Hi all,
Most British fighters of WW2 had their navy versions (eg: Gladiator – Sea Gladiator, Hurricane – Sea Hurricane, Spitfire – Seafire, Typhoon/Tempest – Sea Fury etc).
Now something that I have always wondered:
Did the USN ever experiment with USAAF fighters (P38, P40, P47, P51 etc) to operate from the carriers? Obviously they never saw service with the USN, I just wonder if they were ever considered for this role.
I once saw pictures of P40’s on a carrier but I think they were only being delivered to North Africa. Would they have taken off from the carrier or were they craned off?
Over to you
Stuart
By: Flood - 11th February 2005 at 00:39
Typhoon/Tempest – Sea Fury etc).
??? Think you’ll find the Sea Fury was very much a different bird to the Tempest II – and totally different from the Typhoon. But the FAA did have a Typhoon – DN419 was taken on charge by 778NAS at RNAS Arbroath 5/2/43. 778NAS was a service trials unit and during the course of the war many different aircraft passed through its hands (like Bell Airacobra AH574, for example). DN419 didn’t last very long – it crashed on 12/2/43 – and no more were entrusted to the admiralty. I have no idea if it was to investigate the possiblity of using Typhoons on carriers, but I doubt it; probably more for dissimilar type training, or rocket trials.
Flood
By: Mark V - 10th February 2005 at 19:43
plan was dropped because the role of a carrier-borne fighter was already filled.
No – it was because no US carrier at the time was equiped to store ethelyne glycol 😀
By: Corsair166b - 10th February 2005 at 19:42
Yeah, they tested the Mustang off of carriers (called it the ‘SeaHorse’!) for possible use to escort the B-29’s to Japan but the need was’nt there because the US captured islands close enought to Japan to base P-51’s on and fly the missions from there…there is a great picture of a P-51 (painting) coming in for a carrier landing in the book ‘Fly Navy’ by Philip Kaplanon page….surprise surprise…51…of that book…the plane depicted in the pic is 44-14017 flown by Bob Elder, the painting a joint effort by Mike Machat and Craig Kodera….Don’t know about other Army fighters (would’nt the P-38 make an interesting Carrier fighter?)
Mark
By: DazDaMan - 10th February 2005 at 18:29
44-14017 – story follows
Thank Gawd for that – thought I was imagining it! 😀
By: Swiss Mustangs - 10th February 2005 at 18:28
44-14017 – story follows
😎
Martin
By: DazDaMan - 10th February 2005 at 18:07
I’m sure I read of a P-51 that was modified for carrier ops – it was the only one, however, and I think the plan was dropped because the role of a carrier-borne fighter was already filled.
By: Mark V - 10th February 2005 at 17:50
Did the USN ever experiment with USAAF fighters (P38, P40, P47, P51 etc) to operate from the carriers?
No – they were not made by Grumman!
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February 10, 2005 at 5:45 pm