crea P aieae PV mT ai Carrierborne aircraft revolutionised naval warfare during the eR eR ea ee ree Cee Bree Leer Rn eee ren tee erin eee ese er mer renee itary arenes of the Co in 1042 a new era dawned: et ‘without the surface ships of either side coming within sight of each other. Moreover, as the sinking of the Repulse ‘nd of the Yamato, pride of the Japanese Navy, in 1945 ee eng een ec ee eee one Th this book we cover the naval aircraft of the Unit Britain and Japan during the Second World War, as w carriers from which they operated. John Batchelor suppl ‘drawings, and Louis S Casey of the Smithsonian Institution a fully pet ir ett cet aera a eae) ees eri sta moor fer Heldiver dive bombers massed onthe light deck of irr een neon esayes eae ees TM tare eee CA eee TREE LL Peer eR er rete cny to the Director of Civil Aviation in Bermuda, and is a ‘Qualified PAA instructor in several aspects of aircraft and aviation. A regular contributor to aviation journals bot ‘Company, of which he is engaged in writing the definitive pores POC am cag Sones ee of several British aircraft firms, and went on to contribu fon a freelance basis to many technical magazines. Si then, his work for Purnell’s Histories of the World Wars, Serer ea Meta Cor aS ec Serenity Pr ein inhis field, A confirmed enthusiast, he takes every ‘opportunity to ly, sail, drive or shoot any piece of military equipment he ean lay his hands on. PY ee aT 1939-1945 eee ROT preted fore eee ts 5 Phoebus Publishing Co, BPC Publishing Ltd ny reer Sa Panay Made and printed in Great Britain by a Ce ried OC ee oe Deca coe Pee DCT? erent Oa ee eee Dive-bombers: ‘When we say dive we mean straight down’ Fighters: Bomber escort or carrier protector Miscellaneous Types: Try hards and trainers Der eee ered Poe eae Cerone eon a BSE CRUE ee ee A US Nevy Dauntless dive-bomber prepares to join the attack on Japaneserheld Wake IslondCARRIER DEVELOPMENT With the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1042, aircraft carriers came of age. The carrier was and still is the long arm of the navy andthe aircraft ofthese carriers arethe tailed ist to strike again and again a an enemy forge whether it be on land or sea. Until the Battle of the Coral Sea, the role of the carrier was that of a supporting force for the big shipe of the navy ~ battleships, cruisers and heavy cruisers. When land farmies move forward they take airstrips or create airstrips to bring their supporting fairpower forward, shortening the round trip time needed to rain blows on the enemy and to refuel, rearm and repair the aircraft involved. When a naval. force moves forward, or in any direction in Unison with the fleet or task force, the airstrip moves with it, Among the many advantages of this mobile airstrip is the complete continuity of action on the home base as well as complete familiarity of the pilots with this base, thus avoiding distract ing elements which might take their minds off the job at hand. The parallel between the airstrip and the carrier is fairly exact for the carrier provides the fuel and servicing for the aircraft as well as the combat direction and billeting for the eres ‘Aircraft in warfare are often considered to be long-range artillery. In tactical situa tions this has validity, but with the added advantage that the firepower can be delivered from virtually any quarter, not just from along a relatively known. static front-line of the battle area. This is par ticularly effective in naval engagements where dive-bombing and torpedo attacks can originate from every point of the compass or any vertical angle or altitude From the carriers, they can strike swiftly and repeatedly, carrying out an old but certain prescription for military success of ietting there firstest with the mostest’ Originally, aircraft were accepted by the navies to he used for scouting/observation duties and to spot for the heavy guns ofthe fleet. Gradually the aircraft evolved athe attack force itacle Single or small groups of aircraft operating for battleships oF cruisers could harass opposing forces but faruly could they press home an attack of fuficion size and intensity to do significant damage to an enemy ship oF fleet. To do #0 requires a lange number of airera® deliver ing epeated blows to keep the enemy foree onthe alert and unable to make the necee sary repairs, to remain. inaction. The estructton is cumulative, withthe second third and fourth attacks doing more damage than the frst if the attacks are in rapid Succession and by sufficient numbers. of aircraft It is for this purpose that the carrier is designed ~ to keep the refueling fepair and ordnance facilities close at hand Its also important that carriers operate in froupe to provide mutual support 20 that Should one carrier deck be damaged, the Temaining ships in the group are able to © the aircraft of the damaged carrier While all the navies of the world had their m views and functional designations for reraft, the types generally desired Spotting Reconnaissance, Bombers, and Torpedo Bombers, In most he mission capability. overlapped in the ‘case of fighter-bomber, at-bombers and scout-observation. These purpose aircraft resulted from the de . if not the necessity, to keep the number as small as possible and to reduce raft” maintenance “and supply erally speaking, carrier aircraft are gned to operate from a platform rather rom the water surface itself The first e of such a flight occurred on 14 ember 1910 when Eugene Bly flew ss Model D biplane from a platform fically constructed on the foredeck of IS light cruiser, USS Birmingham, water safety features had been ed for the spectacular Albany-New fight made by Glenn H Curtiss on 1910. These consisted of a pair of ype floats mounted under the rnd a long bag of corks attached to re keel of the plan When Capt Washington I Chambers of the US Navy learned of the interest in ship-to-shore mail flights by the Hamburg American Steamship Line, he obtained permission to fit a platform on the USS Birmingham. This platform, 89 f long and 24 f wide, sloped down toward the bow at a 5° angle, placing the leading edge of the platform 37 ft above the water at the bow. However, circumstances prevented J AD MeCurdy, the pilot for the steamship line (formerly of the Aerial Experiment Assn and later Governor General of Canada), from completing the mail flight. ‘Take off from the ‘Birmingham’ The same Albany Flyer that Curtiss had used for the Albany-New York flight was at that time participating in an air meet at Halethorp, Maryland, and Eugene Ely, 8 Curtiss exhibition pilot who was also taking part in the meet, volunteered to fly the plane. The plane was hoisted aboard the Birmingham with the front wheel positioned just 57 f back from the front edge of the platform. Weather reports indicated the approach of strong winds for the following day, 60 the decision was made to attempt the flight on 14 November. After much delay due to low clouds, poor visibility and heavy rain showers, Ely climbed into the pilot teat of the Albany Flyer at about 1500. The Birmingham got under way and, while they still had 20\fathoms of anchor chain out, Ely gave the signal to the deck crew to let go. He cleared the deck at 1516 without benefit of much forward speed of the ship. Nosing down to gain the required flying speed, he struck the water with the wheels, frame, canisters and propeller tips The Landing Signals Officer aboard the escort carrier Ravastersigmalsinstrctionatoa Grumman FOF Hellcat Once on his landing ran, the pilot twas subject tothe commands ofthe ESO. who leo ‘decided the rate! which aireraft could land ‘The vibration resulting from the damaged propeller quickly convinced Ely that the prudent course would be toward the nearest land. In this instance it was a point of land, Willoughby Spit, two and a half miles distant, where he set the Albany Flyer down for a safe landing. Unfortunately, like a good many other historic events it was much later before the importance of that flight was recognised Ely’s payment for the flight was a letter of thanks from the Secretary ‘of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer. The aeroplane was not destined to revolutionise naval tactics ~ not at this date, anyway The second significant event involved the same pilot but a different ship, a different location and a different plane. The location was San Francisco Bay, the ship was the cruiser USS Pennsylvania, and the plane was a Curtiss D IV Military, the first ofits kind, designed for the variable conditions of military aeronauties. In order to carry a second person for observation purposes, the wing area of the DIV was increased by the insertion of a 30tin panel in each wing cellule. So successful was this modification that varying sized panels up to a full extra panel or bay could be and often were added to increase the lifting capability of the otherwise standard Model D III Curtiss For this second experiment, a deck 120 fe long and 82 ft wide was constructed tocover the afterdeck equipment and turrets ‘This deck sloped upward. at the forward Gnd near the superstructure and after mast ‘Nea further precaution canvas was laced { the front and sides ofthe deck, the for svard panel extending upward to screen the Juperstructure and the side panels extend ing downward to serve asa final harrier net Should the plane veer out of control Th Atdition to" these precautions, the. fst aircraft arrester system was developed and tied. AC lenst three claims for ite design ae known: however, the fat that it wae {Ingenious and simple in construction made it's success, so much so that the moderm day systems bear'a strong resemblance to this ‘original, Te consisted of 22. ropes Stretched across the beam of the fight fleck supported by timbers which held the Times lightly above. the deck. and. with tach rope ied to two S0-h sand bags, one ft each end The plane was equipped with dhrce pairs of small grapnel hooks attached laterally to the landing gear between the main wheels As inthe case ofthe Albany Fiver twocanistortypeflonts were attached tinder the wings outbonrd of the main landing wheels but thie time the cork bag Used forthe Albany Bight was missing. To Complete the safety precautions, Ely used {pair of croseed, inflated motoreyele inner {ches around his neck and under his arms “The day before the experiment a decision was male not to got the ship under way {onthe tee Bight, On 18 January 1911 Ely took off from San Prancisco's Presidio Feld find. headed for the smallest feld ever tncountored £0 this date. Conditions were ft their worst withthe ship headed into an bb tide and a Tight 10 mph wind blowing from the stern, necessitating a don. wind Tanting. The wind changed slightly he approached the deck, producing a slight ross-wind. However, when less than 100 f from the deck, the plane steadied. As he Cleared the lip of the afterdeck Ely pulled the plane up slightly to love some of the spect, estimated to be a staggering 39-0 ph He skimmed over the first eleven Athwartship lines, hooked the twelfth and atdded. successive’ Fines as the speed dis Sipated until it came to res after contacting {he 20nd line and 80 short of the forward {nd ofthe deck. The dawn of the airerat ‘carrier was at hand “The take-off 45 minutes later was unevent ful. The tailwind was now a headwind as the plane was turned around for departure ofthe stern of the ship With two successful demonstrations, one would think that this new technique would fave gained instant acclaim or at least a foothold and be developed by the US Navy, Such was not the ease, forthe next step was taken by the British in making the frst take-off from a ship under way.-On 4 May 1012 Cir CR Sameon RN, and Lt Malone rade two flights from HM Hibernia while She wae under way ata speed estimated to bed knots Twas not until HMS Argus was launched in 1918 that a cleardeck airerat carrie. as we know it today, was available. The Gutbreak of the First World War brought {or halt construction on the Italian Lloyd Saiaudo Company's liner, Conte Re which wason the ways of Messrs Beardmore Tid on the River Clyde. The half-completed ‘ull was purchased bythe British Admiralty and fhished as the carrier HMS Argue Complete with hangar deck, elevator and flip deck 6 ‘Approach Witt the deck pendants raised, the aresting ‘engines at batery, bari cables raised and the landing area clear the overat carer ready ta receive avoraftThe approaching pla hha its wheels down, flaps down and arresting hook down preparatory to landing Arrestation Complete ‘Tho restraining Seton stops the motion of the plane, whereupon the contol valve ‘utomatcaly closes, preventing it from being pulled back slong the deck by the deck pendant, {an action known as walkbeck’."Hookmen rn ‘Onto the Might deck and unhook the dock Pendant from the plane. Bator are lowered, lane moves forward and the plo stats to fold his wings Engagement ‘The strat Hook engages the cross-dock, pendant pulling I forward, wile the purchase able is Being pulled out fom the deck edge Arrestation Travels down the deck, purchase ut causing the engine rom Yo be Segine ence placing hydraule uid undor pressure through the Chrwel vale ito the accumulator This id ‘metering process trough the convo! valve ‘estine the pulling out of the purchase cable, bn consequenty the pendant cab, and is spotted’ ahead of the batons or taken down the elevator to the hangar deck. Simultaneously the deck pendant le retrieved Tots ready position by allowing the fi the accumulator to low back into the cylinder find foree the rem to battery postion Everything OK Landing hook You're too slow— Too fast— not down speed up slow down, You're low- Cut engine No good — Over this way im litle and land goround again a ite ‘The first form of arrester was the rope and sandbag system used by Ely during his landing aboard the USS Pennsylvania on 18 January 1811 and described previously During the early period of carrier develop- ment a number of other systems were tried, among them the very unsatisfactory and potentially dangerous practice of ‘ditching’ alongside an escort destroyer. If the pilot was fortunate enoygh to make a good landing or ditching, inflatable flotation bags were provided to keep the plane afloat until the pilot could be rescued. This system also had the disadvantage of sacrificing the plane and engine. ‘A second system was tried at the Marine Experimental Aircraft Depot on the Isle of Grain, Kent, UK, in late 1915, It consisted of an inclined’ wire ropeway fitted over the stern of the ship. While one BE fitted with a special gear did succeed in landing on this equipment, the idea was dropped in favour of a'return to the earlier sandbag system, Another system tried consisted of fore. and-aft wires supported on blocks about six inches above the deck. The aircraft wi fitted with a number of hooks mounted con the axle which engaged one or more of the wires. To complete this system, the pilot lowered a tail hook to engage a set of transverse wires which were attached to the now standardised sand bags. These transverse wires were spaced at 30. intervals. The axle-mounted hooks ensured straight run down the deck Landing without brakes All these tests, it should be remembered, ‘were hefore the fitting of internal wheel brakes. The high probability of a lateral gust of wind causing the aircraft to slew around was ever present. This resulted in a great number of damaged aircraft landing ears, propellers and wing tips as well as severe twisting strain on the airframe itself ‘The same system or a slightly modified version was used on the USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier commissioned in the US Navy. This ship began its service as the collier Jupiter and was later modified to the configuration of an aircraft carrier and recommissioned as USS Langley. ‘Another variation of the longitudinal ‘grid’ cable system was installed on HMS Argusiin 1919. At first no transverse arrester cables were used: instead an ingenious system allowed the longitudinal wires to serve as brakes as well as guides. The air- craft had the hooks suspended from the axle as before. The cables were laid on the deck fore-and-aft and flush with the deck. ‘The clearance necessary to bring the cables into contact with the hooks was provided by lowering the aircraft elevator, which was located near the centre of the flight deck, about nine inches. When the plane, on its landing rollout, dropped onto the lowered elevator, the hooks engaged the wires. At the forward part of the elevator an ‘artificial hill’ ramp brought the plane back to deck level and at the same time created sufficient tension on the cables for frietion to bring the plane to a halt ‘At the same time the aircraft required unusually high, stiltdike landing gear to censure that the propeller would clear the wires. This required extra weight to provide the strength to withstand the twisting strains when the aireraft swerved from side to side. As might be expected, a number of aircraft sustained varying dogrees of damage whi Sh had to be repaired before theycould be flown from the deck again. The ‘number of accidents caused by this system ‘and equipment resulted in its abandonment seven years after its introduction. In 1924 the landing system reverted to that of the 1917 era, the rope and sand bag. ‘The sandbag system was improved by the addition of towers constructed on each Side of the ship to support weights which looked like elevator weights. Via cables and sheaves from the deck, the weights ‘were lifted in succession as the aircraft engaged the wires, much as sand bags had engaged in the older system. In the 1920s the ‘Norden Gear’ was installed in US Navy carriers. This machine consisted of a drum approximately three feet in diameter which had spiral grooves machined in its surface to accommodate the cable used. To make the eable wind on the drum in level layers the drum was designed to slide along an faxle. shaft, rather than incorporating a moving guide for the cable. Fach drum ‘one for each cable end - was equipped with a brake drum to slow it down and an electric motor to retrieve the cable after it was ‘unhooked from the landed aircraft ‘Because of the tendency for one drum to run out of eable before its mate, as a result, of offccentre contact by the tail hook, it ‘was decided to bring both ends of each deck Tine (or pendant) together and attach them toasingle arresting engine, These hydraulic arresting machines consisted of a cylinder in which hydraulic fluid was compressed tand forced through an orifice — whose size could be controlled to an air-filled accumu lator, As the cable was paid out the fluid was compressed into the accumulator where the air was also compressed to provide the power for quick retrieval. The rate at ‘which this hydraulic fluid was transferred ‘was controlled by a valve which could be adjusted to allow for different aircraft ‘weights and landing speeds. ‘To reduce the number of arrester gear units, the deck cables or pendants were attached in such a way that two pendants could be connected and both of them con- trolled by a single arrester. A difficult act to follow In the process of landing aircraft aboard a carrier during the Second World War, one individual stood out above all others — even the ship's commander. This was the LSO or Landing Signals Officer. His judgment determined the condition and rate of accept lance of landing aircraft. Once on the final Teg of an approach to the carrier, the pilot set his speed and power at pre-tested levels. fand lined up at a predetermined altitude ‘astern of the flight deck. From this point ‘onward, he was subject to the commands of the LSO who communicated these in. Structions'to the pilot by hand signals. Since hand signals are not readily visible, the LSO would use paddles similar to ping-pong paddles or other high visibility hardware which would ensure the visual ‘communication of directions to the pilot. ‘Standing on a small platform at deck level near the aft end of the port side of the flight deck, the LSO would go through his signal routine for each aircraft. Part of his routine was standardised but most was based on experience of the incoming pilot, for the LSO quickly learned to know and anticipate any characteristics of the pilots fand planes of his squadrons. He was in a very real sense a one-man act, and it was, they say, ‘a very difficult act to follow’. 