During the Marines' movement to Hungnam the need for more medical evacuation flights became acute. In order to help meet this need a VMO-6 officer, Captain Alfred F. McCaleb, was one of a handful of pilots to fly TBM aircraft borrowed from Navyand 1st Marine Aircraft Wing flight lines, to evacuate the injured. In another effort to save valuable time, crews and aircraft conducted operations directly from the Hagaru airstrip. The TBMs were returned to their parent units on Dec. 12.
On 20 January two TBMs were received from Headquarters Squadron, MAG-12 for temporary custody. These aircraft were to be used as radio relay stations between the regiments and the Tactical Air Control Center (TACC) if normal communications failed.
