Charles C. Aikins

United States Navy’s Secret Weapon


The Story of A Career Naval Aviator

Recorded by Clarence Coates

April 2004




At the age of eighty-three, Charles Carroll Aikins, with just a glint of mischievousness in his eyes, begins to revisit an exciting period of his long life. And, he has allowed me the opportunity to sit and listen and to form a plan of how to document his incredible story as a naval aviator. His naval career spans some twenty-three years of flying; a subject that we both love.


As a boy in Kansas City, Missouri, Chuck had no particular interest in aviation while growing up although he remembered building models of airplanes in his wood shop class in high school. In his own words he “fiddled around in high school”. Grades weren’t important and his parents didn’t make any academic demands upon him so he just chose the easiest subjects and scraped through.


Fortunately there was a neighborhood family living across the street from Chuck’s parents that began to influence his thinking. It was the father of this family, who was professionally trained, who pointed out that if Chuck was going to make anything out of his life he would have to begin to apply himself to some serious studying. It so happened that this family had a daughter, some two years younger than he, who would become Mrs. Charles Aikins.


Taking his future father-in-law’s advice Chuck enrolled in the Kansas City Junior College after being admitted on probation for his less than stellar grades from high school. He was determined to prove himself capable and that he belonged there studying engineering.


It was at this time that one of Chuck’s buddies bought an old Henderson motorcycle that provided a new freedom for the teenagers. One of the regular places they would visit was the Fairfax Naval Auxiliary Field just out of Kansas City. They would park the cycle at the fence at the end of the runway and watch the Navy planes landing and taking off. Some of these visits were made with three of them riding the old motorcycle. Yes, three riders on one motorcycle!


Chuck found the thought of joining the Navy appealing so he enlisted with the Naval Reserve at Fairfax. He enjoyed dressing in his new uniform to accompany the family to shows and saw himself as being quite dapper. There were airplanes to handle on the ground and an occasional ride with the pilots training there. One of which made him violently airsick after some unexpected aerobatics. He had already filled his white sailor hat with the contents of his tortured stomach and seriously considered unbuckling his seat belt and just falling out of the open cockpit on the next roll. Fortunately, the pilot chose to land before Chuck was forced to beat him to the ground in his parachute!


Somebody was watching out for young Charles Aikins and his life was about to take on new meaning. Somebody was going to provide him the opportunity to become a pilot. And, most importantly, his training would be paid for by the United States Government!


The program was called the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) and was signed into law by President Roosevelt in December, 1938. He recognized the need to catch up with several European nations, particularly Germany and Italy, who had already begun training thousands of young pilots. These programs were said to be “civilian” in nature but in reality were nothing more than military training academies.


C
huck was there just at the right time, so it seemed. He qualified because of his test scores and good strong grades he was now earning in junior college in engineering. One of the airfields selected by the government to operate the local program was near Kansas City. The flight training took place at the Municipal Air Terminal which had a grass field and the plane provided for training was the famous J-3 Cub. The Cub was a fabric covered airplane with a tiny two place cockpit with one person, the student in the back seat and the instructor seated in front. It was powered by a small 65 horse power engine and all of them came in one color, yellow!


“You did mighty fine, young man.”


James Selby, right, signs the certificate of Carroll Aikins after solo flight.

The Kansas City Star ran the following article dated January 5, 1940. “CARROLL AIKINS, JUNIOR COLLEGE STUDENT, SOLOES. Youth into the air alone after the minimum hours of instruction” Pretty heady stuff for a nineteen year old! The article concludes with the following statement from William Ong who operated the school, “I feel Charles is a natural flier.”


Recalling this period of his life Chuck remembers that James Selby, his instructor, was physically a large man that more than filled the front seat of the tiny Cub. So during his flight training he would be unable to see the instruments and only by straining and leaning left or right could he see out the windshield. When he made his solo flight the little Cub “jumped” into the air with only the weight of the 175 pound nineteen year old pilot! What a thrill!


C
ontinuing his training, Chuck began to focus on becoming a naval aviator when he finished the CPTP. His diligent work paid off when in May of 1941 he was accepted into the Navy’s Aviation Cadet Program. But first he had to be discharged from his reserve enlistment as the following document attests.


With orders to report to the U.S. Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida Chuck’s flying was about to take a dramatic turn.