5 CATAPULTS Catapults used for aircraft launching are modernlay versions of those used by the Grecks and Romans as long ago as 340 nc to hhurl missiles of stone against and into fortifications. In aviation history, assisted take-offs go back at least as far as the Wright Brothers and Dr Samuel P Langley. who was Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. It should be emphasised, however, that this does not Include the first Wright plane of 1903, the first piloted heavier-than-air craft to fly un der control in powered flight. The Wrights! catapult came later in 1904/5 and consisted fa tower on which was suspended a weight. ‘Through a system of block and tackle, the weight was released and accelerated the plane up to ying speed ‘The catapult of today dates back almost to the first association of aircraft, with naval aviation, One of the first problems encountered in the marriage of the aero- plane with the ships of the fleet was the means of launching and retrieval of the firerat without impairing the normal func tioning of the ship. Realising this problem from the very beginning, Lt T G Bllyson, Naval Aviator 1, USN, and the head of the US Navy's Aviation Department, Capt WI Chambers, devoted time to producing fat least two possible solutions to the problem, ‘The first, attributed to Glenn Hi Curtiss and Ellyson, was constructed and tried in 1911 at Hammondsport, NY, the home of Curtiss and the Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company. This device consisted of a cable ‘lide’ with the central cable fixed to submerged post and the other end sloping lupward from the shoreline to a platform. On each side of the main cable were two additional wires of comparatively smaller diameter which served as guides to keep the wings level until the aircraft attained control speed for the ailerons. Visualising a Similar rig aboard ship, Ellyson made at Teast one successful flight from this slid. Indoing so, he discovered that few problems were encountered with the control of the ailerons and the whole experimental take ‘off was over in @ matter of seconds. The second system, developed almost concurrently by Capt Chambers assisted by Naval Constructor HC Richardson and Lt Ellyson, was a true catapult though primitive in construction and operation. Again, it was Lt Ellyson who made the first launch from this type of eatapult, which was powered by compressed air. The date was 12 November 1912; the location was the Washington Navy Yard. The device consisted of a track mounted on a barge ‘along which a wheeled dolly was propelled by compressed air. The aircraft, a Curtiss Model E (the Navy's A‘) with Ellyson piloting, was launched successfully. For all its simplicity, this eatapult contained all the ingredients of the system which with refinement, was still in use in 1922, ‘This first catapult was. designed for installation on the turret of a battleship. In the end this proved impractical, but for years battleships and cruisers carried and Inunched aircraft from catapults which were deck mounted and independent of the turrets. The first major change from the compressed air typé came in 1922 when a new catapult, designed to use gunpowder as the propellant, was designed by Lt Elmer Stone of the US Coast Guard and Mr CF Jeansen of the Bureau of Ordnance. ‘The development of catapults for use aboard earriers took place mostly during the ‘Thirties when France, Germany and par ticularly England and the United States were carrying on. secret developments. Japan, another of the nations involved in the development of aircraft carriers, did not carry out parallel programmes in cata pltdesign. Asfarasis known, the Japanese did not have any satisfactory mechanical launching system for their carrier-borne aircraft until late in the war. With the exception of the US, the other developments of carrier catapults relied on the obsolete and time-consuming use of a launching cradle which necessitated ‘load: ing’ each aircraft on the cradle prior to launching, and deck mounted tracks which ‘obstructed movement of aircraft about the ‘deck, The US, on the other hand, developed the expendable ‘bridle’ for flush deck opera: tion. Using this very simple device it was possible to launch aireraft in rapid succes Sion and with none of the complications inherent in stopping a heavy eradle at the end of each run. As a result, higher launch ing speeds and frequencies were possible ‘and there were no tracks to restrict aircraft movement above the decks, The serious development of the flush-deck catapult began in 1934 at the Naval Aireraft Factory, Philadelphia, Pa. Carriers then under con: struction had these catapults installed but they were looked upon as a luxury rather than ‘an everyday operational launching device, Remember, however, that aircraft ‘weights and speeds were not great during that period, Under all but extreme sea or ‘wind conditions the earrier deck waa ample for take-offs and landings. Even during the early part of the Second World War its use ‘was less than might be expected. ‘argo ships into carriers ‘The real requirement for catapults de veloped when the CVE ‘Jeep’ carriers (also known as MAC - Merchant Aircraft Carrier ships) were developed by converting cargo ships into carriers in 1942 to provide the necessary escorts for convoys in the ‘Atlantic. It became apparent that if these little, slow converted merchant ships were to be of any value they would have to use catapults to launch anything other than lightweight aircraft. The restricted deck area, the top-heavy character of the ship fand ‘its high degree of movement at sea required the mechanical boost available from the eatapult, When at sea in anything but the calmest weather, the roll and pitch of the CVE Jeep carrier made unassisted take-offs hazardous to both the plane and the ship, On the other hand, the catapult made a straight-line take-off a certainty and the aircraft was accelerated to a reasonable speed even when loaded to full military gross weight. The same Jeeptype carrier made use of fall capability om mumerous occasions eluding the delivery of Army Curtiss P40 North African November 1942 At thoinva. of Guadalcanal in August 1012 Marine Eehter reinforcements were launched from USS Zong Taland: Infact a number of ype era war elped. wih “ aa oe need arise. . be advantages of using catapults are sang, but the principal ones are: The ability to cary a larger number of zerat (up to 40% more) which can be and heavier and therefore more sincethe onlylimitis onthe number can be landed aboard. Greater numbers aircraft canbe epotied on deck. for anching, since lene deck area is used for sakeoft Z Nighi operations without the use of Sights to soothe deck can be eared out Satinely. The catapult maintains the air Sn 4 engi ne ad eceerte the pias to «sal ying sped. On clearing the Heck the pilot continues normal climb Dpecedures on instruments aman nae ‘A Sea Hurricane about tbe launched froma CAM ‘hip. Bach mission for oneof these planes meontthe tan ofthe plane aswell a ducking forte pet 3. Rough weather operations can be carried ut almost as routinely as the night opera: tions, Again, the catapult assures a straight take-off in ‘spite of the deck position Furthermore, launch can be timed to the roll or pitch of the ship to place the plane in the most favourable position and speed, 4. Finally, the aircraft can be launched in crosswind’ conditions — in fact it was common practice to launch right out of the hhangar deck! In pre-catapult times, it was necessary to head the carrier into the prevailing wind to assure the flow of air down the centre line of the deck. While this seems reasonable, it was not always the ‘most practical since the rest of the task force might, for tactical reasons, be headed in a different direction, as much as 180 to the prevailing wind. Under the old unassisted system this could force the carrier to steam away from the protective screen of the fleet force and then have to turn and catch up. The alternative might mean depriving the fleet of a tactical advantage in order to protect the carrier, Neither of these was necessary with the availability of the catapult. ‘The catapults used during the Second World War were essentially the same as those developed earlier, but with two important differences. Compressed air was still the propelling medium but an aceumu- lator was used with the air over oil rather than direct application from an air com pressor to the aircraft Inunching shuttle (hook). In these oil-pneumatic eatapults the oil became the energy-transmitting mediut, thereby reducing the amount of air lost on ‘each shot. Only the amount of air necessary for the shot was expended and recompres- sion was accomplished by oil pumps rather than air compressors The other important feature was the absence of any cradle. The aircraft was supported and operated on its own landing sear, thereby reducing the mass and moving parts that would necessarily. accompany the use ofa cradle in the form of accelerating and decelerating shock-absorbing buffers, With this new system increased rate and speed of launching were made possible since there was no cradle to be retrieved,TORPEDO BOMBERS AIMING A PUNCH WHERE IT HURTS There is no denying the fact that the fighters and the divebombers are the flamour aircraft of ‘carrier operations However, the torpedo bomber certainly was one of the first types of carrier borne air raft, dating back to the First World War ‘The adaptation of the already developed torpedo to the ew naval weapon, the aeroplane, was a natural evolutionary sep. The torpedo was proving to be a potent Alternative to the 16in guns ofthe capital Ships Te had been adapted tothe submarine the destroyer the cruiser and the light. fast, motor torpedo boat, giving each of these Tesco fleet units the potential punch of the Satteship. The problem, a always, was the delivery method. Cruisers and destroyers usually did carry torpedoes as part of their ordnance comple ment ut they were themselves sizeable targets for the big guns of an enemy’ fleet. The submarine, because of its stealth and difficulty of detection, had been the ideal Sind traditional delivery mechanism for the frpedo launching. But as the. antisub marine programme developed. along with he submarine, the stbmarine aa wll a the motor torpedo boats (MTB), beeame more Vulnerable to attack from the air. Like the MTB, the aeroplane had the speed and the manoeuvrability to take evasive action for HS wn protection wile, at the sae tine continuing to press home an attack from any quarter, and it could be launched into an engagement from a Hating or land base many miles from the scene of the battle. Bach plane carried the same destructive punch as one of the large guns of the capital Ships, Little wonder then that the torpedo wwas one of the first weapons to be adapted tothe aeroplane, ‘The first attack The concept of launching torpedoes from aircraft dates back to 1909 when T OM Sopwith built an aircraft known as the Cuckoo to a requirement suggested by Le Murray Sueter, RN. The plane was not completed but served as an inspiration to Robert Blackburn who, having formed his own company, developed an improved ver sion produced as the Blackburn Cuckoo. The earliest known success of aircraft torpedo attacks occurred in the First World War when two Short float seaplane aircraft from the seaplane carrier Ben-my-Chree ‘each torpedoed a ship in the Sea of Marmara off Turkey, [Experience soon showed that launching seaplanes was at best a nuisance and at worst adefinitehazard since the carrier must necessarily slow to a near halt to launch fandjor retrieve the aircraft. With the introduction of full-length flight decks on carriers, aircraft with wheeled undo carriages became the standard and made possible simplification of all operations ‘The torpedo carrier reconnaissance aircraft benefited in other ways too, since the weight and air resistance of floats had reduced performance to a degree which made the carriage of a torpedo only marginally possible. In one ease, the Curtiss CT, in other respects quite an advanced aircraft, was a failure because the weight and drag Imposed by the floats and struts did not permit the use of 1600-1b torpedoes. Other wise, the CT was a very interesting aircraft It was a twin-engite, low-wing monoplane developed at a time ~ 1920 when biplanes were the standard, ‘A second major deterrent to the rapid development of the torpedo bomber was the torpedo itself. Directly adapted from the shipisubmarine torpedo, the early airborne versions developed a number of problems when airlifted totheir targets. Aerodynamic considerations and launching difficulties required very precise low level fiying at the time of drop, imposing conditions on the rew which made this branch of naval ation little short of heroic. At the low ude necessitated by the drop require sents, the torpedo plane was subject during 2 not only to the hazard of direct hits even a near miss could throw up a geyser sich could be just as effective in deflecting he plane from its course. Added to this ever-present barrage from a jet or its supporting. ships was. the sence of defending fighters, These con: red the heavily Inden torpedo plar ing ducks, particularly when they lined for their run, for ifthe drop was to have chance for success the bomber must d its course — a very predictable course iow altitude, during which time fighters ed them off with discouraging regu. rity. Because of this, naval strategists did consider the torpedo bomber a very sctieal weapon. The delicate structure nd guidance mechanism of the Whitehead pedo, which was designed for underwater slightly above the water launching, de the low level aireraft delivery nece= ry. Consequently, anti-aircraft gunners the fleets assumed that the torpedo craft would be like fish in a rain barrel. Records ow these vigws to be unduly pessimistic the torpedo aircraft, particularly the Fairey Swordfish, gave a good account of nselves, in spite of these normally hazardous ditions under which torpedo crews erated, this class of naval aircraft was sidered to be very unspectacular until November 1940 - when British Fleet Air Fairey Swordfish (affectionately own as ‘Stringbags’) launched from the “er HMS Illustrious, created havoc < sank or damaged a substantial number ships of the Italian Battle Fleet in a ng strike on the Italian naval base at anto. This bold attack cost the British Swordfish lost and two damaged - quite mnarkable when one considers the volume ‘A Japonese Kateattempteto torpedo the U Dakota during the Battle of Santa Cruz, Inset: A US Navy Avenger releases ite torpedo ih practice of anti-aircraft fire directed atthe attackers. During the Battle of Cape Matapan, Fairey Albacores and Swordfish, though insufficient in numbers, managed to divert 4 far superior Ttalian force from cutting off an outnumbered and outgunned British cruiser group. The torpedo planes succeeded in jamming the steering gear and flooding the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto with about 4000 tons of water. This action slowed the ship sufficiently to allow the British Fleet to catch the battleship and its escort ing cruisers and destroyers and blow them out of the water, Relentless pounding ‘This was a long awaited test, for until this time torpedo bombers had not been tried in an open sea engagement. It was the beginning of a series of airborne torpedo attacks. During these battles the Italian fleet was repeatedly harassed by the Sword fish and the planes reduced the comfortable 100-mile lead of the Italian battleship to 30 or 40 miles in a matter of eight hours with repeated, relentless pounding. The cumula tive damage principle took its toll. In the attempt to save the battleship, the Italians lost four cruisers and a numberof destroyers which were sent to aid the badly mauled Vittorio Veneto. In spite of very heavy anti-aircraft fire and the almost pedestrian pace of the Swordfish, the British lost only One aircraft ‘Again and again the torpedo bomber was to show its mettle by crippling some of the biggest and best-defended ships, as well as extracting a heavy toll of lesser fighting ships and supporting supply ships. In spite of the handicap of their torpedoes, which made them slow and. lacking in manoeuvrability the torpedo planes of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm and the RAF managed to keep the waters around the European continent within their control "The most dramatic service rendered by the Swordfish was the encounter with the Bismarck, the most powerful battleship then afloat. ‘This supership, along with its escort, thebattle-cruiser Prinz Bugen, broke ‘out ofthe Baltic Sea into the North Atlantic fon 23 May 1941 to attempt to destroy or at least harass the Atlantic ‘bridye’ of ships that was Great Britain's lifeline to North America, Virtually the whole of the British Home Fleet was concentrated on the efforts to destroy this threat to Britain's survival. Events that followed proved once again the importance of having an air arm in any fleet. ‘The carrier HMS Victorious, only recently commissioned and carrying a large cargo of erated Hawker Hurricanes destined for Gibraltar, was pressed into service though her complement of operational air. craft consisted of less than a dozen Sword fish and only half a dozen Fairey Fulmar fighters, ‘in a running fight with HMS Hood and Prince of Wales, the Bismarck emerged the vietor with relatively minor damage but in need of dry docking before carrying out her intended mission. One of her fuel tanks had been damaged, reducing her cruising range measurably. During the night, Victorious proceeded to within striking range of her aircraft to deliver a night torpedo attack, ‘The Swordfish, with the valuable assistance of the newly developed radar, sueceeded in scoring a hit which did no. significant damage, but the high speed manoeuvring necessary to avoid the torpedoes in. the heavy weather increased the damage which hhad resulted from the running fight with the British battleships. The boiler-room of the Bismarck was flooded causing a further reduction in her speed. In the prevailing heavy weather, the Bismarck shook off her pursuers only to be rediscovered by an uRAF Cotalina patrolling the area in mid morning on 26'May at 4 position only iL ours away fom Brest. the destination port and only « few hours beyond. the Protective ‘range. of German land-based Once aguin, the Swordfish went into action, this time from HMS Ark Royal which had been despatched from Gibraltar The tecond wave of 15 Swordfeb, fying Converging courses in ow clout and heavy treather, succoeded in soverely damaging the Blsmareks propeller and steering gear tnd jamming the rudders, During the might the circled helplessly while the British lot fathered for the dawn. attack. With the Eis light of dawn, Rodney and. King George'V pounded the Bismarck to rns. ‘The torpedo atack that followed from the cruiser Doretshire sent. the pride of the German navy to the bottom of the ocean. it is well to examine at this stage the conditions wish reviled dasing thee the relatively amall numbers of sireraft involved. Av experience wat gained, the alrerah were employed in progresively freater numbers and, instead. of inline {tacks the planes attacked simultaneously andjor darkness also limited. the fighter defensive cover, and out of it alleame the Swordfish, the ‘ungainly dinosaur of the fireraft world, certain game for defensive fighters - though its manoeuvrability and slow speed sticceeded an occasion inevading even the sleek monoplane fighters, ‘An inexpensive machine of the tube-and- fabric era, the Swordfish was easy to maintain. it could and usually did operate in the most deplorable weather conditions in spite of heaving decks that kept all other aircraft grounded ‘Technically, the Swordfish was of a conventional design of composite construe tion, mainly steel tube and fabric with limited use ofsheet metal sheathing adjacent to the engine, back to the diagonal line aft of the front cockpit and the cockpit fenclosure from the upper longerons and back to the rear of the after cockpit. Its single nine-eylinder air-cooled Bristol Pegasus 30 radial engine was rated at 750 hp. The Fairey Albacore, successor to the ‘Swordfish, was from the same mould and the same manufacturer, The configuration was the same, that of single-engine biplane ‘with fixed landing gear. Tt wasa ‘cleaned up’ modernised version of the Swordfish, designed to replace it, but in fact, the Swordfish outlived its successor. Reaching carrier operation status in late 1940, the ‘Albacore took part in a number of actions, the most notable of which was the battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. ‘Operated from shore bases as often as from carriers, Albacores provided protective cover for eonvoys and flew anti-submarine patrols, They were prominent in minelaying fand in flare dropping as well. Their service in North Africa during the Western Desert ‘campaign was one of the highlights of their service career; there they dropped flares to illuminate Rommel's positions and concen- trations of armour for RAP night bombers. During this operation, it is estimated that they released approximately 12,000 flares in addition to taking part in the bombing themselves. F While this action was taking place, a monoplane replacement was being devel oped. The Fairey Barracuda, developed un eran Air Ministry R& D Specification S24) 37, issued in January 1938, never enjoyed the confidence of its crews. Following the frst fight of the prototype on 7 December 1940, a long development period ensued resulting in @ great number of structural, aerodynamic and powerplant “fixes' that delayed its entry into operational service until September 1843. Coupled with the structural problems was that of retrain ‘shadowed by the Swordlish for which the core was plannod as a replacement. this ed biplane fought at Matapan and inthe mn Desert on lare-dropping missions and ed 2 usaf anti-submarine acrat sn 0 fe Length 39 R94 in Engine: Bristol US Il, 1088 hp Armament: 1 Vickers mg tors ‘K’ mg Max Speed: 161 mph at 000 ft ing: 20,700 "Range: 930 mies ‘ioad1*18-in torpedo of 2000 ib bombs this battleship and her escorting cruisers, the Barracuda accounted for 176 sorties, of Which 174 got through to the. target, although it was well protected by both natural and man-made defences, Only two aircraft were shot down by anti-aircralt fire. Provious to this, the Barracuda had been giving a good account of itself in anti-shipping operations along the coast of Europe, using its dual capability as a dive bomber to account for an impressive total of shipping damaged or destroyed Torpedoes in the Pacific The Pacific theatre also had its share of torpedo activity with lees lopsided results than in’ the Buropean/Mediterranean theatre. As rule, conditions in the Pacific were not aa favourable tothe torpedo plane ‘The weather was better, fora stare and the presence of large numbers of fighters with each of the opposing sides made torpedo launching a decidedly hazardous occupa tion ~ not that any combat category is sate, even in the most favourable conditions. Beginning with the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on ? December 194, 40 Nakajima BON "Kate torpedo bombers gave a. good account of themselves in ‘cessfully. dropping torpedoes, in. the Shallow harbour with 101 additional Kates operational in their alternate role of hort zontal bombers from altitude, In conjune tion with the Aichi D3A "Vals" the Kate wrought destruction on a scale rarely seen before or since Pearl Harbor. ‘The fir wave of attackers consisted. of 40. Kates armed with torpedoes, with 50 additional Kates armed as horizontal bombers, The second wave of attackers included 54 Kates [At the conclusion of the attack, over 2400 Americans had been killed, almost 1200 wounded,” four battleships were sunk ‘nother beached ardl three others badly damaged. All ofthis was accomplished at & relatively small cost” Of the 204 Japanese aireraft involved in the attack, Kates, 8 Zeros and 15 Val dive-bombers had been lost. As earth-shaking and successful as this attack. was, ie was a preview of the cartier taskforce which became the standard of naval operations during the Pacific War The BON Kate and the less ‘numerous Mitsubishi B5M were similar in configura tn and stractare bath were low ring monoplanes built tothe same specifications The BOM was a bit more conservative in dlesign and retained the fxed landing gear which was th principal identification detail Between these two very similar aircraft. Both had folding wings to facilitate stow age on board carriers and both earried their Srdnance, whether torpedo or bombs externally. Both were developed to mest a specification issued in 1995: the Nakajima entry, being more advanced in engineering Concept, was chosen for large-scale produc: tion and assignment to carrier duties Fairey Swordfish | ‘The antquated ‘Stingbag! had the super handing essential fr care fying, and delivered ripplingly accurate torpedo attacks in actions {rom Taranto tothe sinking of the Bismarck ‘Span’ 45 "8 in Length: 36 f 4 in Engine: Bristol Pegasus 30, 750 hp Armament: Vickers mg: 1 Lewis mg Max ‘Speed 139 mph at 4780 ft Cetng: 10,700 ft ange: 546 miles Bomblond: 1%18-in torpedo or 11800 ib bombs or mines or 8*60-b bombsWith the outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific in 1941, a major part of the US fleet of capital ships was sunk or put outof action, Fortunately, the earriers Lexington, Sara toga and Enterprise, still at sea, escaped the fate of the battleships and cruisers at Pearl Harbor. Forming part of the aircraft com plement of the three carriers were the venerable Douglas TBD Devastators, by this time five years old and suffering from old fage in the form of intergranular corrosion of their structure and sheet metal skin. As a result the TBDs served only six months at the beginning of the war During this time they took part in the first action against the Japanese. Flying from the Enterprise, Torpedo Squadron VT 6, armed with bombs in a dawn attack, caused heavy damage to ships anchored at Kwajalein and, after rearming with tor pedoes, suceeded in accounting for twa transports, two cargo ships, one cruiser and two submarines which can be considered a good day's work, Later the same day, VT 6 bombed Taroa, destroying a number of ‘grounded aircraft and an ammunition dump. At the same time VT 8 was busy bombing a large shore installation on Jaluit ‘With these modest successes, the planes of the two squadrons suffered only minor hits by the shore anti-aircraft batteries. Shortly afterwards, on 24 February 1942, the TDs of VI 6 aitacked Wake Island followed by @ raid on Marcus Island on 4 March. 