Carrier Landings in WWII

[admin]

Carrier Landings in WWII

Some interesting videos of carrier landings.

During my stint in the USMC, I served aboard the USS Antietam (CV-36). The Antietam was the the world's first slant deck carrier. The slant deck was a retrofit of the original deck.. circa 1952. After you see these videos, you will better understand one of the reasons why the Navy went to slant decks.

http://video. google.com/ videoplay? docid=7166330178 234459087




Point of interest...about 3 minutes 20 seconds into the clip, you will see an F6F Hellcat, it's hydraulics shot away during a strafing run, pancake on the carrier deck and slew into the island. A deckhand was crushed between the aircraft and the superstructure and killed. The number on the plane is 30.



The lanky pilot sitting dazed in the cockpit is a gentleman named Andy Cowan, a friend of mine. He is hale and hearty at 87 and lives just north of Salinas, Ca. To this day he cannot recall this accident without a tear coming to his eye. The swabby who was killed was his crew chief.



Andy is a marvel. He has absolute total recall of those bygone days. He is regularly invited back to the Naval War College to give a power point demonstration to the young fighter jocks of today's Navy. They hang on his every word. A living link to the past..to the days when you got up close and personal to kill the enemy. No over-the-horizon missile kills..



Andy was the longest serving Navy fighter pilot in WWII. He was on his shakedown cruise off Gitmo on December 7th, 1941. The carrier Ranger made flank speed to Norfolk and the pilots were transhipped to San Francisco by train, then sped to Hawaii by ship. He saw Pearl not long after the sneak attack, and again is unable to speak of it...a horrible disaster. He immediately went aboard the Lexington and in the course of the war had 4 carriers shot out from under him as he fought in every major Pacific battle. Coral Sea, Midway, Battle of Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima...you name it. Credited with 4.5 kills. Flew with Butch O'Hare, Cmdr Thatch (inventor of the 'Thatch Weave'), flew with high scoring ace David McCampbell.. .served under Admirals Nimitiz, Bull Halsey...



He has studied the Japanese side of the Pacific War and is a recognized expert on their side of it. He can reel off the names of all their capital ships and admirals and battles from memory. Remarkable man...and still alive to tell the tale.

[CaptWSims]

Folks,

The video is certainly real, but Andy Cowan is pretending to be what he is not.

You can contact me at my email address, CaptWSims@yahoo.com if you'd like documentation.

Having served 28 years in the Navy, it irks me when people pretend to be war heroes....

[admin]

I for one amongst the millions of vets out there hate with a passion a fruitbowl plastic war hero and strive to bust them every chance I get. I got this message from Charlies group chapt61, I am sure he would like to know about this as well. Thanks for joining Capt !