The Jacksonville experience was not what Chuck had expected. With the likelihood of impending war the Navy was rapidly expanding its pilot training and there were not enough parachutes for all of the cadets. This meant that Chuck’s class was used to “help” around the air station pushing around planes and doing odd jobs. But, no flying!


F
ortunately, the Navy was opening a new training facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Chuck’s class was transferred there to begin training. The facility was so new that the cadets had to fly from surrounding air strips before the runways were completed.


N3N-3 “Yellow Peril”


For one year Chuck trained in Corpus Christi moving through various aircraft and transitioned into seaplanes like the N3N-3 shown above. At the completion of seaplane training he was selected to fly observation aircraft like the SOC-1, Seagull. It was designed to be carried aboard large ships and launched from a catapult to perform scouting duties for the fleet.


Shortly before Chuck’s graduation from flight school the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the world was plunged into war. On the 19th of December, 1941, Charles Carroll Aikins was commissioned with fourteen other cadets as an ensign in the United States Navy and designated as a Naval Aviator. I’m sure that all of them were firmly convinced they could single handedly take care of the enemy that now threatened all of us. Youth doesn’t lack bravado.






Charles Carroll Aikins becomes a Naval Aviator

and an Officer and Gentleman

January 21, 1942



SOC-1 Seagull


Shortly after graduating from flight training Chuck joined the fleet aboard the light cruiser U.S.S Brooklyn flying Seagulls. He was the youngest pilot of the group. His arrival coincided with the Allied invasions of North Africa and Sicily in November, 1942


As Chuck relates this part of his story he is quick to point out that the type of flying he was doing was more difficult than carrier operations. When discussing this topic with carrier pilots and to settle the ensuing arguments, Chuck would explain the nuances of making a landing on rough seas. It required perfect timing to find and land on the “slick” in the water created on the inside of the turning ship’s wake which lasted only seconds. With the plane on the water it then meant a quick taxi to line up on a platform being dragged through the water along side of the ship. The pilot then had to add power to slide the airplane up on the platform, perfectly centered, to catch a self-locking device that would secure the main pontoon to the platform. And they weren’t finished yet. The enlisted radio man-rear gunner then had to get out on the top wing and make the hook-up with the cable of the crane so the Seagull could then be hoisted aboard and placed back on the catapult for the next launch. After hearing Chuck’s explanation I am inclined to agree. It took special skills of a very skilled aviator!


To support landing Allied forces on the 8th of November, 1942 Chuck flew for ten hours spotting enemy battery positions near the beaches of French Morocco and reported their positions back to the Brooklyn. The six inch guns of the ship then would destroy the enemy gun emplacements. Referring to Chuck’s exploits that day an Associated Press release stated the following: “The blond, ex-football player who was praised for spotting the gunnery that destroyed the Chergui battery in the Casablanca area, and for spending the longest time in the air, n
arrowly escaped being shot down.”


Chuck, right rear, and fellow pilots of the U.S.S. Brooklyn


For the above stated action young Charles Aikins was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The award reads, “For heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in a flight as a scouting plane pilot aboard a cruiser during the invasion of Sicily” The article goes on to read, The lieutenant was in numerous spotting and reconnaissance missions deep in enemy territory despite heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire and air opposition.


It was apparent early on that Chuck Aikins was going to make his mark on the U.S. Navy. His Distinguished Flying Cross would later be decorated with a cluster indicating he had received the medal twice. That’s another story to be told later.




Chuck’s orders assigning him to the U.S.S. Brooklyn


With his tour completed on the Brooklyn Chuck was assigned to dive bomber training at Cecil Field, Florida. There he began flying the Douglas SBD Dauntless made famous for its role in the Battle of Midway. He remained at

Cecil Field for three months before transferring to Grandview Naval Air Station near Chicago to qualify for carrier landings. The “aircraft carrier” they practiced on was a converted coal burning paddle-wheeler the Wolverine and its sister “ship” the Sable. They weren’t plying the oceans of the world but Lake M
ichigan would have to do.

Douglas SBD Dauntless



In December of 1943 after finishing carrier qualifications, Chuck was transferred west on temporary duty to Alameda Naval Air Station assigned to the 301 Bombing Squadron.