'TBDs from the Yorktown and Lexington were equally busy with raids ‘on Lae and Salamaua where they reverted to torpedo dropping to destroy 10 ships. On 7 May the planes of VT 2 and VT 5 succeeded in sinking the Japanese light carrier Shoko in co-operation with other aircraft in the fleet in coordinated attacks during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Showdown at Midway The most famous battle in which the TBDs participated was the Battle of Midway ‘which began on 4 June 1942, with a com bined total of 41 TBDs available from all the US earyiers in the massed fleet. Aside froma few veterans ofthe actions previously listed, the bulk of the squadron crews were new and inexperienced, hastily assembled at the outbreak of the war, and most of ‘them had never taken off with live torpedoes prior to this battle [At Midway, the torpedo bombers faced a major part of the Japanese Navy including ‘capital ships and four aircraft earriers bent ‘on the destruction of Midway as an outpost of the US Navy. With this array of strength, Which inclided the very capable, and by now well-proven, Zero navy fighters among its bag of weapons, the Japanese fleet was a ‘most impressive adversary. The TBDs faced a ‘stacked deck’. With good weather, but Tow clouds at about 2000 ft, with many Fairey Barracuda Mk I “The thoe-seat Barracuda served as the FAA's workhorse, carving everthing from bombs, torpedoes, nines and rdckats to feboats, Forty {wo Barracudas crippled the mighty Tipit in Keafior, Norway on 3 April 1944 Span: 49 "2 n Length: 39 9 in Engine: Rolls-Royce Merlin 32, 1640 hp Armament. 2 Vickers K mq Max Speed: 228 mph ‘1780 ft Coling: 16,800 ft Range: 1160 miles ‘Unloaded Bombioad: 1*1620-1b torpedo or '4%880:1b bombs or 6250-1 bombs Nakajima BENZ ‘Kato’ {BENS were in the forettont ofthe atack on Pear! Harbor and during the fllowing Ye Carler-based Kates wore to deliver fatal blows {othe carters Lexington, Yorktown and Homet ‘Span 80 10 in Langth’ 3319 in Engine: Nakajima Sakae Il, 970 hp at 8845 ft ‘Max Speed: 235 mph at 11.810 ft Gelling 27.100 f Range: 1237 miles ‘Armament: 1*7-T-mm mg Bombload! 1764 tb tombe or torpedo A US battleship blazes Pearl Harbor. But the Japanese had filed to hit ‘the vital carriers, which were fortunately still at sea when the attack occurred Japanese ships to maintain an umbrella of anti-aireraft fire and the fighter squadrons Of four dapanese carriers, the situation Was at its wore for the TBDs. Added to this, the planes and their Mk 13 torpedoes were both outmoded and inadequate for the job, sm vente wor show @TBDs. with an approach speed of about 125 mph, were exposed to the murder Ou fre of the Japaneao guns for about 15 minutes during their approach, The early models of the Mk 1 torpedoes cout not be dropped at speeds above 100 mph or higher than 60 ® above the surface, Coupled with this was the necessity toaim fora quartering how shot for these torpedoes with a maxt mum speed, under favourable conditions of 30 knots could never catch a carrier’ or cruiser if launched from a rear quarter. Tn the face ofthese odds, three squadrons of TBDs, the Torpedo Squadrons VI'8 from the Hornet, VT from the Enterprise and Vi-3 from the Yorktown pressed home the attack, only to lose the bulk of thei planes and crew (the aircraft loss was 90%, the crow casualty rate was 85%). VT 8 lost all 15 planes with only one survivor, Ensign George Gray. VI6 lost all but three aireraft and two aircraft of VI'3 survived, only to Splash down just short of landing on board the Yorktown, Many concluded, incorrect that this was the end of the line for torpedo hombers ‘The TBD was a conventional aircraf for its day, frstentering service withthe flet in November 1957. Ie was of stressed skin com struction and monoplane configuration. ‘The low cantilever wing tapered eat profile from the root tothe tips. About hal 15way out, at the flaplaileron juncture, each wing could be folded hydraulically, making it the first type of aircraft to have this feature. The oval cross-section fuselage recommodated the crew of three ~ pilot, navigator/bombardier and radio-operator/ ‘runner. A special window beneath the pilot permitted the bombardier, lying prone, to sea bombsight for launching an externally mounted torpedo or bombs. Armament was minimal but typical of the times in which the TBD was designed. It consisted of one “30 cal synchronised gun firing forward and one “50 cal_ flexible mounted gun in the rear cockpit. The Pratt & Whitney R-1890-61 engine developed 900 hp to give a weight to power ratio of over 11 Tb per hp at 10,194 Tb combat gross Replacement in the wings Ar the Battle of Midway the heavy casu- alties suffered by the TDs emphasised the need for an immediate replacement. Such machine was in the wings, for Squadron ‘VIS which had sustained such heavy losses at Midway was scheduled to be one of the frst aquadrons to be re-egupped with the Grumman TBP Avenger Infact six Midway based Avengers of VIB aitacked_ the Japanese fleet at Midway early on 4 June only to lose five aireraft in the ensuing battle. In this case it was not 20 much the Quality of the aircraft involved as. the ‘humbers and the lack of coordinated fighter and dive-bomber attacks to keep the Japan- ‘co gunners’ minds and guns of the torpedo nlanes they began their attacks. “Two months later, on’? August 1942, when the "frst. amphibious. assault. began on Guadalcanal, the TFs had replaced all the TBDs. From this date onward the TFs were the standard torpedo bomber of the US Fleet and were used in very substantial numbers by the Royal Navy and other Allied navies. In the Pacific theatre alone "TBF took part in the Battles of the Eastern Solomons on 24-25 August 1942; Senta Cruz Islands (2627 October 1842) Gilbert Islands (10 November to 10. Dec ember, 1949), the Marshall Islands (25 January to23 February 1948) and the Battle the Pilipine Soa 1324 ne 184, ‘A rugged aeroplane, the TBF was quite obviously a near felative to the FOF Hellcat fighter -go much so that at least one Japan: tse pilot, Saburo Sakai, one of the mort famous fighter aces ofall time, mistook. 3 Alightof Avenger for Helleats. He proceeded Toattack from below and to the rear only to find himself trapped in the concentrated Crossfire from the ventral stinger guns in the TBF flight. This was the frst torpedo plane to carry its load, whether the new 2o'in, 2000: torpedo or the ‘equivalent ‘weight in 5001 bombs internally thereby Douglas TBD-1 Devastator ‘The backbone ofthe US Navy's carer torpedo forces at the outbreak ofthe Pacific War, the Devastator was ateady obsolete. With its ight ‘armament and slow approach speed, it was tasy prey Tor Zero pilots ‘Span: 80 ft Length: 32 ft 6 in Engine: Prat & ‘Whitney R-1830°64, 900 hp Max Speed! 225 toh Range: 988 miles Armament: 1»-30-in mg: 2:50-inmg Bombload: 1000:1b bomb or 3221-in torpedo i Nokajima B6N2 Tenzan (ieavenly Mountain) Jil she lapanase Navy had high hopes fr this big Cann stack bomber but i action i high fanaing speed resticted it othe lrger comers veh proved on coy tage for US Heleats “Span: 48.410 n Length 35 £8 in Engine: Misuahi MKT Kasel 25, 1680 hp ot {6800 % Max speed 299 mph st 16.075 f Ceiing 29,660 Range: 1088 mies ‘rmarnent. 27 7-mm mq Bomblowd: 1764 ‘ombs o orpeco uatting down on air resistance and increas: rng the maximum speed to around 250 mph, zo0d 80-100 mph faster than the old TBD. Part of this increase was, of course, attrib table to the nearly 1000 extra hp provided the Wright R-2600 engine. This additional ower also improved take-off performance, aking it possible to get off the carrier decks in as little as 650 ft. In the ease of the small CVE Jeep carriers, the additional boost required to launch the heavily laden TBFs led to accelerated development of the Sush deck catapults for all-weather opera: ons. The use of small merchant shipe con. ted to CVEs was one of the most impor. nt steps in maintaining anti-submarine trols with the Atlantic convoys, as well as providing close support for amphibious codings and anti-submarine patrols and ‘supplying the larger attack carriers after aitle losses in the Pacific. The TBFs were n important and integral, part of both of hese operations. Contrary to easier concepts of torpedo plane design, the TBE was fat and business. Hike in appearance and in combat it grossed at nearly eight tons, an impressive load for 2 single-engine areraf, and one which counted for its relatively poor rate of limb. Testimony to the ruggedness of the ‘TBF, unually referred to as the "Turkey" by its crown isthe fact that even now, Avengers ae all n demand and sil in use as water Bombers in delivering. fireextinguiching chemical for foros fire control ‘The TBP andthe FO: Helleat_ were initially produced "sideby-side, but” in creased demand for the FOF made it neces Sry to secure a second source of production forthe TBF. A contrat was negotiated with the Eastern Airerat Division of General Motors at their Trenton, NJ. plant. and sun on March 94 InDecombor 1883, Grumman, the parent plant, ended produc tion of the TBPs afer producing in exese of 2200 planes. Eastern Aircraft Division then became the primary constructor under the designation of TBMs, producing a otal of 7546 planes, ‘A’midcwing monoplane of rather portly dimensions, the Avenger had accommoda Soni inebain coo ahve the ing ine grows mnopy thea endef whic was founded of ys glazed ball uve The Ming in pan form, fad righ cone tection ott tothe folding pont at which Janctare thee was an also. oqual tape of the‘lading and trailing wes of the out bor pal The contre sacionhoured the tain fil tan ad the retractable ending four fsigs andra, Under tong eet Shiny tpeso toabtey aaa totally” enclone the "Mi Y9 torpedo ot shhrbateey fou 8001p bombs or x ua iy fel anki longcengs recat Or ferying. The’ wel thomelve were funy eoelacad tn the ter ponas of tae wrngs when th gar wa etrastd outward Surg” fight fa pie ‘of this outward retraction feature, the Grund waa fererou une the ewer 10 SedtbeSplttre botlafwhickhed omar Sispontion ofthe undorerriags The big Ieeylinder Wright R26008 was 1 powerful engine, developing 1700 "hp initially, but was prone to overheat, requir ing earl management by th plot. Arma ment. consisted initially of one "50 cal ‘achine gun mounted onthe starboard side athe cowling synchronised fre tough the propeller ater models were fitted with two wing guns) ands single “30 cal gun mounted ina” Grummandesigned. turret Covering the upper rear Beld of fire. This Single gun was mounted on the starboard Side. Finally, in the bombardier's ventral Position was'a single 90 cal machine-gun. Primary ordnance was the torpedo wich increased in weight and improved in rl ability asthe war progressed. In adition, the TF could carry bomb loads of up to 2000 1, ranging from 10018 bombs in salve tovtngie 200018 bombs, often supplemented by wingsmounted rocket launchers, when engaged in supporting amphibious asaults. Designed at = replacement for the Kate, the Nakajima BBNS‘Tenzan (Heavenly Lightning) "Jl wa the last Japanese ai craft designed a2 a carsier-based torpedo Somber to sce action during the Second raRUMMAN TBF AVENGER Grumman TBF-1 Avon ‘Tho Avenger had the defensive qualities and Ske capabilty ofa twin-engined alrrat. ‘combined withthe size and handling ofa cater Sneratt Canying bombs, depth charges oF torpedoes, he type was outstanding in US and Royal Navy service Span: 54 2 in Length: 40 ft Engine: Wright Cyclone GR-2600:8, 1850 hp ‘Almament! 2»°5-in mq in wings; 1*:3-in mg in ‘entra postion: 1>5-n mg in dorsal turet Speed! 289 mph et 11-200 f Cong: 23.000 ft Range: 1000 miles loaded Bombload: 1*22-in torpedo or 2000 Ib bombs [FAA Avengers flyin bax formation to exploit their defensive firepower World War. It was initially powered by the 1800 hp Nakajima Mamoru engine which unfortunately experienced problems, de- laying its development. Excessive vibration of the Mamoru engine led to the re-engining of the plane to make use of the Mitsubishi Kasei’ Model 25 which was in series pro- duction by the time various other problems had been ironed out. Delays caused by this programme of switching engined put back the entry of the plane to operational status until June 194 ‘Though the airframe was ready as early as March 1942 a US ‘Technical Intelligence Report ofthe day stated that che Japanese wore not entirely satisfied with its perform ance (possibly a hint about the engine problems) and indicated that FaFs could easily catch it at sea level and that the fuel tank protection was totally ineffective against “30 eal incendiary ammunition, It ‘was believed that Jill was the first Japanese plane to use water injection for ‘lash per formance’ in evading fighters and during take-offs, Jill carried its one 1700-Ib torpedo cor two 550-Ib bombs on external racks, offset to clear the propeller. Jill was a substantial improvement over the Kate, with an increase of about 50 knots in speed and 50% in range, making it superior in performance to the Grumman "TBF Avenger. Loss of the Japanese carriers and skilled pilots prevented this plane from being fully exploited in combat conditions. While it was used on board the remaining carriers, it was, forthe most part, land based. ‘A distinctive recognition feature was the forward tilting vertical fin and rudder, « design feature which was dictated by the size of the elevators aboard. Japanese carriers and the necessity of keeping within the overall length of 11 metres. A total of 1268 BEN2s were built‘A Japanese dive-bomber scoops on USS Hornet ‘thle torpedo plane circle, Battle of Santa Cruz Scout-bomber/strike-reconnaissance attack aircraft are better known as dive-bombers, ‘e-bombing being their most spectacular nd devastating form of attack. Though ried in, limited form by the Royal Flying Corps during 1918, the first true dive-bomb: ing was carried out by the US Marines in 919 in Haiti and later in Nicaragua in 928, using Curtiss Helldivers, when the ves of their comrades on the ground would have been endangered by any less precise ombing method. As early as 1927 the US Navy began to actise dive-bombing with all types of air raft except the VPB patrol bombers and "TB torpedo bombers, using such machines the Curtiss BFC and BF2C (redesignated Hawk Ill and Hawk V), These were develop ments of the Hawk I and Il export Hawks ind the US Navy's FLl C.2 fighters. During ¢ many visits to the US, Ernst Udet was ntrigued by this form of bombing, which was then being demonstrated at air shows 3y Maj Al Williams, USMC Ret, and others Using his Gulfhawk I, a Curtias FBC owned the Gulf Oil Company, Williams was a gular performer and crowd-pleaser as he roared straight down to deposit a bag of uur or a dummy bomb on a target in front f the grandstand with almost unerring Udet was sufficiently impressed to. per suade his old First World War chum, Hermann Goring, to purchase two of the ~xport Hawks for demonstration and testing sack in Germany. These two aircraft, with jufacturer numbers 80 and 81, were delivered during the first two weeks of October 1983 and cost the then high price of $11,500 each. When Udet took delivery he promptly christened them Iris and Ilse rd set out to convince the budding Luft waffe that this was the way of the future Unfortunately one of the Hawks crashed n 1934 and the other was relegated to the Berlin Museum after having been flown sxtonsively in demonstrations and outlived s usefulness. At the end of the Second World War this remaining Curtiss Hawk Jed up in the Air Museum at Krakow, land, ‘The tactic of dive-bombing was continu- sly practised by the US Navy, to a lesser ‘ent by the Fleet Air Arm and, presum: bly, by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ature and size of ships make them very usive targets, especially when they take asive action, and there is little possible benefit from near misses by bombs dropped n salvo. Unless it is a very near miss, using hull damage by concussion, con- ntional salvo bombing could waste a lot bombs with little or noeffect on the target With a dodging and turning ship, the diff alty of getting a direct hit is increased DIVE-BOMBERS ‘Rattleship Row Danske ieceal sarl Harbor, 7 December 194 mS Pacific Feet Single-engined aircraft normally used by the Navy do not carry many bombs, 20 itis necessary to use bombs of sufficient size to do meaningful damage and to place tho bombs with great accuracy. Payloads rare exceed 1} tons, making it normal practice to use smaller bombs in quantity only against land or harbour targets. This does ‘not mean that level bombing is not used in battle, for the sheer magnitude of bombs raining down on a fect of ships or a landing zone from whatever source lends sub- stantial assistance to the attacking force as destructive and distractive element. There is also a strong possibility of a hit or near miss silencing a ship's anti-aireraft guns. Dive-bombing, on the other hand, is a reasonably accurate delivery method in which the plane is lined up with the targ so precisely that it is almost like sighting down the barrel of a gun. Evasive action is still possible, but the pilot can correct for this with small movements of the controls of his aircraft until the instant of release, which can he at a very low altitude, depend ing on the skill, daring and physical toler tance of the pilot. Dive-bombers try to approach a target at high speed taking advantage of any cloud cover and, when possible, diving out of the ‘sun in order to increase the problems for the defendinganti-aircraft gunners, Whilespeed is an asset in getting to the target, and away from it after the bomb is released, it is a disadvantage to build up too much speed in the dive. To do so increases the difficulty in aiming, as well as the stress on a plane and crew during the pull-out, Aerodynamic ally clean, the dive-bomber would build up a tremendous speed if not retarded by some means. It is therefore necessary to ft these aircraft with speed-retarding dive brakes. ‘These enable the pilot to adjust his dive speed to he fast enough to press home the attack and still slow enough to pick up the target and make a good recovery. Confusing the Gunners ‘The ideal ia a true vertical dive which enables the pilot to confuse the ship's gunners by giving him a choice of any angle for recovery. Simply by rolling the plane while in the vertical position, the pilot can avoid giving away his intended direction of recovery and thus confuse the gunners who would normally try to lead! him like a clay pigeon during his recovery trajectory, when the plane is most vulnerable, The pull-out rate and altitude is determined more. by what the pilot can stand, physically, than by what the plane can take. Dive-bomber pilots are quick to point out that ‘when we say dive, we mean straight down’. However, it did not always work out that way in practice, for the pull-out often ‘caused the pilot