1951 Korean War Navy Carrier Operations

the It is 1951 during the Korean War and we're sailing from Pearl Harbor Hawaii on the USS Princeton aircraft carrier the ship was the fifth US Navy ship to bear that name and was one of 23 similar carriers built during World War Two. Here you can see the large cranes and massive equipment in Pearl Harbor that can repair and maintain large Navy ships as needed. the Princeton is really a floating city of 3500 men and can accomodate 100 fighter aircraft. It is here for a battle-readiness inspection cruise before continuing on to Korea to provide air suppport for Gen McArthur's troops. The flight deck crews are arming the planes now for strikes again the enemy. these Douglas AD Sky Raiders carry 2000 pounds of bombs and rockets. It takes a lot of manpower to attach those heavy bombs. The Princeton was built in the philadelphia naval shipyard and was launched in nineteen forty-five just after world war two ended. It had been decommissioned four years later in 1949 but when the Korean conflict erupted in the following year in mid-1950, she was quickly called back into active service along with thousands of us is reserve units throughout the United States The older propeller planes are now being pulled back to the aft part of the ship to make room for the new jets which would be brought up from the hanger deck shortly. And here they are being raised on the deck-side elevator and pulled forward. these plans will be pulled forward in pairs and attached to the launch catapaults, while the Jet deflector plates here are raised behind them. The pilots climb aboard to prepare for their flight. Meantime the safety helicopter takes off so they can fly alongside to monitor the operations and respond instantly to any emergency now they're pulled forward in pairs - their front wheels are attached to those powerful catapaults - the jet deflectors are raised behind them - they rev up their jets to full power, and now they're off accelerating from 0 to 200 miles an hour in just two seconds! Fully up to flight speed, they're on their way. Now we can get a very good view have the operations from aboard the helicopter. There they go when jet is lowered down the deck- side elevator back down to the hanger dack since it wasn't fully prepared for flight. after the jets are launched, the propeller planes gull-wing f4u Corsairs and AD Sky Raiders take off under their own power down the longer length of the deck. Noise from these jets and the old piston engines is deafening during these operations, as you can well imagine. Then they join in formation and head to their targets These are gun camera photos showing the results of their airstrikes Finally they return take their turns at landing on the tiny floating and bobbing airport. This is the most dangerous part of their mission the ship is 900 feet long, about three football fields in length which is not much compared to the mile or longer land runways they have used previously. The planes have to be pulled way up to the front of the deck, while the others land in rear I was midway through engineering school at the University of Colorado when our naval reserve unit at Buckley Naval Air Station in Denver was called up and I was flown on the huge Mars flying boat to Hawaii and Barber's Point Naval Air Station on the west end of Oahu. My unit was the Fleet All-Weather Training Unit Pacific called FAWTuPac our duty was to train the pilots for night and bad weather flying missions over in korea. I was in charge of the electrics crew calibrating and maintaining the radio and radar equipment necessary for those difficult operations. As the helicopter lands after the planes were all landed, I finally able to return to the deck and congratulate the pilot for a good flight. two of the most famous astronauts later flew from the Princeton into battle during the Korean and Vietnamese wars John Glenn, the first man to orbit around the world, and Neil Armstrong the first man to step onto the moon. Now the jets return, and the signalman guides them in gingerly, signalling them if they are too high or too low or right on the perfect glide path. As they drop to the deck their aircraft tail hooks catch on strong cables stretched across the deck to jerk them to a stop and there are large safety nets ahead to stop them from plowing into other planes if the tailhook miss then they move forward so that other plans can land behind them as the net, the safety net is raised again. This plane was too high so he was flagged off and had to make another round They fold their wings and pull forward and they are chocked into position so that they don't slide around on that tossing deck. I right in there perfect landing two men rush out to unhook the tailhook from the cable behind them - they fold their wings and quickly move forward because this is very close teamwork - very split second team work it takes to keep this intricate operation going smoothly and avoid accidents. too high - he's waived off - has to go around for another try. This time the dropped it right in there He has a wave-off. Here comes one of the bg Guppies with radar underneath he made a good landing. right at the end of the deck. They all pull forward as far as possible, while a fireman in his asbestos suit, is ready in case if any conflagration. Ground crews check the safety net, and finally toward sunset, the last planes return. The signal officer says OK - gives an engine cut, and finally when last one comes in. Cut! Thank you for joining me in this navy adventure!