Shortly after his arrival an old football injury returned to haunt him. His knee would occasionally “lock up” and he would simply push against the inside of it freeing it to move again. But this time, it locked up and he was unable to get it to move. As he tells this story I have no doubt one of his first thoughts would have been, will I be able to fly again? The doctors decided that surgery would be necessary so Chuck was sent to the Naval Hospital at Oak Noll. The surgery was performed on January 12, 1944.

After the operation Chuck was on a train headed for the Naval Convalescent Hospital in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where he was to recuperate. It was not a pleasant stay with the pain of rehabilitation. The theory practiced at that time was to let the knee remain in the same position for long periods of time. After bathing the knee in hot water the therapist would begin bending the long immobilized joint causing considerable pain. Chuck was released from the hospital on February 26, 1944, declared, “Fit for flight!”


When Chuck returned to Alameda he was assigned to 303rd Bombing Squadron and remained there until it was decommissioned. He soon found himself on his way to NAS Arlington in Washington to join VF-38 and train in the F4F’s, the Wildcat, and F6F’s, Hellcats. What a great opportunity for a Naval Aviator! Getting to fly the Navy’s best fighters!



F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat



Chuck arrived at Arlington with considerable flying experience and two promotions moving him up to the rank of Lieutenant. When he tells of this period of his career he mentioned that the city of Arlington was about to have one of its annual parades and he and some of his friends were asked, by someone affiliated with the city’s parade committee, if they could provide a flyover during the parade. Well, of course they would! He smiles when I asked him how low they flew that day and he answers, matter-of-factly, “We were below the flags on their poles.” I’m sure some of the old timers of Arlington still remember the day the Wildcats provided “low cover” for their parade! What great fun.


The Wildcat was one of Chuck’s favorite airplanes. When I asked him about it he smiled and said, “That was a fun little airplane to fly. That damn thing would fly just as well upside down as right side up!”


With his training behind him it was time for the U.S. Navy to put Lt. Aikins back into the war. It was December 1944 when Chuck received orders to transfer to Guam as a carrier replacement pilot. After a very long trip by a Pan Am Clipper to Hawaii, then a R4D-5 (DC-3) for the remaining island hopping to reach Guam and the end to his forty-one hour trip.


He and the other replacement pilots waited for word to join the carrier battle group and the job they had all trained to do for such a long time. When the call came they were more than ready. They took off to rendezvous with the carriers and found several of them moving together. A radio message directed them to land on a particular carrier identified only by large numbers painted on the fight deck. The landing signal officer waved him on aboard and Chuck put the big Hellcat on the deck for a perfect landing. Chuck tells the story this way. “I shut the engine off and opened the cockpit and an enlisted ground crewman climbed up on the wing and I asked him, ‘What carrier is this?” He continued, “That guy probably thought, what kind of clowns are they sending us? He doesn’t even know the name of his ship!”


Chuck found himself aboard one of the most famous fighting ships of World War II, the U.S.S. Lexington. She had been nearly sunk by a Japanese air attack forcing her back to San Francisco for quick repairs and then to return to the Pacific to provide a home for one, Lt. Aikins.


Flying his Grumman Hellcat Chuck took part in several missions over enemy territory strafing and bombing various targets. In December of 1944 they struck Luzon in the Philippine Islands. On the following day they bombed and strafed Japanese aircraft parked at Clark Field. This was dangerous business!



The U.S.S. Lexington in 1943


The group would strike Formosa, Saigon, Bangkok, and Okinawa. But the one mission that Chuck remembered better than the others was a raid on the harbor at Hong Kong.


The Hong Kong raid was to be a big one by the numbers of aircraft involved. Chuck’s group was one of three air groups plus support aircraft to take part. That totaled more than seventy airplanes all crowded together. He had never seen so many airplanes airborne at one time. After a number of hours lumbering along flying fighter support for the slower dive bomber and torpedo planes they arrived over the target and were met with a hail of antiaircraft fire. The harbor was filled with Japanese shipping and all of them were firing at the approaching Americans. The large formation broke up into twisting, diving and circling airplanes amidst exploding flak.


The Hellcats carried bombs beneath their wings and as the first wave pulled up the cover aircraft started down to drop their weapons. He tells it like this.

