Lieutenant Donald "FLASH" Gordon
By Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette
Aviation Art Store
This is my painting of Gordon's Hellcat.
Lieutenant Donald “Flash”
Gordon
Donald Gordon was born in Garland, Kansas on July 17, 1920. He attended Fort
Scott High School and graduated in 1939 continuing on to Fort Scott Junior
College graduating in 1941. Gordon also took the Civil Pilots training program
and got his license. After finishing college Donald entered the Naval Aviation
Cadet Program on July 7, 1941. Donald completed flight training and was
commissioned as an Ensign on March 12, 1942; he was now twenty-one years old.
His first assignment was the new Fighter Squadron 10. The Squadron would be
named the “Grim Reapers.”
It was October 1942 and the
new Squadron was assigned to the USS Enterprise, CV-6. The first fighter Gordon
flew from the decks of the Enterprise was the F4F Wildcat. Donald drew his first
enemy blood on October 26th at the Battle of Santa Cruz. Ensign
Gordon downed two Mitsubishi Type 97, aircraft. He was given a “probable”
for a third Mitsubishi during the melee.
His next combat was on
January 30, 1943 during a twelve-plane CAP or Combat Air Patrol northwest of the
Cruiser, USS Chicago. Gordon was the first to spot eleven twin-engine Mitsubishi
“Betty” bombers. Calling in the enemy sighting to the other fighter pilots
they pealed off after the attacking Betty’s. From astern Gordon attacked one
of the medium Japanese bombers. The bomber caught fire and nosed into the
Pacific. He then turned his fighter onto another and dispatch the enemy bomber
as well.
Gordon did not get credit
for either of the bomber victories because he was the last to get back to the
Ready Room. By the time he checked in with his report and victory claims he
found out that their had already been 19 claims on only eleven enemy bombers and
Gordon knew he in fact he had shot down two of the bombers and watched two get
away!
This was a very good start
for a fighter pilots career. In two engagements Gordon was labeled “FLASH
GORDON” form the science fiction action hero. It was well deserved
with three confirmed aerial victories, two shared and one probable.
In June 1943 their Squadron
returned to the United States. While in the States the air squadron was refitted
with the new F6F Hellcat. The Hellcat was a much more powerful fighter, bigger,
heaver and faster. The Hellcat packed more ammunition of 1,600 fifty-caliber
machine gun bullets in stead of 1,300 in the Wildcat.
In January 1944, Gordon
returned to combat again on the Enterprise. Donald was now a Lieutenant (jg).
Lt. (jg) Gordon’s first combat was on January 29 when he shot down a Zeke
(Zero) near Taroa. On February 16th he became an official Ace when he
downed another Zeke over Turk.
On April 1, 1944 Gordon was
promoted to a full Lieutenant. During the battle know as the “Marinas Turkey
Shoot”, Lt. Gordon downed a Judy torpedo bomber attempting to attack the
American fleet on June 19th. The next day he took part in the
counter-attack on the Japanese fleet. As he escorted naval divebomber and
torpedo aircraft he shot down a Zero in their defense.
Gordon remained in the Navy
after the war and served in one of the first Squadrons that transitioned into
the new jet fighters. Gordon continued his education and graduated from Jackson
Collage in Hawaii. In 1961, He was promoted to Captain on February 1, 1962 and
finally retired from the Navy in July 1967.
During his Naval career he was credited with seven confirmed aerial victories, one probable, and two shared. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Gold Stars, the Air Medal with three Gold Stars; Commendation with Combat “V” for the two shared victories, Navy Unit Citation and two Presidential Unit Citations, one Guadalcanal and the other was from his service on the Enterprise.
To read about Donald's experiences flying the first Jet fighter of the Pacific Fleet go to our page on the North American FJ-1, Fury.
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Month Day, 2008