Posted on 11/27/2019 4:54:37 AM PST by WhoisAlanGreenspan?
The US entered World War II with 7 Aircraft Carriers and by the end of the war would have several times that. It's one thing to build ships, it's another thing to train the men that would eventually fly off those ships. So the US built some ships which would serve that purpose and that's where we come in.
In March of 1942, the Navy purchased the steamer and started to convert her into an aircraft carrier. She was designated as IX-64. IX is the designation used by the Navy for ships that aren't otherwise classified. She was named the Wolverine because she would operate mostly in Lake Michigan and Michigan was known as the Wolverine State. She was commissioned on August 12, 1942
She was fitted with a 550 foot long deck constructed with douglas fir and began her job as an advanced trainer in January of 1943. She would operate out of Naval Air Station Glenview (in Illinois) and served to train carrier pilots and landing signal operators. She and her sister (the Sable covered next) were not proper carriers by any stretch. Neither had a hangar deck or flight elevators. So if a plane crashed, training would end for the day. Also, because of wind over deck (the speed of the wind over the deck) minimums for some of our advanced planes were higher than some of the prevailing winds on Lake Michigan, training would be halted for days at a time. But they still got the job done.
(Excerpt) Read more at michiganexposures.blogspot.com ...
There have been a few wrecked WWII Navy aircraft recovered from Lake Michigan and restored. The cold, fresh water was great for preserving the metal.
American ingenuity. How ‘bout that.
Yep. It was do to a conversation about recovered Navy aircraft that I got the link to this blog.
Excellent...interesting article, thanks for the ping and the additional info.
I never knew she was a side-wheeler...:)
Great story!
"Also, because of wind over deck (the speed of the wind over the deck) minimums for some of our advanced planes were higher than some of the prevailing winds on Lake Michigan, training would be halted for days at a time."
Yet, Michigan is a “perfect” place for windmill farms. Right
Interesting fact I didn’t see in this article (although it may be in there somewhere:) Both the Wolverine and Sable were coal fired side wheel ships, making them the only side wheel aircraft carriers.
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Interesting. Paddlewheel carriers not have been very fast, but as they were used for trainers, it would have been fast enough.
I would assume that for such a short take off, that the aircraft required a significant relative wind speed, which includes the actual wind speed plus the ship speed, and the ship was not fast enough to reach that speed all on its own.
Yea, it was day long if you include ten hours at the amusement park. The Boblo boat ride was only 90 minutes.
PBS series Heroes on Deck. 35 to 40 WWII aircraft have been recovered from Lake Michigan.
Bookmark
Thanks
Yes they were only trainers but more than enough to keep Canada in line. :)
The winds over the deck were higher than the stall speed of the planes meaning the airspeed would be too fast for the planes to actually land on the deck.
Isn’t that backwards? The article says that the plane’s minimum wind speed over deck was higher than the prevailing winds. The winds on the deck were lower than the stall speed.
*ping*
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