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NOTES TO TABLE 5

Among the items worthy of note in this table are the following:

(a) The predominance of dive bombers, and the relatively small number of fighter sorties, in the carrier actions of 1942, resulting from the relatively low fighter complements of the time.

(b) The transfer from the F4F to the F6F in the rebuilt carrier force of 1943, the gradual transfer from SBD to SB2C in 1944, and the decrease in SB2C use in late 1944 and 1945 as complements changed to meet the kamikaze threat.

(c) The slow emergence of the FM as an offensive aircraft, beginning in June 1944, after 6 months of primarily defensive use.

(d) The sudden rise of the F4U as a major carrier aircraft in early 1945.

(e) The predominance of the TBF as the primary carrier bomber from 1944 on.

(f) The shift, in land-based aircraft, from the F4F to the F4U, and the later addition of the F6F. (Note that land-based F4F action sorties are probably seriously understated, because of inadequate reports of most of their offensive missions; the same applies, to a lesser extent, to land-based F4Us for 1943).

(g) The decline and subsequent rise of land-based F6F combat activity. The decline resulted from the abolition of land-based Navy support squadrons in early 1944 (and the increasing problem of supplying a larger number of carriers with F6Fs). The later return of the F6Fs was as Marine land-based night fighters.

(h) The decline in use of the land-based F4U in 1945, as carrier demands for fighters increased .

(i) The persistence of the land-based SBD in combat until nearly the end of the war.

(j) The withdrawal of the TBM from general land-based combat duty after the peak of the Solomons campaign, and its restriction to a few Marine squadrons engaged principally in local anti-submarine patrol and special support duties, including supply dropping.

(k) The persistence of the PBY in combat (largely night attacks on shipping and by-passed Japs) until early in 1945.

(l) The sudden expansion of PBM combat activity in March 1945 after 14 months of largely negative patrols.

(m) The considerable volume of offensive activity by PB4Y patrols and anti-shipping missions in early 1945.

(n) The diversion of PVs from offensive to more routine missions in 1945.

(o) The sizeable offensive volume flown by the relatively small force of Marine PBJs.

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLY By Model of Aircraft A. CARRIER-BASED AIRCRAFT
MONTH	*F4F, FM ()**		F4U, FG		F6F		SBD		SB2C, SBW		TBD, TBF, TBM (#)
MONTH	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties
1942-February	3	49					5	147			2	47
March	3	24					6	93			2	25
April							2	6
May	2	83					4	183			2	66
June	4	91					6	239			3	44
August	3	181					6	422			3	78
October	2	143					4	82			2	62
November	6	367					5	198			4	43
1943-January	2	38					2	24			1	16
February	1	20
May	2	86
July							1	7
August					3	108	2	88			3	94
September					3	85	1	50			3	61
October	1	21			6	378	4	294			7	240
November	1	14			15	1,382	7	642	1	179	14	768
December	1	4			7	208	4	105	1	68	7	147
1944-January	2	23			13	1,386	8	550	1	152	17	682
February	5	84			15	2,166	8	1,027	1	197	20	1,298
March	2	14			11	907	3	314	2	145	13	407
April	5	43	1	2	16	2,607	4	768	2	558	21	1,292
May					7	402	1	19	3	275	7	206
June	8	517	1	6	18	4,538	2	636	5	1,131	26	1,938
July	9	748	1	1	19	5,804	2	154	7	2,698	28	3,144
August					12	1,122			6	316	11	278
September	13	1,535			19	5,546			8	2,903	32	3,182
October	15	1,273			20	4,972			9	2,196	35	2,507
November					17	2,453			11	1,008	17	936
December	6	191			13	1,600			7	108	19	163
1945-January	18	1,165	2	131	13	4,482			5	703	31	2,156
February	11	1,132	9	652	20	2,465			7	500	27	1,210
March	18	1,803	17	2,274	19	3,853			10	1,231	38	2,971
April	16	2,473	11	1,916	20	5,652			9	1,515	36	4,496
May	14	474	10	1,021	22	3,583			8	921	35	3,054
June	12	1,409	8	520	18	1,425			7	288	29	1,993
July			11	2,012	18	3,473			9	1,162	20	1,821
August	2	23	11	1,047	18	1,789			10	554	22	817
1942 Total		938		0		0		1,370		0		365
1943 Total		183		0		2,161		1,210		247		1,326
1944 Total		4,428		9		33,503		3,468		11,687		16,033
1945 Total		8,479		9,573		26,722		0		6,874		18,518
GRAND TOTAL		14,028		9,582		62,386		6,048		18,808		36,242
* F4F through October 1943, FM thereafter. # TBD through June 1942, TBF and TBM thereafter. NOTE: No carrier action was reported for the months not listed in the table. Composite squadrons are counted once for each type of plane included.

