor during the Japanese occupation of Guam (1941-1944). It is separate from the Marine Corps amphibious airplane base at loc ...

on August 4, 1944. The first

combat air patrol Combat air patrol (CAP) is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft. A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, ...

s commenced on August 7, 1944. That same evening VMF(N)-534 also conducted its first night raids when a section of aircraft strafed the Japanese garrison on Rota. Between August 7 and December 29 the squadron conducted a total of eight strafing/bombing missions against Rota Island. While on Guam squadron personnel conducted numerous patrols and assisted in burying Japanese war dead. From August 4 through December 31, VMF(N)-534 flew 1402 sorties totaling 2,610.6 hours of flying conducting nighttime CAP, strafing and bombing, and search missions. Test flight, fighter cover and ferrying missions accounted for another 491.6 hours. On February 20, 1945, the squadron recorded its only aerial victory of the war when 1stLt Brett Roueche, aided by GCI controllers from

Air Warning Squadron 2 Air Warning Squadron 2 (AWS-2) was a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control squadron during World War II. The squadron was tasked to provide aerial surveillance and early warning during amphibious assaults. They took part in th ...

stationed aboard a Navy destroyer, shot down a

Nakajima C6N The Nakajima C6N ''Saiun'' (彩雲, "Iridescent Cloud") was a carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. Advanced for its time, it was the fastest carrier-based aircraft put into service ...

110 miles west of Saipan. In May 1945 the squadron sent a detachment to

Kobler Field Kobler Field is a former a World War II airfield on Saipan in the Mariana Islands, part of Naval Advance Base Saipan. It was closed in 1977 and redeveloped as a residential housing area. History World War II Kobler Field was constructed betw ...

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

and another to

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

to provide night time cover for each respective area. Tri-site operations continued until the end of the war. The squadron consolidated back on Guam by September 22, 1945.

Return to the United States and reorganization

The squadron returned to the United States in November 1945 and joined up with the rest of

Marine Aircraft Group 53 Marine Aircraft Group 53 (MAG-53) was a United States Marine Corps night fighter training group that was commissioned during World War II. It was the first night-fighter group in the Marine Corps. During the course of the war the group trained e ...

Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake (MCAS Eagle Mountain Lake) was a United States Marine Corps air station that was located northwest of Fort Worth, Texas during World War II. Commissioned on December 1, 1942, the air station was ori ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. On December 20, 1945, the squadron moved to

Marine Corps Air Station El Centro Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

joining

Marine Aircraft Group 25 Marine Air Group (MAG) 25 was a United States Marine Corps combat air transport group that provided logistical support, including cargo and personnel transport and aeromedical evacuation, to forward units during World War II and the Korean War. ...

. During the end of December VMF(N)-534 also began to receive its new F7F-3N night fighters. On January 21, 1946, all of the squadron's pilots boarded the to observe carrier qualifications by

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

pilots.

Aircraft accidents

* August 7, 1944 - Capt Paul H. Todd, the squadron executive officer, went missing of the coast of Guam flying an F6F-5N. * August 11, 1944 - 1st Lt Harley E. Croft was forced to bail out of his F6F-5N after its engine failed during a nighttime CAP. * November 2, 1944 - 1stLt Percy L. Will's F6F-5N crashed at sea after having engine trouble while flying nighttime combat air patrol in the vicinity of Saipan. * April 18, 1945 - Capt Charles F. Finnie died from injuries sustained when his F6F-5N crashed.

Citations

References

;Bibliography * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vmf(N)-534 N Inactive units of the United States Marine Corps