MCAS Ewa Flight Line: MCAS Ewa’s Most Famous Medal Of Honor Combat Pilot Was Civilian Charles Lindbergh

MCAS Ewa’s Most Famous Medal Of Honor Combat Pilot Was Civilian Charles Lindbergh

by MCAS Ewa historian John Bond

Excerpts from The Wartime Journals Of Charles A. Lindbergh

are used with 1944 era MCAS Ewa photos

This is a history of MCAS Ewa that few people have ever heard before. If Lindbergh

had just been another WW-II military veteran and not been a keen observer and

prolific writer this account would not be known today. Recent research at the

Marine Corps and National Archives has revealed these snippets of the photographic history.

Prior to arriving at MCAS Ewa, Territory of Hawaii in 1944, Vought consultant Charles
Lindbergh in a factory-fresh Vought F4U Corsair, left the Vought plant at Stratford, Conn and
flew to Navy and Marine bases around the continental United States. He delivered his well-
traveled Corsair to the Navy at NAS, North Island San Diego and then worked to line up air transportation to Hawaii.

While waiting for a flight, he went to MCAS El Toro for two days of aerial gunnery practice
with Marine pilots in formations of F4U Corsairs. Firing at towed targets, his gunnery was remarkably accurate. In a six plane formation, Lindbergh had the highest percentage of hits in spite
of not having fired an aircraft's guns since his Army Air Corps cadet training days 19 years earlier.

Lindbergh caught a ride with a Navy R4D (the naval designation of the Douglas C-47), which
took him to Hawaii where he was able to meet with Marine Major General Ross Rowell and
BrigGen Walter Farrell about fighter operations in the Pacific. Lindbergh was

given a staff car to use and was checked into the MCAS Ewa BOQ – Bachelor Officers Quarters
for pilots. These were small but comfortable little screened in bungalows sheltered from the
nearby roadway with a wavy cinder block wall where Ewa Marine squadrons

painted on their names and histories.

US Marine Corp R4D on the still existing Japanese bullet marked concrete ramp built

just prior to the December 7, 1941 air attack. Lindbergh caught a ride from Ford Island

at Pearl Harbor over to MCAS Ewa which would barely require retracting the landing

gear before making the landing on Ewa's main runway just five miles away.

MCAS Ewa was still Ewa Field when after the attack on Pearl Harbor the Navy immedately

needed a large military airport for two carrier air groups as NAS Barbers Point still under construction and would not be ready for at least six more months. Ewa Field became widely

known as Naval Air Station Ewa and supported Navy operations that included the April

1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, May 1942 Battle of Coral Sea and the hugely important

June 1942 Battle of Midway. Many of the Ewa based Navy and Marine pilots and aircraft

were lost in heroic and valiant efforts against the largely superior Japanese Navy

and Zero combat pilots at the Midway battle. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties. Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft, and suffered 2,500 casualties.

"A Peacetime Hero Confronts Armageddon," American Heritage, October 1970

Charles A. Lindbergh flew out of the West into immortality, a shining figure of hope and courage
in a frivolous, uninspiring time. Yet within less than fifteen years all had changed. Lindbergh and
his brilliant young wife had been the victims of an atrocious crime and had been driven into exile
by a sensation-seeking press. Finally, as World War II drew on and Lindbergh came home to warn
his country against getting into it, he became to many a figure of obloquy and sinister rumor. In
his travels around Europe, studying its aviation, flying its fighters and bombers, he had seen many
Nazis, hadn‘t he? Was he pro-German? His resignation from the Air Corps Reserve was accepted
with alacrity. President Roosevelt attacked him by name. He seemed to drop out of sight, although
it was known he was doing something in military aviation.

By 1928 Lindbergh had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (1927), Distinguished Flying
Cross (1927) and Congressional Gold Medal (1928.) He had also been awarded top medals from Britain,
France and Belgium and in 1938 was awarded the Order of the German Eagle with Star in Nazi Germany.
It was Lindbergh’s public advocation against the US involvement in the 1940-41 European war that
caused FDR to greatly criticize him, resulting in Lindbergh resigning his Army commission.

