Tony’s Short Stories: Hellcats over France
Join me for an exhilarating deep dive into the extraordinary role of Hellcat fighters during the Allied invasion of Southern France. These mighty planes, flown by specially trained Navy pilots, not only provided air cover but also spearheaded precision strikes that crippled German forces. From strafing motor convoys to blasting through enemy fortifications, the Hellcats left a trail of devastation in their wake, proving their unmatched versatility in battle. This episode explores how a new kind of naval airstrike redefined warfare, leaving both enemies and allies in awe. If you’re fascinated by tactical innovation, daring missions, and the sheer power of aerial warfare, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

“Hellcats over France,” by Lieutenant (JG) John G. Norris, USNR, published in Flying magazine, January 1945.
Hellcats from Navy carriers supported our advancing armies in South France.
Aboard the U.S.S. Tulagi at sea, a new type of United States Naval air striking force made its battle debut during the Allied invasion of southern France.
This recently-commissioned American aircraft carrier—employing only Hellcat fighters flown by especially-trained pilots—went into action for the first time and proved highly successful in a wide variety of combat assignments. The Hellcats not only provided air cover for the western flank of the invasion forces—remote from our landing fields on Corsica—but were given other important battle roles.
They did gun-spotting for Allied warships pounding coastal defenses and other targets ashore.
They carried out “pin-point” attacks with rockets and bombs against coastal batteries which survived continuous naval and high-level bombing assaults.
They served as the “eyes” of the Allied invasion command in the area west of the Rhone River, keeping them posted as to what the formidable German forces in that area were doing.
And when the Navy pilots reported that the Nazis in southwestern France were racing toward Germany instead of massing for a counter-attack on our beachheads—information which enabled Allied troops to strike northward to head them off—the Hellcats were turned loose on still another job.
Armed with rockets, 250-, 500- and 1,000-pound bombs and their battery of six .50-caliber machine guns, the carrier—based American planes struck repeatedly at the retreating German forces.
A single squadron of the Hellcats based aboard this carrier reported the destruction of 487 enemy motor vehicles—including troop carriers, ammunition trucks and armored cars and tanks. They damaged an additional 114 vehicles.
In addition, more than 200 locomotives and train coaches were destroyed or damaged, five bridges were cut, a score of trawlers and barges were blasted, at least eight forts and gun emplacements were silenced, and numerous fuel tanks and ammunition dumps exploded by the squadron’s dive-bombing and rocket-firing Hellcats.
They ranged up and down the country west of the Rhone River. It was a strange sort of a job for Navy carrier pilots. By far the greater part of this destruction was concentrated within four days. One mission, led by the squadron commander, 30-year old Lieutenant Commander, William F. (“Bush”) Bringle, USN, of Memphis, Tennessee, was particularly successful. The seven pilots first discovered a Nazi troop convoy on a road west of Carcasson and immediately attacked the concentration of 100 or more trucks and armored cars with their rockets and bombs.
“Each of us made six runs apiece on the column” said Ensign John M. Denison, USNR, of Lexington, Massachusetts. “We smashed hell out of them, averaging two flamers per pilot per run. There were several large explosions, probably from fuel or ammunition trucks blowing up. “The Germans left the trucks when we attacked and shot at us from the ditches. There was also considerable fire coming from a farmhouse close by so we bombed that and left it wrecked and burning.”
“We discovered another motor column near Castelnau d’Aude and made three or four strafing passes at it with the same rate of destruction,” Ensign William C. McKeever, USNR, of Byesville, Ohio, said “Several miles west of there we sighted another column and strafed it, and near Villefranche attacked a column in which there were horse-drawn ammunition carts and weapons carriers. The horses stampeded and ammunition carts exploded. The return fire was intense. Several of our planes were hit.”
The next day six of the Hellcats led by Lieutenant Frederick F. (“Schnapsey”) Schauffler, USNR, Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, played havoc with German motorized columns along roads near Uzes, Capelle, Bagnols and Remoulins. They destroyed between 80 and 100 of them.
“Just outside of Pouzilliac,” Schauffler declared, “we ran into a long column of Nazi vehicles reaching around a bend in the road. We were carrying depth bombs and rockets. I got a direct hit between three trucks just at the bend. One was apparently an ammunition truck for there was a tremendous explosion rising 300 feet in the air. The tail of one truck flew in an arc several hundred feet and set a hay field afire. The fire on the road spread from one truck to another.
