Nightfighter

A biography of the leader of the top scoring Nightfighter Squadron who risked their lives flying through darkness in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.

During World War II, the job of a nightfighter was akin to a deadly game of hide-and-seek in a pitch-black sky. Each pilot’s life literally depended on his radio link to support personnel on the ground. Electrical failures could be catastrophic and engine trouble usually proved fatal. Unlike other fighter pilots, these men had zero visual perspective. Alone in a cockpit, it was easy for their minds to play tricks on them, but for nightfighters, a few moments of vertigo were a death sentence . . .

No one knew this better than then-ranked Lt. Col. Marion Milton "Black Mac" Magruder. His highly classified training program required each of his "scrappers" to identify every part of the cockpit environment by sound, smell, and touch. Strict, innovative, and intense, this no-nonsense marine would lead his men to the Okinawa Campaign, in an emergency deployment after a year in combat, in the longest over-water flight of single-engined fighters in the Pacific Theatre, just to get into the fight. During their time on Okinawa and Engebi, VMF(N)533, also known as Black Mac’s Killers, experienced the worst typhoon season the island had seen in several hundred years. They also would become the target of the Giretsu, when the ruthless Japanese suicide warriors attacked Yontan Air Field, the only attack of its kind during the war. And even though the squadron arrived one month after battle commenced, the 533 held the record for all radar-intercept kills. Black Mac's Killers set many records and earned many distinctions during the war, including the Presidential Unit Citation.

This biography follows Magruder through his military career, highlighting his accomplishments as leader of the top scoring Nightfighter Squadron in the Pacific Theatre.