Amazing aircraft carriers

[comiso90]

I always found it interesting that the Japanese were focused on attacking the Panama Canal.

The I-400 was poised to try..

wikipedia

One of Yamamoto’s plans was to use the sen toku (secret submarine attack), so that in the opening days of 1945, preparations were under way to attack the Panama Canal. The strategy was to cut the supply lines and access to the Pacific Ocean by U.S. ships. The plan was to sail westward through the Indian Ocean, around the southern tip of Africa, and attack the canal’s Gatun Locks from the east, a direction from which the Americans would not expect and were little prepared to defend. The flights would, of course, be one-way trips. None of the pilots expected to survive the attack, a tactic called tokko. Each pilot was presented with a tokko short sword, symbolic of the ultimate sacrifice.

Just think of all the resources Japan was prepared to expend just to attack a few locks on the canal.... I cant believe it would be down more that a couple weeks... but than again I'm sure it was a "soft" target that would let the world know that Japan is not finished yet.

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[Velius]

Thanks everyone for the info and pics. I completely forgot about parasite aircraft. I've even seen a concept of such a plane on luft46.com, a big one that could carry 6 airplanes. I know there is no need for anything like that now, but I bet it would be something to see! Again, thanks!

[ccheese]

I've got a Nat'l Geographic home with pic's of the recently discovered
wreck of the blimp that crashed off of California. Some of the pic's show
the aircraft that were launched and recovered by the blimp. I'll look for
it tonight.

Charles

[SoD Stitch]

Originally Posted by ccheese

I've got a Nat'l Geographic home with pic's of the recently discovered
wreck of the blimp that crashed off of California. Some of the pic's show
the aircraft that were launched and recovered by the blimp. I'll look for
it tonight.

Charles

That would be the USS Macon, lost off the coast of Monterey in February 1935 during a storm.

[Micdrow]

The Japanese had two heavy cruisers converted so that on the back half they had a flight deck and could carry 6 aircraft each. There names are the Tone and Tikuma.

[machine shop tom]

Originally Posted by Micdrow

The Japanese had two heavy cruisers converted so that on the back half they had a flight deck and could carry 6 aircraft each. There names are the Tone and Tikuma.

That would be the Chikuma.

Japanese Navy Ships--Chikuma (Heavy Cruiser, 1939)

Damaged fatally during the Battle of Samar, in which my father was a participant on the Fanshaw Bay. He watched the Chikuma (and others) pound the Gambier Bay until she sunk, the only American aircraft carrier ever to be sunk by naval gunfire.

tom

[R0NNC0]

Here's a photo of an M6A that I took at the NASM annex a couple of years ago.