“A few minutes later we ran into another column. They were packed close in double lanes like five o’clock traffic back in Boston. We attacked with rockets and I saw Candler [Lieutenant (J.G.) William R. Candler, USNR, Detroit, Michigan.] put a pair of rockets through a line of trucks, each rocket blowing up at least two.”
Another heavy “bag” of enemy motor transport was made on a 30-mile stretch of road between LeLuc and St. Maximin, east of the Rhone. Allied spearheads captured this area a day or so later and Allied Army commanders obtained a first hand view of the effectiveness of the Naval air support.

Brigade General G.P. Saville, USA, commanding the 12th Tactical Air Force and in command of all units giving close air support to the operations, sent a “well-done” to the carrier task group for this achievement.
“Today I personally counted 202 destroyed enemy vehicles from four miles west of St. Maximin to two miles east of LeLuc” he radioed. “This is positive proof of an excellent job. I would be grateful if you would thank all concerned for me for an outstanding success and a definite contribution to the present rapid advance of the ground forces.”
The ditches along the road gave convincing evidence of the destructive power of the Hellcats’ rockets and machine guns. Taking a photographic party ashore the following day the writer found many of the vehicles destroyed beyond recognition. What had been large armored cars or troop carriers were simply masses of charred and twisted metal.
In some places there were two or three wrecks piled up together and in one ditch four within 15 yards of each other. Several ammunition trucks which had been overturned by machine gun fire striking in the engine or cab, lay on their sides in the ditch otherwise undamaged. Their deadly cargo-shells, bombs, “potato masher” hand grenades, etc., were strewn unexploded among the grape vines in the adjoining fields.
The Hellcats had an equal amount of success attacking trains. The squadron destroyed or damaged 23 locomotives and 185 coaches, scored bomb hits on five bridges and made 17 other railroad cuts or blocks.
On one occasion Bringle noticed what appeared to be a forest moving. Не swooped low and saw it was a 15-coach train covered with branches. The Hellcats attacked and left the troop train smashed and flaming.
The retreating Germans tried many such camouflage tricks in an attempt to escape notice during the day so they could move at night, but the low-flying Navy fighters detected the branch-covered trains and trucks. One ruse might have fooled them had it not been for the keen eyes of farm-bred Ensign Dale N. Dieterich, USNR, of Clayton, Kansas.
Flying low over a plowed field, Dieterich was puzzled by something peculiar about the clump of trees and bushes in the center. Then it dawned on him. The plow-furrows ran straight into the clump instead of around it. He called to his mates and down they went-strafing a group of cleverly concealed German cars and trucks!
The work of the Hellcats against German forces trying to escape from southern France was easily the most spectacular phase of the carrier planes’ activities in the campaign. It was of inestimable importance in slowing down and bottling up the retreating enemy army.
But this new use of carrier aircraft was not the primary purpose of their inclusion in the south France amphibious operation. In the advance plans for the invasion their principal roles were to provide air protection to the left flank of the landing and to direct the gunfire from the battleships and cruisers in softening up the German shore defenses.
As it turned out, there was little air-opposition to the invasion—and consequently not much need for fighter cover—and a highly important but smaller job of gun-spotting than had been expected. Thus the Hellcats were able to devote much time to profitable attack missions behind the German lines.
This use of a single type of plane to perform so many functions is new to United States Navy carrier aviation. Normally our big battle carriers contain striking teams composed of Curtiss Hell-divers (dive-bombers), Grumman Avengers (torpedo bombers) and Grumman Hellcat fighters, while “baby flat-tops” usually have a team of Avengers and fighters. The only prior one-type carriers have been ships providing fighter protection for a large carrier task force.
In introducing a new kind of Naval air “punch”—a small carrier equipped with one type of airplane which is at once a good fighter, gun-spotter, dive-bomber and rocket-firing attack plane—the United States Navy may have devised a weapon of great potential value.

The planes themselves were the new F6F-5’s, which have at least six principle improvements over their predecessors, the F6F-3’s. The engine cowling has been further streamlined, the rough-surfaced paint has been replaced by a waxed mirror-smooth polished aluminum surface, new engine cowlings make it possible to maneuver the plane with greater ease, the new Hellcat has an improved windshield with two metal braces on the old windshield removed for better visibility, the tail and stabilizer surfaces have been strengthened, and a larger sheet of armor-plate has been placed behind the cockpit giving the pilot greater protection. The armament of the two versions is identical.
