pinehilljoe
Staff Sergeant
- 768
- May 1, 2016
Hornet Deck Load for the Doolittle Raid (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter pinehilljoe
- Start date
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SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
I counted 16 planes. Did Hornet depart from San Diego or San Francisco?
Thumpalumpacus
Major
The Bay Area.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Didn't look like the San Diego Bridge.
Thumpalumpacus
Major
Sure it does, sorta.
This picture, however, is a painting. Look on the right-hand side about halfway down this page:
William S. Phillips Archives - Picture This Framing & Gallery
www.picturethisgallery.com
Plenty of photos of her deck on Navsource.
During the trip to Japan some of her air group found their way to the flight deck at times - F4F forward, SBD aft amongst the B-25. The flight deck was respotted, probably the day before the launch, to move the B-25 as far aft as possible to increase the take off run of the foremost B-25s.
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Note that there originally were supposed to be only 15 B-25's on the raid. The 16th was a "spare" that Doolittle demanded to be loaded along with its two pilots after they followed the rest across the country without authorization. They formed a crew with spare personnel and that was the B-25 that diverted to Russia.
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SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
I thought "didn't look like the San Diego Bridge." was funny.
special ed
2nd Lieutenant
- 5,847
- May 13, 2018
All B-25s had to taxi forward to a certain point at the island, which was the tightest spot on the deck, for takeoff. All B-25s had the same takeoff run.
- Thread starter
- #11
pinehilljoe
Staff Sergeant
- 768
- May 1, 2016
I should have looked closer. William Phillips was prolific when the signed and numbered lithograph market was big. Laser printing ended that market. Many small galleries closed.Sure it does, sorta.
This picture, however, is a painting. Look on the right-hand side about halfway down this page:
William S. Phillips Archives - Picture This Framing & Gallery
Thumpalumpacus
Major
I was sorta distracted when I read your post, my mind autocorrected it to the "San Francisco Bridge." You're funny, and I was dense earlier, is all.
Alan Stevens
Airman 1st Class
- 136
- May 24, 2023
Was this the sortie where the Hornet nearly hit a tower on the S.F. Bay Bridge which could have caused the whole bridge to collapse?
But note how they were arranged on deck leaving the USA. Two parallel rows from just aft of the forward lift
To near the stern
This was how they were arranged at time of take off - herring bone fashion as far aft as possible. Note the white lines on deck to guide the take offs clear of the island (lines for nosewheel & port undercarriage) that run back into the range at this time. They extend back beyond the centre lift. This is aircraft 3 or 4 per the caption. Note the outline of the centre lift on the left hand side. The centre lift was located just aft of the island, offset to starboard.
And the last 5 or 6 being lined up on those lines much further aft than aircraft number 3/4 let alone number 1. The white lines end aft of the centre lift.
Doolitte's aircraft, the first to be launched had 467ft of flight deck, out of a total flight deck length of 827ft. As can be seen from the photos, later aircraft would have had a bit longer take-off run.
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- Thread starter
- #15
pinehilljoe
Staff Sergeant
- 768
- May 1, 2016
Its great that people realized how momentous this mission was, and photographed it so well. If only they used color film.
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Columbia AAF SC was where the Raiders were before they went to Eglin to train for the mission. The black and white pictures show B-25A's at Columbia. At Lake Greenwood the pilots in training found out that the girls sunning themselves on the dock would stand up, take their tops off, and wave them at airplanes that were buzzing the lake. It was only a matter to time before someone got too low. A B-25 was recovered from that lake in the 1980's and is now the mascot of the local baseball team, The Capital City Bombers. Lake Murray, near Columbia AAF, was used as a bombing range and as many as 25 B-25's crashed there. One was recovered several years back.
GreenKnight121
Staff Sergeant
- 794
- Mar 16, 2014
Especially as that bridge wasn't built until Feb 1967-Aug-1969.
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
A couple more pictures, including from a re-enactment in 1992.
And the one that survived until the war ended. Too bad it wasn't saved.
It looks like the last number could be either an "8" or "9", which gives four possibilities.
Crew #6 SN 40-2298
Crew #11 SN 40-2249
Crew #12 SN 40-2278
Crew #16 SN 40-2268
Serial numbers for the Raid. B-25 History Project
It looks like the last number could be either an "8" or "9", which gives four possibilities.
Crew #6 SN 40-2298
Crew #11 SN 40-2249
Crew #12 SN 40-2278
Crew #16 SN 40-2268
Serial numbers for the Raid. B-25 History Project
- Thread starter
- #20
pinehilljoe
Staff Sergeant
- 768
- May 1, 2016
It's interesting two SBDs and F4Fs are spotted on deck
