Bataan (CVL 29) - Naval Cruise Book

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IO july '45- A pre-dawn launch of strikes on Tokyo... It is silent and black on the flight deck. A flicker of red light can occasionally be seen under a fuselage and the Air Oflicer on the Island knows a plane is being given a final check. Out of the stillness comes the order from the Island, STAND BY TO START ENGINES. TURN ON YOUR I. E. Men, though unseen, brace their legs. START ENGINES! Bluish red flashes from a plane on the port catapult illuminate a yellow-shirted figure, the Catapult Oflicer. One by one the engines catch and numbers-23, 9, 18. .. -on the noses identify themselves by the burning gasoline. Now sound, a deafening, roaring whirl, dominates. Red wands looking like fl-aming red pokers in the darkness begin horizontal and vertical movements. Wind over the deck increases as the ship turns. A yodel is heard and the wand held by the Catapult Officer begins rotat- ing in a small circle. The plane-13,500 pounds of it--strains at its leash on the catapult track as it is revved up. The want abruptly stops and is pointed forward and the plane goes down the track at 60 knots and all that is seen are red and blue wing lights. A few seconds, a blast of backwash, -and the plane on the starboard catapult is on its way. The others are being brought forward, the pilots following signals of waving wands, and every 22 seconds another plane leaves the BATAAN to strike Tokyo. The operation was precision personified, a result of teamwork culminating in success. Yet the opera- tion was routine to V-l and V-2. To watch these divisions of the Air Department at work on the flight -and hangar deck is like witnessing a 3-ring circus, a Russian Ballet and an assembly line at General Motors-all going at once. Out of seeming confusion and multi-diversified activities, there is order and coordination resulting in 18 hours of launches and recoveries of planes inflicting damage upon the enemy. The airedales strive for perfection -and speed. In attaining this they work under the handicap of ever-present danger-whirling props, slipstreams, deck crashes, broken wires-and in all conditions of weather and visibility. Perfection to the Air Department means high availability of planes and deck, low operation-al casualties. To the guy in the catapult shack it means only one plane in the drink out of over 7,000 sling-shots. To the barrier control man it implies split-second timing, judgment and decision in stop- ping a plane. To the hot suit Eskimo it is pulling -a pilot out of a flaming plane. To Repair 8 it is laying out fire hoses in a minimum of time in a deck crash, nailing metal plates over the gashes cut by the angry prop and clearing the Page One Hundred Fifty-Iwo deck for another landing. To the L. S. O.'s it is bringing in over 14,000 successful landings, with but a handful of smashes. 18 hours of launches and recoveries are 24 hours of maintenance. Maintenance of barriers, arresting gear and catapult machinery is specialized work which is going on constantly at night. Every plane has countless things that can go wrong. First check each day is made by the plane captain as he warms up the engine for the pilot. Then the pilot re- checks as he prepares for take-off. If any gadget or gimmik doesn't work satisfactorily, the plane is downed and the stand-by must be launched. There are a hundred operations controlled from the cock- pit, so the electricians and radiomen and mechanics swarm over the planes checking and rechecking. Dur- ing the height of the Okinawa campaign when planes were continuously in the air days on end. an average of 3 planes a day were given routine 30-hour checks just to be sure that nothing would go wrong-this in addition to repairing wrecks -and patching battle scars. So the mechs must work all night at maintenance. For company they have the ordnance gang, part of V-2. Ordnance loads the bombs and rockets and bullets before the dawn strikes take off -and the job is repeated for each succeeding strike, 13 tons of assorted bombs and rockets per strike. One man is assigned to each plane to maintain the guns, gun- sights, and bomb release and rocket firing mechan- isms. Speed to the Air Department means conducting flight operations in a minimum of time so the ship will be less vulnerable to enemy attack. To a blue- shirted plane handler it is respotting the flight deck on the double for an emergency landing. To the red- capped gasoline crews it is refueling alltplanes as soon as they land and de-gassing those struck below to the hangar deck. Dawn to sunset and through the night V-1 and V-2 work is routine-routine precision! Because there is only one way to do their job and any other results in death, a wrecked plane or a ditched pilot. Aboard the BATAAN the air group is an inte- gral part of the ship. Every man on board identi- fies himself with the group, glories in its successes and suffers its pains. And as you look below from the Island at anxious men-catapult gang, sound- powered telephone talkers, parachute riggers, gaso- line crews, metalsmiths, elevator operators, plane directors-bedecked in a panorama of colors, lean- ing, straining and helping the L. S. O. and the pilot bring the plane safely to deck, you know why the headlines in the states today read, THOUSAND PLANE CARRIER ATTACK ON TOKYO!

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AIR DEPARTMENT