Straight deck ops

"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...
I was too young for WW II but CQed in an SNJ aboard USS Wright off
Pensacola in 1950. Not very different from WW II conditions.

Even getting off the deck was a tough proposition, with the occasional
engine burp, cold cat shot, or defective bridle.

Cat shots were infrequent in WW II ops. Even Doolittle's B-25s took
off without benefit of a cat shot. Engines were wound up to full
revs before being released for take-off.

I once interviewed a guy who had been a Navy test pilot during WWII.......
He flew every plane in the Navy at the time and did quite a few landings
on
(I think) the USS Wright on Lake Michigan.

That's possible, but I think the two carriers used for CQ on Lake
Michigan were converted lake steamers. One, IIRC, was a side-wheeler.

Anyway, he said that landings were not as difficult as you would think,
because the stall speed of the planes was low and the carrier at speed
meant
that you approached the deck at less than 70 miles per hour in many cases.

I would agree, so far as the SNJ is oncerned. After field carrier
practice, a flight of six of us flew out to the boat. We had to get
six "cuts" to qualify. Every one of us, green beginners, got six cuts
for six passes. So it couldn't have been too hard.

Of course, we did it on a sunny day with relative calm seas, not at
night in a storm, with controls shot up.

vince norris

As someone who has a bit of time in the F4U and the F8F, I have nothing but
respect for the guys who could put the Corsair on the boat without breaking
their necks. Grumman, being the kind hearted souls they are, and having some
sympathy for the guys who had to see over the nose of their prop fighters,
were good enough to design the cowls with a downward slant so you could at
least see SOMETHING out there in front of you....like the LSO for example.
But I found the Corsair as blind as a bat out front. Of course I never put
one on the boat, but even handling it on the runway could be a chore. You
had two tiny areas at the lower corners of the windshield where you kept the
sides of the runway equalized at touchdown and roll out. I can only imagine
what it must have been like putting one of those things on the boat in the
middle of the night.......or even in daytime for that matter!!
Go Navy!!
Dudley Henriques