to black out due to blood being driven from the pilot's head by centri fugal force (referred to as ‘Gs’). Medical scientists and technicians combined forces to develop anti-G suits to retard the flow of blood from the pilot's head by exerting pressure on arterial pressure points. and the stomach area, reducing, or at least delaying, the normal tendency to black out Contrary to general belief, a pilot does not just line up a target, particularly a moving target, in his sights and hold this position. He continues to fly the plane adjusting for wind, target movement and most probably, bursts of flak. During the dive he must avoid skidding or the b will be deflected away from the aiming point. Finally, the pull-out point must be determined and this varies with the pilot's personal tolerance for the centrifugal force and the type of bomb, since he wants to be levelled out and well on his way before the bomb bursts, ‘Among the advantages of dive-bombing is the fact that anti-aircraft fire never ha succeeded in stopping a dive-bombing at tack, and it is far more accurate than other systems. Ideally, an attack should be ‘coordinated effort between the dive-bombers to disable the target ship and torpedo bombers to come in for the kill. As one wag put it, If you want to let in air, you use bombs, and if you want to let in water you use torpedoes ‘The spectacular aspect is well known but the second, and equally” important, function of this type of aircraft is scouting for an enemy force. The strike-reconnais 2ssance/scout-bomber must have the range to carry out this mission as well ~ and some- times both missions must be combined. Such was the ease when Lt-Car C Wade ‘MeClusky set out to find the large Japanese fieet which was headed for Midway Island. ‘The fleet had beon reported by a US Army B-17 to be headed toward the island, but numbers and types of ships were missing from the brief radio transmission. McClusky led an air group of 33 Douglas SBDs of VB6.and VS6 off the Enterprise in search of the enemy force. Unknown to McClusky, the Japanese Fleet had turned and was steaming north-oast instead of toward the island. Not finding them in the expected position, he continued to search until he made contact and began the attack that was to become the Battle of Midway. A few ‘minutes later a second group, VSS and VS5 from the Yorktown, led by Lt-Cdr Max Leslie, joined the battle, In the ensuing action, the Japanese lost four carriers, the ‘Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu and Soryu. This decisive victory was’ accomplished at a cost of 32 ‘casualties and the loss of all but six of the 41 torpedo bombers from VT 8 and VT 6. ‘At the outbreak of the Second World War the aircraft considered to be in this combat grouping were the British Blackburn Skua, the Japanese Aichi D3A Val and the US Douglas SBD Dauntless. As the war pro- ‘greased, lessons learned in the various engagements were incorporated in the air ‘craft under development. Among the planes of this second grouping were the Nakajima BON1/2 Jill and the Aichi B7A1 Grace, the Curtiss SB2C and the Fairey Barracuda (discussed under the heading of torpedo Bomber/attack aircraft). The Barracuda, as noted, was designed or adapted to do virtu ally everything and ended up doing none of its tasks exceptionally well ‘One of the least known aircraft of the war was the Blackburn Skua, This lack of recognition would be strange except that at the time the Skua was making its mark in history, censorship was the order of day. ‘The Skua was not produced in any great quantities so it was not seen sitting around every airstrip as were Moths and Cubs. In fact records show that only 165 were manu: factured. But among its accomplishments it is credited with the destruction of the first German plane by a British aircraft during the war. The event took place on 25 Sep. tember 1999, when a Skua shot down one of three Dornier Do 18 lying boats which were shadowing British fleet units off the coast of Norway. State of the art ‘The Skua, like the Aichi Val and the Douglas SBD, represented the state of the art of the Inte 1830s, each reaching fleet ‘operation status in 1997-39 and all scheduled for replacement just prior to the outbreak of war, HMS Ark Royal received six Skuas in November 1938, just in time for the open. ing action of the war. Operationally, the Skua played a very active role in the early ‘days of the war, not because of great faith in ddive-bombing on the part of the Royal Navy ‘who favoured the torpedo as a weapon, but because in many instances it was the only aircraft available. Blackburn Sku ‘Tho Royal Navy's fst operational monoplane was conceived as 8 dual purpose fighter and ‘ive-bombor and saw combat in Norway, over Dunkin: and Dakar ‘Span 46 f2 in Length: 96 #7 in Engine: Bristol Persous Xil, 890 hp ‘Armament: 4 Browning mg: 1 Lowis mg Mex ‘Speed: 226 mph at 6500 ft Ceiling: 19100 ft Range: 760 mies Bombload: 1600-15 bom Blackburn Roc ‘The tactical concept of the Roc — bringing its four-gun turret to bear in broadside attacks fn enemy siterat— proved a failure and the typo sew litle combat ending its days as 3 target tug ‘Span: 46 Length: 36 f7 in Engine: Bristol Peraous XIl, 890 hp Armament: 4303, Browaing tog Max Speed. 223 mph at 10,000 ft Ceiling’ 18,000 f Range: 810 miles For example, in early April 1940 when the Germans launched their attack on Norway and Denmark, the cruisers Koln and Konigs- berg along with a gunnery training ship, Bremse, were to attack the port of Bergen ‘The shore-based batteries damaged. the Konigsberg suficiently to cause her to tie up toa breakwater at Bergen. This news was transmitted to the Royal Navy who dis- patched the ogly aircraft available, the Skua, Two squadrons, 803 and 800, totalling 16 Skuas, loaded with 5001b bombs and enough fuel for a 600-mile round trip, managed to struggle off the airfield at Hatston in the Orkneys on 10 April 1940. Diving out of the sun, the traditional attack position for dive-bombers, the pilots fof the Skuas managed to score at least three direct hits, plus numerous near misses which caused the Kénigsberg to disappear Ina sheet of flames and debris. The cost to the Royal Navy was three damaged Skuas ‘and one lost During the evacuation of Dunkirk in June 1940, all available aircraft were pressed into service to provide air cover ‘Skuas from 801 and 806 Squadrons took their place along with other aircraft types to provide much needed cover for the beleaguered British Expeditionary Force After Dunkirk, the Skuas saw action in the Mediterranean, where 800 and 803 Squad: rons, on board the Ark Royal, attacked units of the French Fleet, dive-bombing and putting out of action the new 35,000-ton battleship Richelieu. ‘There followed several engagements aid- ing convoys en route to the besieged island of Malta, Finally, in 1941, the Skuas were roplaced by Fairey Fulmars for operational fiying, but continued in service as trainers and for target towing. The rapid pace of aircraft development with the beginning of the war proved too fast for the sturdy Skua which had been designed in 1994 and first flown in 1987. ‘The Skua was an all-metal, single-engine ‘monoplane. The fuselage, in-compliance ‘with specifications 0.27/34, was designed to he waterproof, Tt was divided into three watertight compartments to provide flote tion should a ditching at sea be necessary. ‘This was a valuable foresight as a number did ditch Production aircraft were fitted with the Bristol Perseus XII sleeve-valve engine — ‘unique engine, substituted for the Bristol ‘Mercury which was required to outfit the Bristol Blenheim. 23The Skua was the first all-metal mono: plane to reach operational status with the leet Air Arm and was the first British air aft designed specifically for dive-bombing One surprising, detail in view of its slow 1d (225 mph max) was its alternative role fighter and the location of the fuel tanks the fuselage between the front and rear cckpits. A similar tank location in the De Havilland DH-4 of the First World War arned for it the unenviable name of Flying fin’, but this was before self-sealing fuel anks were developed. The rugged but awkward angled landing sar and tail hook, plus the folding wing anels, completed the Skua's fitting-out for srrier service. Range was 760 miles; en- jurance was 45 hours at cruising speed of 165 mph. + armament was modest. Typical of that, wand in aircraft at the beginning of the war, consisted of four forward-firing “303 cal Browning machine-guns mounted in the wings and a single -808 cal Lewis gun in a exible mount in the rear cockpit. Ord- ange consisted of one 600-Ib bomb carried xternally on a fork mount to ensure clear ance of the propeller and up to eight 30-Ib ‘ombs on external wing racks. The latter were used primarily for practice since the ‘nly bombs of any value in this weight class were anti-personnel fragmentation bombs. The Aichi D3A "Val, builtin 1987, was by ar the most important of the Japanese dive bombers and was considered obsolete by he time it was used go effectively at Pearl Harbor. Although the Yokosuka D4YT Suse! (Comet), code named by the Allies Judy’, was in the development stage, it was to see service until February 1944 off Truk Island, so the Val really had the war to self in the dive-bomber class, It was the first all-metal divebomber built by the Japanese and was based on enginoering knowledge obtained from the Heinkel He 118 which had been purchased by the Japanese for study purposes Slow and vulnerable The Val was not too popular because of = relatively slow top speed of 282 mph and was also quite vulnerable in spite of the ility characteristic of Japanese aircraft of that period. Like its contemporaries it arried a single 850-1b bomb externally. For hhorter ranges this load was supplemented by two smaller bombs fitted to wing racks, ach of about 130 Ib. The devastation of Pearl Harbor was argely due to the Val. Following that historic attack the Val's next appearance as in the Indian Ocean in April 194: where, for the second time, the Japanese convinced an anxious world that sea power was at the merey of air power, particularly the ships did not have adequate defensive + power of their own. It was an expensive jesson in ships and men, for the British rier Hermes and the cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire all were stunk Following the major battles of Midway and Coral Sea, where the Japanese lost the major part of their trained and experienced ship USS Arizona reduced to« blazing hulk by Japanese dive ond torpedo bombers Vals’ in formation, The Aichi D3A2 Var" This rugged carier-borne dive-bomber was in ie foetont ofthe attacks on Peart Harbor anc mn the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean, and ank more Allied fighting ships than anyother Aus aerate type ‘Span: 47 te2'n Length: 33 5 in Engine: Mitsubishi Kinsei 84,1100 hp at 20,000 it Armament: 3*7-7-mm mg Max speed 267 oh at 9846 ft Ceiling 34,400 Range: 840 ies Bombload: 1*660-Ib plus 2*122-Ib bombs ne ‘ aS t ere the frat epanese type to Bounb US bigest. aircrews, the accuracy of their bombing fell to 10% hits in contrast to the 80% and 82 hit ratio that prevailed when they attacked the British ships in the Indian Ocean. The Japanese never managed to replace the experienced pilots lost in these battles Failure of the Yokosuka D4Y Judy to meet the operational requirements resulted in a continuation of production of the Val in an improved gmodel, the Aichi D3A2, fitted with a more powerful engine, the Kinsei 54, and additional fuel capacity to increase the operating range From China to Leyte Gulf In addition to the Pearl Harbor attack and the fateful battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, the Val was present in the earlier operations in China, at Wake Island, Dar win, Bastern Solomons, Santa Cruz, Philip pine Sea (known as the ‘Marianas Turkey Shoot) and finally the Battle of Leyte Gulf By this time, Japan no longer had a carrier force and ail navy aireraft, regardless of their intended use, were forced to operate from land bases. From this point onward. attacks by the Japanese consisted mostly of Kamikaze attacks. For this, the remaining Vals were converted to single seat com figuration. ‘The Val was a single engine, low-wing monoplane whose fixed landing gear had streamlined covering over the legs and pants over the wheels. The fixed landing fear was one of the most obvious indent fication characteristics and contributed to lack of speed but was considered an asset when the plane was in its bombing dive. To facilitate stowage aboard carriers, the wing tips could be folded at a point six feet in: board from the tips. Like other aircraft of this period, its armament was not highly regarded. I¢ carried two 77mm guns firing forward and a single 77-mm gun mounted in the rear cockpit for defensive purposes ‘and for strafing the decks of enemy ships as the bomb run was completed. A total of 1294 Vals were produced be tween 1937 and 1944, 478 of which were the earlier model Ils (D3A1), powered by the 1075 hp Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radial air cooled engine, ‘The second variant, the Model 22, powered by the Mitsubishi Ki 54, a twinrow 14 eylinder engine, boosted the power to 1200 hp and increased the speed to 266 mph. A total of 816 of the Mode! (DBA26) were built between 1942 and 1944aad ass wy Dauntless dive-bombers heads for the Japanese base at Palau in the western Pacific DOUGLAS SBD DAUNTLESS The $80 dive-bomber, approaching ‘obsolescence by 1947, was one of the most important insuuments in the American victories {and stl outperformed its successor the Heldver {at Coral Sea, Midway, and the Philippi ‘Span: 41 16 in Length: 23 f Engine: Wright Cyclone, 850 hp Max speed: 255 m 14,000 35.200 ft Range: 773 miles mg Bomblead 1600. Ib bomb Designed in 1988 and accepted by the US Navy in February 1999, practically on the eve of war, the Douglas SBD Dauntless nevertheless represented pre-war technol: ogy. Fortunately, its design was quite adaptable, within limits, to changes dic tated by combat experience. Above all it ‘was a compact, rugged machine that could take lot of punishment at the hands of both friend and foe. Friends were likely to expect too much from it in load carrying and handling and an enemy target or aircraft could be expected to throw everything at it. ‘The SBD had only barely. passed. its teething period when war broke out. The first planes were accepted in February 1939 and the first contract for 57 SBD-1s was negotiated during the first week of April 1939. Following the outbreak of hostilities, these orders were substantially increased with successive model changes indicating responses to lessons and tactics learned in the European war. These included in creases in fuel, selfsealing fuel tanks and ‘armour plate for the crew, a8 well as a more werful engine, a Pratt & Whitney R 1820 ‘52 delivering 1000 hp, to maintaid the per formance. Pearl Harbor added new urgeney to production lines, and an additional 500 SBDs were ordered, By this time the arma ‘ment had changed from two 30 cal cowling: mounted guns to two '50 eal machine-guns A second -30 cal gun was added to the rear cockpit. The SBDs produced under this expanding programme, plus the remaining SBD-2s, played a major role in the crucial battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. ‘The SBDs gave a good account of them: selves in every enagagement of the Pacific theatre and, like the Aichi Vals. had a reprieve. "This resulted. from ‘delays. in getting the Curtiss SB2C, their intended successor, fully acceptable and modified for carrier operations. All told, they accounted for most of the damage sustained by the Japanese carriers and other enemy ships they encountered, Like its counterpart in the Japanese Navy, the Val, the SBD almost had the war all to itself for its successor, the Curtiss SBC did not satisfy operational require ments until late in 1948. In fact one eminent naval historian, Samuel Eliot Morison, in ing the Battlo of the Philippine Sea, stated that ‘the new Helldiver was outshone by the two remaining squadrons of Datint less dive bombers... here the Dauntless fought her last battle’aero the B7A was Gt chips. The lose ofthe Imperial he big attack bomber operating only ial rom ard bes ‘Span’ 47 #3 in Longd in Engine: Nokajeno Homare 23,1670 hp at 7875 ‘rmoment 2x 20-ren cannot 17.98: m5 ‘Mon speed. 382 mph ot 21480 ft Celina SE.at0 Range, 1454 males Bombload. 1764-10 Torpedo or 1600 b bombs — Ltt 2B Curties $B2C Holldiver Designed to fit the standard US carrier deck lovatr, the Heller suffered constant stability problems but it won honours in the USN's lost Give-bomber action at Leyte Gul, and in the attacks on the Japanese super-batoships Yamato and Musashi Span. 49 19 in Length: 36 #8 in Engine: Wright F-2600-8. 1700 hp Max s 284 mph Ceiling: 23,000 tt Range: 698 mies Armament of the SBD (the most numer ‘ous variant of the type) consisted of two “50 ‘cal guns mounted in the top deck of the cowl and a brace of :30 cal flexible-mounted guns in the rear cockpit for the radio-operator. Ordnance could consist of a variety of loads including (published specifications to the contrary) a 1600-1b bomb on the eentre ‘rack plus two 100-1b bombs on wing mounts, all externally mpunted. In a scouting con figuration, drop-tanks could be attached to the wing mounts for greater endurance Tn the final version of the SBD-6, the engine was the 1350 hp Pratt & Whitney 'R-1820.66 and the published weights were 6554 1b empty and 10,882 Ib at gross take-off weight. Unlike most of ite contemporaries, the SBDs did not have folding wings t0 improve their shipboard stowage ability. Instead they had the same basic wing con struction as their parent, the Northrop XBT-2 (XSBD-1), the Northrop Gamma and the ubiquitous DC-3 Dakota. The similar ities of design are more than incidental Designed to replace the Douglas SBD, the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was long over. due in combat. A succession of problems and modification programmes delayed the first squadron delivery of SB2C-is until December 1942, a full year after Pearl Harbor. ‘The original contract for the XSB2C.1 had been negotiated and signed in May 1939. Between these two dates seemingly endless series of problems con- spired to delay production. Difhiculty with stability and control tests, cooling problems and loss of test aircraft kept engineers and test pilots busy for many months trying to resolve the problems as they occurred In addition to design problems there was the question of engineering: the plane for production by the thousand, Parts that normally would have been handmade out ‘of a number of small components now were redesigned for mass production, often re- sulting in single unit forgings to economise fon both man-hours and weight Weight reduction was an ever-presentalbatross around the necks of the SB2C engineers, The SB2C was designed to carry ‘bombs 50% heavier than those carried by the SBD it was to replace, and this added weight was to be carried in an internal bomb-bay. This was difficult to accomplish for two reasons. Firstly, increasing loads were heing hung on the SBD in response to combat necessity and bombs 50% heavier were also larger, making it difficult to carry them internally. Secondly, external racks, while increasing the frontal drag, also permitted a wider variety of sizes and configurations, By the time the problem areas were determined and the appropriate corrections made by modifications, the war was well ‘under way. Most of the really big and deci- sive battles were over by 11 November 1943 when Squadron VB 17 from the Bunker Hill ‘cquipped with SB2Cs attacked the harbour ft Rabaul. From this date until the end of hostilities the Helldiver was the standard dive-bomber, USN, replacing the SBD in all, remaining major actions of the war. Only a small number of SB2Cs were ordered by Allied forces. The Royal Aus tralian Air Force ordered 150 A:25As, a land-based Army version, but took delivery of only ten, since by this late date there was no longer @ requirement for land-based ddive-bombers, Twenty-six SBW-1Bs were ‘delivered to the Royal Navy from Canadian Car & Foundry Production. Like the Hell diver, which carried on a traditional Curtiss name, the A-25As were also to carry a traditional name of ‘Shrike’. ‘The ‘Beast’, as it was called by its crew, was not particularly well liked, although it established a good record before the end of the war. It could carry up to 2000 Ib of bombs in the bomb-bay and was tested to carry a Mk 13 torpedo though this was never ‘used during the service life of the aircraft. Ina similar vein the SB2C-2 was tested with floats with the iden of using it for close support of expeditionary landings. This ‘configuration was never to see combat use. Depending on the dash number, the SB2Cs were armed with either four 50 cal machine: guns or two 20mm cannons plus two '30 eal machineguns in a flexible mount for the rear seat gunner. Cancellation recommended Directional stability was, to plague the design during all its operational life. The short fuselage required to fit two aircraft fn to each of the 40 ft x 48 ft elevators con- tributed to this. To improve the directional stability, the engine was moved forward fone foot and compensating area added to the fin and rudder. On shakedown carrier qualification tests aboard the Yorktown, the SB2Cs had many problems, including structural failure, collapsed tail wheels and missed hook contact. Based on this experi- tence, the ship's commander, Capt J J Clark recommended cancellation of the entire contract. This was in June 1942, only six months after Pearl Harbor when all the ‘emphasis was on planes to win the war. ‘This was hardly the climate to start over again with @ new design. As a result all parties pressed on, throwing good money ffter bad to make it work in spite of all its deficiencies. Under any other circumstances, Captain Clark's recommendation would have spelled the end of this plane. The production lines turned out 600 SB2Cs before all the bugs were under control. The GOIst plane was the first to be delivered 0, ‘without a stop-over at one of the modifica ton centres. ‘With the Pacific war nearly over and most of the Japanese carriers destroyed or damaged beyond repair there was really little lef for the Helldivers to do. The one exception was the Battle of the Philippine Sea, where the SB2Cs gave a good account fof themselves. They were to be the last dive-bombers of the Second World War. ‘After undergoing additional modifica tions to make them suitable for different tasks, the SB2Cs and their derivatives the ‘A35s, were phased out of service and most of them scrapped. Of limited importance during the Second World War, but built to requirements and from lessons learned in combat, the Aichi BIA1 Ryusei (Shooting Star) ‘Grace’ did not establish any record of action from carriers although it was designed as a follow-on to the Nakajima B6N2 Jill and the D4Y Judy. Only 105 of these aircraft plus nine prototypes were completed before the end of hostilities and after the destrue- tion of the Japanese carrier fleet. ‘The Grace was the first Japanese aircraft to be designed for internal stowage of a 1160-16 torpedo. In addition, it could carry fa second torpedo externally. It was dis- tinctive in design, having an inverted gull: shaped wing for the same reason as the Vought FAU Corsair, namely the need to shorten and therefore reduce weight of the retractable landing gear. It also featured coordinated droop ailerons (10°) which provided additional drag and lit when the flaps were lowered ‘An 1895-hp Nakajima ‘Homare’ 12 engine made the Grace substantially faster than its predecessors with 356mph being achieved during tests. Unfortunately, the engine was not fully developed, needed time-consuming maintenance and lacked reliability. "Among the dive-bomber eategory the Jun- era Ju 87 is not generally known as a carrier-based type though as a dive-bomber itis probably better known than any other plane. The fact that it was considered and even stressed and fitted with catapult and arrester hook escapes any but the most intense researcher. ‘At the beginning of the war Germany had under construction an aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, which was abandoned early in the war. The principal dive-bomber, the ‘Ju 87C oF Stuka as it was best known, was to have been the dive-bomber assigned to this ship. The Ju87C was a special modifica tion of the Ju 87B-1 and was fitted with jettisonable landing gear in anticipation of the probability of a ditched landing. This Yokosuka D4Y2 Suisei (Comet) ‘Judy’ “The fastest carer-borne dive-bomber of the Second World War, the Judys! wore very susceptible to battle damage and took @ Savage ‘mauling in the ‘Marianas Turkey Shoot "Span: 37 M8 in Length: 33 0 in Engine: Aichi Atsuta AE1P, 1340 hp at 6580 ft ‘Armament: 2°7.7-mmn ma: 113-mm m9 ‘Max Speed! 