Training helped pilot avoid all but tire blowout

Bill Cornett Jr. flew F6F Hellcat fighter planes in the Philippines as a member of the VF-49 Fighter Squadron during the tail end of World War II.

Cornett went on target missions from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto.

Taking off and landing on a short, rolling landing strip was a challenge, but Cornett said the U.S. Navy did a good job training their pilots.

“We had a lot of experience,” on land before trying it out on the ocean.

“The first one is a big thrill,” Cornett said.

Fighter planes accompanied bombers on the way to their targets.

“The bombers left the carrier first because they were slower,” he said. “They put us up to protect the bombers from stray (enemy) airplanes.”

Landing proved to be one of the biggest challenges.

“The landing is much tougher than the takeoff, especially if the ship was in rough waters,” he said. “It was kind of spooky the ships are going up and down, you have to get the right speed, the right height, you have to set down on the deck easily without blowing a tire.”

Then you have to grab a cable to keep the plane from flying off the deck.

In all of his landings, he only had one, slight mishap.

“I blew a tire; that's all that ever happened,” he said.

Before flying Hellcats off carriers, Cornett spent time as an instrument flight instructor and beginning flight instructor.

Cornett, a resident of Atria Hacienda, is one of a number of World War II veterans residing at the senior living community in Palm Desert.

A wall near the library is filled with photos and memorabilia from residents who served their country during World War II and the Korean War.

On Sept. 2, 1944, 20-year-old Naval aviator Lt. JG George H.W. Bush took off from the USS San Jacinto in his TBM Avenger torpedo bomber on a mission to take out a Japanese radio station on ChiChi Jima, located about 600 miles southwest of Japan.

The future 41st President of the United States took off with three other planes from Torpedo Squadron Fifty-One (VT-51 ), accompanied by some of VF-51's F6F Hellcats.

Bush's plane was hit with flak from anti-aircraft gunfire, but was able to drop his bombs on target before bailing out over the ocean — landing perilously close to shore. Two fellow crewmen died. One went down with the Avenger; the other man fell to his death when his parachute didn't open properly.

Bush opened his inflatable raft, crawled in and paddled out to sea. The Japanese sent a boat out to capture him, but a fellow Avenger pilot strafed the ship.

The U.S. submarine Finback was patrolling in the area and rescued Bush. Bush spent 30 days in the sub.

Cornett's path nearly crossed Bush's.

After spending about three years training pilots in Miami, Cornett was flown to Guam in October 1944, to board the USS San Jacinto. The VF- and VT-51 squadrons were dropped off — and the VF- and VT-49s went aboard.

“Our squadron followed his squadron,” Cornett said.