The new Navy tactics used in southern France would seem to have a definite place in future amphibious operations, particularly for spotting gunfire during Naval bombardment of the landing area.
In the latest amphibious operations in Europe—including the landing in Normandy—land-based fighters were used for spotting. In the south France invasion, however, our available land bases were relatively remote from the beaches and the spotting came from aircraft carriers.
The Navy was ready with such carrier-based fighter-spotters. Lieutenant Commander Bringle’s VOF squadron had been in training for months for an assignment of this nature. The unit was assigned to the U.S.S. Tulagi—one of the Kaiser-built “baby flat-tops.”
The captain is a Naval Academy graduate of 1921 and has been flying in all types of planes since 1926. A sister ship of the Tulagi—the U.S.S. Kasaan Bay—with a squadron trained in fighter tactics, dive bombing and rocket-firing, though not spotting, also was selected for the operations.
The two carriers, with escorting destroyers and two American-built small British carriers—H.M.S. Hunter and Stalker—were formed into a task group and placed under command of Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin, USN, of Palmyra, New Jersey. Admiral Durgin is a veteran sailor and airman. He was graduated from Annapolis in 1916, served on destroyers in the last war and has been flying for 25 years. He commanded the aircraft carrier Ranger in the North Africa landings.

Another task group of five American-built British baby flat-tops under Rear Admiral Thomas Troubridge, R.N., also joined Vice Admiral H. K. Hewitt’s naval forces for the landing. They were equipped with Supermarine Seafires, American Grumman Wildcats and a few Helldivers.
When the Naval bombardment preceding the landing began, the carrier-based Navy pilots were over the German fortifications. They stayed over them in the face of heavy flak, directing the warship fire as the coastal guns were knocked out one by one.
Perhaps the outstanding spotting job was done by Ensign David E. Robinson, USNR, of Chicago. He went out with Lieutenant Commander Sandor on D-plus-5 to direct fire on some guns that were still firing at our ships. Sandor was to do the spotting, with Robinson flying on his wing to watch for flak or fighters, but the former had trouble with his radio so they reversed positions.
Robinson first located a battery of four medium guns on Cap Sicie. He had the ship on the target in five salvos and the battery was completely destroyed. Then he directed fire from the U.S.S. Nevada’s 14-inch guns on a six-gun battery in a concrete revetment. An intense anti- aircraft barrage was put up against the two American planes but Robinson spotted the target for the battleship until it was destroyed.
Then they tackled a third target—six or seven heavy guns on Cap Capet. They were well-camouflaged and visibility was none too good. Robinson could not see them from the altitude he had been flying—1,000 to 3,500 feet—so he dropped down to 100 feet. He located the guns and directed the ship’s batteries on them until they were silenced.
“Robinson put on the finest exhibition of spotting I have ever seen,” said Sandor on returning to the ship. “At the complete disregard of his own personal safety he flew right down to the targets to make his observations. His spots were faultless.”
Sometimes, however, enemy guns would keep on firing despite the heavy bombardment. Then Hellcats loaded with rockets and bombs went into action.
There was one fort on Port Cros, a small island oft the coast, that kept shooting at our troops landing on the beaches despite every attempt to knock it out. An eight-plane flight led by Lieutenant Commander Sandor attacked the fort, dive-bombing from 7,000 feet out of the sun. Two runs were made with depth bombs and rockets and many hits were scored. Planes from the Kasaan Bay and Seafires from the British carrier followed up the assault. The fort surrendered in a couple of hours.
During the landings and the fighting to secure our beachheads there was little opposition from the Luftwaffe. But although the Navy fighter pilots failed to encounter any Nazi aircraft while spotting or flying air cover over beaches and fleet, they did not go scoreless in operation.
They had to fly nearly 150 miles inland to find enemy planes but they got them.
On a reconnaissance mission over Lyons, a group of the Hellcats ran into three Heinkel He-111’s. Lieutenant Commander Sandor and Ensign Robinson tackled one. The latter got in the first burst with a full deflection shot and then both pilots followed the enemy bomber down and finished destroying it.
