Some 80 years ago today, on Armistice Day, now Veterans’ Day, we see the svelte 26-year-old fighter pilot that is Major Robert Gordon Owens Jr. of the “Fighting Corsairs” of Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 215, on Vella La Vella, 11 November 1943. Note his M1911 in a shoulder holster along with spare mags and a Ka-Bar on his webbelt.
USMC Photo by Sgt. D. Q. White, U.S. Marine Corps, 021206-M-3031H-101
The squadron, formed as Marine Scout Bomber Squadron 244 (VMSB-244) in March 1942, by September had been redesignated as VMSB-242 and then hung up its SBDs in favor of F4F Wildcats to become VMF-215. Then, by the time they made it to MCAS Ewa in Hawaii in February 1943, they transitioned to the gull-winged F4U Corsair and, on 14 August, landed the first Allied plane at the newly captured Munda airfield in the Solomons where they immediately began operating to cover the landings on nearby Vella Lavella– where they set up shop in November.
It was Maj. Ownes that made the inaugural Munda flight.
The first fighter plane to land on Munda Point airfield in New Georgia after its capture by Allied forces was a VMF-215 Corsair flown by Maj Robert G. Owens, Jr., on 14 August 1943. Flight operations began immediately to cover the Vella Lavella landings.
By the end of the war, VMF-215 was credited with shooting down 137 enemy aircraft, the fourth most in Marine Corps aviation history, and counted 10 aces in its wardroom– including Owens who had 7 kills and another 5 probable.
Original caption: Decoration of Marine Flyers in the South Pacific is often as informal as pictured here. These fighter pilots, at the end of a day’s flights against the enemy, line up by a revetment to be decorated by their skipper. In the background is a Corsair fighter plane. Photo shows, left to right: 1st Lt. Robert E. Clark reading citations, Major Robert G. Owens Jr., Major James L. Neefus, LtCol. Herbert H. Williamson, 1stLt. Lincoln F. Deetz, (Gold Star), 1st Lt. Bennie P. O’Dell (Air Medal), 1st Lt. David R. Moak (Air Medal), Capt. Don Aldrich (Purple Heart), 1stLt. Drury E. McCall (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Robert M. Hanson (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Thomas M. Tomlinson (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Otto K. Williams (Air Medal), and 1st Lt. Grafton S. Stidger (Purple Heart).
VMF-215 had probably the best insignia of any Corsair squadron.
Reformed after the war to fly jets, VMF-215 flew F9Fs, F4Ds, and, finally, the F-8 Crusader, before they were disestablished for the final time in 1970.
As for Owens, “Big O” picked up the Navy Cross, five awards of Distinguished Flying Cross, eleven Air Medals, and a Purple Heart for the wounds he received when shot down by Japanese flak over Rabaul. He went on to be a career Devil, commanding the 3rd and later the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing during Vietnam, and retired in 1972 as a major general after 33 years of active service. He has a fantastic oral history online in the Library of Congress.
MG Owens passed in 2007, aged 90, and is buried in Arlington.