Meet WWII Flying Ace and former Blue Angel Colonel Dean Caswell, USMC, Retired. During WWII, Colonel Caswell flew over 100 missions, destroyed 10 or more enemy aircraft in the air and 25-30 aircraft on the ground.

Remarkably, he never received a bullet hole in any Corsair he ever flew. He was awarded the Silver Star, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 5 Air Medals.

The American Legion San Dieguito Post 416 will be honoring the Colonel and is sponsoring a once in a lifetime opportunity to listen to Colonel Caswell’s true life stories and WWII experiences. Colonel Caswell is the third in a series of WWII speakers that has been brought to you by the San Dieguito American Legion. This series honors great American veterans and provides the community with access to speeches given by our “Living Heroes.”

This exciting event will be held at the Hilton San Diego-Del Mar, 15575 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar, CA 92014 on Sunday, October 4th at 6pm and is FREE to the general public. The Del Mar Hilton has provided the space gratis for over 700 guests to enjoy an evening with a WWII Flying Ace.

To add to all the excitement, the American Legion Riders (ALR) from across town will show their support by escorting the Colonel from the American Legion Post 416 to his speaking engagement at the Hilton San Diego-Del Mar. Special thanks to the Del Mar Hilton and American Legion Posts 416, 149, 434 and 365 for their much appreciated support.

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Colonel Dean Caswell is being featured in the upcoming “Marine Wings over the Pacific” documentary, which highlights Marine Aviation in the Pacific during WWII. The Colonel is one of the last living WWII Marine Aces. The documentary will help support the USMC Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum & Historical Foundation in their effort to preserve Marine Aviation history.

http://www.flyingleathernecks.org

I had the pleasure and honor of meeting and interviewing this living legend in his home in Austin, Texas. The Colonel’s home is decorated in aviation memorabilia and is inundated with Marine Corps emblems as any true Marine would have it. Included in his collection of memorabilia is a display cabinet filled with framed pictures and aircraft models of his fellow Aces from the “Fighting Falcons” VMF-221. Every night before bed, the Colonel turns a light on for his “Case of Aces”, so his fallen brothers are never in darkness.

Colonel Dean Caswell, USMC, Retired, served our country for over 30 years and has flown in three wars, including WWII, Korea and Vietnam. His flying experience spans for over 60 years and for the purpose of this article, we focused our questions primarily on his WWII experiences.

In your book “My Taking Flight”, you mention that the Boy Scouts played a significant role in you becoming a fighter pilot. How was your Boy Scout experience instrumental?

Caswell: At around eleven years old, I built a fragile wood balsa airplane model and earned the Aviation Merit Badge in the Boy Scouts. I also lead eight boys in my troop. I believe Scouting builds self-reliance, character and leadership. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was learning some of the basic skills of becoming a fighter pilot. Later on, I spent 28 years volunteering with my six sons in Boy Scouts. I’m proud to say that they all became Eagle Scouts.

How did you join the service?

Caswell: Well that’s an interesting story… My cousin Carl Moore and I were living in Los Angeles at the time and we were both going to school and working full time. Carl called and said he had seven dollars in his pocket and if I had a little money, it was time we saw the bright lights of the Burlesque Houses on Broadway Street. Keep in mind, I was 18 years old at the time with a draft notice in my dresser drawer. We met at the Trolley Terminal in downtown, Los Angeles and decided to enhance our evening with a pint of ‘Four Roses’ bourbon. We were the same age, but neither of us had ever had a drink in our lives. My memory tells me that we saw our first burlesque show sitting in the darker part of the balcony as we killed off the pint of bourbon. At around two o’ clock in the morning, we were awakened and evicted by the theatre manager. We weren’t feeling too good and we had nowhere to go, when a tall man in a dark suit stepped out of the lite doorway. He had a white-billed cap and gold stripes lined his coat sleeve. He said “You fellas look in bad shape. You could use a good cup of coffee.” Then another uniformed man in a green coat with red stripes on his sleeve joined us and we entered into a small office off the street. We had just met the Navy and Marine recruiting officers. When we sobered up, still feeling like a train had run over us, Carl was in the Navy and I was in the Marine Corps.

Tell us about your first flight…

Caswell: “You got it, fly for a while”, that’s what my instructor said. My log book shows my first flight at 1.5 hours of dual flight instruction. I read later the notation “Tries very hard, but uncoordinated.”

What can today’s youth learn from that experience?

Caswell: I tried, I tried very hard and even though it seemed to accomplish nothing on my first try, eventually I soloed in three hours of flight time, which was a bit sooner than most of the group. My advice for today’s youth is to try and try again, until you succeed. If you’re detoured by your mistakes, you’ll never get anything done. Remember once you succeed, success breeds success…Just Keep trying!
Your initial assignment was dive bombing.

How did you end up becoming a fighter pilot?

