Fighting Squadron Eighty Seven - VF-87 member Jim W.Tapp

FIGHTING SQUADRON EIGHTY SEVEN

JIM WILLARD TAPP
Jim Tapp
1919 - 1987

Jim Tapp enlisted in the U.S. Naval Air Corps on October 7, 1942. By April 16, 1944, he had completed CPT Pilot Training at the University of Texas in Austin, Pre-flight School in Athens, Georgia, Primary Flight Training at Memphis NAS, Intermediate Flight Training at Pensacola NAS, Operational Flight Training at Sanford NAS, and Carrier Landing Training at Great Lakes NAS. Certified as a Naval Aviator and Carrier Air Pilot, Tapp was stationed briefly at Atlantic City NAS and then at Virginia Beach NAS where he received his rank as Lieutenant JG. Tapp was assigned to the Fighter Squadron VF-87 based on the USS Ticonderoga CV-14.
Ens. Tapp, also an Assistant Flight Officer, flew numerous hazardous duty missions often at night and under foggy conditions at the close of the war.

He was awarded the Naval Air Medal with one gold star, the Asiatic Pacific Medal with two stars, the American Theater Medal, the Victory WWII Medal, and the Third Fleet Ribbon. He completed his Navy career in January 1946. After his discharge, Tapp returned to employment at Humble Oil and also remained in the Naval National Guard until October 1959. His career ended with Exxon as a Senior Contract Negotiator at the Baytown, Texas refinery. He died of massive cardiac arrest on May 16, 1987, at the age of sixty-eight and was survived by wife Marie Thyssen Tapp (a former W.A.V.E.), son Jim Willard, and daughter Nancy Jo.
Over the years, in virtually every endeavor, Jim Tapp etched his mark on people, places, and events, He was a man of character, energy, humor, and candor, and he possessed a creative problem solving ability surpassed by few. Tapp was a fast walkin’, rough talkin’ fellow that few could forget.

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