Carrier operations.....

[Lucky13]

Since there are talks about Fw 190 as a carrier born aircraft and what needs to be done to an airframe to suitable for that kinda hard work, I was wondering what was made to the Spitfire airframe to become the Seafire?

[R Leonard]

Were squadrons VB-5 and VS-5 getting SBDs instead of BTs and SBCs at the same time?
Looking at the deployments for Neutrality patrols , it seems that they weren't at sea for a pretty long time.

Max -

I really should avoid doing things from memory, it just isn't quite what it used to be . . .

Try this . . .

USS Yorktown Atlantic Fleet Activities 1941

Arrived in Bermuda from PacFlt on 12 May 1941.
Aboard were VB-5 (BT-1), VF-5 (F3F-3), VS-5 (SBC-3), and VT-5 (TBD-1)

Departed Bermuda 23 May 1941
Aboard were VF-41 (F4F-3), VS-41 (SB2U-2), and VT-5
(VB-5, VF-5, and VS-5 were transferred to Ranger for transport to Norfolk)
Patrolled east approaching the Cape Verde Islands cruising some 4550 miles.
Air Group logged 1200 flight hours.

Arrived Norfolk NOB on 14 June 1941

Departed Norfolk NOB on 29 June.
Aboard were VF-42 (F4F-3), VS-41, VMO-1 (SBC-4), and VMS-1 det. (SB2U-3)
(VT-5 ashore; VB-5, VS-5, and VF-5 beginning transitions to new aircraft)
Patrolled 5030 miles, 1190 flight hours.

Arrived Norfolk 13 July 1941

Departed Norfolk 30 July 1941
Aboard were VF-42, VS-41, VT-5
Patrolled 3998 miles, 842 flight hours

Arrived Bermuda 10 August 1941

Departed Bermuda 15 August 1941
Same air group
Patrolled 4064 miles 1188 flight hours

Arrived Bermuda 27 August 1941

Departed Bermuda 29 August 1941
Same air group
Patrolled south short of Trinidad in search of suspected German cruiser

Arrived Norfolk NOB 6 September 1941

- An aside . . . my parents were married in Norfolk on 13 September. Amongst those in attendance were Capt Buckmaster, Comdr Arnold, and the pilots of VF-42.

Departed Norfolk 16 September 1941
Aboard were VB-5 (SBD-2, -3), VF-42, and VT-5
(VS-5 detached service at Army war games)
Transited to Casco Bay, Newfoundland

Arrived Casco Bay 22 September 1941 and operated locally.

Departed Casco Bay on 25 October 1941
Same air group
(VS-5 now operating SBD-3s out of Quonset Point NAS, Rhode Island)
Convoy duty, escorted eastbound convoy code named “Cargo” to the MOMP and exchanged for westbound Convoy CT-5.

Arrived Casco Bay on 9 November 1941

Operated locally from 10 November to 29 November 1941

Departed Casco Bay on 30 November 1941
Transit to Norfolk

Arrived Norfolk NOB on 2 December 1941

Departed Norfolk NOB on 16 December 1941 for the Pacific
Aboard were VB-5 (18 SBD-3), VF-42 (18 F4F-3), VS-5 (19 SBD-3), and VT-5 (15 TBD-1)
Also aboard for transportation were a cargo of 1 SBD-1, 4 SBD-2, 4 SBD-3, 6 F4F-3A and 14 F4F-3.

Best I can do.

Rich

[R Leonard]

1328: VT 124, Bu #23539 [a General Motors TBM-3 Avenger], pilot, LT(JG) C.R. Dean, 298954, and crewmen F.J. Blake, ARM3c, and D.E. Zima, AOM2c, made a normal landing and taxied forward. As the plane reached a point abreast the island a violent explosion occurred, believed to have been caused by the detonation of two (2) 500 lb. bombs adrift in the plane's bomb bay.

Hancock was the TF-38 flag at the time. If you look at the port side of the island you can see damage to the galleries overlooking the flight deck adjacent to flag plot. I’d have to look it up, but there were quite a few staff casualties, including deaths, from this accident.

Jimmy Thach, the TF-38 operations officer, had just ducked below the splinter shielding to light a cigarette as the TBM was taxiing forward. He was still below the shield when the plane went up. He was unhurt, but at least one of those standing next to him was killed.

My father, Thach’s assistant, had just stepped into the flag plot head which placed an armored communications trunk between him and the gallery; he had just left Thach’s side after showing him a dispatch. He told me that in all probability he would not have been in the gallery, anyway, as he did not make a practice of watching flight deck operations, but delivering the message could have been bad if he worked the sequence the other way.

