The detachment to Iwo Jima included 4 F6F Hellcat Pilots. Also, assigned were 17 enlisted support personnel made up of Photographic Technicians and Aircraft Mechanics. In the first group of pilots were, Lts. W.M. Derby, D.V. Bean, W.D. Manhart and D.P. Schofield. Also assigned to the Iwo Jima detachment was Lt. E.R. Riddle Jr., Air Intelligence Officer. In the second tour of duty of the Iwo Jima detachment, Lts. W.D. Manhart and D.V. Bean were relieved by Capt. A.G. Burns and Lt. G.S. Stewart. Also, Lt. E.R. Riddle was replaced by Lts. B.H. Ward and R.G. Simmons. Their mission was to maintain surveillance over the Bonin Islands, North of Iwo Jima. Their primary responsibility was the airfield and the harbor located on Chi Chi Jima. Air Force fighter aircraft, based on Iwo Jima, kept the Chi Chi Jima airfield out of commission. On 2 July 1945, the first combat Aerial Photographic Reconnaissance Mission was flown over the Bonin Islands by the Iwo Jima VMD-354 detachment. On one strike, a P-51 was shot down by Japanese AA on Chi Chi Jima. The Pilot was able to land his aircraft safely on the water and to get into his Life Raft, but the winds and the currents pushed him into range of the Japanese shore batteries. He was struck and killed. The following day the C.O. of the Air Force unit asked the VMD-354 detachment to take close up Reconnaissance Photographs of the AA gun emplacements on Chi Chi Jima. VMD pilots made several low altitude runs, locating and taking oblique photographs of those AA gun emplacements. The reconnaissance film was processed in the VMD Mobile Photo Trailer and submitted to the Air Force Unit C.O. On the following day, P-51's and P-47's destroyed the Japanese AA emplacements. On a later mapping mission, Lt. Bean's aircraft was struck by Japanese AA. The round exploded in the radio modulator unit. All electrical power was lost and both the rudder and elevator cables were severed. With Lt. Derby guiding him, Lt. Bean piloted his serverely damaged aircraft 126 miles back to Iwo Jima using only his Trim Tabs for control. In spite of his limited control over his aircraft, Lt. Bean made a remarkably safe landing. On another occasion, VMD-354 was requested by Navy Electronics Counter Measures personnel, to locate Radar Stations on Chi Chi Jima. (These stations were picking up the B-29 bombers heading for Japan and alerting the Japanese Mainland by submarine telegraph cable.) By using the Sonne Continuous Strip Camera on a low level Photo Reconnaissance run, the pilot, Lt. D. Schofield, was able to photograph the locations of the Radar Installations. The following day, Lts. Stewart and Schofield accompanied a flight of P-47 aircraft to the targets where they attacked the Radar Sites with rockets. Iwo Jima-Cont'd