 They were declared fully operational on 28 December 1942 even though the squadron’s pilots had only an average of 25 hours each in the plane.They arrived on Guadalcanal on the morning of February 12, 1943 led by their commanding officer, Major William Gise.The squadron flew their first mission before lunch that day, with twelve F4Us escorting a PBY Catalina on a 230 mile mission to pick up two downed pilots at Sandfly Bay, Vella Lavella.