Frederick T. Moore Jr. (May 18, 1914 – August 2, 1969) was a United States Navy captain. During World War II, he was executive officer of Fighter Squadron 1 operating off the carrier and commanding officer of the Air Group 35 aboard the aircraft carrier in the Pacific. During the Korean War, he was the commanding officer of naval air training at NAS Pensacola and the air officer on . His first sea command was aboard . In 1962–1963, Moore was the eighth commanding officer of . Late in his career during the Vietnam War, he was Chief of Staff of the Naval Air Training Command at Naval Air Station Pensacola from October 1965 to July 1969.
Early years
Moore was born in the Oak Square section of Brighton, Massachusetts in Boston on May 18, 1914, the son of Frederick T. Moore Sr. and Susan Frances (O'Donnell) Moore. He was the second oldest of six children. His father was a regional sales representative for Dunlop tires. Moore came from a family whose roots in the United States go back to the 1630s and include ancestors who fought in the American Revolution at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill and the American Civil War.
T. Moore played hockey in both high school and college. He attended Boston Latin School and Boston College graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1936.
During his scholastic years at Boston Latin, Moore was the top goal scorer of all the Boston high school ice hockey leagues. At Boston College, he was captain of the hockey team and a member of the football and golf teams. Moore was prominent in athletics and social affairs throughout his four years at the Boston College. One of his close lifelong friends from the class of 1936 at BC was Tip O'Neil, future Congressman from Massachusetts and Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Upon graduation, Moore reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola for flight training and was commissioned Ensign, USNR and designated a Naval Aviator on August 1, 1938.
Early naval career
In September 1938, Ensign Moore joined Fighting Squadron Five (VF-5) on board the operating out of NAS North Island in San Diego, California. Ensign Moore flew off Yorktown from September 1938 thru September 1940. The primary aircraft flown by VF-5 in the late 1930s was the Grumman F3F, the last American biplane fighter aircraft.
During his assignment to VF5 and Yorktown on the West Coast, in December 1939, now Lieutenant (junior grade) Moore took leave to travel back to Boston to marry his longtime sweetheart, Catherine Mary Donovan from Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. They were married on December 26, 1939, at Saint Ambrose Church in Dorchester followed by a reception at the Copely Plaza in Copley Square in downtown Boston.
In May 1940, Moore was promoted to lieutenant. In October 1940, Moore was transferred back to NAS Pensacola as executive officer of the naval flight school. As the nations of the world moved toward World War II, Naval Air Station Pensacola once again became the hub of air training activities, training 1,100 cadets a month or 13,220 annually. Lieutenant Moore played a key role in making this massive ramp up in naval aviators to become known as one of 'the wonders of the modern world'.
World War II
In March 1943, Lieutenant Moore moved to Pearl Harbor to meet with Fighter Squadron 1 and later that summer VF1 joined the new . The VF-1 squadron was established in March 1943, operating Grumman F6F Hellcats and was assigned to the United States Pacific Fleet to participate in numerous missions during World War II. With Lieutenant Moore as the executive officer, VF1 first fought the Japanese at the Battle of Tarawa, flying off from November 20 to November 22, 1943. The VF-1 squadron flew a total of 106 missions and spent 237 hours of flying time in three days of operations without losing a single plane or pilot.
Fighter Squadron 1 continued fighting off Yorktown with their Grumman F6F Hellcat aircraft in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, Marianas, Bonin Islands, and Caroline Islands. The squadron was both land based and carrier based and it did night fighting, day fighting, bombing, and escort work. Over a fifteen-month period, VF1 attacked the Imperial Japanese Navy, sank 8 ships and damaged 16. It destroyed 102 airborne enemy planes plus 20 probables while losing only 5 in aerial combat. VF1 also ruined 61 enemy planes on the ground, silenced 46 A-A batteries, and blew up or burned 10 fuel or ammunition dumps. In June 1943, Moore transferred from the USNR to USN.