Memories remain vivid for World War II flying "ace"

InsideBayArea.com: Memories remain vivid for World War II flying "ace"

CASTRO VALLEY -- John "Ted" Crosby has a boast few men can share.

As a U.S. Navy fighter pilot during World War II, Crosby downed five Japanese aircraft in a single dogfight, making him an "ace in a day."

It earned him handshakes from sailors, slaps on the back from fliers, and a Navy Cross from his superior officers. But the 90-year-old Crosby says the feat had little to do with lightning reflexes, an eagle eye or steel nerves.

"It's amazing what six .50 caliber machine guns will do," Crosby said, describing the firepower of his Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter. "Open up with them and you will blow away anything in sight."

Patrolling the skies

By April 1945 the Navy and U.S. Marines had reached Okinawa, an island 340 miles from mainland Japan that the Allies needed as an air base for the anticipated invasion of the enemy's homeland.

Fighting was fierce: The Allies suffered more than 50,000 casualties before the battle ended in June. More than 100,000 Japanese troops were killed or captured. Thousands of civilians died.

"We would respond to any request from the ground for help," said Crosby, who now lives in a retirement home in Castro Valley. "We were bombing and strafing the island. We were doing anything we could."

On April 16, 1945, Crosby and Lt. Millard "Fuzzy" Wooley and their two wingmen were flying protection for an American destroyer -- its code name "whiskey base" -- off

northeastern Okinawa when their radios announced that Japanese planes were approaching from the north.

Wooley and the others banked to intercept them, leaving the destroyer undefended.

"You could tell by the voice of the ship's skipper on the radio that he didn't like it," Crosby said. "But Fuzzy told him, 'Don't worry. We'll be back before they can get to you.'"

As Crosby and Wooley climbed, their wingmen each experienced mechanical problems and fell away. Then Crosby's "blower," or the supercharger the Hellcat needed for rapid ascent, would not stay engaged.

Crosby kept the handle pressed with his knee.

"Here they come, a whole troop of them," Crosby said about the Japanese. "There were about 20 planes, a mixture of anything that would fly and that they could get into the air."

Within seconds, Crosby and a Japanese fighter were racing toward each other, head-on.

The American fired. The enemy's engine exploded, showering debris like confetti over Crosby's cockpit canopy.

"We passed each other real quick -- zap, zap," Crosby said.

Crosby banked a hard 180 degrees just as another Japanese aircraft swept across his gunsight. He fired again.

"I got him," Crosby said. "He blew up. I pulled back and looked around. By then, the Japanese planes were breaking up as a unit."

Moments later, bullets streaked past Crosby's Hellcat. It was Wooley, who briefly thought Crosby was the enemy.

"He called over the radio, 'Did I get you?'" Crosby said with a chuckle. "I said, 'No, no, you didn't.'"

When the fight was over and the two fliers finally taxied to a halt on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, the news flashed among the sailors about what had just happened.

Crosby had single-handedly downed a Japanese Mitsubishi "Zero" fighter, a "Val" dive-bomber and three "Jack" fighters. The five victories made him an ace.

Wooley had shot down two enemy aircraft.

"Without a doubt, Ted was in the right place at the right time and made the most out of his skills while flying the deadly Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter that day," said Bob Fish, a trustee of the USS Hornet, now a floating museum in Alameda.

On Saturday, Crosby will return to the ship and give a talk with other veteran Navy pilots to mark 100 years of Naval aviation.

Thirty-four Allied vessels were sunk and 368 ships and other craft were damaged during the battle for Okinawa, making it the most deadly in the Pacific war, Fish said.

"The toll would have been much higher if Ted and his fellow courageous Naval aviators had not been patrolling the skies as aggressively as they did," he said.

Crosby grew up in Oakland and was attending junior college in Marin County -- paying tuition with money he earned working at the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco -- when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

After earning his wings, Crosby initially shipped out aboard the USS Bunker Hill.

During the cruise, he helped shoot down a Japanese "Betty" bomber with three other Hellcat pilots in November 1943 -- the first of the six enemy planes he eventually downed during the war.

The Japanese bomber was traveling without a fighter escort.

As the Americans closed in, the tail-gunner opened up. "He was giving us fits," Crosby said. "I thought to myself, 'He's got to go.'"

The burst from Crosby's guns shattered the aircraft's tail section, sending the gunner tumbling into the sea.

"I was going fast, about 400 mph," Crosby said. "I shot past him. All of a sudden I look around and I am out there all alone."

When Crosby banked back around, the Japanese bomber had vanished. Just a lone wheel from the aircraft was dipping and rising on the Pacific swells.

Not easy to forget

Along with the Navy Cross, Crosby was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses and a host of other decorations.

After World War II, he remained in the Navy and flew photo reconnaissance missions during the Korean War. He retired as a commander in July 1969.

Crosby went on to make a living restoring Model A Fords. He met his second wife, Kay, because she owned one of the vintage cars. They married 10 years ago.

The veteran fighter pilot, who has a son in Florida and a granddaughter, said his memories from the war remain fresh, despite the passage of more than six decades.

Among them is circling over the capsized Japanese battleship Yamato as it was sinking off Okinawa on April 7, 1945. The vessel had been struck by multiple American bombs and torpedoes.

"You are watching this ship go down," Crosby said. "And you have to remind yourself, there's 3,000 men aboard that ship. That can be hard. Things like that are not easy to forget."

If you go
John "Ted" Crosby, and four other World War II Navy pilots, including Crosby's fellow ace Ralph Foltz, will speak at 1 p.m. Saturday aboard the USS Hornet aircraft carrier museum, 707 W. Hornet Ave., Pier 3, Alameda. Go to www.uss-hornet.org or call 510-521-8448 for information.