[Llarry]

A U.S. Navy carrier task group raided Truk (now known as Chuuk) atoll in late April 1944. There was a lot of apprehension among the aircrews as Truk was known as Japan's "Gibraltar of the Pacific" and intelligence on the bases there was sparse.

Predictably, Japanese antiaircraft fire took its toll of the raiding airplanes and some aircrews ended up parachuting or ditching in the huge lagoon -- a perilous position to be in with Japanese naval installations on all sides. The brave aircrew of a Vought OS2U floatplane from a USN battleship or cruiser landed in the middle of the lagoon and taxied back and forth picking up downed aircrew. They ended up with nine survivors (see photo) in addition to the two crewmen of the floatplane, but were unable to take off again with that many.

During WWII, American aircrew captives were often summarily executed when recovered by Japanese forces.

I do not know how the story ends, but I believed they all made it out. Perhaps several other floatplanes landed and each took on one or two.
It's even possible that a U.S. submarine entered the lagoon through one of the poorly-charted channels between islands and brought the survivors aboard. (EDIT: See #1660 below for more of the story)

(On a personal note, my Dad participated in these raids in his F6F Hellcat from the carrier Yorktown; fortunately, he was never shot down or had his fighter damaged during the war.)