Fighter Squadron 45 (VF-45) WW2

VF-45 flew from a ship with an extraordinary record. USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) earned six battle stars and is forever linked to future President George H.W. Bush, who served as an Avenger torpedo bomber pilot aboard her. On September 2, 1944, Bush was shot down over Chichi Jima while attacking a Japanese radio installation. He was rescued by the submarine USS Finback after four hours in the water,two of his crewmates were killed. Bush was 20 years old.

Fighter Squadron 45 (VF-45) served aboard USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) as part of Carrier Air Group 45 during World War II. Flying the Grumman F6F Hellcat in the Pacific Theater from 1945, VF-45 participated in the Okinawa Campaign from April through June 1945, the last and bloodiest amphibious assault of the Pacific War, where the fleet absorbed nearly 1,900 kamikaze sorties.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat

The Grumman F6F Hellcat was the fighter that broke Japanese air power in the Pacific. Designed as a direct response to the A6M Zero,using intelligence from a captured specimen,the Hellcat combined a 2,000-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine with rugged construction, self-sealing fuel tanks, and 212 pounds of cockpit armor. The result was a fighter that could outclimb, outdive, and outgun the Zero while absorbing punishment that would have destroyed lighter aircraft.

VF-45 was part of the massive expansion of Navy fighter strength during the final year of the Pacific War. The squadron flew combat sorties during Okinawa Campaign and Japan homeland strikes, providing fleet air defense and conducting strike missions against Japanese forces from USS San Jacinto's flight deck.

Carry the history. VF-45 t-shirts, hoodies, and heritage gifts,built for those who remember what these squadrons gave.