Thread: Rare 1941 Color US Navy aircraft USS Enterprise San Diego

Hi David, what a great video that was. I love the shot of the carrier as the plane took of and banked to the right and showed the carrier fading away.
I also found out something I didn't Know, that there was a 3 seater single engine plane. What was the plane called and what was the middle mans job ?
John

Golly, that was fun. Buffaloes right at the start too! I thought some of the footage looked a bit odd, especially the Big E at the start, but what an awesome way to spend five minutes! Thanks, DL.

EDIT: the monoplanes were Devastators and Vindicators, John. The 'middle man' was the bomb aimer, sorry, bombardier. He would lie on the floor to sight during an attack. Not a lot of Devastators were built and they were removed from service after Midway although they did okay in the Coral Sea. They were the primary torpedo-bomber - but bloody slow - before the Avenger while the Vindicator was one of the dive-bombers. There weren't many Vindicators around either and they were equally unpopular and were largely replaced by the Dauntless in USN and USMC service in short order. The FAA used Vindicators briefly but these were replaced by Swordfish, IIRC. Gives you an idea of the capabilities of the Vibrator if replaced by a biplane!

Btw, the Devastator is the 'stumpier' of the two.

EDIT EDIT: sorry for the delay, had to see my parents off.

Fascinating stuff! But it's weird seeing colour footage taken 70 years ago; it makes the subject seem contemporary, but in fact almost none of the machinery seen there would have existed for more than another couple of years - the Enterprise herself lasted till just after the war - and almost none of the men would be still around now. All too many wouldn't have survived the war. But if you can get a copy of the Errol Flynn film "Dive Bomber" it is great stuff - but don't take the history or the science [development of pressure suits for high altitude] seriously.

The two-seat biplanes were Curtiss SBC Helldivers; the single-seat one at the end a Grumman F3F.

Thank you Andy and Adrian for naming the planes for me. Being a land lover, I know sot about planes.

Going back to the issue of three-seaters: in fact most carrier-borne torpedo bombers and even some dive-bombers were three-seaters, not two-seaters. The Swordfish was a three-seater. In Fleet Air Arm terminology, the crew consisted of Pilot, Observer (basically the Navigator; the Fleet Air Arm still call the second crewman in a Lynx the Observer to this day; the name dates from WW1), and the TAG (Telegraphist Air-Gunner)