VF-11 Sundowners

Deployments: Guadalcanal                 May-Jul 43              F4F-4
Hornet (CV-12)                               Oct 44Jan 45          F6F-3, -5, -5N, -5P

Combat record: 158 victories, 7 aces.  Lost 23 plus 2 POWs. 

Top score: Lt. Charles R. Stimpson, 16

     One of Naval Aviation's most enduring symbols was the Sundowner emblem: two stubby Grummans shooting a red sun into the blue ocean against a yellow sky.  It adorned Navy fighters for most of the 52 years that VF-11/111 existed.

     Formed at North Island, Air Group 11 was intended to go aboard Hornet (CV-8) in late 1942.  Her loss at Santa Cruz changed all that, so the four squadrons flew from Guadalcanal in the summer of 1943.  While there the Sundowners claimed 52 victories, producing the Navy's first land-based ace in a day: Ens. Vern Graham.  Lt(jg) Charlie Stimpson claimed six kills and Jim Swope 4.66.

     Upon reforming on the west coast, VF-11 proceeded to Hawaii and boarded the second Hornet (CV-12) in the fall of 1944.  The new skipper was Gene Fairfax, a noted Annapolis boxer and former OS2U pilot who scored four kills in Hellcats.

     First blood of the deployment came on 10 October, inaugurating three months of combat over the Philippines, FOrmosa, and Hong Kong.  In a lopsided dogfight off Formosa on the 14th, the Sundowners splashed 18 bandits, including five by Charlie Stimpson.  Four days later 19 more victories were claimed over Clark Field.  The squadron's best day was in the same area, 5 November, when the Sundowners bested 25 Japanese fighters, most army types.

     During strikes on Indochina 12 January 1945, Lt(jg) Blake Moranville was shot down by flak.  He became one of only two Navy aces captured during the war, but evaded the Japanese when former Vichy forces switched sides.  In all, the second tour netted 103 more victories as Stimpson retained his top spot by adding 10 Hellcat victories.

Wartime COs:

Lt.Cdr. Charles R. Fenton           10 Oct 42

Lt.Cdr. Charles M. White            20 Apr 43

Cdr. Gordon Cady                     25 Sep 43

Lt.Cdr. Eugene G. Fairfax          15 Aug 44

Lt.Cdr. P.W. Jackson                21 Apr 45

Subsequent record: Redesignated VF-11A (1946) and VF-111 (1948).  The Sundowners made three cruises and scored the Navy's first jet victory during the Korean War.  Though disestablished in February 1959, the unit's designation was immediately shifted to VA-156, and the Sundowner/VF-111 identification remained until final stand-down in 1995.