Caswell: We were all counting on being fighters and when I received my assignment, it read “DIVE BOMBING.” I was absolutely sick. Just sick, to hear that my friend Brumley and I had assignments for dive bombing. We knew something had to be done and we found the Assignment Department at Pensacola. We were stunned to find out that the assignment person was a beautiful 21 year-old lady Marine, who randomly was passing out assignments. She said she was just filling quotas. I had to think fast, so I asked her out to dinner and tried to be a perfect gentleman. With a couple of kisses and a few promises, she changed my assignment to fighters. Poor Brumley.

How did your previous experience with shotguns and bird shooting help you become a good “Dog-Fighter?”

Caswell: At 16 years old, I could shoot 20 birds on the wing with 20 shells. Like a shotgun, I would lead the target, in this case the enemy aircraft. It was like shooting fast flying ducks, which was very natural for me.

You are famed for the flying the Corsair. Why is the Corsair extremely difficult to land on Air Craft Carriers?

Caswell: You couldn’t see where you were landing or the Landing Signal Officer, because the end of the nose is too long and the cock pit was so far back. We would have to fly in a half circle/turn with your head sticking out of the cockpit and your goggles down if you wanted to make the landing. We all had to land that way with the Corsair. The long nose was built that way to accommodate the size of the engine and the propeller.

Why was the Corsair a superior fighting aircraft to the Japanese enemy aircraft?

Caswell: Many reasons really…It was the first aircraft to maintain a speed of over 400 mph in sustained level of flight. It was faster, more heavily armed and maneuverable than most of the Japanese aircraft. Our primary mission as a Marine Fighter Squadron was to support our ground troops, so being capable of carrying heavy ammunition was essential. Our secondary mission was to protect our Navy. The Corsair was the finest fighter plane of its time in the world. I should know, I put over 2,000 hours of flight time in one.

Why was the Corsair known as the “Whistling death?”

Caswell: It was named that by the Japanese ground troops. We flew low and fast, and the air going through the wing’s oil cooler ducting would make a whistling sound, which meant imminent death for the enemy.

During your Operational Flight Training, you mentioned snap rolls in a Corsair were prohibited. Why is that?

Caswell: A Snap Roll in any plane is considered a violent maneuver. The Corsair was never made for Snap Rolls because of the folded wings. Aeronautical engineers feared the wings would not stay intact.

You were destined to prove them wrong, weren’t you?

Caswell: (Chuckles) I had been assigned to be a bogey in a little play flight. I drew bead on the lead plane. Captain Jim Swett picked me up with his phenomenal vision. The two sections executed a perfect weave and Goeggel and Scott picked me up. We were headed directly towards each other, closing rapidly as my Corsair was diving at over 400 mph. I turned right and saw him turning left into me. I immediately snapped the stick right and kicked right rudder. There was a tremendous jerk and the plane started spinning like a cork screw. I thought we actually hit each other and I reached for the pin holding my escape hatch. Seconds later, I realized that both the plane and I were still intact, so I regained control of the Corsair and stopped the violent spinning. When we arrived back on the ground, Captain Delancey ran up to me gasping for breath…”Unbelievable! You did seven snap rolls in a row. Seven! I counted them. How did you do that? I’ve never seen anyone do a snap roll in an F4U. Not one, you did seven! Will you teach me how to do that?”…I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t even have my hands on the stick.

Your famed Marine Air Squadron VMF-221, the Fighting Falcons had a legacy of their own. Can you highlight their accomplishments?

Caswell: My Squadron VMF-221, the Fighting Falcons was formed in San Diego and eventually assigned to the USS Bunker Hill. I joined the Squadron towards the end of the war, late 1944 and I wasn’t able to be a part of their most famous Battle of the Midway. 23 of the members were awarded the Navy Cross at the Battle of Midway, most posthumously. Our Commanding Officer, Jim Swett was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on April 7, 1943. We had 6 Silver Stars and many distinguished Flying Crosses awarded to us throughout the war. In all, we had over 185 air-to-air victories. That was the 2nd most victories of any Marine Fighting Air Squadron during the war. We were one hell of a Squadron! (Smiles)

What constitutes a Marine Ace?

Caswell: Five confirmed aerial victories.

How did the Marines confirm an aerial victory during WWII?

Caswell: Mostly by our gun camera, but it was not always dependable to catch the confirmation of a victory. Unfortunately, the camera would run out of film during a long dog fight, leaving the pilot without recognition. I for one know I had 10 enemy kills if not more, however only 7 are confirmed. I’m sure there were many Aces out there that were never given the honors. I know of at least two personally that should have been deemed Aces and were not.

What was your most terrifying combat experience?

Caswell: We were scared as hell, but never terrified. We were well trained, we knew what we were doing and we did our best to get the job done.

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By, CJ Machado