Helldiver Over Hornet

[Wadcutter]

Circa 1945

[Bob Womack]

That's a famous shot!

Bob

[Wadcutter]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

That's a famous shot!

Bob

I love that shot Bob. I like to imagine the pilot thinking to himself "Holy crap, I gotta land on THAT????!!!!! That flight deck looks awful narrow and awful crowded from up there. And man was that Helldiver a hunk of a dive bomber or what? Like a P-47 on steroids.

[Herb Hunter]

I thought I was going to see a photograph of a Curtiss Helldiver flying over an F-18 Hornet.

[Glennwillow]

I used to drive right by the Hornet, CV-12, back in 1975 when I was at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. My older brother was with me once when we drove past that ship sitting in the water at PSNS and he got so excited. "Do you know how famous that ship is!!!"

The Hornet launched the April, 1942 Doolittle raid of B-25 bombers against Tokyo.

That photo of the Hellcat over the Hornet is a classic shot, Wadcutter. Thanks for the reminder. I remember seeing that photo as a kid and imagining what it would be like to land an airplane on a relatively small moving platform out on the ocean.

- Glenn

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

I used to drive right by the Hornet, CV-12, back in 1975 when I was at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. My older brother was with me once when we drove past that ship sitting in the water at PSNS and he got so excited. "Do you know how famous that ship is!!!"

The Hornet launched the April, 1942 Doolittle raid of B-25 bombers against Tokyo.

- Glenn

When I look at that shot I'm reminded of the vulnerability of straight deck carriers and wood deck carriers.

Hornet CV-8, a member of the three-ship Yorktown class, launched the April '42 Doolittle Raid and fought at Midway in June '42. She was sunk at the Battle of Santa Cruz in October '42. The only Yorktown class A/C to survive the war, USS Enterprise, was scrapped in 1960.

Hornet CV-12, is a member of the Essex class. Her keel was laid down at Newport News Shipyard on Oct 3, 1942, as the USS Kearsarge. After CV-8 was lost at Santa Cruz on Oct 26, her hull was renamed for Hornet CV-8. Interestingly, her keel plate is still stamped Kearsarge. She went on to amass a wartime career that was as illustrious as that of her namesake. She was decommissioned and recommissioned twice after the war, gaining a slant deck and the designation CVA (attack). She also recovered Apollo 11 and 12 before she was finally decommissioned in June '70 and converted to a museum ship. Also interesting is the fact that three of her sister ships (Intrepid (New York), Yorktown II (Charleston SC), Lexington II (Corpus Christi, TX)) are now museum ships. Intrepid is the only survivor that wasn't renamed for another carrier lost in the war while she was still on the ways.

Bob

[Wadcutter]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

When I look at that shot I'm reminded of the vulnerability of straight deck carriers and wood deck carriers.

Hornet CV-8, a member of the three-ship Yorktown class, launched the April '42 Doolittle Raid and fought at Midway in June '42. She was sunk at the Battle of Santa Cruz in October '42. The only Yorktown class A/C to survive the war, USS Enterprise, was scrapped in 1960.

Hornet CV-12, is a member of the Essex class. Her keel was laid down at Newport News Shipyard on Oct 3, 1942, as the USS Kearsarge. After CV-8 was lost at Santa Cruz on Oct 26, her hull was renamed for Hornet CV-8. Interestingly, her keel plate is still stamped Kearsarge. She went on to amass a wartime career that was as illustrious as that of her namesake. She was decommissioned and recommissioned twice after the war, gaining a slant deck and the designation CVA (attack). She also recovered Apollo 11 and 12 before she was finally decommissioned in June '70 and converted to a museum ship. Also interesting is the fact that three of her sister ships (Intrepid (New York), Yorktown II (Charleston SC), Lexington II (Corpus Christi, TX)) are now museum ships. Intrepid is the only survivor that wasn't renamed for another carrier lost in the war while she was still on the ways.

Bob

Thanks for those facts Bob. An interesting side note on the Kearsarge if I remember correctly, I think I recall reading somewhere that she was the ship used in The Caine Mutiny to re-enact the failed visit to Admiral Halsey.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Wadcutter

Thanks for those facts Bob. An interesting side note on the Kearsarge if I remember correctly, I think I recall reading somewhere that she was the ship used in The Caine Mutiny to re-enact the failed visit to Admiral Halsey.

Yep, Essex class USS Kearsarge CV-33 launched May 5, 1945, scrapped 1974.

Bob

[Pitar]

Last time I was there NAS Pensacola had a cradled lake recovery of one sitting just inside the fence to the flightline. It was largely intact and complete with the wing and fuselage mounted on separate shipping cradles. Visitors could walk up to the planes in the parking area but no tours are given of the projects in restoration in the hangar areas. I thought that to be pretty disappointing.

Here's the SB2C-4 recovery back story -

http://ecorsair.com/naval-aviation-m...cts-helldiver/

[cotten]

As a kid, I hated History. Oh, I loved the stories, but they didn't teach them back then. It was all rote memory of boring (to me) facts, dates, and figures. How I wish they had taught History through dramatic shots and stories like this. I still couldn't have improved my report card As, but I would have enjoyed it ever so much more!

cotten

[Wadcutter]

Originally Posted by Pitar

Last time I was there NAS Pensacola had a cradled lake recovery of one sitting just inside the fence to the flightline. It was largely intact and complete with the wing and fuselage mounted on separate shipping cradles. Visitors could walk up to the planes in the parking area but no tours are given of the projects in restoration in the hangar areas. I thought that to be pretty disappointing.

Here's the SB2C-4 recovery back story -

http://ecorsair.com/naval-aviation-m...cts-helldiver/

The article states this SB2C aircraft is one of only six known examples of the SB2C Helldiver in existence out of more than 5,100 built. Man how fortunate to get one to restore.

[Glennwillow]

I see that I had my numbers wrong and that Bob corrected me. I stand corrected. The Hornet that I used to see anchored at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard must have been CV-8 rather than CV-12, because the one I saw was certainly not an Essex class carrier.

Thanks,
Glenn

[flaggerphil]

My Dad used to go on how he LOVED flying the SBD but thought the SB2C was just a piece of junk...not fun to fly at all. He said SB2C stood for SOB 2nd Class.



That is a cool pic, though.

[Wadcutter]

Originally Posted by flaggerphil

My Dad used to go on how he LOVED flying the SBD but thought the SB2C was just a piece of junk...not fun to fly at all. He said SB2C stood for SOB 2nd Class.



That is a cool pic, though.

It sure looks like a hunk to fly phil. Flying boxcar! Ha!

[Glennwillow]

That flight deck looks so small from up above. It would be bad enough landing a fighter or dive bomber on that deck. It would be impossible to land a 4-engine bomber like a B-25. Imagine getting B-25s off that deck.

- Glenn