Where the bombs went off was right above the staff offices and cabins located beneath the flight deck.

The damage to their working spaces and personnel losses necessitated the staff transferring off Hancock and they’d moved on within 24 hours.

Rich

[Lucky13]

Thank you very much Rich! Personally I'd say that William G. Roy's photos from USS Yorktown at the battle of Coral Sea and Midway are just famous the photo of the Marines raising the Stars and Stripes on Mount Suribachi...



Brazos (AO-4) refueling Yorktown (CV-5) mid-Pacific, July 1940.

[R Leonard]

I was told this was the first time two fleet carriers were together in Pearl Harbor since the attack!

Pearl Harbor? You've been had by a fleet myth.

I've a photo around here somewhere taken from USS Enterprise on 6 February 1942 that shows Yorktown entering the harbor. In the background with her funnel showing over Yorktown's flight deck is Saratoga.



Rich

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by R Leonard

Pearl Harbor? You've been had by a fleet myth.

I've a photo around here somewhere taken from USS Enterprise on 6 February 1942 that shows Yorktown entering the harbor. In the background with her funnel showing over Yorktown's flight deck is Saratoga.



Rich

Thanks for straightening me out Rich -

BTW when both boats were there the place was a zoo. 5,000 drunken sailors and marines running around the beach area. Saturday night looked like the old movie "1941."

[maxs75]

Originally Posted by R Leonard

- An aside . . . my parents were married in Norfolk on 13 September. Amongst those in attendance were Capt Buckmaster, Comdr Arnold, and the pilots of VF-42.

Rich, Your family was really inside the history that is read on books.
I don't have the exact words in english to express myself, I hope you get the concept.

And ... Thanks for the answer.

Max

[Doodard]

Carrier landing lights too! Might surprise you. But surely the toughest condiitions ever for carrier landings were in the Arctic on the run to Murmansk in December and January february of '44-45. Flying 500 miles north of the arctic circle in wildcats on a carrier 490 feet long and 68 feet wide! Junkers and U-boats and 70-100mile per hour winds!!!!!

[Lucky13]

A few more photos gents.....


Crash landing of F6F-3, Number 30 of Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2), into the carrier's port side 20mm gun gallery, 10 November 1943. Lieutenant Walter L. Chewning, Jr., USNR, the Catapult Officer, is climbing up the plane's side to assist the pilot from the burning aircraft. The pilot, Ensign Byron M. Johnson, escaped without significant injury. Enterprise was then en route to support the Gilberts Operation. Note the plane's ruptured belly fuel tank.



F6F Hellcat fighters taxiing forward on the flight deck, during training exercises, 2 July 1943. Another F6F is in flight overhead, with its landing gear and tail hook extended.


Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighters landing on USS Enterprise (CV-6) after strikes on the Japanese base at Truk, 17-18 February 1944. Flight deck crewmen are folding planes' wings and guiding them forward to the parking area. The original caption gives date as 16 February.


Guadalcanal Invasion, August 1942 ordnancemen of Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6) load a 500 pound demolition bomb on an SBD scout bomber on the flight deck of USS Enterprise (CV-6), during the first day of strikes on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 7 August 1942.
Note aircraft's landing gear and bomb crutch; also bomb cart and hoist.

[maxs75]

Originally Posted by Lucky13

Guadalcanal Invasion, August 1942 ordnancemen of Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6) load a 500 pound demolition bomb on an SBD scout bomber on the flight deck of USS Enterprise (CV-6), during the first day of strikes on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 7 August 1942.
Note aircraft's landing gear and bomb crutch; also bomb cart and hoist.

The top of the photo says 7 august 1944 ????

Max

[Mike64]

Originally Posted by maxs75

The top of the photo says 7 august 1944 ????

Max

Nice detail!

Also, a good view of the mechanical fuze, arming wire and Fahnstock clip, too. I hope they are going to trim the excess forward of the clip a little.

With the Mk 80 series low drag bombs, we have come a long way since then -

[R Leonard]

Mike -

Does the gent on the left have the arming wire locked behind his knee for a reason or is that just a vagary of the action?

Max -

Caption on the photo is wrong. That's 1942.

Rich

[Mike64]

[quote=R Leonard;255955]Mike -

Does the gent on the left have the arming wire locked behind his knee for a reason or is that just a vagary of the action?

Max -

Caption on the photo is wrong. That's 1942.

Leonard-

It looks like he is doing two things (maybe three!) at once. It looks like he is holding the arming wire with some tension, which leads from its latch in the bomb rack, down thru the fuse prop, and will be restrained by the clip - you can kinda see it leading up to the rack. The Fahnstock clip is not snugged up nearer to the fuse, which it should be.

