blood red skies us ace pilot lawrence steffenhagenLawrence F. Steffenhagen was born in Minnesota in 1912 and graduated from the University of Colorado in 1936. Steffenhagen shipped out with the USS Lexington as a member of the United States Naval Reserve and flew a TBD 1 Devastator as part of VT 2, the carriers Torpedo Squadron 2. On 7 May 1942 Steffenhagen participated in a successful attack on the IJN carrier Shoho, braving enemy fire to score one of the five torpedo hits that sank her.