(Squadron History by William Starke)
P40F of the 44th Squadron, Solomons 1943
(Squadron History by William Starke)
P40F of the 44th Squadron, Solomons 1943
The 44th Fighter Squadron was created at Wheeler Field, Hawaii on January, 1941. When the Japanese attacked that fateful Sunday morning, December 7th, the Vampire Squadron was one of the first to attempt to attack the Japs. Two Vampire pilots were strafed and killed as they attempted to take off and a third pilot was shot down just as he was airborne. Before other pilots could get in the air, the attack ended.
From Hawaii, the 44th went down to New Caledonia, Efate, and Espirito Santos islands, in the South Pacific. They began their combat missions at Guadalcanal, then moved on to Munda, Bougainville, and Rabaul. Then on to western New Guinea, Morotai, and The Philippines. From there they hit targets on Borneo, Formosa, and the China Coast, flying long 8-10 hour missions.
Theirs was a constant battle against not only the Japanese, but the weather, insects, malaria, shortages of food, planes, pilots, and equipment. When the war ended in August, 1945, it was the leading fighter squadron in the 13th Air Force with 169 Jap planes shot down---but at a cost of 42 fine, brave young American men.
Excerpts from Vampire Squadron
 |
'Bill'
Starke- His first personal P-38! Guadalcanal 1944 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Campbell, Connelly, Starke, and Mitchell on Guadalcanal, '44. Connolly was
Flight Leader, and Starke was Element Leader at that time. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
2nd
Lt. Cyrus R. "Cy" Gladen, Ace of the 44th FS (5 victories) Mid July 1943 at
Fighter two while on alert William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Cy
Gladen (in cockpit) and Bob Westbrook. "Westy" was our Commanding Officer
and became the leading fighter pilot in the 13th Air Force with 20
victories. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Capt.
Bill Starke at Morotai, Halmahera Is. Dec 1944. Bill was from Chicago...that
explains the "Windycitywiz" William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Bob
Mitchell, 'Bill' Starke's element leader. Bob Mitchell later had his own
flight. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Getting ready for a mission....R.S. Corbett, Jack Laurie, George
Seeburg...Guadalcanal
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Pilots
from the 44th FS, 18th FG. Head- top row, 5th from left.
Gladen- directly below man top row 4th from right. Dreckman- 3rd
from right 2nd row from bottom. Gaunt- 5th from left bottom row.
Westbrook- 6th from right bottom row. Cromme- far right top row. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
John
Pollock, Guadalcanal '44. John was, and is, the squadron humorist!!
He kept us grinning!
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Dusk
Patrol, Guadalcanal '44. What a beautiful aircraft! William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Getting ready to land on Fighter II (Kukum Field) runway...Guadalcanal,
'44. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
A
flight from the 44th Fighter Squadron. Guadalcanal April 1944. Lt. Henry
Storino, Capt. Marty Glommen, Lt. Bob Connolly, Lt. Bill Starke. Marty
was our Flight Leader and Bob was Element Leader in early 1944.
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
44th
Fighter squadron, Guadalcanal. March '44. "The Vampire Squadron" poses for a
picture...Starke and Mitchell are second row--6th and 7th from your right..
just to name two you have heard of in other pictures... William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Col.
Milton Adams reading citations in the Philippines, April '45 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
44th
FS pilots William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
On our
way to the South Pacific--Oct. 1943 Top of the "Mark" in San Francisco. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Our
prized "beach condos" we hired Philippinos to build these for
us...cost? $40 each!! This was on Lingayan Gulf on Luzon Island
in Feb. 1945. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Dick
Cartwright with some Philiippino children April '45 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Interior of our luxurious "condo"---complete with mosquito netting we used
over our cots at night--it kept most of the insects out! That must be
a vinegar bottle on the table... William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Just
another view of our condo on the beach--there is that pesky vinegar
bottle again... William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
I
think this was our Operations tent but I have for- gotten just where
it was.