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLY By Model of Aircraft B. LAND-BASED AIRCRAFT, OF CARRIER TYPES
MONTH	F4F, FM		F4U, FG		F6F		SBD		SB2C, SBW		TBF, TBM
MONTH	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties
1941-December	1	49
1942-March *
June #	1	6					1	22			1	6
August	2	57					2	31
September	3	259					6	225			1	22
October	7	478					5	311			1	49
November	6	175					7	359			3	72
December	3	40					4	284			1	7
1943-January	2	84					3	284			1	26
February	3	10					5	357			2	29
March	1	8					5	157			4	159
April	1	79	3	118			4	88			4	152
May	1	3	4	113			2	128			2	203
June	4	81	6	156			4	270			6	218
July	3	167	6	358			9	1430			6	1125
August			5	414			5	374			4	315
September			5	430	4	169	8	558			5	393
October			7	384	3	72	8	646			4	353
November			9	821	4	100	9	1077			6	646
December			6	467	3	261	10	1232			5	751
1944-January			10	1151	3	254	6	915			5	427
February			9	1750	1	149	7	1322			4	661
March			14	1108	4	402	11	3046			5	1439
April			13	1159	4	405	11	2516			5	943
May			12	1594	1	358	10	2421			3	600
June			13	1332	1	231	10	1526			1	48
July			14	2901	1	23	8	2112			1	4
August			20	4287	2	44	9	2324			1	28
September			21	3563	2	44	10	1997			1	21
October			23	4724	3	23	9	1920			2	18
November			23	4875	2	273	9	866			3	161
December			24	2932	2	26	10	370			3	97
1945-January			19	2365	2	68	7	384			2	270
February			17	3118	2	206	8	3999			2	129
March		1	18	2775	3	245	7	4350	2	50	4	164
April		1	19	3463	4	164	7	3017	4	281	2	132
May			21	2431	6	232	8	2912	5	379	2	374
June			19	2711	4	274	6	1797	5	768	3	270
July		1	19	2423	6	116	6	1012	5	556	4	217
August	1	25	15	547	3	5			4	321	3	49
1941-42 Total		1,064		0		0		1,232		0		156
1943 Total		432		3,261		602		6,601		0		4,370
1944 Total		0		31,376		2,232		21,335		0		4,447
1945 Total		28		19,833		1,310		17,471		2,355		1,605
GRAND TOTAL		1,524		54,470		4,144		46,639		2,355		10,578
* 1 F2A squadron flew 4 action sorties. # 1 F2A squadron flew 21 action sorties and one SB2U squadron 17 action sorties. NOTE: No action by these types of planes was reported for the months not listed above. Composite squadrons are counted once for each type of plane included.

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLY By Model of Aircraft C. PATROL AIRCRAFT
MONTH	PBY		PBM		PB2Y		PB4Y		PV		PBJ
MONTH	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties	No. of Sqdns. In Action	Action Sorties
1941-December	4	21
1942-January	3	13
February	2	6
May	2	6
June	9	28
July	2	4
August	3	10
September	4	8
October	3	10
November	1
December	2	3
1943-January	1	2
February	4	16					1	18
March	4	14					1	23
April	2	5					1	4
May	5	7
June	2	8					1	4	2	38
July	5	25					3	25	3	14
August	4	10					2	17	3	5
September	3	17					3	64	2	12
October	3	35					5	51	5	61
November	6	54					6	93	3	44
December	9	63					6	96	5	54
1944-January	6	145	1	2	2	17	5	100	7	96
February	9	64	1	5	2	18	6	110	6	123
March	6	125	1	1	1	5	7	63	5	256	1	129
April	3	62			1	6	5	116	5	169	1	142
May	5	107			1	21	8	82	6	302	2	153
June	6	63	2	6	1	5	6	87	4	152	1	141
July	3	54	1	4			6	97	5	81	3	182
August	5	73	1	2	1	19	8	104	6	212	4	233
September	6	94	1	1			4	46	6	96	4	333
October	3	73	1	1			5	84	7	105	4	322
November	6	58					8	105	7	105	6	655
December	3	39	2	22			6	145	4	141	6	685
1945-January	2	33	1	4			8	52	5	53	6	515
February	4	19	2	4			7	171	6	71	7	845
March	3	4	7	73			11	261	7	112	5	698
April	1	1	8	100	1	15	12	259	5	74	7	1020
May			7	133	1	24	14	408	4	178	7	1023
June	1	1	8	87	1	2	14	356	4	106	7	526
July			6	47	1	8	16	425	3	13	7	628
August			2	14	1	2	15	174	4	15	6	160
1941-42 Total		109		0		0		0		0		0
1943 Total		256		0		0		395		228		0
1944 Total		957		44		91		1,139		1,838		2,975
1945 Total		58		462		51		2,106		622		5,415
GRAND TOTAL		1,380		506		142		3,640		2,688		8,390
NOTE: No action by VPB aircraft was reported for March and April 1942.

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NOTES TO TABLE 5

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLYBy Model of Aircraft

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLYBy Model of Aircraft

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLYBy Model of Aircraft

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLY
By Model of Aircraft

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLY
By Model of Aircraft

TABLE 5. NUMBER OF SQUADRONS IN ACTION, AND ACTION SORTIES FLOWN, MONTHLY
By Model of Aircraft