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CHARLIE MALLORY PERFORMED HIS ASSIGNED DUTIES WITH HEROISM BUT HIS COMMANDING OFFICER THREATENED HIM WITH A COURT-MARTIAL!
Charles "Charlie" M. Mallory is one of the few World War Two fighter pilots to become an "ace-in-a-day" and perhaps the only one threatened with a court-martial for three of those victories. On 21 September 1944, in only his second encounter with enemy aerial opposition, the Fighting Squadron 18 (VF-18) photo-reconnaissance pilot assigned to the USS Intrepid was flying a Grumman F6F-5P Hellcat when he shot down a Japanese Betty bomber and two Tony fighters during a morning photo mission. Elated after shooting down the Japanese planes near the Philippine Islands, Mallory's mood quickly changed when the Carrier Air Group (CAG) 18 Commander confronted him. While bracing at the position of attention, Mallory heard, "You're damn lucky I don't, court-martial you!" Fortunately, he recovered from this encounter and added two more enemy planes to his tally later that afternoon!
Charlie Mallory was born in South Charleston, West Virginia, on 30 September 1920. He grew up approximately 35 miles from another West Virginia ace - Chuck Yeager. Mallory displayed many of the fighter pilot attributes Yeager describes in his book Yeager - "good eyes, coordination, staying cool in tight spots" and having "worked my tail off to learn how to fly." His aviation experiences began in late 1941 when a Navy aviation recruiter came to West Virginia University days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The aviator was there to recruit 100 West Virginians to enter the Naval Aviation Cadet Program and to he named the "Flying Mountaineers." Mallory liked the idea and volunteered to become an Aviation Cadet in May 1942. Cadet Mallory successfully completed the standard Navy aviation training program and was commissioned an Ensign and designated a Naval Aviator in January 1943.
DIVE BOMBER TO FIGHTER PILOT
Charlie's first operational assignment was with Composite Squadron 30 (VC-30) as a dive-bomber pilot aboard the newly commissioned light carrier USS Monterey (CVL-26). The Monterey departed Philadelphia in the summer of 1943 for a shakedown cruise in the Caribbean. Also aboard was a young gunnery division officer, Gerald R. Ford, Jr., who later became President.
Established in April 1943, VC-30 was a small squadron of a few fighters,...