360 raph at 17.228 ft Coiling: 38.105 f Range: 909 miles Bombload: 1238 lb Junkers Ju 876 Designed to fy from the abortive Gorman caret Graf Zeppelin, the Ju 87C was {naval version ofthe famous Stoke with folaing wings and arrestor hook. plus a jettisonable. undereariage for erash landings ‘Span: 4513 in Length: 37 8 8 in Engine: Jumo 221 De, 1210 hp Max speed: 217 mph Ceiling: 18,000 X Range"342 mites Armament: 2*78-mm mg Bombload: 1300 Ib modification feature, to the best of our knowledge, was not used by Germany's ally ‘Japan in the design of the Aichi D3A Val. ‘Only a few were produced and these were converted back to the Ju 87B.1 configura tion when the carrier plans were abandoned. ‘The last of the carrier-based attack bomb- cers or dive-bombers built by the Japanese was the Yokosuka D4Y1 Suisei (Comet) Allied code name jJudy’, which first entered Service in its scout-reconnaissance role during the Battle of Midway. It was pro- duced in a variety of models and in surpris- ingly large numbers 2038 - which exceeded the production of Curtiss SB2Cs, even though Japan was under direct attack during the latter days of the war and disrup- tion was certain to prevail during this time. ‘The Judy was interesting in a number of respects, one of which was the use of the liquid-cooled Aichi AEA Atsuta 12 engine which produced 1200 hp. Most carrier-hased aircraft, with the notable exception of the D4Y1 and DAY2 Judy and the British Fairey Barracuda and Fulmar used air-cooled engines. Even the later versions of the Judy, D4Y3 and D4Y4, used air-cooled radial engines, the Mitsubishi Kinsei Model 62. Ineach of these exceptions to the éxisting tradition, the resulting aircraft was very attractive. ‘The Aichi Atsuta 12 was a version of the German Daimler-Benz engine built under licence, Poor reliability prompt- ed the Aichi engineers to suggest changing the engine to the 1860-hp Mitsubishi Kinsei 62, an air-cooled radial. This modification was designated D4Y3. Of the 2038 D4Ys ‘at least 822 were powered by Reconnaissance only Like all naval carrier aircraft, the Judy was of a multipurpose design, for dive- bombinglattack, night-fighter and finally as special attack (Kamikaze) aircraft. Until March 1948 the Judy experienced wing flutter when tested as a dive-bomber. As a result they were restricted to their recon- naissance configuration when they made their combat debut, lying from the aircraft carrier Soryu during the Battle of Midway. ‘The D4¥2, powered by the 1400-hp Aichi Ateuta 82, had the airframe strengthened, ‘making it serviceable in its intended princi pal role of dive-bomber. Unfortunately, time was running out for the Japanese fleet, much of which had slipped beneath the Pacific waters. During the period when the type was being strengthened, those pro: duced were in action as reconnaissance aireraft flying from all the earriers remain: ing in action ‘The night-fighter conversion was an interesting but relatively ineffective modi fication designed to attack B-29s which were then making regular runs over Japan. In this conversion a 20-mm cannon was fitted in the fuselage to fire upward at a 30° angle Interesting as it was this was not aneffective weapon since the plane itself had very poor performance. It had a 50 to 8 mph speed advantage over its predecessor, the DJA Val, and the contemporary SB2C. However, the lattor carried at least twice the load of the D4Y and had almost twice the range. Due to the pressure of the American forces moving steadily toward the Japan- ese homeland, desperate measures were adopted. The Kamikaze groups used speci ally designed aircraft, as well as modified productionaircraft.Liketheremaining Vale, 2 the Judy was also used for this duty, arGrumman F4F Wildcat n'a frst monoplane fightor US Navy this toby, highly manoeuvrable "Japanese onslaught of 1941 and early 1942, end was rushed into British o asthe Martet | ‘Span: 38 f Length: 28 £9 in Engine: Pett & Whitnay R-1830-76 Fon Wasp, 1200 hp a take-off Max peed: 330 mph at 21,100 ft Coiling 371500 f Range: B45 speed Armament: 4% in mg FIGHTERS BOMBER ESCORT OR CARRIER PROTECTOR? task force when at the torpedo planes and the dive-bombers air support during their attacks. Tt was often necessary to keep the majority of the fighters close at hand to protect the happened, the small number that could accompany planes and/or the dive-bombers were usually totally inadequate and often resulted in a high loss rate to the attack planes. Con versely, should the planes be assigned to faccompany the dive-bombers and torpedo planes then the carrier with its critically Important landing deck was left in a vul: nerable situation, To accommodate gned to maintain local mastery of the air, the fighter and the fighter pilot both be a rather special combination. In the Second World War the lesson was learned once again that any air force must have a high proportion of fighters. This was soon ‘parent when aircraft earrier commanders ound it necessary to hold in re substantial number ment to protect their own ships from enem Combat Air Patrol (CAP) constantly ready to divert or destroy craft, The problem was how many to keep n orbit in the vicinity of the their fighter comple attacking enemy ese requirements, the percentage of ight n relation to other types of aircraft rose m roughly 18% to 60% of the aircraft mmplement of the earrier Another factor which made these aircraft jecessary was the increasing use of rs in_an attack role, loaded with nance almost beyond belief. In these the fighters operated in the role of iterbombers delivering bombs, rockets jor napalm on the first attack wave, reverting to their fighter role after dropping their ordnance stores. It was artially because of the multitude of attack junctions taken over by the fighters that ut-bombers became less and less neces- Sary as the war progressed, Tn fighter aircraft superior speed, while an important consideration, is not adequate n itself, nor is rate of climb the whole answer. Manoeuvrability by itself is also meaningless, but to combine the three in a machine superior to those of an opponent isthe goal of the aircraft designer. Tn the case of naval aircraft, additional requirements are imposed by their opera. tion at sea and often far from friendly land bases, Among these requirements is adequate endurance and the strength to withstand launching and retrieval. Prior to, the Second World War, two-seater fighters were purchased, and well into the early part of the war such planes as the Fairey Fulmar were operated ~ not because of any outstanding superiority but because of a lack of anything better. They were adequate when attacking slow bombers or recon: hhaissance aircraft but were at a grave disadvantage when opposed by single-seat fighters. The additional crew member and the accommodations for him penalised the plane’s action. The most successful and most numerous naval fighters of the Second World War were singleseat planes. Japan, among the major naval powers, hhad the best shipboard fighters when the war began. The French were woefully Inadequate, as were the British, and the US was only slightly better off. The Euro- pean nations had almost totally neglected a-based airpower for a variety of reasons The US was till suffering from short rations and shortsightedness, a hangover from the depression years. ‘The Mitsubishi A6M2 was the outstand ing fighter aircraft in the opening days of the Pacific war and came as a considerable surprise to most military authorities. The intensive security maintained by the Japanese largely accounted for this sur prise. The A6M2, better known as the Zero fr Zeke because of the designation of the aircraft as the Navy type '0" carrier fighter, was much maligned in the US as being copy of one or more well known US aircraft. The Zero nevertheless gave a good ‘account of itaelf and its pilots, ‘The US Grumman F4Fs were able to hold their own although the Zero had an advant age in most categories. By being able to absorb a lot of battle damage and still carr fn, the Pals four 0 cal machine-guns were capable of tearing up the light struc ture and unprotected fuel tanks of the Zeros. High on the list of design criteria for the Japanese naval fighters was high manoeuvrability and high speed. To obtain these, it was necessary to compromise by using a light structure and by elimination of frills such as selfsealing fuel tanks and armour plate protection for the pilot and vital parts ofthe aircraft. They were, infact, the correct choice for the war 'game-plan of the Japanese commanders for a. fast moving war of short duration. Their misfortune was in not destroying the Lexington and Enterprise at Pearl Harbor. New generation The well-trained and heroic pilots of the US Navy, flying the ragged Wildcats and other carrier aircraft, held on and turned the tables when the new generation of planes was ready for combat operations. US planes like-the Grumman F6F Helleat were Gesigned with the specific purpose of attain ing air superiority over the Zero. The Japanese, on the other hand, did not have ‘access to industrial resources to match those of the US, which was able to maintain production lines of F4Fs and SBDs while at the same time design and build the second generation aircraft ‘The Japanese, in the meantime, were hard pressed to accomplish the same results al: though in retrospect one can only admire their determination, the variety of aircraft types and numbers produced during the war. ‘The Zero, along with the Zeke and other variations, was the principal Japanese carrier fighter from the beginning to the fend of the war. Tn the European theatre the British Navy paid a high price for peacetime lethargy for perhaps for the honest ignorance of fiscal and military officialdom. When the war clouds were growing in intensity, the Fleet Air Arm, which attained an indepen dent status in May 1939, was still using the Gloster Sea Gladiator, a conversion of the RAF's last biplane fighter. "The stiecess of the Hurricane and Spitfire prompted the Royal Navy to request a monoplane fighter. This resulted in the Fairey Fulmar, a two-seater which was to become the Navy's first all-metal monoplane fighter. The Blackburn Skua, previously mentioned, was to have been an all-purpose machine supposedly capable of operating fas a fighter as well as a dive-bomber, but fas a fighter it was badly outclassed ‘With this situation Britain, hardpressed yy fronts, built Fairey Fireflys and the Grumman Martlet 1, basically the F4F with the single row Wright R-1820 instead of the more normal twin row Pratt & Whitney R-1830. These Martlets were originally ordered by the French and were diverted to the Fleet Air Arm after the French capitulation in June 1940. They were well tested and coming off production Tines at a rate to satisfy US and British requirements, Holding the line ‘The plane that held the Tine and kept the Imperial Japanese Navy busy during the early stages of the war was the Grumman F4F, a comparatively small single-engine mid-wing monoplane. A pugnacious looking machine in the air, it was almost ugly on the deck, propped up on its narrow tread retractable landing gear. In the early models, the gear was manually retracted by thirty turns of a crank at the pilot's right hand. This feature was never particularly iked by pilots for more often than not resulted in a porpoising flight path just after liftoff. In any event it was better than that of the Polikarpov I-15, the little Russian biplane fighter used by the Repub: licans in Spain. In the 115, each landing gear leg had to he cranked up independently by hand, resulting in a roll, or partial rol first one way and then another ‘The F4Fs, christened "Wildeats’, were just coming into carrier service when war broke out. The fall of France in June 1940 resulted in increased orders for the Wildeat which, up to this point, was going through the normal peacetime development pro session of service trials leading to full acceptance by the Navy. The original design competition was announced in 1935 to replace the Grumman F3F-1 biplane then in USS Horne, the carrier that launched Doolittle raid on Tokyo and was later sunk off Guadalcanalservice. The competition was won by the Brewster F2A Buffalo but the US Navy gave Grumman @ contract for a new proto- type, designated XF4F3, This turned out to be a very fortunate occurrence because, in service, the Buffalo showed a distressing weakness of the landing gear. However, the Buffalo could easily out manoeuvre the Wildeat in simulated combat but, om returning to the carrier, the odds were in favour of an unserviceable plane — not because of combat damage but because of landing damage. The FaF on the other hand was rugged and reliable in all situations but was lacking in climb and manoeuvrability when compared with its antagonist, the Japanese Zero, It more than made up for these deficiencies in its firepower of four (and later six) wing:mounted -50 cal_m: chine-guns, selfsealing fuel tanks and ar mour for pilot protection. The merit of these features was clearly demonstrated by the nearly seven to one combat-kill ratio over its opponents, many of them Japanese Zeros Onedesign feature which caused problems and resulted in one fatal crash was inflation, in the air, ofthe specified flotation air bags. Elimination of these and the mechanism for hydraulically folding the wings provided space in the wings and weight reduction which made it possible to add another pair of guns and ammunition to bring the armament up to six ‘60 cal machine-guns. ‘This battery of guns proved to be the answer to any other deficiencies the Wildeat might have had, for when the pilot got on a target there was little doubt about the Fairey Fulmar | The Royal Naw's first 8-gun fighter, Fulmar kept the two-teatr layout for navigator/observer a Having quickly learned of the manoeuvra bility and tlimb characteristics of the Zero, the US Navy pilots concentrated on head:on or diving attacks. In the head-on attack the Wildcat had the advantage of the high velocity -50 cal guns, while the Japanese 7-7-mm machine-guns barely scratched the Wildcat and their slow-firing, Tow-velocity 20mm cannon were quite in accurate. ‘The diving attack used the strength of the Wildcat, while its ability to manoeuvre even at high speed was another plus factor since the Zero was found to have problems with aileron control at the higher speeds encountered in dives. The F4F was never rediined for terminal dive speeds which is testimony to its durability, ‘Outmatched by is Fand-based contemporaris and their naval ddervatives ‘Span: 46 #5 in Length: 80 #3 in Engine: Rolls-Royce Merlin Vl, 1080 hp ‘Max speed: 280 mph Ceiling: 26,000 ft ‘Range: 800 miles Armament: 8 303-in ma ‘The Wildcat was considered to be a traneitonal ‘fighter by the US. Navy in tended to hold on unt second generstion ould be produced: Whatever the inten, Ein recorded fac thatthe F4F was present td gave a good account of itclf and its pilot in most ofthe major engagements in The Pei and in the Atlantica wall ‘The TAF was present at Peat! Harbor, where I Wildcats were caught on the fround tnd nine ddstroyed. As the war Frogresed the Jepanees puahel on, with thet atacks on Wake load. This was one of the most heroic defensive battle, and sue which was vo spur the Ameriea war production efforts, bringing the Wildeat to Tis attention of the American public. With teven of the. newly arrived Wildcate Aetroyed during the rt Japanese attack, the remaining aireraft, never more than threeinthe rac thesame time, succeeded n dastroying a twin-engine Japenese bomber find at least one Zero in ar combat. Tn audition, Capt Henry T Elrod, USMC, Blackburn Firebrand TF 5 Conceived as eary 26 1939, the Firebrand torpedo tighter was dogged by development dificulties, and became operational in 1945, too "Span'51 13 in Length: 38 18 in Engine: Bristol Centaurus IX, 2520 hp ‘Armament: 4% 20-mm cannon Max speed: 340 ‘mph at 13,000 ft Ceiling: 28,500 ft Range: 740 Inlles Bomblaed: 1» 1880-15 torpedo oF 254000-(b bombs bombed and sank a Japanese destroyer before the defenders were overrun. ‘One of the first American heroes of the war was Lt Edward H ‘Butch’ O'Hare, On 2) February 1942 he and his squadron were flying Wildcats from the Lexington when they encountered a large force of Mitsubishi GaN Bettys returning to their base after a raid. In the ensuing battle, O'Hare shot down five enemy aircraft and damaged Sinth. He became bne ofthe fist US aces of the war and received the Medal of Honor. “Phe fet of the folding-wing variants was the FAF4 the prototype of which had a hydraulic “folding system “which was abandoned, The geometry of the character. istic Grumman wing folding system war rch that the wings were rotated some 90 about a central axis and folded back flush Alongside the fuselage. This made the folding. comparatively easy and, at the same time, reduced the overall height and volume of the Wildeat for stowage aboard ship. The FAP-4 made its debut atthe Battle of Midway ‘The Wildcat in any ofits variations was 2 rugged machine and could not be cqnsidered inapiringly handsome by even its most avid admirer, but it could and did do the job it twas designed to do, It was a chunky little Inid-wing monoplane with narrow-tread retractable landing. gear, the mechanics tnd geometry of which had been well tested in earlier Grumman designs and dated back in concept to such planes as the Loening Pre-war design Likesomany ofits contemporaries,the F4F's design dated back to the mid 1990s, its successor, the Grumman F6F, being’ the first plane to be designed from lessons and techniques learned during the war. Skill and adaptability on the part of the pilots, many of whom became aces fiying Wildcats, made up for the plane's deficienci “Modifications ‘were made along the way to adapt to changing conditions. The original four guns were increased to six, the solid wing of the F4F-3 became folding wings in the F4P-4 and FM-1, propellers were changed along with power plants, and the singlestage Pratt and Whitney engine was improved with the addition of two-stage, tworspeed superchargers. In the FM2, produced by General Motors, the ‘guns were again reduced in number to four ‘and the plane reduced in weight to improve its operation from the Jeep Carriers ‘Developed at a time when procurement of aircraft for British air services came within the jurisdiction of the RAF, the Fairey Fulmar was hurriedly designed to fill a gap, since none of the existing aircraft then in RAF service could readily be adapted to the requirements isualised “for the newSome allowances should be made for the shortcomings of the Fulmar when compared ‘with other fighters, for it was designed to a different set of conditions as reflected in the specifications. The RAF had reserved for ‘lf and its aircraft the task of defending ships while they wore in range of land: based enemy aircraft. With these segments accounted for, if not tested in practice, the Royal Navy's fighter requirements were reduced to that of accompanying torpedo and strike/dive-bomber aircraft and driving ff any reconnaissance aireraft. To mect these requirements, the Fulmar was design: fd to incorporate two seats, the rear one for an observer/navigator/telegrapher. Note that the term ‘gunner is conspicious by its absence, as the Tear seat occupant was already burdened with three jobs. In any ‘case a good number of observers would have ‘willingly taken on the gunnery duty as well i the designers had only had the foresight to inelude one or more guns for the rearseat. ‘Thus it was that the observer was ‘along for she ride’ when the combat situation was at its worst. The pilot could not count on enemy fighters to avoid a direct stern attack. With its several shortcomings, ineluding lack of armour protection for the pilot, the Flmar did give a good account of itself during the opening days of the war in the European theatre, accounting for 112enemy aircraft shot down and 80 more damaged, which was about one third of the total Royal Navy victories Liquid-cooled engine The Admiralty's preference for an air cooled engine was not incorporated in the design, making the Fulmar one of the few aircraft designed for carrier operation that used liquid-cooled engines. As designs for the Fairey Barracuda were firmed up, it was proposed and accepted to use the same fengine, the Rolls-Royce Merlin 30 in both the Barracuda and the Fulmar Il. This was intended to reduce the maintenance parts problem, although no great. performance ‘ains resulted from the change. ‘in armament the Fulmar was equal to the Hawker Hurricane, having eight wing mounted 308 eal machine-guns which were ‘Impressive in number, but notin range. With the development of radar, the spacious rear ‘cockpit made the Fulmar a logical plane for the Fleet Air Arm to use as a night fighter where its lack of speed would be less detri- mental. In addition, the range of the Fulmar would allow it to remain airborne for five hours or more when fitted with ssuxiliary fuel tanks. In combat service, the 15 Fulmars of 806 Squadron did provide air superiority for the Fleet operating in the eastern Mediterran- ean until they were overcome by Luftwaffe sircraft in early January. 