“I could see all the canon fire everywhere so I decided that the Jap guns could not be brought to bear right down on the water so that’s where I went. I was flying as low as I could get and I picked out a ship in front of me and released my bombs. I then pulled up and sailed just over the top of it and continued to stay low and headed back out to sea. With the harbor behind me I began looking around for my ship mates but I could not see one of them! I was all by myself thinking, “Oh my God. Where’s the ship?”


A
gain, somebody was watching over Lt. Aikins as he suddenly spotted a lone lumbering Helldiver and thought to himself, “I think he knows where he’s going.” So he slipped up on his wing tip and followed him safely back to the Lexington.


Back home safely on the Lexington. March, 1945


With the war winding down Chuck returned to the states on February 26, 1945 and a well earned thirty days leave. This leave would be a very special one in Chuck’s life. For when he returned to home he found out that Sally, his neighbor and “friend” for all of these years was attending Smith College and he began to realize that he missed her. They made arrangements to meet in New York City and over some drinks Chuck said something like, “Good ole Sal. She’s always there when you need her.” Or so he thought. For she answered, “Well, I may not be one of these days.” That caught Chuck’s attention. They decided that there was something “special” about their relationship and he proposed to Sally. They were married one month later in the famous Little Church Around the Corner in downtown Manhattan.


Sally remained on the east coast continuing her studies in nursing and Chuck was assigned to a Radar Training Unit out in Alameda NAS in California. He would become OIC (officer in charge) with the new rank of Lieutenant Commander. Chuck was moving up in the world.

Lieutenant Commander Charles Aikins





The above orders sending Chuck to his new assignment with the Radar Training Unit authorize him to drive his personal car, a 1936 Dodge Coupe, License: 49T457 California


T
he new job at Alameda placed Chuck commanding fifty-one enlisted men and twenty officers. It was their responsibility to train aviators in the use of

t
he latest in radar technology. The science was still being perfected and was quickly becoming indispensable to aviation.

R4D-5 converted for radar training for aviators

“Airborne Classroom”

Chuck remained at Alameda until September 11, 1947 when he was ordered to Guam as part of Fleet Air, Western Pacific Command. While there he flew throughout the Pacific checking on operations of various naval facilities. At the end of three months the command was disbanded. In the mean time Chuck had been trying to qualify for base housing so that Sally and their new daughter, Nancy, could join him but a long waiting list prevented this from happening.


At the time of the disbanding of Fleet Air, Western Pacific there was an opening for Operations Officer at NAS Sangley Point in the Philippines which provided family housing with the job. In January, 1948 Chuck applied for and got the position and immediately sent for Sally and Nancy.



While at Sangley Chuck was appointed to the Joint Army, Navy, and Air Force Planning Board. Some of his duties were social in nature as the Navy’s representative on formal occasions with various dignitaries.



In dress whites, LCDR Aikins looks on as Emelda Marcos pins an award

Other duties performed by LCDR Aikins at this time were to provide for replenishing the “ship’s stores” by flying a RD4 to such places as Hong Kong (on more friendly terms this time) and Bangkok to pick up food and “other necessities” for the Navy.


While serving at Sangley Point Chuck took part in a harrowing rescue of three survivors of a small boat that was swept out to sea during a typhoon. After being spotted by an Air Force B-17, Chuck and his co-pilot, Lt. Julius Achten, were dispatched in a PBY to rescue the survivors. Finding the seas too rough to land they returned to Sangley to outfit the flying boat with JATO ( jet assisted take off) packs to allow the PBY to get airborne after picking up the survivors. They succeeded and returned safely. The Associated Press carried the article dated July 8, 1948.



“FLYING BOAT RECUES THREE ADRIFT OFF LUZON”

Piloted by LCDR Aikins


In December, 1948 Chuck was transferred to the Post Graduate School at Monterey, California, where he spent a year studying various engineering courses and command structure.


With the completion of the program at graduate school Chuck was transferred to Memphis, Tennessee and assigned to the Naval Air Training Command and a job that he looked forward to leaving, as soon as possible! After a year in Memphis he volunteered to go to the Pacific to any job available and the Navy obliged.


A
t this time an opening occurred for a commanding officer of a squadron of Panther jets based at Moffett Field, near San Francisco, and he was chosen to take command. There was one minor problem with this new assignment; Chuck had never been in the cockpit of a jet!