From September 1940 until December 7, 1941, the American First Committee was the most powerful
isolationist pressure group in the United States. And from the time he joined in April 1941 until Pearl
Harbor nearly eight months later, Charles A. Lindbergh was the committee’s most popular speaker. On
June 20, 1941 Lindbergh spoke at the Hollywood Bowl to an estimated crowd of 60,000 – 70,000
which at that time was the largest attendance ever amassed at that stadium.

Public opinion polls of the time indicated that up to 80% of the American people opposed entry into
WWII, but the continuing tragedies of the wars in Europe and China by Axis powers was beginning to shift
public opinion. The American First organization quickly desolved after the December 7, 1941
attack on the island of Oahu and Pearl harbor. Most shocking was the high death toll of US
sailors on the USS Arizona.

By 1944 the Marines were well settled in with flying the F4U Corsair and knew it's

strengths, problems and issues. As the manufacturer's aviation consultant Charles Lindbergh

wanted every detail that could be used for the next version upgrade as well as anything that

could be done to further extend or maximize the existing flying aircraft inventory.

Ewa Field was the Marine Corp's first operational airbase in the Pacific in 1941. MCAS Ewa by

1944 had become primarily a hub for all logistical support and training of the wartime pipeline of Marine pilots, mechanics, aircraft and equipment headed out to the front line Pacific combat

airfields. Ewa Field, which was a sister base of the San Diego Navy and Marine air stations in

1941, had spun off it's own new sister airbase at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal by August 1942, named in honor of Marine Corps Major Lofton Henderson, commanding officer of VMSB-241who was killed during the June 1942 Battle of Midway.

Charles A. Lindbergh at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, 1944

Charles Lindbergh was a legendary figure in 20th Century American history,
especially aviation history. Many would state he was America's first world celebrity, his name
and face known all over the globe. But Lindbergh was never really comfortable with all of the
constant attention and ultimately sought seclusion whenever possible.
By all accounts Lindbergh had one of the most unusual, complicated, adventurous, controversial
personal and professional lives imaginable. He was also a prolific writer, publishing his wartime
diary and book “Spirit of St. Louis” which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1954 and became a major movie
in 1957. He had also been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Distinguished Flying Cross,
Congressional Gold Medal and many other international medals and awards in the 1920’s. His father
had been a US Congressman and in Lindbergh’s younger days he was a daredevil wing walker and
barn storming stunt pilot.

Much of the original Ewa Field and MCAS Ewa still exists today with visible

historic archeology found all over the former WW-II base. These huts were

removed but the concrete floors and hut area still remains with little archeology done.

Lindbergh flew almost every day either in the F4U Corsair around the Hawaiian

Islands, mostly over to Maui areas, or in transport rides to places like Midway.

Lindbergh was greatly impressed by the islands, especially Maui. He would
ultimately retire and own a small "A" frame home in a very remote coastal area and died
there on August 26, 1974. He was buried in a small private ceremony in a simple earth grave
in the Palapala Ho'omau Church Cemetery in the village of Kipahulu on Maui.

“The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh”

Civilian Charles Lindbergh arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa,
Territory of Hawaii in April 1944. His stay there has never been officially
well documented other than in his own WW-II diary.

“The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh.”
Many photos of his 1944 time in Hawaii are still buried away in archives
someplace. However his diary mentions places and structures at 1944 MCAS Ewa that have
recently been discovered in archives while researching the National Register nomination for
1941 Ewa Field and the later 1942-43 Navy-Marine aircraft revetment historic district.

The reason why Lindbergh was able to do so many things, despite being on wartime President
Roosevelt’s persona non grata list, was because many US military aviators still regarded him as an
American aviation folk hero and a brilliant detail oriented pilot with exceptional flying skills. Lindbergh
still had friends in high places, which included US Navy Admiral John Towers, a US Navy pioneer aviator
and Admiral Nimitz's chief advisor on naval aviation policy, fleet logistics, and administration. Towers
was also greatly involved in the establishment of 1941 Ewa Field as a Marine Corps base and expansion
of MCAS Ewa, and after the war became the first CINCPAC (Commander in Chief Pacific.)

