VMF-514
# VMF-514

Marine Fighting Squadron 514 (VMF-514) was a short-lived fighter squadron of the United States Marine Corps during World War II. Flying the Vought F4U Corsair, the squadron was originally commissioned to be part of the ill-fated Project Danny, a plan for carrier based Marine Corps aircraft to interdict German V-1 flying bomb launch sites. The squadron did not participate in combat action during the war and was decommissioned on December 9, 1945. No other Marine Corps squadron has carried VMF-514's lineage and honors since that time.

## History

Marine Fighting Squadron 471 (VMF-514) was commissioned on February 20, 1944, at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina by authority of Bureau of Aeronautics Directive 30-KV-43. The squadron originally fell under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 51.

In June 1944, Navy planners devised a plan for Marine F4U Corsair squadrons of MAG-51 (including VMF-511, VMF-512, and VMF-513) to attack V-1 flying bomb launch sites from escort carriers in the North Sea with Tiny Tim rockets. Project Danny was ultimately disapproved, a victim of the intense interservice rivalry that existed in the US armed forces during World War II; Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall stood up and walked out of the briefing: "That's the end of this briefing. As long as I'm in charge there'll never be a Marine in Europe."

In June 1945, VMF-514 embarked on the USS Salerno Bay along with VMSB-144 as part of Marine Carrier Air Group 5 (MCVG-5) to train off southern California. Two days after Japan's mid-August capitulation, the group sailed west conducting further training operations, including night qualification of her Marine air group, in Hawaiian waters.

The squadron returned to Marine Corps Air Depot Miramar, California and was decommissioned on December 9, 1945.

## Accidents

* April 8, 1944 – An F4U-1A from VMF-514 crashed near Morehead City, North Carolina. The pilot, 2ndLt Olin Dilworth Cooksey, was killed in the crash.

## Commanding Officers

The following naval aviators served as commanding officers of VMF-514 during its existence:

* Maj James W. Merritt – February 20, 1944 – April 1, 1945
* Maj Darrell D. Irwin – April 2, 1945 – July 27, 1945
* Maj William V. Brooks – July 28, 1945 –

## Unit awards

A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation. VMF-514 was presented with the following awards:

| Ribbon | Unit Award |
| - | - |
| | World War II Victory Medal |