He appears to be helping the other "ordie" to be making final lineup adjustments to the bomb using one of the "hernia bar"s, before they tighten down the sway braces on the rack ,which hold the bomb from wallowing around in flight - laterally or directionally - while it is actually hooked up with the two suspension points (using the two lugs you typically see on the top of a bomb).

It should be standard procedure to make these final adjustments, run the Fahnstock clip up to the proper position, and trim the arming wire to a shorter length.

There has to be some "play" in the wire's distance from the rack to the fuse, and from the fuse to the Fahnstock, and then a little more. The rigging is pretty specific, but still kinda done by "eyeball". Otherwise wire dynamics might make the clip pop off at high speed, letting the prop turn, arming the fuse before the bomb is released - not good! This has not been uncommon with mechanical fuses, even up thru the Vietnam Era.

[Lucky13]

Ensign Arthur J. Brassfield, USN of Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42) Oversees engine maintenance on one of VF-42's F4F-3A fighters, on the flight deck of USS Yorktown (CV-5) at Casco Bay, Maine, 13 November 1941. Note SBD-3 in background, carrying an anti-submarine depth bomb; light gray color scheme on both planes; .50 caliber machine gun, telescopic gunsight and variable-pitch propeller on the F4F; and Ensign Brassfield's aviation winter green uniform and leather jacket. Also note what appears to be a file in the mechanic's back pocket, providing an opportunity for later medical treatment.


USS Yorktown (CV-5) Parade on the flight deck, 10 April 1942, during the "Yorktown Jamboree". Following the ship's band, Marines with M-1 (Garand) rifles and fixed bayonets guard the "Big T-Bone Steak ... the only one in captivity" that was one feature of this celebration. At the extreme right is the tail of a F4F-3 Wildcat fighter (Bureau # 3999) that had been transferred to Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42) from Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2) in March 1942. Note Bombing Squadron Five (VB-5) SBD-3 aircraft parked in the background and volleyball net in upper center.


Lieutenant Commander James H. Flatley, Jr. (left) with Lieutenant Stanley W. Vejtasa (center) and Lieutenant John A. Leppla pose for photographers, in front of a Grumman F4F-4 fighter (Bureau # 01996), 7 July 1942. All three pilots were then serving with Fighting Squadron Ten (VF-10). They were veterans of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Flatley with VF-42, Vejtasa with VS-5, and Leppla with VS-2.


Photographer 3rd Class William G. Roy, USN poses with a Fairchild F-1 20" aerial camera, in the rear cockpit of a Bombing Squadron Five (VB-5) SBD-3 Dauntless aircraft. Photographed on board USS Yorktown (CV-5) circa April 1942.


Northrop BT-1 bomber (Bureau # 0592), of Bombing Squadron Five (VB-5) being pushed by plane handlers on the flight deck of USS Yorktown (CV-5), circa 1939. Aircraft history cards list this BT-1 as wrecked and stricken on 24 August 1939.


Northrup BT-1 bomber (Bureau # 0614) of Bombing Squadron Five (VB-5), goes into the starboard catwalk during a landing accident on USS Yorktown (CV-5), circa 1940. Note man in asbestos suit and other members of the flight deck crew running to assist.


Douglas TBD-1 Torpedo Plane (Bureau # 0284) of Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5). In the starboard catwalk of USS Yorktown (CV-5), 3 September 1940, following a landing accident. Pilot was Electrician's Mate First Class (Naval Aviation Pilot) C.M. O'Brien. The after end of the carrier's island is in the background. Ultimately assigned to Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8.), This aircraft was lost on 4 June 1942 during the Battle of Midway.


Douglas TBD-1 Torpedo Plane (Bureau # 0297) of Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5) with a wrinkled fuselage, following a landing accident on USS Yorktown (CV-5), 3 September 1940. The after end of the carrier's island is in the background. This aircraft was ultimately assigned to Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8.), and was lost in the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942.


Grumman F3F-3 Fighters from Fighting Squadron Five (VF-5), USS Yorktown (CV-5) flying in a three-plane formation over the Southern California coast, circa 1939-40.

[R Leonard]

At the extreme right is the tail of a F4F-3 Wildcat fighter (Bureau # 3999) that had been transferred to Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42) from Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2) in March 1942.

You can also tell that that F4F-3 came from VF-2 because of the rudder stripes. Lexington planes, for some odd reason, and for the most part had but nine somewhat oversized stripes on their rudders, five red, four white. Yorktown used the regulation 13 stripes, seven red, six white.

Rich