80 years ago this month. December 1944. “Unaymit” (White 15), a behemoth Martin PBM-3D Mariner flying boat of the “White Lightnings” of Patrol Bombing Squadron (VPB) 17 refueling on a flat sea around Ulithi atoll from the 311-foot Barnegat-class light seaplane tender USS Onslow (AVP-48). Note the multi-colored fender between the plane and the ship and the lack of safety and PPE gear that would drive an OSHA guy out of his skull these days.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 97673
Established 3 January 1944 at Norfolk, just five months later VPB-17 had made it 6,500nm to NAS Kaneohe in Hawaii and was quickly brought up to operational status.
By September, the squadron had leapfrogged to Eniwetok and Saipan then Ulithi with AVP support. The Lightnings then began conducting anti-shipping patrols as well as sector searches, Dumbo missions, mail delivery, and air cargo missions in the region until February 1945 when it was deployed to San Pedro Bay, Philippines, and would operate in the Lingayen Gulf on a series of night searches and raids against Japanese shipping and positions.
By July 1945, the squadron was over Balikpapan in Borneo, supporting the Australian push to liberate the Dutch East Indies. September brought missions to the recently liberated Korea and northeast China coast.
Shipping back to the West Coast aboard one of Onslow’s sisters, the tender USS Barataria (AVP 33), VPB-17 was disestablished at NAS San Diego in January 1946, having a very busy two-year lifespan.