1941. In most of the actions in which the Fulmars participa ted they accounted for more enemy planes down than they lost themselves. Consider ing relative performance, these results are quite remarkable and a tribute to the crews. Only one specimen is known to survive: NI-854, in the Fleet Air Arm Mu seum, RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset, Rude awakening Until the surprise atehck on Pearl Harbor, the Mitsubishi” AGM2 "Zero! was com paratively unknown even to the organisa tion most likely to encounter it. the US Navy. Although it had been reported by jen Claire Chennault. in 1940 after his “Flying Tigers had encountered a number of them over China, ite effort was made t0 determine the capability ofthis new fighter mifan attempt had heen made to learn more, itis quite unlikely that any results would have been” forthcoming, for the Japanese were the most security conscious : ofnations at that time ‘Ths singie-sat carr fighter had ought over [sa rent ofthe lack of knowledge of the China and given Jopanese Nev ght ps Zero, the Alies of the Pacific theatre, ombst experience. Although obsclesent By particularly the US, suffered rudeawaken: {Su the ast Claude. (te Altes coge-name) tng by the attack ae Peat! Harbor and the stern expended ae Kamae sli aro Seeming invincibility of the onrushing ‘Soon 36 tn Length 24 101m Speier eens ict reenal Engine: Noka}ma Korbut 81,785 hp a eae ee eee 5880 Armament 2277: mo Moe down the” Asian Coast and through the Speed" 252 moh ot 6890 f Celing: 32.180 ft islands of the western Pacific. Following Range: 148 miles these surprises. intelligence teams and fngincering and military anslyste groped for an explanation of thi successful design Ie'was reputed to be a copy of the best features of the Vought V-183, the Hughes Racer and, possibly, one or two other aieraft for good measure "The fact was that this, ike any other plane of that date, wasn copy ofall that receded. it” according to the designer, dire Horikoshi, who had heen assigned to lead the Mitsubishi design team. It was in fact an example of the sate of the art whe the Zero. was designed. It could not be attributed to any one or more designs as a Copy. Like the bee, the design team sampled ‘many designs, taking the best snd blending them to achieve the resulte required With the outbreak of hostilities between Japan and China in Duly 1997, the perform ance requirements increased as 4 result of ambat experience. Specifeations had Mitsubishi AGMS Reisen (Zoro Fighter) Zeke Universally known as the Zero’ the potency of the ABM fleet fighter gave tho Alice shock during the tof 1947 and 1942, but ‘roduetion Version, was outclassed by the-new generat Of US carer ightors from 1843 ‘Span: 36 fn Length 298.11 in Engine: Nakao Sakae NK1F, 1100 hp at £9380 ft Armament: 2*7--men mg: 2*20-mm Gannon Max speed: 381 mph at 18,685 ft Coting: 38.520 f Range’ 1194 miles aie Le as ere ‘The slightly damaged USS Maryland against a backdrop of smoke after the Pearl Harbor attacksreased to such a degree that a Nakajima design team elected to concentrate on other rojects, pulling out of the competition and aving the project and problems with the Mitsubishi team, They’ succeeded to a markable degree and produced a plane hat will be remembered along with the First World War Spad and Fokker D VIL Te was a classic and exceptionally fine promise, as all aireraft designs must be. he design started with a compromise hoice of engine, the 875 hp Mitsubishi Suisei 18 engine, although the designer woured. the larger, more powerful but avier Mitsubishi Kinsei 40 engine. Tt wasn't until much later ~ too late ~ in the war that the Kinsei was to be adopted. ontrary to general belief, the lack of vective armour for the pilot was not an versight, or a result of disregard for the ew, buta hard compromise choice dictated wy the performance characteristics, con: sidered to be essential. The gamble almost aid dividends, for the Japanese had things ty much their way at first and for veral months until the Zero's weaknesses wore found and exploited by the US pilots. The Zero’s first flight The first. prototype, the AGM1, made its first flight on 1 April 1999, Storm clouds were gathering in Europe and the US Exclusion Act of 1924 was still a very sore point with he Japanese, not so much because of its sults but because it implied that Japan was less than a major international power. ‘The aircraft was officially designated Navy type 0 carrier fighter on 81 July 1940, nd shot down its first enemy aircraft on 15 September 1940 when 13 planes flyin wer China. surprised and downed 27 olikarpov I-15s and I-16 without suffering any losses themselves. At this time General Claire Chennault, who was then reorganis- ng the Chinese’ Air Force, advised his leagues in the US of this new fighter, but is warning was either ignored or forgotten. The high point of the AGM2s service was he Pearl Harbor attack of 7 December 1941 and the invasion of Wake Island soon afte. There followed a succession of victories as he Japanese pushed further south, even- lly attacking Port Darwin, Australia, on February 1942, destroying eight alian aircra in air combat and an additional 15 on the ground - again without osses to themselves. Following this, the apanese fleet under Admiral Nagumo headed for the Indian Ocean where they ink the British fleet units consisting of HMS Dorsetshire, HMS Cornwall and the sr HMS Hermes The Japanese were now riding high on wings of victory, but at the same time the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero ito Horihok's biliant fighter design fst saw faction in September 1940 when A6M2s ‘destroyed 99 Chinese aircraft fr the loss of 2°Zoros. The ABM2 was the modal in service ‘during the 1941-82 period of runeway Japanese ‘Span: 39 ft 4 in Length: 29 ft 9 in Engine: Nakajima NKIF Sako 12.950 hp at 413,760 f Max speed: 331. mph at 16,000 ft Coiling: 32.810 & Range: 1160 miles ‘Armament: 2*20-mm cannon; 27-7-mm mg Yorktown listing heavily after a savage battering during the Battle of Midway. But her Dauntlesces had smashed two Japanese carrere 'S was marshalling its military strength nd heading for the Battle of the Coral Sea 12 7/8 Maj" 1942, the first battle ever to be ought entitely by aireraft with the surface ‘out of sight of each other. It was this point ofthe war that the tide began to vn, The Grumman F4Fs held the line and ach carrier force had one carrier seriously amaged, and the Japanese lost the light arrier Shoko. Shortly afterwards, on 3/4 June 1942, the Battle of Midway was underway. Again, ne Zero extracted a heavy price, but this ime the vietims were mostly the TBDs which, through an error in timing, were left nprotected during their run. In turn, the panese paid an extremely heavy price with the loss of most of their carrier force and their complement of aircraft and crew was sadly depleted as well. These carrier osses included the Kaga, Akagi and Soryu. and the Hiryu which was set afire, but not fore her aircraft crippled the Yorktown. Tneonnection with this battle, adiv ry attack was made on the Aleutiansduring A Jopanese Zero assembled from bout the Zeros performance was which one Zero was forced to land due to fuel loss. Though wrecked on landing in a bog and killing the pilot, this Zero was to play an important’ role. Salvaged and restored to” fiying condition, it was thoroughly tested at Anacostia and North Island Naval Air Stations, and its strong and. weak points documented. With this final bit of technical intelligence, the US aircraft industry was able to finalise the design of aircraft then in. production, notably the Grumman FOF Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair. The Helleat was, in fact, the first fighter designed specifically to gain mastery over the Zero. Despite the fact, that the Zero had been improved, it was no mateh for a plane built right from the start to conquer it With the Japanese carrier fleet no longer ‘a threat, the remaining Zeros were forced to operate from land bases, where they distinguished themselves and theit crews by having their endurance and that of their pilots developed to a degree that amazed everyone, During the first year of the war a sof ive Zero shot down in the baile for Buna airstrip, Information tal to Allied pilot in their ght againa Japanese force consisting of less than 200 Zeros leapfrogged its way through the Philippines and down the coast of Asi concentrating on the defeat ofa hodgepodge fof obsoleacent aircraft auch as Brewster F2A Buffaloes, Curtiss CW-21Bs, Hawk 5s, P-40s and Hawker Hurricanes, ‘The Zero was built in a number of variants and model improvements including the AGM2, Zero (Zeke), A6M2-N (float fighter ‘Rufe’), A6M2-K (two-seat trainer), A6M3 ‘Hamp’ (Modols 22 & 23) and A6MB Zeke &2 which itself had @ number of variations. [By mid 1943, the Zero and the Hamp had been surpassed by most Allied fighters yet they were always potent adversaries when flown by an experienced pilot. The Grumman FGF in particular and the Vought FaU were ‘to provide air superiority over the Zeros Inevitable end In one last desperate role, the AGM2s Wore used as Kamikaze weapons. Equipped with one 500-b bomb, the Zeke was tsed in the much described spectacular attacks on US ships. While the A6M2 Kamikaze ac counted for a high percentage ofthe attacks ‘and actual hits, the effort was not worth the price, for the US attacks had reached a trescendo of such proportions and deter mination that, at best, the Kamikaze could nly hope to delay the inevitable. ‘The Vought F4U Corsair was unique in several respects, one of the war's most versatile aireraft, an excellent fighter and a dive-bomber/attack plane. It was capable of lugging and delivering external ordnance loads up to a total of 4000 Ib. It was this dual capability that reduced the requirement for ‘additional dive-bombers and other special: ised aircraft such as the Curtiss SB2Cs The Corsair was the first fighter to be powered by a 2000 hp engine, and in later Configurations such as the Goodyear-built F2G was powered by the 3500 hp Pratt & Whitney R-4960 engine. To use this high power at high altitudes it was necessary to install a large, slow-turning propeller. ‘To provide ground clearance for this pro- peller and still keep the landing gear short and rugged for arrested landings was a problem which was solved by the unusual bent wing configuration. The resulting wing position made unnecessary the extensive fileting usually required to smooth out the air fow at the juncture of the wing and fuselage. The short landing gear also served fas a dive brake, with the added advantage of retracting backward into the wing. ‘This configuration improved pilot visi bility on the approach and final leg of land ing and when landing, the stall oceurred in the trough of the gull elose to the fuselageChance-Vought F4U-7 Corsair Esming a legendary reputation during the Second Werld War the ungainly Corsair was stil fighting aver Indo: Chine in 1854 flown by pilots ofthe French Navy Alt Force ‘Span: 40 11 in Length: 30 8 io Engine: Prat & Whitney F-2800-18W Double ‘Wasp, 2000 np at 1500 ft Mix speed: 15 mph st 19.600 f Ceiing: 34.500 R Range: 1562 tiles Armament. 4~-8-in mg Bombload. 2+1000:(b bombs ‘The added advantage ofthis wing design was that the folding point of the wing was also located at the low point of the trough, making it possible to maintain the low Clearance for the hydraulically actuated folding system to be operated in the confined spaces aboard carriers. Because of less headroom aboard British carriers, the wing tips of Corsairs assigned to the Royal Navy were shortened by removal of eight inches from each wing tip resulting in a squared off wing tip and a slightly higher stalling speed - but little else was changed. "The structure of the FAU was simplified by using large single panels whenever possible and fabricating these by are welding when: fever practical. One unusual feature was the rather generous use of fabric in a plane of this late date, ‘Veterans of the Second World War will readily recall the distinctive sounds of ‘aircraft which caused instinctive reactions ‘among ground erews and particularly anti aircraft gunners and troops in the front Tines, The engine exhaust, propeller or cooling system produced distinctive sounds ‘which inspired fear or exhilaration. In the case of the Corsair, the whistling sound generated by the wing root air intakes was S0 pronounced that enemy troops referred to it as ‘Whistling Death’, for it extracted @ high price in air combat and an even sater one among the ground troops in its Fole as an attack plane, bombing, launching rockets and strafing Because of its rather unconventional appearanee it was also known by US and Allied. personnel as the "Bent-wing Bird” With the exception of the Stuka and the Grace, there was no other Second World War aircraft with this unusual wing con: figuration. ‘The Corsair had a prolonged adolescence, While it was designed for carrier operation, fa variety of idiosyncrasies, including a bounce when landing aboard carriers, kept it from its intended role until 1944, although the first 22 F4Us had been proclaimed combat-ready a8 early as December 19 In spite of its early rejection from carrier qualification it was operated by Marin« fand Navy squadrons VMF 124 and VF 17 from land bases, establishing a victory/loas ratio of better than 11 to 1. ‘The first action in which Corsairs took part was to escort Consolidated PBAY-1 Single-finned Navy Liberators, all the way 40 leet Air Arm Corsair I fighters in echelon formation. The type provided cover for the Tpit raids Side View of FG-1D Corsair Goodyear-built FG-1D (the classification ‘changed with a diffrent maker) of 2nd Marine Mitsubishi A7M2 Reppu (Hurricane) ‘Sam’ Conceived as a replacement for the ABM Zero, ‘with armour piste and salf-saling fuel tanks. the Roppu's production was strangled by fearthquakes ond 8-28 vas and none saw action ‘Span: 45 f11 in Length: 36 ft tin Engine: Mitsubishi MKBA, 1800 hp at 19,685 ft ‘Armament: 22132-mm mg; 220-mm cannon ‘ax speed: 390 mph at 27,665 ft Colling: 39,760 ft Range: 25 hr cruising plus 30 min combat to Bougainville, a task which had been impossible for the Grumman Fis, The new pilots got a thorough baptism offre the next day when, together with an array. of Liberators, P-40s and P.386, they were attacked by 50 Zeros with a loss of two teach of Liberators and P-40s and four P-2s From this inauspicious beginning the tables turned, for the Corsairs completed their war service with; the destruction of 2140 enemy aircraft in air combat against a loss of only 189, In addition to daytime combat, the F4U was successfully adapted to night fighter duties by the use of a radar antenna pod mounted near the tip ofthe starboard wing. ‘The night fighter group operated on a fre alarm basis, moving about the combat zone as the need arose In spite of its weight, the Corsair w more than a match for ‘any aircraft that the Japanese had available and in simulated ‘combat tests it proved superior to any other plane in the US service at that time. OF the 8418 Corsairs produced, Vought produced, 4669 with the two subcontractors, Goodyear and Brewster, producing 4014 and 735 respectively. In service they were assigned to 19 Marine squadrons, a total of 6255 planes, and 19 squadrons of the Royal Navy (1977), many of which had the modi fied wing tips. In addition to the above services, the Royal New Zealand Air Force acquired 425 during the war. After the end of hostilities a number were allocated to various South American coun tries and to the air forces of a number of smaller nations, where they served wel Fortunately, a number of Corsairs of various modifications are still retained in musetums ‘around the world. ‘The Japanese name of Reppu (Violent Wind) was given to the Mitsubishi A7MI in advance fits actual testing, which accounts for the misnomer. It was in fact a great disappointment in speed and climbingTightar to serve withthe Royal Navy, the Gladiator was navalised by addition of fan arester hook ond ainghy stowage and fought ‘ver Norway and in the Meditenanean Is role Inthe apie 1941 detonce of Malta was lagoly an invention of British propagands ‘Span: 32 3 in Length: 278 in Engine Bristol Mercury VIIA, 840 hp Max spac 245\mph at 10,000 ft Ceiling: 32,000 ft ‘Ranges 425 miles Armament: 4303-9 Browning ma Brewster F2A Butfalo ‘This diminutive, underpowered American fighter flew from British cater 08 stopgap measure during the defence of Crete in March 1841 ‘Very few served withthe US Navy ‘Span 35 f Length: 26 tt Engine! Wright Cyclone, 1200-hp Max speed 313 mph at [13800 Cong: 90.500 Range: 650 miles rmament: 2» 8-in mg ability, both of which were intended to surpass the AGM Zero's capability. The ‘main reason was the change in power plant from the Mitsubishi Mk 9A engine of 2100 hp to the more readily available ‘Nakajima Homare of 1800 hp. In addition the ATM1 was to have the qualities which the Zero lacked ~ greater firepower and armour ~ while retaining its desirable features, including carrier equip- ment. The resulting performance was so bad (347-5 mph max), that production was suspended in August 1944, A second model, ‘ATM2, was completed in October, this time using the original engine, Maximum speed ‘was 390 mph, 10 mph less than the specifica- tions called for, but sufficient to result in a production order on an accelerated basis. In December 1944, the Nagoya industrial area where the ATM2s were under con struction was hit by the double blow of an earthquake and intense B-29 raids, which disrupted production to the extent that ‘only eight Reppus had been completed by the end of hostilities and none had reac! operational status. ‘The last biplane fighter ‘The Gloster Sea Gladiator was a naval modification of the RAF's last biplane fighter. The outbreak of war in 1999 eaught the Fleet Air Arm with these remnants of the biplane era. Though procurement think ing had changed to monoplanes, few if any were actually available. The Fairey Fulmars and Blackburn Skuas were rushed as an intermediate step into the monoplane era ‘The Sea Gladiator did not phase out in peacetime, however, for it did provide effective cover for the Fairey Swordfish during the Norwegian campaign. For- tunately, one of these may be retrieved from a Norwegian lake, which should have provided excellent preservation treatment ‘in contrast to those forced down at se By the latter part of 1940 all remaining Gladiators had been withdrawn in favour of theSkua. Its construction wasaluminium, ‘with surfaces and parts ofthe fuselage fabric covered. Stubby and manoeuvrable in comparison with its contemporary Grumman | FaP Wildcat/Martlet, the Brewster F2A Buffalo did see action in the defence of Crete and against the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies, as woll as over Cairo, Rangoon, Burma and Singapore - and in the Battle of Midway where US Marine Squadron VMF 221 used 20 F2A Buflalos and 7 Grumman FAF-36 based on Midway itself. ‘The loss of 13 Buffalos to the more manoeuvrable Zeros ended the career of the Buffalo.Feiroy Fire Combining the ols of fighter and long-snge teconmalseance avrat and fitted wit folding twinge and full naval equipment, the Frety was ‘ne ofthe most complex Hghere of te day Sanaa fn Length 977 in Engine Rols-Royee Gfon IB, 1490 hp at 12/000 ft Max speed: 315 mph a 16500 ft Ceinng: 304100 % Range: 880 miles Crew:'2 ‘Armament: 4%20-mem Connon Bombvoad. 