Flight Deck Crews: Landing & Re-Spotting World War 2 Aircraft Carrier Planes

Major air battles in the Pacific often turned on the ability of each side to quickly launch, land, re-arm, re-fuel, and then re-launch aircraft. These unique films offer a rare look (in color) at how US Navy carrier flight deck crews were trained to quickly land, park, fuel & re-arm incoming and relaunch aircraft. As a bonus, you’ll see GM FM-1 “Wildcats“ and Grumman TBF “Avengers“ up close, handled expertly on the tiny deck of a CVE “jeep“ escort carrier(This film had severe color shifts, so I digitally restored the color.)“ Durng the battle of Midway, when American dive bombers caught the Japanese carriers Akagi and Kaga with decks full of refueling and re-arming planes, the resulting catastrophe for the IJN was a turning point in World War II.