The Aircraft Carriers of the Great Lakes

https://www.history.navy.mil/ ^ | 6/25/2013 | Mikoyan

[Yo-Yo]

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.

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.

[Chode]

[Psalm 73]

American ingenuity. How ‘bout that.

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

Yep. It was do to a conversation about recovered Navy aircraft that I got the link to this blog.

[rlmorel]

Excellent...interesting article, thanks for the ping and the additional info.

I never knew she was a side-wheeler...:)

[Howie66]

Great story!

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

I read the whole article but I don't get the part about the minimum winds for advanced aircraft.

"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."

[cyclotic]

Yet, Michigan is a “perfect” place for windmill farms. Right

[Flick Lives]

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.

—

Interesting. Paddlewheel carriers not have been very fast, but as they were used for trainers, it would have been fast enough.

[lepton]

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.

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

Just my defense of the mitten showing.
Entirely correct lepton, Enterprise (CV-6) was over 800 feet long and could do 33 knots. Not sure of the 500 foot side paddle speed, but Bob-Lo was a day long trip.

[cyclotic]

Yea, it was day long if you include ten hours at the amusement park. The Boblo boat ride was only 90 minutes.

[UB355]

PBS series Heroes on Deck. 35 to 40 WWII aircraft have been recovered from Lake Michigan.

https://www.heroesondeck.com/

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Bookmark

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

Thanks

[xp38]

Yes they were only trainers but more than enough to keep Canada in line. :)

[dis.kevin]

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.

[damper99]

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.

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*