Straight deck ops

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