“Button,” Espiritu Santo

Big scrap over the Russell Islands yesterday. Forty Zeros tangled with 28 F4Fs, six P-38s, and seven F4Us. 18 Zeros were shot down while we lost six planes, from which three pilots were recovered. The F4Fs claimed 13 Zeros and the F4Us claimed six. The pilots of the F4Us in commenting on this fight (their first unrestricted scramble) agreed that the F4U is superior to the Zero in every way, with the one exception of slow-speed dog-fighting. It’s almost certain that a certain percentage of the escaping Japs didn’t reach their base. A 50% loss for them really hurts as they are getting short of pilots and equipment.

Wonder when the big push on Munda will come. Fleming heard today that the Marines are expecting 100 new F4Us here (on their way to Cactus). We may not go back to Cactus till the big push comes.

Have heard that the Army is not too anxious to have us back up there. They consider us as encroaching on their field, and when we do a better job of it, it hurts them. Then again, they dislike patrol work and would much rather rather have us do it, while they take our place at Cactus and keep the bomber group solid Army. They relieve their squadrons up there every week or 10 days and give them periodic leaves in Australia and New Zealand — but not the Navy — they’re “different.”