The Aces of Fighting 17They were called the deadliest fighter squadron in action in the South Pacific; U. S. Navy Fighting Squadron Seventeen, famous with their Skull and Crossbones insignia, became one of the most successful squadrons of WWII. Flying the F4U Corsair, VF 17 shot down 152 Japanese aircraft in aerial combat in only 76 days. At the end of the war VF 17 had the top four Navy Corsair aces: Kepford, Hedrick, Blackburn, and Smith. After seventeen years of