page_title: VMA-124
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: VMA-124 / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Marine Corps Vought F4U-1 Corsair fighters of Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-124 Whistling Death on Guadalcanal, in April 1943. VMF-124 was the first Corsair unit to enter combat, in February 1943.
context_page_description: Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 124 was a flying squadron in the Marine Forces Reserve based out of Naval Air Station Memphis flying the A-4 Skyhawk. They were part of Marine Aircraft Group 42 and were decommissioned on 19 June 1999. The squadron was the first Marine squadron to fly the F4U Corsair during World War II and also one of the first Marine squadrons to be based on an aircraft carrier. They were known as the “Wild Aces” and ended World War II with 78 air-to-air victories against Japanese aircraft.
context_section_description: VMF-124 was formed on 2 September 1942 at Camp Kearney, San Diego, California. They were declared fully operational on 28 December 1942 even though the squadron’s pilots had only an average of 25 hours each in the plane. They arrived on Guadalcanal on the morning of February 12, 1943 led by their commanding officer, Major William Gise. The squadron flew their first mission before lunch that day, with twelve F4Us escorting a PBY Catalina on a 230 mile mission to pick up two downed pilots at Sandfly Bay, Vella Lavella.
  The first F4U pilot to be decorated with the Medal of Honor came from VMF-124 — 1st Lt Kenneth A. Walsh for a mission on August 30, 1943, during which he shot down four Japanese Zeros before ditching his borrowed Corsair. The squadron remained in the Solomon Islands until September 1943, fighting over the Russell Islands, New Georgia and Vella Levella.
  Following the fighting in the Solomons, the squadron was disbanded and reconstituted back in the United States where it trained in the Mojave Desert at Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Mojave for the next year. When they received their orders for carrier assignments they had 5 combat experienced pilots as their training nucleus  VMF-124 left the States again on 18 September 1944, heading to Hawaii. While in Hawaii they were attached to Carrier Air Group 4 who were operating off the aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9). Along with VMF-213, 124 became the first Marine squadron to be based on a fleet aircraft carrier. While deployed aboard the Essex, they took part in fighting over Lingayen, Luzon, Formosa, Tokyo, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On 3 January 1945 VMF-124 and VMF-213 struck Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands in the first Marine land strike off a carrier.
caption: VMF-124 Corsairs on Guadalcanal.
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