“Cactus,” Guadalcanal

Seven-plane (all we have left) strike plan on a Jap torpedo dump south of Tonolei. Dawn take off. During the routine engine test before takeoff I found that one of the magnetos on #2 engine had burned out completely along with a lot of wiring. I refused to attempt to take off due to the danger of an engine failure. I can just barely clear the coconut palms at the end of the runway with a full load of eight 1000-pound bombs. Two other planes came back with engine troubles, and finally the remaining four returned for lack of support.

Lay around and slept all day.

In three successive raids (13, 14, and 15 Feb.), two by the Army, and one by us, over the Buin-Shortland area, a total of 20 planes have been involved, of which seven have failed return!