2000 formation of US Naty Grumman Helleats, the type that replaced the Wildeat at war against the Zero Grumman FSF Holloat Based on the Wildcat formula, but incorporating the lessons of combat experience the Heloat’s speed and climb were excellent and t could ‘utmatch the Zero ina dogfight ‘Span’ 42 110 in Length 33116 in Engine: Prat & Whitney R-2800-10, 2000 hp at 1000 f Max speed: 371 mph at 18.700 ft Coiling: 38,000 ft Range: 1498 miles ‘Armament’ 6% 5-in mq plus 2*1000-1b bombs‘The Buffalo had the unique distinction of winning the US Navy design competition against the Grumman FaF and still falling the wayside. Production was not one of he Brewster Company's strong points, ither with the Buffalo and Buccaneer) ermuda of their own design or when they were called upon as a second source for the Vought F&U/PSA The US Navy found the Buffalo particu ly. susceptible to deck Ianding damage ie to a weakness in the landing gear. As a result, the Grumman Wildeat super ded the Buffalo to become the standard rier fighter of both the US Navy and he Fleet Air Arm until the Vought FaU nd Grumman FGF replaced them. Tn comparative tests with the Hurricane I the Buffalo was slightly more man neuvrable but slower to accelerate in a dive. Though designed for carrier operation, when sold to the British it was found to be ne foot too large in wing span and could hot be accommodated on carrier elevators. Instead it was used in the Near East over ‘airo, where the fine silt was less harmful > the air-cooled radial engine than it had been to other planes’ close tolerance liquid: cooled engines ‘Other features which prevented it from assignment to serious combat were lack of firepower (the Buffalo had two -50_cal and two "30 cal machine-guns) and of armour plate, which was neither thick nough nor large enough. These were its major failings, its other deficiencies being Sufficient to relegate it to training missions or desperation defence requirements. A. two-seat fighter/reconnaissance air craft, the Fairey Firefly was built to a re ‘quirement dating back to the mid-1920s and fas a replacement for the stop-gap Fairey Fulmar, which served well if not spectacu- larly during the early part of the war. ‘The war was well under way in Europe and the US was recovering from the shock of Pearl Harbor, the complete tally of the disaster not yet fully appreciated, when the Firefly prototype was first flown on 22 December 1941. While resembling the Fulmar in general plan and profile making it hard to differentiate between them at a distance — the Firefly was, aerodynamically, an improvement, while the substitution of the 1730 hp R-R Griffon IB and later the 1990 hp Griffon XII did much to improve the performance with an immediate 40 mph increase in top speed. ‘Along with the increased performance, the armament was changed from the eight 303 cal guns of the Fulmar to the four 20-mm cannon of the Firefly. The wing plan form adopted was quite similar to that of the graceful, elliptical wings of the Supermarine Spitfire. Were it not forthe generous expanse of clear glass aft of the wing, the Firefly ‘might easily have been mistaken for the Spitfire. The Firefly got a comparatively late start, but by the end of 1946 over 950 Mk is and night fighter modifications had been built, over 800 of them by the Fairey plants, The remainder were built by General Aireraft Company. The Firefly distinguished itself in action in the Far East as an attack plane launching rockets against important targets such as the oil refineries in Sumatra in January 1645, effectively knocking out the major source of petroleum products for Japanese ships and aircraft, Earlier attempts by British Engineers to destroy refinery stor fage tanks during the retreat from the Malay Peninsula resulted in amusing and embarrassing results when the high octane fuel refused to burn, The intensity of fumes snuffed out attempts to ignite it with any ff the normal - and sothe far from normal forms of incendiary materials, Night fighter Firefly One of the principal variants of the Firefly Mle 1 was that of night fighter. As inthe cae ofthe Fulmar, the epacious Tear cockpit was quite adequate for the Tadar equipment; however the enrly forms ot radome successfully cluttered up the otherwise clean aerodynamics, resulting in Tower speeds, and the weight of the early Tedar equipment altered the centre of gravity, making it necessary to move the Sngine 18 inches forward to compensate. ‘Thiscombination ofpilotand radar operator is practically standard for current combat aircrat including “Aghters. ‘The redas/ Counter measures crew member currently operational fighters is regarded as essential to the performance and anfety of the air: rath: Tn the daye of the Frey, however, the second. crew member was a definite obstacle to igh performance in an aircraft when. compared, with. the single-seat Single-engined contemporaries. Ts topapeed ‘ras 316 mph, only shightly greater than that of the Brewster Buffalo, whose every performance was surpassed rather quickly ind early in the war. During the preliminaries to the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz, the Firefly was used to attack auxiliary ships and silence anti-aircraft gun emplacements in preparation for the battleship's destruction by RAF Lancasters, ‘The Grumman FEF Hellcat, successor to the F4F Wildeat/Martlet, was built in the Grumman tradition of robust, rugged struc ture with good fight control characteristics and, in this case, performance adequate to sain air superiority over the Japanese Zero, During the first 16 months of the Pacifi War, the Wildeat was on its own and did a remarkable job considering that normal terms of measurement would have shown it to be inferior to its enemy, the Zero. The brutish Hellcat was designed to remedy the situation with speed and climb ability superir to the Zero's, It was the first plane built after Pearl Harbor and incorporated the features demanded by Navy’ pilots allowing them to initiate or break of combat at their choosing Grumman FF Bearcat The Bearcat appeared too late fo see combat, but had brought the Grumman fighter design precepts to perfection, Lighter than the Helleat ‘by 3000 I, te superior performance mas {3ined atthe expense of firepower ‘Span: 35.16 in Length: 28'R Engine: Pratt & Whitney R-2800:22W Double Wasp, 2700 hp at take-off Max speed: 424 mph at 17300 ft Coiling: 33,700 f Ronge: 988 mies Armament: &8-in mg Bombioad: 2000 Ib or 45m rockets The results of tests on the Zero forced down in the Aleutians established the design parameters for the Helleat. which was then being designed. Tt was, in fact, designed to better the performance of the Zero as its primary mission. That reserves in structural strength were there also was important but almost of secondary import ‘ance at this time, Like its sistership on the Grumman produetion lines, the TBF Avenger, the Helleat was big and spacious inside and of simplified rugged structure to ensure ease of production and maintenance aboard carriers. Carrying this simplification further, the wings were folded manually with the locking pins operated hydraulically from the cockpit and made safe by manually controlled lock pins. For stowage aboard ship the wings were rotated about the front spar and then folded backward alongside the fuselage, leading-edge downward, like those of the Wildeat and the Avenger. ‘The landing gear rotated 90 asit retracted rearward, like that of the Curtiss P-40 and Vought F4U. Cover plates smoothed over the wheels and struts when fully retracted When in the extended position, a cover plate at the upper end of the gear leg added to the drag produced by the gear. The six 50 cal machine-guns were mounted in the panels just outboard of the line where the wings broke for folding, The fuselage was a semimonocoque struc ture with rings and stringers, covered by stressed skin. Adequate armour plate w: installed for pilot protection and a turm over structure was incorporated as well Performance had been improved, with the speed 60 mph faster than the F4Fs. Range Was increased and the ammunition carried was 400 rounds per gun ~ nearly doubling the capacity offthe FAP. Most important the Helleat could be flown and flown well by the inexperienced pilots who were then ‘coming into combat theatres fresh from the training centres, ‘The first flight of the XF6F-3 took place in July 1942 and the first full squadron of Helleats was delivered by December of the same year. The F4F and the TBF production was farmed out to General Motors where the designation was changed to FM-1 and ‘TBM, but little else changed as produetion continued unabated. Fourteen months from design to production was a record of which Grumman could be proud and one that instilled pride in the workers for the esprit de corps of Grumman employees was the envy of the other wartime manufacturers, especially their neighbour, Brewster, ‘The first combat flown in FBFs was a V flight, in support of the strike aircraft from Task Force 15, consisting of Essex, light carrier Independence and the second York ‘town in their attack on the Marcus Islands fon 31 August 1948. Numerous encounters further endeared the Helleat to its pilots and improved their skills for the big battles just over the horizon. The Battle of the Philippine Sea, 19.20 June 1944 (known as the "Marianas ‘Turkey Shoot’), was one of the most decisive battles of the war. On 19 June aircraft of Task Force 58 destroyed 402 enemy aircraft, and by 10 August carrier aircraft had sunk 110,000 tons of enemy ships and destroyed 1223 enemy aircraft. Staggering losses The date, 20 June, was memorable for other reasons. in a dusk battle at extreme range, Task Force 58 lost 104 aircraft out of 216 launched. Of the Helleats six were lost in the vicinity of the Japanese fleet of Admiral Ozawa, while 17 splashed down with dry tanks on the way home. The dive bombers (SB2C ~ Helldiver) and torpedo bombers (TBF - Avenger) lost 60% or more of their planes over the target or en route back to Task Force 58. This battle and the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23.26 October, resulted in 1046 enemy aircraft destroyed during the month of October and another 770 during November. The staggering losses in planes and aircraft carriers, as well as other sur. face ships, spelled the end of the once powerful Japanese carrier aviation. In ll these battles the Helleat played an important role in protecting the strike force and defending the massed US carrier force against the determined and suicidal attacks of the Japanese carrier pilots ‘The Helleat also found favour with the Fleet Air Arm and was used extensively in Allaritic operation, notably from HMS Emperor, which carried out anti-shipping attacks along the Norwegian coast and provided fighter cover during eight attacks fon the German battleship Tirpite from April to August of 1944. Most of the Fleet Air Arm action took piace in the Pacitie whore the F6F45 (Helleat ID) was the stand: ard. All told, the Royal Navy used over 1260 Helicats. It was designed to do a job well and, by any standard, it succeeded,‘The Hawker Sea Hurricane (‘Hurricat’ or Catafighter) was used as a stopgap mes. re when the German submarine and ng-range Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor ame a menace in early 1941. The age of Hurricane design made it unwise to xpend design and fabrication effort to ievelop folding wings, Therefore, the plane was used as it was by catapulting it off AM (Catapult Armed Merchantmen) ships. ach flight ended in a ducking for the pilot ind loss of the aircraft, which probably ‘counts for the fact that only one Hur ane I is known to exist of all those that wight in or during the Battle of Britain This one remaining Hurricane is on exhibi ion in the Seience Museum in London. “The only situation where plane and pilot were recovered was during training, in ‘ort, oF possibly when the convoy of which the CAM ship was a part was within range land. Otherwise the normal method was or the pilot to take to his parachute and Mae ‘West life preserver, hopefully to be picked up by ships of the convoy alter the langer of attack was pas Tn addition to the CAM operation, a number of Hurricane [Bs were adapted to operate from earriers by reinforcing. the uirframeto permit catapulting, and addition an arrester hook. A number of variants jere introduced with the addition of four Qemm cannon mounted in the universal wing and, with a change in engine to the Merlin XX, these became Hurricane IICs. Fleet Air Arm pilots originally flew the Hurricats off the CAMs but later were A Seofire Mk XV touches down aboard the Pretoria Cant. Note the sting.tspe arrester hook relieved by RAF pilots who well remember the shock of the eatapult launching, ‘Of the carrier-based Sea Hurricanes, some were assigned to the CAM escort carrier HMS Avenger on the Russian Con yoy PQ 18 to Murmansk, after the previous Convoy, PQ 17, which was without air cover, was pounded continuously en route by German aircraft based in Norway and Finland, On this convoy, the Sea Hurricanes accounted for five Germanaircraftdestroyed and 17 more damaged with a loss of one pilot and four Hurricanes, They wore to five a good account of themselves for some time, taking part in the defence of Malt land escorting convoys as late as August 1942 and during the North African Torch landings on 8-11 November 1942. By this time replacement aircraft, Seafires and Grumman F6F Helleata, were being placed aboard the carriers. The remaining Sea Hurricanes were stripped of their sea-going gear and returned to land duties. ‘The Supermarine Seafire was and proven design modified to ting standards. ‘The rather unusual con figuration of the Seafire II, when the wings were folded for storage aboard carriers Ted to the nickname of "Praying Mantis’ The tips were folded downwards atthe w: tip joint at the outboard aileron gap; then the main panels, outboard of the coolant radiators, were folded upward to form an ‘almost equilateral triangle. The main panels ‘were unbolted by: unscrewing locking bolts inside the wheel wells. The wings were supported in their folded position by tele well-tried al opera scoping tubes which were normally stored in lateral slots in the upper wing surface. Folding was accomplished by a three or four man crew and reduced the original span to 13 fe-4 in, which was 23 ft less than the unfolded span of 38 f 10 in, ‘Barlier Seafires made do with the non folding standard Spitfire wing as most of them were conversions of existing standard models. ‘Seafires were used extensively taking over from the Sea Hurricanes in 194i after it was shown that fast, single-engined ngle-place fighters were needed aboard ‘carriers and in naval operations. On the offensive The first operational use of the Seafire was from HMS Furious, Formidable and ‘Argus fiying in support of Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa on 8-11 November 1942. Then, on 10 July 1948 the rafires took to the offensive again, fiying from HMS Furious and Indomitable in wupport of the Allied landings in Sicily During this campaign, which lasted until 18 August, Allied airmen lost 274 planes and” accounted for 1691 enemy aircraft ‘Operation Avalanche, the invasion of the Italian mainland, began on 2 September. "Arm squadrons operating from the ‘arriers Attacker, Batiler, Hunter, Stalker and Unicorn provided the total air cover for the beachhead during the early Stages of this engagement. For the landing troops, the low wind velocity experienced fa sickness was mini: Fleet Ai was a pleasure mnised but the Seafire pilots operating from the Jeep enrrers soon realised that the ‘maximum speed forthe CVEs, about 17-18 minh, wan no the bes peed for the take tn Tending ofthe Beatie. During th hci day ami iow wind condone number of Seairee were damaged during deck operations, bataly landings, whet hook from he eierae The Seales gontinued to serve wall Tints and whenever toi presened wat The ln netion for the Seah inthe Bue Baring theater pare of 134 Meanwhile, im the Facioe theatre, the sentra found themeclvesata dant vanhage for ranges (or endurance) which had been auite necoptable in the Buropean ther wore not adequate inthe brow expense of thePacife The normal tmeshour ectcrance ofthe Seat limited its usefulness well FOF Hollcats nd FAU Coreaie afer nearly 700 Soafve had been built or converted. Although, the. Soafire was ‘withoet a dove the fine low-level bgt proud by, the Allien. in vange Scope, aad ordoance capabilites dint mate than Of the Into developed Hellcat and Corer that hd been desimed frm the ota fo ibleordnance capacity. These sume festa A Hawker Hurricane 1A being eatapulted fi Hurricane provided valuable cover for Atlantic ond Bach z fe, but the Hurricane was becom and ead aaa cece ine. Mk 1B specifications: Span: 40 ft Length: 31 ft 5 in Engine: Rolls-Royce Me Max Speed: 288 mph at 16,40 ft Ceiling: 30,000 ft Armament: 8 908 mg eventually made redundant such specially designed dive-bombers as the Curtise SB2C ‘Supermarine Seafire Mk I! A staightforward adaptation of the Spit, fhted with erester hook end ‘catapult spect th Mk had double-onted foiing wings Cat) to eee the low hangar coins ical of British aircraft carriers. a Span: 26 8 in Length: 20 ft Engine: ols: Royce Main 88,1470 hp emament &903:in tng, 4»20-mm cannon pus 1 "S00: o 2250-10 bomtn Speed 342 mph at 20.700 oting: 37800 % Range 8 msNakajima C6N1 Sauiun (Painted Cloud) "Myrt Concaived exclusively 38 a carer reconnaissance area the CBN was 2 very tective fleet shedower, is range and speed {almost equal to those ofthe Hellcat) making it simost immune to interception ‘Spon at ft Length: 36 fin Engine: Nakajima KOH Homare, 1600 hp at 6560 ft Armament 17-S2-mm ma Max speed: 379 mph ‘at 20,018 ft Max range: 3300 miles Curtiss S0C-2 Seaguit Built onginaly as a catapult floatplane, the Seagull served aboard every carter. betieship {and cruiser in the US Fleot during its carer. ‘The SOC-2 was ¢ landplane version and the ‘$0C:3 had interchangeable floats or wh Undereariage ‘Span: 36 ft Length: 26 f 6 in Engine: Prat & Whitney Wasp Max speed: 168 mph Coiling" 14,900 f Range: 891 miles Armament: 230-0 mg Airspeed Floct-Shadower Prototype: Built just before the Second World Wer but ever put into production. the type was CConcetved as a means of extending a task force's range, With an B-hour endurance and speod of ‘only 45 knots, the type could pace an enemy ‘oot, but ts extreme vulnerability, and the fact that arrat already in serves could do the od MISCELLANEOUS TYPES TRY HARDS AND TRAINERS made it somewhat redundant Among the aircraft intended for carrier use and fitted with arrester hooks was the Curtiss $030 Seagull which was originally designed as a catapult-launched observa- tion aircraft. Fitting a fixed landing gear ‘of narrow tread to enable it to land aboard riers or on land did little to improve its, worth or acceptability. The instability of wheel gear dissuaded pilots of both the US was known as the Seamew) from using this aircraft type. It is doubtful whether these were ever carried or operated from carriers ‘They were used to train radio operators and gunners and as radio-controlled targets, One unusual feature was the use of an air- cooled 12 cylinder inverted V engine, the Ranger SGV-7706. Also intended for carrier use were the aircraft designed to specifications as Fleet Shadowers. These aircraft, Airspeed 39 and General Aircraft Ltd 38, were designed to meet Air Ministry specifications 823/27 for carrier operation to shadow enemy fleets during the night. Such activity was thought to require slow speeds and long endurance, As events developed, other aircraft nor- mally carried by the bombing and fighting c same mission, working in relays from carriers or from shore bases, These were preferred to the extremely vulnerable, slow and underpowered Fleet Shadower. Relegated to training Finally, there were several aircraft that mercifully did not get into serious combat action, for the events which unfolded during the early stages ofthe war would have made their use suicidal. Two of these were the Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver biplanes, known as Clevelands in France and Britain, which were on their way to France during the first days of the war and were unloaded in Mar- tinique when France capitulated in June 1840; and the Vought SB2U-1 Vindicator,Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver The last combat biplanes to be mn the USA, 188 SBCs wore on ster US Navy and Marine Air Corps atthe time of Peart Harbor, although none sow action. ‘Span: 34M Length: 27 fin Engine: Wright 1820-34 radial 960 hp Max speed! 