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.