Vice Admiral James Henry Flatley Jr. (June 17, 1906 - July 9, 1958) was a World War II naval aviator and tactician for the United States Navy (USN). He became a fighter ace credited with shooting down six enemy aircraft in aerial combat. Early life Flatley was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and graduated from St. Norbert College. He was a 1929 United States Naval Academy graduate who earned his wings in 1931. An early squadron assignment found him with Patrol Squadron 4 (VP-4F), flying Douglas PD and Consolidated P2Y flying boats. In December 1941 he was with Fighting Squadron 2 (VF-2) flying the Brewster F2A Buffalo, the Navy’s first monoplane fighter. World War II At the opening of hostilities in December 1941, Flatley was serving aboard . However, his squadron did not see combat in the early raids, as VF-2 was beached from 25 January 1942 in order to transition from the F2A Buffalo to the Grumman F4F Wildcat. Their place, in the meantime, was taken by the Grumman-equipped Fighting Squadron 3 (VF-3). In late April, 1942, just prior to the Battle of the Coral Sea, Flatley was dispatched to with orders to take command of Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42). However, on arrival, he discovered that his academy classmate, Lieutenant Commander Charles R. Fenton, had already been appointed CO by the ship's captain. After a few days, the issue was sorted out: Fenton was recognised as VF-42's commander, and Flatley was ordered back to the United States to form a new fighter squadron. However, he managed to get permission to stay for the coming battle, and was thus retained as VF-42's executive officer. On 7 May, Flatley led a group of Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters to escort Douglas TBD Devastators from VT-5 in the attack that sank light carrier Shōhō. His group then engaged several Mitsubishi A5M fighters from Shōhō'''s Combat Air Patrol (CAP) and he managed to down one of them. In response to the sinking of Shōhō, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) main carrier force launched a night strike on USN carriers composed of 15 Nakajima B5N and 12 Aichi D3A bombers. Flatley led one of the groups of F4F Wildcats that were sent to intercept (another group was led by Lieutenant Commander Paul Ramsey from VF-2). The enemy strike force suffered heavy losses. The following day, on 8 May, he was involved in CAP that protected