Summary

DescriptionCVE-71 launching FM-2s Samar 25Oct1944.jpg	The U.S. escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) prepares to launch Grumman FM-2 Wildcat fighters of composite squadron VC-5 during the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944. The aircraft visible on the left are Grumman TBF Avengers. In the distance, Japanese shells are splashing near the USS White Plains (CVE-66). AWM caption: off Samar, Philippines. 1944-10-25. just after 0700 the sea around the escort aircraft carrier USS White Plains erupts as she is straddled and near missed by 14 inch gunfire from Japanese battleships which have surprised the escort carrier task group 77:4:1. In the foreground is the flight deck of her sister ship, USS Kitkun Bay. The Kitkun Bay's air group is ranged on the flight deck aft. The first of its twelve FM-2 Wildcat fighters is just commencing its take off run as the second is readied to follow. The fighters carry only drop tanks - there has been no time to arm them with bombs. The six larger aircraft on the left are Grumman TBF Avenger bombers. (Naval Historical Collection)
Date	25 Oct 1944; 12 January 2007 (original upload date)
Source	This image is available from the Collection Database of the Australian War Memorial under the ID Number: 302773 This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information. العربيَّة | български | English | español | français | हिन्दी | македонски | português | +/− Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.; Sourced from: http://www.awm.gov.au/database/collection.asp Copyright: The AWM record for this photo states that the copyright status is 'clear'. Note: This photo was obviously taken a few minutes before the Official U.S. Navy Photograph (now in the collections of the National Archives) photo no. 80-G-287497 [1], therefore it should be a U.S. Navy photo with a free copyright.
Author	The original uploader was Nick Dowling at English Wikipedia.

Licensing

This file is in the public domain because Copyright status is listed as 'clear' on the AWM images database. This photo was taken in 1944 and is out of copyright under Australian law. This template must not be used to dedicate an uploader's own work to the public domain; CC0 should be used instead. This work must carry justifications for free usability in both the United States and its country of origin.

	This file is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.
	This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse

Original upload log

• 2007-01-12 09:59 Nick Dowling 450×368×8 (59500 bytes) Australian War Memorial (AWM) catalog number 302773 '''Sourced from:''' http://www.awm.gov.au/database/collection.asp '''Copyright:''' The AWM record for this photo states that the copyright status is 'clear'. The photo was taken in 1944. The AWM allow