![An elated fighter pilot, Alexander Vraciu, showing how many enemy planes he just shot down, his share in the Marianas Turkey Shoot. Fighting Squadron VF-16 aboard USS Lexington (Essex-class), 19 Jun 1944 [Colorized by WW2DB]](/images/ai/20230224/55e53069f3d61.jpg)
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| Caption | An elated fighter pilot, Alexander Vraciu, showing how many enemy planes he just shot down, his share in the Marianas Turkey Shoot. Fighting Squadron VF-16 aboard USS Lexington (Essex-class), 19 Jun 1944 [Colorized by WW2DB] ww2dbase | |||||||||||
| Colorization Note | This photograph was originally a black and white photograph; the colorized version presented here was a derivative work by WW2DB. The colors used in this version were speculative, and could be significantly different from the real colors. Processed using Adobe Photoshop Image Processor, with default neural filter, selecting "None" as the profile. View the original black and white photograph at its own permanent page. | |||||||||||
| Photographer | Unknown | |||||||||||
| Source | ww2dbaseUnited States Navy | |||||||||||
| Identification Code | BuAer 236841 | |||||||||||
| More on... |
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| Photo Size | 1,899 x 1,536 pixels | |||||||||||
| Photos on Same Day | 19 Jun 1944 | |||||||||||
| Photos at Same Place | Pacific Ocean | |||||||||||
| Added By | David Stubblebine | |||||||||||
| Colorized Date | 24 Feb 2023 | |||||||||||
| Licensing | Public Domain. According to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government". Please contact us regarding any inaccuracies with the above information. Thank you. |
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| WW2-Era Place Name | Pacific Ocean |
| Lat/Long | 14.8500, 143.2083 |
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31 Aug 2015 09:59:06 PM
Alexander Vraciu was already an Ace before this date with nine aerial kills. His six kills during the Marianas Turkey Shoot is remarkable enough but it rises to the level of amazing when considering his Hellcat fighter had a malfunctioning supercharger but he still shot down those six airplanes within an eight minute period and only fired 360 rounds of ammunition, which means he averaged machine gun bursts of less than five seconds for each plane he downed. All six planes were Yokosuka D4Y ‘Judy’ dive bombers. Vraciu was the US Navy’s leading Ace for about a four month period and finished the war with 19 kills, tied for fourth among Navy pilots.