WW-II staff cars in the Navy and Marine Corps were supplied by several US automotive manufacturers and usually provided through a motor pool assignment of need and purpose.

The area of these MCAS Ewa base BOQ - Bachelor Officer Quarters where Lindbergh stayed

were located in a semi-private compound area with a "wavy" squadron wall providing privacy

from the nearby main base road. The screened in private room bungalows were within brief

walking distance to the officers mess, base exchange and base commanders office.

The MCAS base and tenant unit commanders with staff could meet together for

meals and get briefings while eating. Sometimes newsreel movies would be

shown after dinner with a few drinks and choice of smokes - usually cigarettes.

Lindbergh was known to not smoke or drink. However he had an affinity for

sweets, especially chocolate bars.

At MCAS Ewa in 1944 Lindbergh was on a civilian technical mission
as an aircraft consultant who would show Marine and Army AF pilots
how to greatly improve aircraft performance and capabilities. Even
though an Army Air Corps Colonel before the war, Lindbergh was not
allowed to participate as a military officer, due to major political
differences with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Somewhat ironically,
Lindbergh left MCAS Ewa just prior to an official visit to the MCAS
Ewa air station by FDR in July 1944.

By 1944 MCAS Ewa had a very nice new Officers Club built by the 130th Navy SeaBee

battalion. The contracted architectural design was extremely modern even by today's

standards and featured a high vaunted ceiling, large band stand, dancing floor and long

bar in a modernistic tropical motif.

Numerous Anti-Aircraft batteries were all around the airfield with 40 mm Bofor gun flak towers

directly behind the Marine Wing headquarters building. Also nearby were much bigger 90 mm and 120 mm AA gun batteries, all manned by Army troops. Many underground air raid bunkers and ammunition bunkers are still found throughout the MCAS Ewa area with yet no official

historic archeology or site documentation as the US Navy turns the Marine air base over to

private land developer Hunt Corp. of Texas in an insider political deal.

The Northside Base Exchange closest to where Lindbergh was staying in 1944 and where he

could pick up his favorite chocolate bars. The BX design was utilitarian but featured a food

court privacy area using former Sisal plantation stalks. Ewa Field was built in a former Sisal plantation and the dried strong stalks were used throughout the base for fences and privacy walls.

Sisal plants, a species of Agave native to southern Mexico, are still prolific growing wild

throughout the former MCAS Ewa air base.

Charles Lindbergh was the first TIME Person of the Year and received a major

New York City multi-ship harbor welcome and ticker-tape parade down Broadway.

Lindbergh was at MCAS Ewa in 1944 because United Aircraft had hired him

as a researcher, test pilot, and advisor in its production of military aircraft. United Aircraft, whose subsidiary, Chance Vought, developed the F4U Corsair fighter for the Navy as a carrier
plane with folding wings but found its greatest use and fame with the US Marines and legendary squadrons like VMF-214 "Black Sheep" commanded by Gregory "Pappy" Boyington.

The Corsair was destined to become the most versatile fighter

and Marine Corps air-ground support aircraft of the Pacific war

and a mainstay of WW-II Marine Corps aviation. The first one to

see combat had arrived at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in early

1943, flown by Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-124. The airplane

was so effective against the Japanese that within six months

every Marine fighter squadron in the Pacific had re-equipped

with the F4U Corsair.

One of things most people forget about wars and wartime sacrifices are the

many service members who died in training accidents. There were many aircraft

crashes and collisions during wartime and MCAS Ewa was no exception. The wartime

skies over Oahu were crowded with aircraft of all services with many flying without

contact with other close by flights sometimes causing horrific deaths. "Hot" airplanes

like the F4U required enormous concentration and flying skill. A single missed

switch, required procedure or attention to detail could quickly result in disaster.

Lindbergh took every chance to fly in different airplanes and went on a hop out to

Midway from the recently constructed MCAS Ewa air transport ramp and a little seat time

flying the Curtiss R5C (C-46) Commando. The Commando was comparable to the Douglas

R4D (C-47) but was capable of higher altitudes and twice the cargo volume of the C-47.

