Strangers on the deck

Thanks for that Pampa!! This would be one of the occasion where you could do up a Carrier or dio with a land based fighter 'on deck' and you could back it up with actual references!! Different and cool.

It's actually not unusual at all. Just a bunch of photos of various standard practices, some of which were still being done during the Vietnam conflict. For example, the transfer of aircraft,,,,,,during Vietnam, two Marine squadrons hauled their aircraft over in a USN wooden deck Essex class carrier, and only one of them could have taken off from it if they wanted to.

Flight tests of all aircraft being evaluated for carrier use spent part of their time on decks, PBJs, F7F, P-80, P-51, etc.

Instead of blogs just posting pictures snatched out of various books, it would be cool if there could be some text explaining what is happening in the pictures,,,,,that alone would create the "% of difference" and "for educational use" that using other people's photos is supposed to have.

sorry, this hits a nerve with me,,,,,,,there are sites that closed down, or have drastically reduced their postings because their photos got ripped off,,,,and I used those sites and miss them greatly.

Rex

Not to nit pick, but "operating" is stretching the definition, and quite a few of those A/C are naval types anyways.

Those Thunderbolts are probably the most interesting of the lot.

I do know that for Torch, P-40s were flown off of CV-4 to fields in Africa to support the landings.

And of course the Doolittle Raid.

EDIT: Aha, in researching my statement, I came across quite a few of those photos.

yup, P-47s, P-40, and Spitfires were very famous for being catapulted off of the decks for delivery in war zones. Some were shot off with the Cat, and went right into the fight, landing at their new field after their first sortie.

as were Hurricanes on CAM ships for self-defense of the convoy, even MAC ships carrying Swordfish

"Unusual" would be things like someone posting some new photos of the Phantom flight tests on the Intrepid, or non-published "USS Chu Lai" photos of the Cat and MOREST gears.,,,,,,even good photos of the XC-142 (?) during the vertical tests on deck

hauling aircraft as deck cargo was a designed-in feature of US carriers, that is why it took 3 re-designations for some to become CVEs,,,,,,,and why even the largest ended their life designated AKV and AVT

hmmm, I wonder how much I could make by posting the photos from Flat Tops and Fledglings on a monetized Blog?,,,,,,since it was from 1971 by a deceased author,,,,,,,I bet very few aircraft or carrier modelers have even seen a copy, got a couple of out of print Terziboschitsch volumes,,,,so, I could use drawings without Baker or Friedman catching me (completely tongue in cheek, folks)

Rex

You are a bad man! Reminds me of a story, guy took a whole bunch of photos during WW2. His son inherited them and decided to sell copies. Nope, US Army property as dad was on duty.

Using land based a/c from a carrier has no inherent value as far as I can see. Fly away and land, sure. But thats a complicated loading and a one-shot proposition.

The British naval aircraft operation went into a whole order-of-magnitude improvement when they replaced their Swordfish and Fulmars, not to mention Skuas and Rocs, with Martlets (Wildcats) and TBDs.

But of course those were naval types.

Well, you have to admit, it was sure quicker to fly them off instead of craning them off. They were on there as reinforcements in the first place,,,"operational cargo" instead of "deck cargo" at least gave the guys receiving the aircraft one free use of them, without expending the land based fuel or ammo.

I always wished that VMA-223 had Catapulted their A-4E Skyhawks off of the Valley Forge (LPH-8) instead of using the crane. It would have made for an interesting diorama, and we know that other Essex class with the old Hydraulic Cats could launch A-4s, they were used as CAP aircraft on many of those CVSs, after all. Catapulting my Uncle and the rest of VMFA-314 in their Phantoms would have been cool, too. (but that would have only added to my "Sea Story" Burden when I was with them later on at El Torro.) "sit down, sonny, let me tell you about the time I was launched from the wooden deck of the ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,," "arggggg, y'all should be renamed the "jabberin' Knights, I'm going back to the Black Sheep, they're more humble" haha

Rex

Since we're chewing the fat here, an interesting piece of carrier trivia I recently learned.

The earlier and bigger British carriers like Ark Royal, Indefatigable, Implacable and the Indomitable had two hangar decks. The elevator arrangement was a single story travel however, with a two level elevator "car".

So to get a plane from down below to the deck took how many elevator moves?

(Assume that the elevator is in the "down" position).

geez, this had to be where that "fox, rabbit and cabbage" riddle came from

do you mean that the aircraft had to be loaded onto the lower level of the elevator, the elevator raised until level with with the flight deck and upper hangar deck, the aircraft pushed off onto the upper hangar deck, the elevator lowered again, the aircraft pushed onto the upper elevator deck, and then raised up to the flight deck level?

the only thing I can think of that would be worse would be starting with an aircraft on the flight deck, and wanting to swap it out with one from the lower hangar deck, when the lower deck wouldn't have room until one aircraft was removed from it

Rex

You got it- three moves. In your scenario, push it over the side.

And the RN did not deck store aircraft until later in the war.

I believe it was the same with the Japanese. Of course, later in the war they didn't have any decks...

Interesting.

Though, the picture of the Jugs on the flight deck just looked "odd" to me.

I actually found a photo of a Jug taking off from a carrier deck. Cool photo as it was just a few feet off the deck when it was snapped. I'll see if I can't find that again.

Ah, here is the link to the photos of the Jugs taking off from carriers and some rather bad landings as well. There is even a wartime photo of "The BUG'. Pretty cool stuff. Just copy and paste it in, sorry it just won't cooperate tonight.

https://www.google.com/search?q=p-47d+carrier+takeoff&rlz=1C1MSIM_enUS546&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=xF3DU4KBHdHUigKNhIDgDA&ved=0CBwQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=955#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=xLKrmpnlAVP2nM%253A%3BzAHoBtOAnkdowM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.usaaf-noseart.co.uk%252Ftrank-bug.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fforums.ubi.com%252Farchive%252Findex.php%252Ft-192003.html%3B340%3B350