237 mph 518,200 ft Coiling: 27,300 ft Range: 855 miles Armament’ 2*°30-1n mg Bombload: 1000 1b Vought-Sikorsky $82U-1 Vindicator Known as Vibrators by theit Marine crews, the ‘SB2 was one of the US Navy’s first monopiane types. Some Vindicators were stil in service during the Battle of Midway ‘Span: 42 ft Length: 33 111 in Engine: Pratt & Whitney $84-G. 750 hp Mox speed: 257 mph at 11,000 ft Ceiling: 28,200 ft Renge: 700 miles Aimament: § m9 Bombload: 1500 Ip bombs a monoplane dive-bomber known in the Fleet Air Arm as the Chesapeake ‘Those received by the Fleet Air Arm were aircraft taken over from the French pur chase orders. Though they were issued to several naval squadrons they were quickly relegated to training duties since their um assisted take-off distance was too great for the escort-carriers. A number served with US Marine squadtons aboard the Lexington For reconnaissance purposes, the Japan cee felt the need for a long-range/long-en durance aireraft similar to the British Fleet Shadower specifications. However, the Jap- anese knew that the answer would not be in the form of a ‘low and slow’ aircraft as was the concept of the Fleet Shadower. Instead, a design specification was laid down for a fast three-seat, low-wing mono: plane, the Nakajima C6NL “Myrt’, which could do its scouting at longe-range and when the Helleats and Corsairs swarmed ut ofthe carrier hive, escape to fight again, Emphasis was placed on speed to such a degree that the Myrt could almost equal if not outrun a PEF. ‘While the Myst was used during the Battle of the Marianas, the heavy lose of Japanese carriers during this battle forced these and other carrier types to use land bases, As the war progressed, the necessity of throwing everything into combat. became more pressing. As a result the Myrt was fitted to drop torpedoes and a number were converted to handle the jobs of night fighters when the frequeney and intensity of B.29raidsincreased over the home islands ‘The unconventional installation of a pair of 20-mm Type 99 cannon mounted oblique! in the fuselage eliminated one crew position from the normal three-man erew The first flight of the Myrt was in May 1943, During the remainder of the war, attempts were made to improve the altitude performance by fitting various engines with higher power ratings. Experimentation with these modifications was still underway when hostilities ceased. Like the Jill, the Myrt had a distinctive forward rake to the vertical fin and rudder to enable the plane to beaccommodated on the elevators aboard the carrier. The only known survivor of the ‘Myrt class is in the study collection of the National Air & Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, 33TORPEDOES LETTING IN WA ‘ Pee ‘Torpedo attack profile: Plot aims aircraft ‘and weapon at point where ship willbe when torpedo strikes Pre-set direction method: Pilot sims aicrat fs, He works ut defection to size, speed, distance and langle of approach to target and adjusts the Torpedo’s rudder aeting, Shanty after iting the ‘water the torpedo turns to collision course US Mk 13 Airborne Torpedo {development of the original Whitehead torpedo, with vastly improved range and speed Folly developed, the Mk 13 could deliver 600 lb af expos at bate thn 40 bras ove ranges ff several miles. Thiteen feet long, wit 22°e2-n ameter the torpedo weighed sbovt 2 ton. The stering mechanism and 700 hp ine wore located in Torpedo, compressed ai, fuel and water tanks in ‘the middle, and the explosive in the nose The USS California sttes iw in the water amid clouds of smoke after being torpedoed at Pear! Harbor Probably the most effective airborne anti- shipping weapon isthe torpedo, The earliest Jnown success with a torpedo dropped from plane was in the Gallipoli campaign in the ‘autumn of 1915, when two Short torpedo bombers carrying 14-in (diameter) torpedoes succeeded in sinking two ships, one a 5000- ton supply ship. The only basic differences between airborne torpedoes and the original torpedo designed by Robert Whitehead for the Austrian Navy in 1862 were a more precisé directional gyro and improved pro- pulsion systems, ‘Against the Whitehead torpedo’s speed of 6 knots and range of several hundred yards, its Second World War counterpart hhad a’speed of 20 knots and a range of over +4000 yards. In view of the experience gained in naval battles in the Pacific, notably the Battle of Midway, the all-round perform- ance of the US Mk 13 torpedo was improved to the point where speeds exceeded 40 knots and combat ranges were increased to several miles, The latest development also included target-seeking capability and prox imity fuse exploders.. Moreover, the tor pedoes could be dropped at up to 300 knots and from altitudes approaching 1000 f. ‘The earlier US airborne torpedoes, such as the 18in diameter Mk 7, required that the pilot fly a very precise attitude and alti tude of about 50 fect at the instant of drop. To do otherwise could destroy the torpedo by breaking its back, or eause it to skip on impact with the surface of the water Experience with the earlier torpedoes led to the development of a torpedo tailored to the aircraft's conditions and limitations ‘The US Navy developed the Mk 13 as an aircraft torpedo and then adapted it for use on the PT torpedo boats as well, since its rugged construction was well suited to the severe conditions encountered by these ighanead boat, twas, in effet, «min ature submarine designed to carry a sizeable quantity (600 1b) of high explosive. and detonate it against an enemy ship. Ifplaced well, the torpedo could burst the plates of a battleship, but only if exploded below the protective armour belt which surrounded the hull at the waterline, To ensure maxi: mum destructive capability, the depth set: tings ranged from 2-8 ft for shallow draught barge-type shipping to 10 ft for destroyers, ‘cruisers or submarines on the surface and about 22. f for battleships and aircraft carriers. When proximity fuses were used the depth would be somewhat greater, ‘causing the torpedo to explode under the ship to do the most damage. ‘The Mk 13 in its developed form weighed a little over one ton, and was powered by a very compact engine which developed about 700 hp to drive the torpedo at speeds in excess of 20 knots. The US favoured rotary engines, while Buropean manufacturers preferred reciprocating engines with pis tons displaced radially around the sha. ‘Though not used extensively, the Germans developed an electric motor which was claimed to be over 95% efficient and, more important, did not leave a trail of air bubbles to mark its course Limited usefulness ‘The 18-in US Mk 7 torpedoes were tried but attained only limited success as was the case with the 21-in Mk 14 and Mk 15 tor- pedoes. The Mi 14 was developed for se in submarines and the Mk 15. for use on destroyers, Both these types were 21 ft long and weighed about 1} tons each, which limited their usefulness to larger patrol bombers such as the Catalina flying boats ‘The Mk 13 was much shorter, 13 8 long, slightly larger in diameter (22-42 in), and ‘ weighed about one ton. In addition, the ‘Mk'13 required several attachments tomake it operate successfully. To complete the torpedo for air drop, an air stabiliser, a ply- wood box-shaped fin, was fitted outside of the shroud ring which surrounded the counter-rotating propellers. The second accessory was a drag ring or blunt nose which was also made of wood and dubbed a ‘pickle barrel’. Thid was fitted to the nose of the torpedo to take the initial shock of entry into the water and also to prevent skipping. Both of these fractured on impact with the water and dropped away. In the event that the torpedo was not housed in- side the aircraft, asin the case of the TBDs, Barracudas and Swordfish, a streamlined cap was added forward of the pickle barrel drag rig. This cap pulled off at the time the torpedo was dropped ‘of launching and still keep it on course and at the required depth. The main charge was not easily exploded by impact. It was neces- sary therefore to add an expioder. Unfort tunately, the mechanical impact exploder used on early models was a very tempera- mental device and caused a number of other- ise good hits to be wasted, Barly in the war these exploders were mechanically similar to bomb fuses and ‘were not as reliable in operation as develop- ‘ment and produetion costs would lead one to expect. Later versions set off a detonator of fulminate of mercury at the time of impact. The explosion of this detonator set off a booster charge which in turn ignited the main charge. In addition to the standard exploders, a magnetic proximity fuse was developed similar to those used for artillery and anti-aircraft shells. These were desig- nated Mk 9 Exploders and made a near miss foffective as a direct hit. ‘The control mechanism was located in the rear third of the torpedo along with the powerful engine. The centre section housed an air flask with air pressures up to 2800 ‘bjsq in, and the fuel and water tanks for the steam engine. The nose section housed the explosive head: 55FOR LETTING IN AIR _ Dive-bomber’s angle of approach Low-level lob: bombing and bounces jto ship ~ ‘Skip-bombing. Bomb strikes wat In addition to torpedoes, carried-based aircraft could normally be expected to @eliver three other major classes of ord- nance: bombs, mines and rockets. (Of these three, bombs probably would constitute the largest group from several points of view. They could be subdivided by weight, type and fusing. Weights, for com: bat, ranged from the relatively light frag mentation bombs in the 20/25-1b weight Fange, up to the 200018 bombs. Bombs are classed according to use, such as general-purpose (GP), armour. piercing (AP), semi-armour-piercing, frag: ‘mentation and depth. In addition to these, there is a whole range of chemical bombs which are classified according to the filler used oF incendiary, the latter being rated fas an intensive or seatter incendiary. ‘The shapes vary, as do the proportions, bout they generally follow a streamlined form with directional stabilising fins at- tached to the rear of the bomb. Later, after the war, bombs were stream-lined to become lowdrag bombs. Not that it made much difference to the bombing aspect but it did make a difference to the plane carrying the bomb. The low-drag bomb could add several miles per hour to the speed of @ supersonic plane when carried instead of the old Standard bomb. In some cases low-profile bombs were required if the aircraft was to get airborne. Packed with explosive ‘The General Purpose (GP) bomb is packed srt explosive which amounts to some 50" ofthe bomb weight. Te is suitable for attack on unarmoured ships, ground targets, per. Sonne! and other targets generally sue ceptible to blast effect and earth shock, The Somb casing is about half'nn inch thick, trhich gives it enough rigidity to penetrate through buildings of through several decks of unarmoured ships. GP bombs range in weight from 100 Th up to 2000 Tb. They are hormally double-fused, note_and tail, to ensure detonation in case of malfunction of the nose fuse as a result of impact with the plating or. building structure. On oceasion, the tail fuses ary delayed action {ofarthor, ensure the detonation, When operating from land bases, an additional fuse a hydrostatic fuse, might be added in mvathwartehip fuse pocket of the bomb. However, this is not a general practice whon operating from carriers. In the event Or the aireraft returning with a "hang up thre is always the possibility of its break ing loose on the arrested landing and rolling down the deck Should this occur, the probability of the bomb going overboard tnd exploding beneath the Home ship is Auite high “Armour-piercing (AP) bombs were devel- ped for use in penetrating the heaviest deck armour or reinforced concrete. To accomplish thi, the nose is machined to a Smooth, long ogival shape. Because its main purpose is penetration, the nose and Casing. is very ‘thick, resulting in the explosive being the smallest part of the tomb ~ approximately 15% of the total weight, Anticipating contact with a highly Tesistant surface, the nose fuse is not used fon this bomb, for the impact would almost {certainly crush the fuse, preventing” its functioning. ‘The most common fusing is a tail fuse, with possible athwartship |= fusing to give a back-up capability. Unless his bomb is right on target in the case of Fa ship, no great damage can be expected, smour-piercing Bomb Used mainly against reinforced concrete target ‘the semicarmour-pircing bomb had a hight caso and greater percentage of explosive than the armour-piercing type Total weight: 1000 Ib Length: 70-4 in Fin width: 20°72 in. Charge! weight ratio: 31% US 500-1b General Purpose Bomb With a higher proportion of explosive than other types of bomb, and a lighter case, the general Purpose bomb flied on blast and shock for ite fect, and was used against unaemoured Targets and personnel Total weight: 600 lb Length: 69-16 in Fin width: 18:98 in Charge/ weight ratio: 51% US 1000-1b Armour-piercing Bomb Intended to break through armour before exploding, the nose casing was pointed and heavy, and the percentage of explosive small Total weight: 1000 Ib Length 73 in Fin width: 18° in Charge/welght ratio: 14-5% A variation, the semi-armourpiereing bomb, is intended primarily for reinforced concrete and is lighter than the AP bomb, making it possible to use a greater percent. age of explosive. ‘Depth bombs were intended for sub- marines or other underwater targets. They have comparatively thin shells since they rely on the pressure wave against the hull of a submarine or other ship. They are armed for impact, air burst or hydrostatic detonation. They have an explosive load of ‘up to 70% of the total weight. One little-known use for these bombs was to encourage enemy troops to come out of lateral caves dug into the hills of Pacifi Islands. The fuses used in this instance ‘were nose contact or VT (proximity) fuses to give an air barst on or slightly above the ground, producing a blast effect rather than penetrating effect. The hydrostatic fuses ‘could be set to 25, 50, 75, 100 or 125 ft Fragmentation bombs might be mixed in with other more destructive ordnance most- ly to reduce the activity or effectiveness of anti-aircraft gunners, with an additional possibility of use on parked aircraft to cause widespread damage ifnot destruction Fragments piercing an aircraft might ren- der the plane unserviceable with multiple shrapnel holes through cockpits, tyres and possibly fuel and oil tanks. ‘Mines were to account for a large amount of shipping sunk during the war, much of it by those placed by aircraft. The term ‘mine’ oes back to the first use of this system, which involved miners tunnelling under defensive position to place a demolition charge. Early mines were contact mines with external horns which, when bumped by aship, would trigger an explosive charge. In the Second World War modern versions of these, and more advanced types such as ‘magnetic mines, were sown by aircraft in harbours, along coastlines and in fre quently used channels to reduce the amount of shipping and resupply operations. Air- craft were perfect for this task, for they could sow the original mine fields and, as they were exploded or swept clear by the defenders, it was a simple matter for one or ‘more planes to ‘bolster’ the mine field Some measure of the effectiveness of aerial mine-laying can be gained by the tonnage destroyed — 649,736 tons, with 1,377,780 tons damaged. British and German aircraft were particularly active in this regard in the European theatre as were the US and the British in the Pacific. Tt was estimated that 218,000 mines were sown during the war, with aircraft dropping about 85% of the total. During the Second World War the development of rockets, particularly air-to- ground rockets, was accelerated. They were highly favoured for aircraft launching as they produced no strain on the launching plane and their installation for carringe ‘was very simple and left little or no residual fittings. Moreover, the battery of rockets normally carried was equal in destructive power to a destroyer’s main battery. Rockets for aireraft use ranged from the 275-in which was about 50 in long and weighed about 20 b, to the 5-in high velocity aircraft rocket, As in the case of gunnery, the pilot had to adapt his flying to the rocket, for any ‘manoeuvre in progress at the moment of firing would have an effect on the rocket’s direction. Time from launch to target could be as short as three seconds,81,000 60,000 CARRIERS Ma yt aaa6 Uss Wasp The Essex Class (the Wasp is shown here) bbocame the standard US flet carr ofthe Pacific war and made up the core ofthe fast carer groups Displacement: 27,100 tone Length: 872 ft ‘veal Max beam:47 ft Max speed. 32 knots Armament: 12x°8-in guns, 44 to 68 40-mm ‘AA gue, 100 area Crew. 3600 USS Wasp cross-section 1 Lit 2.20: 6 40:mm AA guns 3 Two lifeboats 4 Fan motors 5 Airrame workshop 6 Workshop, ‘deck & lift machinery 7 Ammo & a B Airconditioning plont 9 Main JOA guns 11 A guns 12 Servicing hangar 13 Aero engine stores 14 Engine servicing shop 18 Port ammo stores 16 Emergency lighting plant 17 Engine-cooling motor 18 Stosm pipes 10 ‘urbines 19 Turbines 20 Fireproot cotter damn 21 Aviation sprit tank 22 Ol fuel tanks Flugreugtrager Graf Zeppelin Gormany’s only aicrat carer, the Graf Zeppeli’s projected complement featured surface fest halted the project betore completion 3200 isplacement: 23,200 tons Armament. 165.9: 12*4:1-In AA Complement: 1760 Launched! & December 1938 USS Saratoga ‘The Seratoge and her sster-ship the Lexington wore the largest carirs inthe word atthe ‘utbreak of the Second World War. Launched in 41825, the ‘ld Sra’ was to take a tremendous battering from Japanese submarines and Kemikazes yet survived the war Displacement: 33,000 tons Length: 888 f overall Beam: 1053 ft Speed: 34 knots ‘Armament: 8x5-in guns, 125%20- & 40-mm AA ‘Guns, 90 aircraft Crew: 3300 Akagi Launched in 1927, the Akagi was the Jo Naw's fs big lee carer She had s ‘Admiral Nagumo's flagship at Peal Harbor ‘At Midway the Akagi was found by dive ‘bombers fom the Enterprise with her docks ‘rammed with planes, and she wat sunk ‘along with the Kaga. Sony and Hic ‘Displacement: 36,000 tons Airraft $1 ort, are in fact marginally adequate in combat. Stowage of fullsize aircraft, plus spares of almost every conceivable aircraft part, is in the areas overhead. Complete fuseiages, propellers, wing panels as well as tail surfaces also find overhead stowage Engines and other components find nooks land corners in which to be secured. Han- dling gear such as tractors, engine hoists, jacks and complete machine shop and ‘engine overhaul facilities are all erowded into this hangar deck along with the work stands anil maintenance personnel to ser vice the planes High explosives are stowed much like shells in the average cruiser and get the same precautionary handling that shells ‘might expect. However, aircraft require and get regular fuelling and oiling. ‘The fuel, in particular, requires special han dling to prevent static electricity from detonating the fumes. At sea there is the regular refuelling of the carrier with fuel for its own machinery in addition to the volatile 100 octane aviation gas ‘Two distinct groups operate a carrier: the ship's erew mans the ship as it would any other naval vessel, while the second sroup is the air department. This consists of the air officer and assisting officers and erew whose responsibilities cover all the aviation activities. These include the opera tion, maintenance and storage of all air craff, aircraft accessories, work shops and berthing and plane handling. Under the latter category are such jobs as handling crews to see that the planes are moved expeditiously and spotted either on the flight deck or hangar deck. In addition, there are plane directors, fuel squads, fire crews and ordnance men, ‘Under combat conditions a carrier is full to overflowing with men as well as machin: ery. During the long operational cruises, space and facilities were at a premium. More often than not meals, showers and ‘other personal necessities were taken in shifts. One consolation was the quality of food, which was usually above average, as was the cleanliness of the ship - kept that way by constant policing of crews of both the air department and ship's erew. Structural details of the carrier are beyond the scope of this book. However, by illustration we are able to convey some of the detail and complexity of these ships, such as the machinery of the ship and its control. One of the principal features not covered previously is the aircraft elevator = or elevators ~ as they developed, While ‘apparently taken for granted they are the allimportant link between hanger deck and the flight deck and vice versa. Damage to the aircraft elevator could effectively silence the carrier. For this reason, modern carriers built as carriers include at least ‘two or more elevators to preclude the possi- Dility of restricting the expeditious han dling of the airerat. “Another fact worthy of mention is the influence that elevator size or weight limitations have on the design of the air craft. For example, the Japanese aircraft Jill and Myrt had a distinctive forward rake totheir fin and rudder and this was designed specifically to adapt to elevator size. In the case of the US Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, the designers never did completely solve the directional stability problems which were the result of designing the plane to fit the elevator rather than designing it to fly wel. ‘The carriers were, and are, huge floating cities designed to place a potent force within combat range of anywhere in the world. ‘They are the long ‘arm of naval forces which enable the mailed fist, the aircraft, to strike repeated blows upon an eneiny wherever he may be. 6North American 8-258 Mitchell ‘Tho Tokyo raid was coried out by specially ‘medium rmament removed, and very avaliable space crammed with fuel the 528s wore launched 823 mies from the Spectators ote B25 wa fight Double Cyclone, 1700 hp ‘Armament: 3x-B0-in mg: 3*-30-1 me ‘Speed! 300 mph at 15,000 ft Ceiling: 23,500 ft Range: 1300 miles Bombload: 4800 Ib ands during the wor. The light deck of the Hornet (right) the problems of izing the Buty B28 fe ‘ preparations and striped down planes 18 April 1942 Lt Col James H ‘Jimmy’ Dooitle led a raid on elle from the Hoenet and carrying on oer ‘receiving Japanese medals tobe attached tothe bombs ~ the fi USS Hornet Commissioned on 20 October 1961, the Hornet hhad's ‘displacement of 18:800 tons and « 18-25 raid was launched from her deck, a the Battle of Midway in June 1942 het Avengers helped shatter two Japanese carers, the Akagi and the Sorvu: However. she was herself severely damaged. and was finaly sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz ater being ht by {wo torpedoes, six bombs and two Kamikaze aiteraft on 26 October 1942. second Hornet, ne original was CV 8), Commissioned in 1943 and i lustratad opposite 6eee First Unit (Funetion) Srna} SN's formula for designating ap aircraft type was generally cy P Patrol ee Parner ne apr re ae aa PB Patrol Bomber a eect na Ce Po ne a ee ce ee ee ee eer entree a Reacts ace os tienoting the model. The thied unit, of one letter indicated the PIT age grain eee — ‘maker and modifications were indicated by a further ee : Spar Honea MRE ek Ren et a piesa ae inson fightor, 6F shows iis the sixth fighter type to be produced by Sat rg Pacers cons Ecler pope canary yao bathe ray cree ey Peay earn oF Saree ee cir ere en regs aan Sogn

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