Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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WM fatal to planc and frcw lhe eight man teams of plane pushcrs braved thc rnenafe of whirhnff props in the half h ht of dawn to pull thc chof ks and lower the winffs, they shullled and rcshulfled planes from dawn to dusk that the Strikes might leave on time A few minute delay and re turning gasless aircraft mwht be forred to crash in the sea lihe catapult crews forward under It VI f Woodburn, if V . , f f , 1 - . V 8 0 f , f ' -1 . -fefk J ' J A' - 2 ., i:-:,f - . - . . . . V I -- -- ., g , . , O. 1524 . . . - - f ' ' . 1-pt - - f ' a V ',gr,g,z 94 ' ' , F7 ' ,. , Q . ,V ki lvl., ' . ' l V - x . , ' ' Y - ' . . . f U , , C , , . . . V ' ' V , if ,v , h r I ' . - W 1 - X . Q V ,V t , , , . . . J. f In . , .: V X V l . r . . r Comclr. foe Taylor, Air Officer until Dec. 1944, Executive Ojicer Dec. 344 to June, 1945, watches the plan-es come in, from Flight Deck Control captain. The Air Department is to its ninety planes what the plane captain is to his one. With Comdr. Joe Taylor at the head of its fifty ofiicers and twelve hundred men, the Air Department was the reason why Big Ben was in exist- ence, the reason behind all the other frantic activities which were readying her for combat. All the intricate construc- tion, all of the master plan, led up to that moment when the command comes: uPilots, man your planes! It was then, and only then, that an aircraft carrier became a fight- ing force, an element in actual warfare. The Air Department had its divisions, and what divisions! V-One, flight deck: arresting gear and barrier men must be quick of hand and true of eye. Misjudgment can be General storelteepers in their 'glVo cash-you carryn store on the Fourth Deck. STANDING: F. Melvin, C. Delellog Cene Levine, C. L. llelcDwHie. SECOND ROW: Robert Strielferg Charles Russell, Leo Smolinskig Leroy Vanet. TOP: Billy Slfibliflgi lwafllljf Solomon, David Laslrinslcy must be able to fire a dozen hghters into the air in a few minutes to meet the threat of approaching bombers. V-Two, on the hangar deck, was composed of mechanics and metalsmiths of superb skill, men to whom replacing a damaged wing was a minor operation. V-Three, the operations section, had yeomen and admin- istrators who plowed through the paper work and passed on the Air Ofhcer's commands. V-Four, the division for combat information, was most complex of all. Charged with responsibility for all radars and radios on ship and planes, it also supervised every sur- face lookout, the aerological department, the photographers and the recognition officers. Its fighter director team of a hundred radarmen and their officers under Lt. Comdr. Bob Bruning would be Big Benas first line of defense. Some day, when enemy planes would flicker on the radar screens, fighters of the combat air patrol would roar off to intercept, guided by Hvectorsw radioed from Combat Information Cen- ter-HCICH-where Lt. ,lim Griswold and his tense teams crouched over their plotting tables. V-Five, the service division, had its life-breath given it by Chief Otis Lee Corbett, a son of the old South, who died in action off Kyushu. It dispensed the ibombs, the machine gun bullets, the high-octane gasoline and torpedoes, because an aircraft carrier, as well as being a floating and movable airfield, must also be a service station of wide variety. And . . . V-Six, the squadrons: combat air crewmen for all planes, lads with the silver wings that testified they were aerial gunnersg others with the golden wings of pilots. Most l t The hfIlllfll'lI'I1.,0Sl,i supply oflieer in tlze Nzzzwx' Comdr, H, S, C0710 fSCl, USN, re-0111-fitterl tlze lzalfleslzip .Yez'aa'r1 alter Pearl Harbor, set a record 011, Big- Hpnq mmf 1,79 ,hp phil, on-ly lo outfit SOIlI,CllII'llg' bigger--Ilzf' szzper-carrier .llI.llIl'llgX'.

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.-1 Heffcafs plane captain, wary of Ilia prop, struids by with u wheel chock vise. Mailman Raymond T. Lorentz, with his hve helpers, would be the most important men aboard ship as letters be- gan to come and go. The printeris work was never quite finished and the debt due Chief Raymond D. Blair for his unselfish devotion to the shipfs paper will never be re- paid- Chief Blair was killed in action. Linder Comdr. Cone, the Supply Department had many activities. There were more than three thousand tons of groceries to fill Big Hens larders to be ordered and stored aboardf there w as government insurance to sell, payrolls must be met--and were. The pencil-pushing storekeepers checked and accounted for every last item and penny. The Commissary Section brought aboard the flour, sugar and other stores from freight cars on the dock. The Disbursing Section called 850,000 an average paydayg hit a bumper refgord of ST50,000 when liig lien pulled into lireincrton, handling scvffn and a half million dollars in the lirst lt! inontb- of 4f'IYlflf'. The Aviation storckccpcrs ran their own departrnent slorc, .Xll of those scrrtions coniposcd the S-Unc lJi'. l4l'Jf'I. .T-'lit-.o llivision Mai- inadc np of -tcwarrlis Itlillfcf lW- lialm-rs. and liilittfllf rncn. llir-sr sound tiki- huindrnin tasks. but f-H' il. inan had :i liattlr- -tation pu:--iiig jiowflrfr, kccp- ing i.-.atrli -an ttni grins. on icpaii jmrtic-. A task is not humble or menial when a man is at his battle station for many hours through the night, then passes food or clean clothing to his shipmates all day-and still grins. To every plane on a carrier comes a lad to be its constant guardian and protector. This man is not an olhcer. but is called a captain --a plane captain. And while he does not have stripes of gold on his sleeves or golden wings on his chest, he loves his plane just as surely, he sacrifices himself just as uncomplainingly. as only a real Captain could. He boasts of her deeds, he sorrows in her hurtsg he is the last to touch her before she roars down the deck, the gladdest to greet her when she lands aboard. His only duty is his plane. No tear in her sleek fabric. no rip in her tires or broken cable to her radio must ever mar her performance. Lack of gas, lack of bullets, or faulty lubrication must never make her the prey of crafty Zeke or Jap AA, or the victim of a crash landing at sea. in his leisure hours he polishes her gleaming sking he sleeps beneath her folded wings, or on the cushions of her cockpit. ln the anxious hours. while gunners stand tense and the combat air patrol is busy just over the edge of the sea. many of the quiet little knot of men uFWf'illllIg it ontii by 'Lfioinbat information ficntcru arc plzinc captains. illltfzstoryolitlit'!5vil'l.lcjvul'tIl1clll is the story of the plancis 5. f.. . it. gr. li - 1 1 fff tt.. if -??f if 5 Fit 23 ITT I .ll . in -f 1 .vf vi Pig ...j LIL! ll I 7' 1. 1 U' ps. .na nn. i-.1 r 1 A l H ,. , . L-' ,.f ... ,.. uv ,. t t I I Y .- U. ...4 ...- .... ..- R..- v- 1 N.. put guy 9... ,.. .v 4. .... :--i ,. .. ..., 4.-i in ,.. 9 6 G I I ,. 4 1 ... ,ni ...I H., ,,. p-Qi 1 'I re .. in ,. ll! L.. ,., . E.. it., 22 ilk u. xv- QI, V. IIE we ,sh an i

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