THE BATTLE OF THE PHILIPPINES SEA WAS A MAJOR NAVAL BATTLE OF WWII THAT TOOK....

 The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a major naval battle of World War II that took place on June 19-20, 1944, that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. This was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history, involving 24 aircraft carriers, deploying roughly 1,350 carrier-based aircraft.

The aerial part of the battle was nicknamed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners.

On June 19, 1944, during “Marianas Turkey Shoot”, Commander David McCampbell of Bessemer, Alabama, shot down five Japanese Yokosuka D4Y ‘Judy’ dive-bombers, to become an “ace in a day”. Later that afternoon, he downed two Mitsubishi A6M ‘Zekes’ over Guam.

On October 24, 1944, he became the only American airman to achieve “ace in a day” status twice. McCampbell and his wingman attacked a Japanese force of 60 aircraft. He shot down nine, setting a U.S. single mission aerial combat record.

For his actions on these days, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, becoming the only Fast Carrier Task Force pilot to be so honored. He was promoted to captain in July 1952 and retired from the Navy in 1964. He died in Florida in 1996 and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

McCampbell is the Navy's all-time leading flying ace and top F6F Hellcat ace with 34 aerial victories. He was the third-highest American scoring ace of World War II and the highest-scoring American ace to survive the war. He also set a world single mission aerial combat record of shooting down nine enemy planes in one mission on October 24, 1944.

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