USN014  “Lt. Cdr. J.T. Blackburn”

Tom Blackburn was the U.S. Navy’s top-scoring Corsair “ace” with 11 “kills”to his credit.  A born leader, he came from a family of Naval officers.

His most famous command was VF-17 “The Jolly Rogers”.  He led the squadron from January 1943 until May 1944.  During this time they shot down 154 Japanese aircraft, sank 5 transport ships and produced 12 other F4U “aces”.