Captain John M. Foster, an F4U pilot, wrote about flying during this time and his first mission from Munda. “Never had I attempted to land a plane on a field as narrow and short as the Munda strip,” he recalled. Rolling onto the taxiway, he was thankful for the 2,000 horsepower of engine to “plow through the mud.” The crews lived in tents and messed in a screened framed building chow-hall which the Seabees built. The air units provided dawn to dusk coverage, with the night spent in rest and recovery. The night’s sleep was often disrupted by the appearance of a single Japanese bomber variously called “Washing Machine Charlie,” “Louie the Louse,” “Maytag Charlie,” or “other names less printable.” [Illustration: Marine Corps Historical Collection _Here Batteries A and B set up at Piru Plantation to shell Vila. The counterbattery exchanges with the Japanese on Kolombangara gave the battle a personal note. Soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division add graffiti to a shell to be sent as a “Message from FDR” at the campaigns end._] On 24 August, ComAir New Georgia at Munda was relieved by Commander Aircraft Solomon’s Fighter Command, at which time, General Mulcahy turned over his responsibilities to Colonel William O. Brice. Mulcahy’s staff continued to coordinate liaison and spotter aircraft and strike missions launching from Munda Field until relieved of these responsibilities by ComAirSols on 24 September. “Success in the air is a lot of little things,” observed VMF-214’s commander and Medal of Honor recipient, Major Gregory (Pappy) Boyington, and most of them “can be taken care of before takeoff.” With the Japanese air bases now within closer range of Allied aircraft, Boyington and others conducted fighter sweeps of 36 to 48 planes that were classics of their kind. Throughout this, escorted bomber and strafing attacks continued. The capture and use of Munda Field was now felt by the Japanese “in spades” observed Fighter Command’s Condon, as dive bombing and strafing attacks against the enemy were daily routine. On 28 August, First Lieutenant Alvin J. Jensen of VMF-214 was lost in a rainstorm over Kahili and when he broke through the clouds he found himself inverted over the Japanese field. Turning wings level, he proceeded to shoot up the flight-line and accounted for 24 enemy aircraft on the ground. Photographs confirmed the damage and Jensen earned the Navy Cross for this work, described as “one of the greatest single-handed feats” of the Pacific War. During this time, Lieutenant Colonel Frank H. Schwable’s VMF(N)-531 arrived in the Russells to begin night-fighter operations along with a similar Navy unit. Using ground-controlled radar intercept vectors, the squadron’s Lockheed PV-1 Venturas then closed for the kill using the aircraft’s on-board radar. This began the Marines’ ability to deny the Japanese the cover of darkness over Vella Lavella and elsewhere.