LCDR Charles Aikins takes command of his first jet squadron


VF-23 was an experienced squadron having already served a tour of duty in Korea when Chuck took command. It must have been a bit daunting for a new commander who had never flown a jet to gain the respect of his new command. But the new “Skipper” soon had earned their full respect.


He tells of how a pilot, in those days, learned to fly a “new” airplane. He would read the manual, sit in the cockpit as an experienced pilot pointed out where everything was…and that was it! You started up the engine and took off. Being single seated airplanes, you were all by yourself. And very soon Chuck was flying with the best of them and completely at home in jets. As

William Ong had said so many years earlier, “Charles was a natural flier.”

W
hile at Moffett VF-23 worked on increasing its proficiency under the leadership of LCDR Aikins and was deemed ready for combat and awaited their orders.

Chuck adds another aircraft to his log book

Moffett Field, March 1952


VF-23 heads for Korea


In May of 1952 VF-23 was ordered to sea aboard the U.S.S. Essex where they flew many missions over Korea. They supported ground forces and destroyed several bridges near the Chinese border. Unfortunately, there was a heavy price to be paid as Chuck lost three aviators from his squadron to combat.



The Essex readies to take four Panthers aboard.


At the conclusion of VF-23’s tour their commanding officer, LCDR Aikins is awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his leadership on January 15, 1953. In the following letter to members of the squadron he makes it clear that the medal belongs to all of them for the successes of the squadron.




“This medal was earned by all of us.”


Shortly after the conclusion of Chuck’s tour of duty off Korea he continued his climb in rank with his promotion to full commander with a full three stripes on his sleeve and a silver oak leaf on his collar.


Commander Charles Aikins


Through out 1953 and into 1954 Chuck’s assignments take him back and forth from one coast to another serving in numerous capacities. He serves with the Pratt Whitney Aircraft Division in East Hartford, Connecticut as a Naval consultant, and attended the Air Force Contract Termination School in New York, among several others.


In I955 an assignment to the Bureau of Aeronautics where Commander Aikins continued to represent the U.S. Navy working with the business of civilian contracts.


The year 1956 finds Chuck assigned as the Operations Officer for the Fleet All Weather Training Unit in San Diego. The unit was equipped with the latest addition to the fleet, the F4D, Skyray. Chuck had now come all the way from the little J-3 Cub back in Kansas to the Cold War and the age of air-to-air missiles fired from highly sophisticated jets flying at the speed of sound. It is during his tenure with the All Weather Training Unit that Chuck’s squadron became the Navy’s only air unit under full time operational control of the North American Air Defense Command.



“Scrambling” a F4D Skyray


Chuck’s long and productive career concluded with his final assignment as Chief of Weapons Division at Topsham Air Force Station, Brunswick, Maine.

T
he effective date of his retirement orders read, 31 July, 1961.



Commander Charles C. Aikins, left, retires from the Navy


So the long and successful career of Charles Carroll Aikins is now history.

His contribution to Naval Aviation and the service to his Country place him in a very select group of American patriots.


We salute you, Commander Aikins.




Chuck Aikins and his wife of fifty-nine years, Sally

April 2004









Twenty-three years of service to his Country


Ensign 1941 to Commander in 1961



Pilots of the Essex “Bullet” mounts up




How do you fly this thing? Skipper give VF-23 Hell!



“Bullet” Cigars for the new dad



Thanks Chuck for the opportunity to be a part of this project. And thanks to my wife, Marlene, for her able proof reading. It’s been fun!

Clarence Coates

Chuck’s boys going vertical over Korea, 1953


The End

Back on board……

SOC’s on catapults of a light cruiser.

Note the two pilots (still in their May Wests) and another officer standing in a group between the two catapults.


Chuck had modified his SOC to carry two small bombs suspended beneath the lower wing. He tells of his first “bombing mission” this way. “I saw this column of Italian soldiers heading up a road toward the Americans who were just landing on the beaches. I put the ole SOC in a dive (he smiles) and they started scrambling for the ditch along the road. Leveling off I pulled the release and the two bombs fell and landed in the middle of the road and did nothing! In the excitement I had forgotten to arm the damn things!” He continued, “That was the last time that ever happened.” He was still grinning.