06/22/2026
Ever seen a P-47 Thunderbolt on an aircraft carrier?
On 22-23 June 1944, as the Battle of Saipan raged, the es**rt carriers USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) and USS Manila Bay (CVE-61) began launching U.S. Army Air Forces Republic P-47 Thunderbolts of the 318th Fighter Group toward the recently captured Japanese airfield at Aslito on Saipan.
The first aircraft to arrive on Saipan were from the 19th Fighter Squadron. After landing on the hastily repaired airfield, ground crews quickly fitted the fighters with rocket launchers, and later that same day eight P-47s carried out their first combat mission, striking Japanese positions on nearby Tinian with rockets in support of ongoing operations.
The deployment was the result of careful planning during Operation Forager, the American offensive to seize the Mariana Islands. U.S. forces landed on Saipan on 15 June 1944 and captured Aslito Airfield only three days later. Naval construction battalions and Army engineer aviation units immediately repaired and expanded the damaged runway, transforming it into a forward base capable of supporting fighter operations.
Because the distance from Hawaii to the Marianas exceeded the practical ferry range of fully equipped P-47s, the Army and Navy devised an unusual solution. The Thunderbolts were loaded aboard es**rt carriers at Pearl Harbor and transported westward. Once the airfield on Saipan was usable, the carriers steamed to waters off the island and catapult-launched the fighters directly to their new base. Between 22 and 24 June, seventy-three P-47s were delivered in this manner from Natoma Bay and Manila Bay.
The arrival of the Thunderbolts gave American ground forces a new source of immediate air support at a critical stage of the campaign. Prior to their arrival, close air support had been provided almost entirely by carrier aircraft operating from the fleet. The P-47s quickly began flying attacks against Japanese troop concentrations, artillery positions, and installations on both Saipan and Tinian. Their first mission on 22 June marked the beginning of sustained Army Air Forces operations from the Marianas. The aircraft's rugged construction, heavy armament, and ability to carry rockets and bombs made it particularly effective in the close-support role demanded by the bitter fighting on Saipan.
Aslito Airfield, soon renamed Isely Field in honor of Commander Robert H. Isely, became one of the key American air bases in the Central Pacific. The capture and development of airfields on Saipan, Tinian, and Guam allowed the United States to project overwhelming air power deep into the Japanese Empire. While the P-47s supported the final stages of the Marianas campaign, the islands would later host vast B-29 Superfortress bases from which strategic bombing operations against Japan were launched.
