Did the Seafire ever successfully land on a USN carrier?

[Admiral Beez]

with the exception of Canadian P/O Jerrold Alpine Smith successfully landing his Malta-bound RAF Spitfire back on USS Wasp without a hook due to a failure with his slipper tank, I can find no record of the Supermarine fighter successfully landing on a USN carrier.

Here's a good account of Seafires visiting USS Essex, Armoured Aircraft Carriers where two FAA pilots tried to land their Seafires and both pranged, with one aircraft being taken back to the US as a museum piece.

Did the Seafire ever successfully land on a USN carrier?

 

[Glider]

A Spitfire did

 

[Admiral Beez]

A Spitfire did

In addition to the above?

 

[Glider]

Yes. The RN were using the Wasp to fly Spits to Malta when one had a problem with the drop tank. Given the choice of either a) baling out, b) diching or c) trying to land on the Wasp without of course an arrester hook. He chose (c) and just managed to stop in time.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Yes. The RN were using the Wasp to fly Spits to Malta when one had a problem with the drop tank.

Haven't I covered that in the first sentence above? Clearly I'm thick here, what am I not seeing?

 

[jetcal1]

The real question should be;
"Did the same Seafire ever successfully land on a carrier more than twice?"

(Just kidding.)

 

[eagledad]

Gentlemen

On January 26, 1949, 8 Seafires and 8 Fireflys from the HMS Triumph operated off of the USS Philippine Sea during a cross-operating exercise. The HMS Triumph operated a similar number of USN Corsairs and Bearcats. (source: The Seafire by David Brown, pg 138)

A quick scan of the book did not reveal any other instances.

Eagledad

 

[Admiral Beez]

The real question should be;
"Did the same Seafire ever successfully land on a carrier more than twice?"

(Just kidding.)

They could be landed, but I imagine it took a very good pilot.

Not all Seafire landings are prangs

 

[R Leonard]

I might suggest that as a spur of the moment thing it was probably not a terribly good idea since signals used by batmen of RN carriers did always mean the same as signals by LSOs on USN carriers . . . you wouldn't want someone to slow down when you want them to speed up would you?

 

[Admiral Beez]

I might suggest that as a spur of the moment thing it was probably not a terribly good idea since signals used by batmen of RN carriers did always mean the same as signals by LSOs on USN carriers . . . you wouldn't want someone to slow down when you want them to speed up would you?

Did the IJN have batsmen? I was under the impression that their pilots just winged it unassisted. With the right weather a Seafire should be able to land without help.

 

[ThomasP]

Hey Admiral Beez,

My understanding is that the IJN primarily used a landing light system (chakkan shidoto) introduced in 1931, and similar in concept to the VASI (Visual Approach Slope Indicator) in use today at most major airports. It was originally developed for night landings but was found to work equally well in the daylight. The IJN did have a LSO of sorts (almost always a pilot) as back-up if the landing light system broke down or was damaged, although his signals were limited to white flag (OK) or red flag (Not OK, and the sign for a wave off). The landing light system very seldom failed.

An interesting note in the IJN carrier operations is that (under normal circumstances) the carriers would always attempt to maintain a wind over deck of 20 knots (I think) for landing ops, regardless of whether they could achieve higher WOD. The standard landing speed (making it easier for the pilot to consistently judge the glide slope) was considered to be safer and a better aid to the pilots than any lowering of the difference in carrier and aircraft speeds.

The IJN landing aids (see below) were quite sophisticated.

 

[Glider]

Haven't I covered that in the first sentence above? Clearly I'm thick here, what am I not seeing?

I'm sorry, it was an open goal I couldn't resist.

 

[emu27]

The graphic is of the Japanese carrier Hiryu which participated in the Pearl Harbor raid and was sunk at Midway. Are you saying the USN were identical to the Japanese? Unique carrier as the island is on the left, the only other carrier ever built with the island on the left was the Japanese Akagi, also at Pearl and sunk at Midway.

 

[ThomasP]

Hey emu27,

re: "Are you saying the USN were identical to the Japanese?"

I apologize but I do not understand what your question is relating to. Please clarify?

 

[emu27]

Your use of what I read as "UN" confused me, looking closer now I see it was "IJN", sorry, just out of eye cataract surgery.