Squadron Flight Log Entry

VB-86 HISTORY OF BOMBING SQUADRON EIGHTY-SIX

VB-86 was commissioned on June 15, 1944 at Wildwood, New Jersey and then moved to Otis Field, Camp Edwards, Massachusetts where together with VF, VBF and VT, Carrier Air Group 86 was formed. On December 1, 1944 VB-86 traveled by train to San Diego to board the USS Munda Bay for transportation to Hawaii. After more training at Naska, Maui, they boarded the USS Independence bound for Ulithi. There they became a part of Fast Carrier Task Force 58 aboard the carrier WASP and made strikes against the Japanese homeland. The WASP was hit by a Kamikaze on March 19, 1945 and was so extensively damaged that she was sent back to Seattle to be repaired. The squadron got new planes at this time, and on July 11, 1945 was on its way back to the forward area and again joined the Fast Carrier Task Force for further operations against the Japanese. Bombing 86 made a strike against Kure and during the dive bombing pull out were within sight of Hiroshima the day before the atomic bomb was dropped. Because of damage to the bow during a hurricane as the war ended, the WASP was relieved of duty and sent home with Air Group 86 aboard through the Panama Canal to Boston, Massachusetts where Bombing 86 was decommissioned. It is almost impossible to believe that this many men could travel that many miles and fly that many planes in combat in a short year and a half.