Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic WWII era portrait collage consisting of over a dozen pilots with their signatures, all members of Composite Squadron VC-68. The image was put together and presented to the Atlantic Oil and Gas Company.

VC-68 was established on July 1, 1943 and was stationed aboard the USS Fanshaw Bay. USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. She was named after Fanshaw Bay, located within Cape Fanshaw, of the Alexander Archipelago in the Territory of Alaska. The cape was given its name by Charles Mitchell Thomas, who was mapping the area, in 1887. Built for service during World War II, the ship was launched in November 1943, and commissioned in December, and served in support of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Battle off Samar, and the Battle of Okinawa. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. She was decommissioned in August 1946, when she was mothballed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was sold for scrapping in September 1959.

VC-68 was deployed overseas from May 29, 1944 to June 18, 1944 and was disestablished on October 1, 1945. This squadron would have taken part during the Mariana and Palau Islands Campaigns with the Fanshaw Bay.

The photograph is in good condition with all signatures and writing still mostly legible. This is an item that would be perfect for research as there are many pilots names’ still present.

Comes more than ready for further research and display.

Mariana and Palau Islands campaign With USS Fanshaw Bay
On 29 May, she sortied from Pearl Harbor, bound for Eniwetok Atoll, where she acted as the flagship of Task Group 52.14, which was assigned to support the upcoming Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. En route, two of her Wildcats were lost, and another was slightly damaged, through accidents. She began combat operations on 11 June, some 30 mi (48 km) west of Saipan, providing aerial reconnaissance, close air support, and antisubmarine patrols in support of the Battle of Saipan. On 15 June, at 17:15 in the late afternoon, the officers of Fanshaw Bay received a report of five Japanese aircraft proceeding towards her task group 71 mi (114 km) to her southwest. Fighters were scrambled, and the aircraft were intercepted 36 mi (58 km) away, harrying them as they quickly proceeded towards the carriers. Four of them were shot down, although a fifth aircraft was able to drop a torpedo aimed at Fanshaw Bay at 18:12. Fortunately for the carrier, the Japanese plane approaching from the starboard bow, perhaps disrupted by the anti-aircraft fire, dropped its torpedo at a slight turn. Therefore, Fanshaw Bay engaged in a hard right turn, easily dodging the torpedo. The Japanese aircraft was subsequently shot down at 18:15.

On 17 June, one of Fanshaw Bay's torpedo bombers conducting antisubmarine patrols crashed shortly after takeoff, veering port into the sea. A large explosion was triggered, likely from the detonation of one of the bomber's depth charges, killing all three of its crew. Later that day, another torpedo bomber was lost, and although two of the crew were recovered, the radioman drowned with the aircraft. In the late afternoon, the task group detected about seventy Japanese aircraft approaching quickly from the southeast, 40 mi (64 km) out. Fighters were scrambled, and Fanshaw Bay launched fourteen Wildcats to supplement the thirty-two launched by the other escort carriers. Her fighters, intercepting the planes, shot down one. Nonetheless, the Japanese force penetrated the air screen, and made for the carriers. Early on in the attack, the Japanese planes focused on Fanshaw Bay and White Plains. Her anti-aircraft guns provided adept assistance, shooting down three planes, and damaging two more.

However, at 18:52, a Japanese bomber made a run for Fanshaw Bay, dropping a bomb (believed to be 250 lb (110 kg)) as it flew about 1,500 ft (460 m) above the carrier. The bomb penetrated into her aft aircraft elevator, punching through the wooden decking, and detonating within the hangar bay, some 5 ft (1.5 m) below the flight deck. Shrapnel was launched through the hangar, instantly killing eleven men of Repair Party 3, which had taken up position forward of the elevator. Munitions were stored on both sides of the elevator, and shrapnel sliced through three torpedoes, although they failed to detonate. Nonetheless, the blast had enough force to rupture a fire main, sever electrical cables, and to even eject depth charges from the bomb bays of the Avengers stored within the hangar deck. In addition, several fires were kindled, total steering control was lost, and the ship acquired a 3° list to the port.

Although the fires were quickly put under control by the crew, several of her aircraft were compelled to land on other carriers as a result of the blazes. In the action, three planes from her aircraft contingent were lost in the turmoil, albeit there were no fatalities. Rear Admiral Bogan was also compelled to transfer his flag to the destroyer Porterfield in order to more effectively lead the fleet. The rest of Fanshaw Bay's damage was not so easily resolved. Steering control was not regained until 3:55 in the morning of 18 June. Of even greater concern to the ship's officers was that of her list, with her stern sinking 6 ft (1.8 m) lower than design specifications. Originally, they believed that the ship's outer skin had been penetrated, letting seawater in. Further investigation revealed that the cause for the list came from the ruptured fire main, which the damage control teams struggled to plug. Bogan, continuously frustrated by the progress of damage control, later complained in a 1969 interview that Fanshaw Bay was "the worst ship [he’d] ever seen in any Navy" and that "the entire complement was incompetent." Regardless of opinions, Fanshaw Bay suffered 14 dead and 23 wounded from the attack.

On 18 June, at 11:30 in the morning, her dead were buried at sea in a ceremony. Fanshaw Bay retired from operations and proceeded to Pearl Harbor for a long period of repairs. Nonetheless, limited flight operations continued, with a fighter pilot perishing in an accident on 29 June.