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
One of
our pilots had gone to high school with Martha Tilton --they were on
Guadalcanal with Jack Benny's USO show...we organized a big party in
the squadron
area--and Martha brought Carole with her.. a bunch of Navy nurses came
along too and it was quite a party!!! William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS
|
 |
Sansapor Airfield with Middleburg Island in the distance. Western New
Guinea, Nov '44 This airfield was hacked out of raw, dense jungle with
huge trees and 20 foot long snakes and assorted other ugly creatures
everywhere! I think the 339th Squadron was stationed on
Middleburg island in the distance.
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
This
was the "officer's "washroom" on Morotai island...1945 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
"Heading out!"--from Samoa in Nov. 1943 Lts Sommerich, Stoll, Slupe,
Warner, Seeburg, Stucky. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Carole Landis and 'Bill' Starke- Guadalcanal '44 "Carole was a very exciting
young lady!!!" William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Connolly, Pollock. Mac and Joy at Bondi Beach, Sydney Australia. Oct '44 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
The
pilot's shower and washroom--overlooking the runway at Fighter II
1944 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
"Home
Sweet Home"- Fighter II airfield, Guadalcanal July '44 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Operations tent, Parachute depot. Guadalcanal '44. Foreground:
Connolly & Campbell Background: Pat Coleman & John Pollock William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Workers building our "condos." Lingayan Gulf, Luzon. March '45 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
A good
view of the New Guinea Jungle--why this became "The Jungle Air Force!"
Sansapor, Western New Guinea. Oct '44
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Lingayan Gulf, Luzon. March '45 Great beach! Good for body-surfing... William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Camp
shower facilities on Morotai island... 1943 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Finally out of our tents!--front-Harold Slupe George Thomasson, back--
Jim Fritsch, Erv Christian William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Col.
Walton, Commanding Officer and Capt. Starke, operations Officer at Lingayan
Gulf, Luzon. March '45. note the foxhole! William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Just
another view of our beloved "condo row"
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Skeet
Shooting- L toR: Capt's Conder, Green, & Krohn, Lt's. Strake and Storino William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Rest
leave in Auckland, New Zealand, 1944 Lts. "Soup" Campbell, Bill
Starke, Bob Connolly, Bob Mitchell--That dent was in our rental car
before we got it!
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Captains Slupe, Seeberg & Starke in the Philippines, April '45 How did
we get so many ssses in the out- fit?
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Mitch,
Connolly at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia. Oct. '44 "It's a tough life
but...." William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Japanese aircraft recognition chart William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Japanese aircraft recognition chart William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Map of
New Caledonia area, complete with the writing of the pilot, Bill Starke!
Notice the code names written in the different corners. William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
'Strip
Maps' used for navigating, kept on the pilots lap while flying.
See the back side here William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
44th
Fighter Squadron drawing. This was designed by George Gibbs who also
painted the book cover for the "Vampire Squadron." He was a pilot in
the 44th too.
William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Booklet on your rights in case of capture.. inside
cover.. pages 2-3..
pages 4-5.. pages
6-7.. pages 8-9..
pages 10-11.. pages
12-13.. pages 14-15..
pages 16-17.. pages
18-19 William 'Bill' Starke, 44th FS |
 |
Scoreboard for the 44th Fighter
Squadron. (18th fighter group) 13th Air Force photo Emile Beauregard photo |
 |
Capt Joe Lesicka receives the DFC photo courtesy of Jack Cook |
 |
Capt John Roehm's P-38j 8 - '44 photo courtesy of Jack Cook |
 |
'Zoom' Radzuikinas 11 - '42 photo courtesy of Jack Cook |
Do you have any info, data or material on this group you would like to see added to this page? Please email me and I would be happy to add it for you.
Use the Web-Birds Message Boards to chat about this group
All photos, and scanned images thereof, are owned by the person(s) listed in the photo caption, and used gratefully WITH PERMISSION on Web-Birds.com. No commercial use of these images is permitted without the written consent of the rightful owner. and Web-Birds.Com. Please ask before posting any images to another website.
Data for this page was found and used from the following publications-
Not seeing all of the Web-Birds.Com website and associated WWII Group pages? Click here to go to the Web-Birds homepage
