Talk:WILLIAM H. S. BRADY, LT, USN

Full comments from naval aviation historian Richard Leonard via email on February 9, 2018:

Information on Brady is nebulous. The registers I have show 2/2/1943 as the loss date, in combat. Some sources put his death as occurring at NAS Pearl Harbor on 12/6/1945. That date, though, is the cut-off for WW2 casualties and long after VGS-11 was re-designated VC-11 in March 1943 and re-designated again as VF-21 two months later, so it is spurious and so the location. I have a note that his death was the result of a mid-air collision, not combat. There are some VGS-11 entries in the information published by a Douglas Campbell, but his data I only consider as an absolute last resort; he gets far too many names and units wrong for my purposes, causing fruitless chasing down blind alleys. I’ve never been entirely certain or satisfied that he knew or knows what he’s looking at. VGS-11 arrived at Guadalcanal on 2/1/1943, so a February 1943 loss date fits, just barely, but it does not appear that VGS-11 was in action on 2/2/1943. Other than below, about all I have right now.

• NAS Pensacola attached for HTA flight training, 6/24/1940
• NAS Pensacola designated NA # 6869, 11/12/1940
• Date of rank LTJG from 1 Jul 1941 USN Register, 6/2/1941
• Date of rank LT from 1 Jul 1942 USN Register, 6/15/1942
• USS Long Island (CVE-1) aboard for TAD, 9/30/1942 (usually this means CarQuals)
• USS Long Island (CVE-1) detached and transferred to NAS San Diego TAD complt, 10/8/1942
• VGS-11 MCAB Henderson Field KIFA, 2/2/1943