On the other hand it required more attention to maintenance issues. The Marines used both

with the Commando generally used for longer Pacific flights. However many more

C-47's still survive and fly today 75 years after their wartime service.

As a consultant for Vought, Lindbergh wanted to study the Marines' combat experiences and problems with the new fighter, so that improvements could be made for future models. Early in
1944, he met with Brigadier General Louis E. Woods, the Marines' director of aviation, to discuss
the idea of making a survey tour of F4U squadrons in the Pacific. Woods approved the plan and forwarded the request. There was little if any publicity and a relatively small number of people
knew of Lindbergh’s mission.

Had Lindbergh remained in the Army Air Corps as a colonel he could have very likely been
a consultant if not a participant in the April 1942 Jimmy Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. This would have been exactly the kind of daring but precisely planned aviation mission that Lindbergh would love.
Fortunately Doolittle had exactly the same kind of technical knowledge, skill and daring that Lindbergh had to successfully direct 16 bomb loaded B-25's off the short deck of the USS Hornet.
Navy aircraft on the USS Hornet from Ewa Field were immediately brought on the flight deck
as soon as the last B-25 departed the carrier. Many of these same pilots and aircraft based at Ewa Field would fly from the Hornet just seven weeks later in the June Battle of Midway.

Lindbergh catches a ride back to MCAS Ewa from Midway on a PBM Mariner seaplane

The Martin PBM Mariner was a Navy patrol bomber fitted with five gun turrets, and bomb bays

that were in the engine nacelles. They were also used for small cargo, personnel transport and

search and rescue with great long range capabilities. No doubt Lindbergh enjoyed the seat time

in this powerful twin engine seaplane. NAS Honolulu, which later became HNL airport, had

seaplane water landing areas and mooring docks for the constant WW-II Navy seaplane traffic.

Lindbergh discovered that even being a celebrity aviator and aircraft factory representative that

military SNAFU's were common as he came "home" to find his comfortable little hut had been cleaned out and belongings removed. With little recourse but to deal with it in the AM,

everything was located and returned to his living unit.

May 3 Is A Big Day Including Lindbergh First Exposure To The Tropical
Reef At Ewa's White Plains Beach Navy Recreation Area

This experience at the beautiful sandy beach located just below MCAS Ewa, later

known as White Plains Beach, had a major impact on Charles Lindbergh and his

view of the world. He retired to Maui after the war and became a major

influential conservationist, including raising money for Haleakala National Park.

In 1968 he made his first public speech in 27 years to implore the Alaska Legislature

to consider conservation legislation. He was already recognizing that world population

and over development was a major future danger for world civilizations. And he

made his famous statement that if he had to chose between birds and airplanes he

would chose birds.

Charles Lindbergh Prepares To Leave For The Southwest Pacific

Corsair pilot Lt. Rollin N. Conwell's body was never recovered,

Friday, May 5, Lindbergh leaves for the Pacific Southwest

Part II of the Charles Lindbergh WW-II Journey flying 50 combat missions

“The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh.”

The 1944 West Loch disaster near MCAS Ewa, subject of an upcoming blog post

The historic National Register eligible "wavy" Squadron Wall, and Ewa-Kapolei area landmark, which had insignias of many famous MCAS Ewa squadrons and later also used by Navy and

Coast Guard units was graffitied in 2012. Without any community notice to restore and repaint it

the Navy's chosen land developer Hunt Corp of Texas immediately had it knocked down. Hunt

Corp has also destroyed other local cultural walls and had the 1942 Naval Air Station Barbers

Point memorial taken down and removed in 2018 without public notice. Hunt aims specifically

at historic sites to eradicate which may hinder their land development schemes and bulldozing

of historic MCAS Ewa Field.

Look for Part II of the Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh which will cover his adventures in the Southwest Pacific flying Marine F4U Corsairs and Army AF P-38

Lightnings in combat. Lindbergh as a civilian shot down at least one Japanese plane

and dropped huge bombs on targets at great personal risk in order to show the military

pilots the extended capacity and range of their combat planes.

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