Lieutenant Rene E. Poucel, USNR, of New York City, whose parents were born in the area over which he was flying, and Ensign Alfred R. Wood, USNR, of Yonkers, jumped the second plane and quickly sent it down in flames. Wood got the third Heinkel with one burst of his machine guns.
Later, Lieutenant (J.G.) Edward W. Olsewski, USNR, of Richmond Heights, Missouri, and Ensign Richard V. Yentzer, USNR, of Sheridan, Wyoming, ran into three Junkers Ju-52’s over the Rhone River. Both American planes had previously been damaged by flak in attacks on Nazi motor columns and had used up most of their ammunition. Olsewski had only one of his six guns firing but he shot down two of the enemy planes and Yentzer got the other.
This made a total of six enemy planes for the squadron—all they saw in the air during the entire operation.
But though, the Luftwaffe gave them little trouble, the antiaircraft fire was something else. Planes going out on spotting or attack missions a large portion of the time returned with flak holes in them. Some of them did not return, although in all but one or two instances the pilots parachuted safely.
A veteran Fighting French pilot taking part in the operation declared that the ack-ack over Toulon was the heaviest he had ever seen, and he had flown over Berlin and many other targets in Germany.
The beating the Hellcats took from flak and yet kept flying was a tribute both to the ruggedness of the airplane and the job done by the Tulagi’s plane maintenance crews.
The “mechs” and other plane repairmen under Lieutenant Edward O. Hudson, Jr., USNR, of Mexia, Texas, would grab the shot-up planes as they came down on the Tulagi’s elevators and work on them all night. Almost invariably the damaged planes would be ready for operations the next day.
Once a Hellcat received a 20-mm. shell hit in its engine, the missile going through three cylinders. The plane was flown back to the ship and made a normal landing. The next day it was back in service.
Besides proving the ruggedness of the Hellcat, the campaign also demonstrated that the fighter plane was an admirable dive bomber and rocket-firing attack plane. The rockets caused terrific damage to most any sort of target.

One of the most effective weapons used by the Hellcats was an anti-submarine depth charge equipped with a contact fuse. They were the only bombs available after the planes had been slugging the Nazi trains and trucks west of the Rhone for several days. But the missiles—with their tremendous blast effect—proved admirable for dropping within forts or on motor columns.
The unexpected expenditures of bombs against so many targets in the fighter-bomber sweeps gave rise to another expedient. A considerable quantity of British bombs was obtained but they would not fit into our bomb-racks.
Ordnance officers Lieutenant Ralph K. Andrist, USNR, of Minneapolis, and Ensign Edward F. O’Brien, USNR, of Rockford, Illinois, met the problem by grinding the lugs on the bombs to fit—while everyone on the ship got as far from the ordnance shops as their duties would allow.
Other divisions of the Tulagi’s air department, headed by Lieutenant Commander Adrian H. Perry, USN, of Pasadena, California, as well as the entire ship’s company did their part of the team job necessary to get the Hellcats on the target.
The landing deck crew under Lieutenant Leonard L. Brannan, USNR, of Auburn, Washington, smashed their own speed marks in getting the Hellcats into the air and down again. Brannan claims an all-Navy record for catapulting planes.
After the destruction or surrender of the last of the enemy coastal defenses and the retreat of the German armies to central France, there was little left for Admiral Durgin’s force to do and orders were received to withdraw from south France area.
Before we left, however, General Saville made a personal visit to this ship to thank for Admiral Durgin and his airmen for their support. Accompanying him was General Bouscat, commanding general of the French Air Force.
General Saville also sent a dispatch to Admiral Hewitt commending the carrier task group for its work.
“I would like to express my appreciation,” he stated, “of the outstanding work they have done and of their perfect cooperation. I consider the relationship and cooperation of the force to be a model of perfection and a severe standard for future operations”.
As the smoke cleared over Southern France, the Hellcats had not only proven their mettle but had also reshaped naval aviation tactics forever. With their combination of speed, firepower, and adaptability, these planes played a vital role in securing victory for the Allies. Their story is one of relentless determination and innovation—a testament to the courage of the men who flew them and the ingenuity of those who built them. Stay tuned as I continue to explore the untold stories of aviation history that shaped the outcome of World War II. You won’t want to miss what’s coming next!
I’ll see you in the next one!
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