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Kamikaze Killers – Marine Corsair pilots dominate the Pacific

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When VMF-323 Marine Fighter Squadron first trained at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina in August of 1943, three lieutenants killed a huge, six-foot rattlesnake. It quickly became the squadron’s namesake, and from then on, they were known as the “Death Rattlers.” The name is still used for the squadron today! The newly commissioned squadron started flying the Vought F4U-1 Corsair in North Carolina and then shipped out to the West Coast, to El Centro, California...

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