VF-17's first combat tour was heralded in the press as a runaway success. For the period 1 – 29 November 1943, the squadron claimed 47 enemy aircraft downed with only 1 pilot lost. One news clipping, touting the squadron's two high-scorers, Kepford and Blackburn, referred to the "Skull and Crossbones" squadron as the "deadliest land-based Navy fighter outfit that ever operated in the South Pacific..."
