Presentation Date: February 27, 1997
Diz Laird
The only World War II Navy ace to shoot down both Japanese and German aircraft The only World War II Navy ace to shoot down both Japanese and German aircraft
He's been type rated in 99 different aircraft and was chief pilot in the movie Tora!Tora!Tora!. Diz Laird's colorful career as a naval aviator spilled out at the Golden Gate Squadron's packed February dinner meeting.
Born and raised in Placer county, Diz attended Auburn High School with Bud Anderson and then went to Placer Junior College. He went through he Civilian Pilot Training Program and was considering joining the Army Air Corps when a friend told Diz the Navy might be a better idea. The friend said he thought Navy planes were slower than the P-38, P-39 and P-40 and might be better. It turned out the friend's heart problem was behind that assessment. Diz and his friend both enlisted, the friend ending up piloting dive bombers. (After World War 2, the friend had an additional two cruises as a Night Fighter pilot in the Korean war. After 18 years of service, the Navy discovered the heart problem and wouldn't punch the pilot's ticket for Vietnam.)
Diz says he always had problems adjusting to routine, especially the Navy's. Most of January, 1942 saw him in the Naval Reserve at Oakland, where Diz says much of his time he was restricted to base for various disciplinary reasons. That pattern followed him to Dallas, where he did make a decision he didn't want to fly PBY Catalina, because they were "boring". In June of '42 he was transferred to Miami where he flew what he called "the greatest plane in the world", the Brewster Buffalo. Diz was admonished not to ever fly a Buffalo unless 1) it had wire cutters strapped to the starboard cockpit to cut loose the landing gear if they failed to drop...2) there was a string in a hole on the starboard side to flash start the generator if it failed and 3) the brakes worked. Diz says there were many memorable moments when pilots taxiing their Buffaloes in a crosswind found the brakes working for only one main gear. When the plane would spin...the veteran Buffalo pilots would tap the only available brake to complete a full circle before taxiing on down to take off. Once the tail was up, the bird would straighten out with the rudder, and once airborne, Diz says the Buffalo would climb like no other plane.
In Norfolk, Virginia later in 1942, Diz transitioned to the F4FS Wildcat, and was assigned to the U.S.S. Ranger, fresh from Operation Torch, the U.S. invasion of Morocco in November, 1942. A short time later the Ranger moved to the North Atlantic, where night operations qualifications were begun. Diz recalled in great detail the frustration the Ranger squadrons had following an Executive Officer who hadn't made a carrier night landing in more than six years. For three days running most of the fighters, dive and torpedo bombers had to make landings on Newfoundland after running low on fuel waiting their turn in the circuit to land on the carrier. Diz says when his turn finally came, he was so frustrated that despite coming in hot, he set the F4F down and flipped it over. When Diz slid from under the plane the LSO exclaimed," Damn, Diz I thought you were dead."
Laird's first aerial victory came on a vector from the Ranger to a German aircraft that had been shadowing the fleet. After Diz spotted a Ju-88 dipping out of a cloud, he and his section leader made two passes each on the bomber and sent it down. Shortly after returning to the ship, he was vectored out again, alongside a rain squall. Flying about 50 feet above the sea, Diz noticed a shadow in the squall...and spotted a He-115 seaplane. Two passes later, the German aircraft was splashed.
December of 1943, Diz's squadron traded their F4Fs for FM-2 Wildcats, then quickly transitioned to F6F Hellcats as they headed to the Pacific.
Although the Pacific had warmer water and "was a lot more fun", Diz says he was prone to motion sickness. So he volunteered as the spare plane on any mission he could. "I'd do anything to get off the damned ship."
In the Battle for the Philippines, Diz saw more action. One one mission he spotted seven Ki- 43 Tonys, still on an airstrip below the flight of Hellcats. Rather than hit them on the ground, the division leader said, in his slow Southern drawl, "We'll just circle awhile and then shoot 'em down." Six of the seven Tony's came up, all of them went back down in flames. Though Diz claimed two of the Japanese aircraft, he only took credit for one.
On another mission, Diz led an 80 aircraft fighter sweep down on Clark Field. The Japanese-held airbase was socked in by clouds and the sweep leader wasn't keen about punching through. Remembering a navigational course via a landmark mountain, Diz led the planes through the clouds and down the middle of an empty runway. He made a second pass and found Japanese planes parked in an adjacent grove of trees. But by the third pass he and his wingman were alone, and both planes took antiaircraft fire. The wingman's engine was trailing smoke, but Diz led him 230 miles back to the fleet.
Laird signed up again for the Korean War and flew the Phantom 1, Banshees, and F-84s in the Air Force Exchange Program. When pilots were needed for Vietnam, Diz answered the call again, flying 72 transpacific flights ferrying F-8 Crusaders and A-6 Intruders from Southeast Asia to the mainland U.S. On one flight the main gear of an intruder hung up, and Diz landed on the port main gear and the starboard air brake. Inspection revealed Grumman had improperly installed the starboard gear up-locks, and that mistake had been repeated on three other aircraft.
Diz admits to also enjoying the experience of flying for the movie Tora Tora Tora, leading the "Japanese Naval Fleet" of converted T-6s and BT-13s. As you might expect, Diz logged 164 hours in the Zero copies, to enable film crews to shoot footage that was cut down to 15 minutes of combat on the big screen. In one memorable moment, you can see him in the left of three "Zeros" on a low strafing pass between hangars. Premature pyrotechnics launched a 50 gallon drum up over the aircraft, generating more than raised eyebrows.