Going through some of my grandfathers aircraft photographs I came upon these, and thought they would be of interest.
They were taken between 7-14 March 1947 when the US Coast Guard ‘Northwind’ was in Wellington, New Zealand with USS Mount Olympus and USS Burton Island.
The ‘Northwind’ (part of Task Force 68) was returning to the US after being part of Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s ‘Operation Highjump’ to the Antarctic.
The only serial I can see is that of the Grumman J2F-6 Duck. It looks like either 33565 or 33585. The Hoverfly has ‘043’ painted on it’s side. The Dragonfly has no markings I can see.
By: J Boyle - 16th April 2005 at 23:46
the HNS-1 most likely where assign to the Philippine Sea as one of their plane guards.
All the information I have is that the HNS-1 operated from a special deck on the Northwind.
By: crazymainer - 16th April 2005 at 05:41
Some more information on High Jump,
On Jan. 29,1947 the USS Philippine Sea CV-47 launched the first of six R4D towards Little America, the first aircraft carried RADM Richard Byrd the pilot was CDR William Hawkes. Operation High Jump really started in and around Dec. 24 1946 with six PBM based on the USS Tangier AV-8.
Their job was to photograph the Antartic. Between the PBMs and the R4D they logged 650 hours covering 1,500,00 square miles of the interior and 5,500 miles of the coastline or the equivalent of half the area of the United States and its entire coastline combined.
The Duck was used to bring the mail and other supplys to and from the fleet to Little America while the HNS-1 most likely where assign to the Philippine Sea as one of their plane guards. The USGC also has a base at Little America and that would explain the presents of USCG aircraft.
Hope this help out some.
RER
By: sjlyall - 16th April 2005 at 05:41
Many thanks J Boyle for the extra information on make and type.
The photo’s themselves had only the name of the ship written on them.
Once I’d magnified the Duck photo and got the BuNo, a quick search on the web connected it to Project High Jump (although incorrectly atributed it to the HNS-1).
By: J Boyle - 16th April 2005 at 05:25
The Hoverfly is actually HNS-1 (in pre 1962 Navy designation system…Helicopter Training Sikorsky) BuNos 39043..actually an ex-USAAF R-4B. It was the only USCG HNS assigned to High Jump.
BTW: The USCG acquired 25 R-4s…they were turned over to the USN in late 1947-early 1948.
Project High Jump was a big operation with 4000 personnel, 13 ships and 26 aircraft, as your photos show, at least two of the AC were from the USCG.
The H-5 is a USN aircraft….you can tell by the dark blue paint. It seems that all USGC helicopters of the time had the large numbers on the side.
The Duck is a J2F-6 (Utility second model from Grumman, sixth variant) BuNo 33685 attached to the Northwind….like the HNS.
By: sjlyall - 16th April 2005 at 04:57
Mmmm, I’m having difficulty seeing my own pictures.
Can anyone else view them? They appeared to upload and display OK initially.
Sign In
April 16, 2005 at 4:35 am