Tarawa (CV 40) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 15 text:

29 November, 1948 Lt. Ij.g.j jonex, VAI4 Make: 20,000tlJ landing AIR OPERATIONS ENROUTE TO PEARL HARBOR 21 Derember. 1948 TBM making pau on Tcrawa

Page 14 text:

ff f' A,-1 r -f af I .'I':.,1f. an - ,bc mf . ffl fffa! 7 f ff , f If r WX fW fn ff? If ff ff X f?7Zff K Ugg X Kfff! TARAWA HELPS MAKE AVIATION HISTORY 12 Navy Planes Hippety-Hop to Hawaii Adopting a trick of pony express riders who knew how to consume distance with rela- tively fast, short-range horses, the Navy has succeeded in crossing a vast over-water dis- tance with fast, short-range planes. The flight, the lirst of its kind in history, began at Moffett Field, near San Francisco, Calif., and ended at NAS, Barber's Point, Oahu, T. H. Twelve fighter and attack planes made the 2100-rnile journey in approximately 12 hours. Counterpart of the pony express horse- changing stations consisted of two aircraft carriers, U.S.S. Tamwa QCV-403 and U.S.S. Princeton. QCV 375, stationed at points one- third and two-thirds of the distance to Hawaii. Instead of changing planes, however, the fliers merely refueled their planes and resumed flight. Four F4U-4 Corsairs, four F8F Bearcats and four AD-1 Skyraiders made the three stage Journey. The operation emphasized the value of aircraft carriers as mobile air bases. Such use of carriers permits planes to use the shortest overseas route, to route their flights to avoid storm areas or to vary their l'0lllCS in relation to enemy action. Destroyers and cruisers were stationed at intervals along the course of the pony express operation planes, keeping the planes under radar observation at all times. Search and rescue planes assisted in covering the Iirst and last legs of the trip. No special equipment was carried by the planes for the long journey. Carrier let planes will be used in later demonstrations of the fast ferry operation.

Page 16 text:

1 V A E 1 7 1 l i a Q E i 2 1 v-wan... ,.... Q...-Q-v.,....f 5-141- - -.W