"Triumph also carried a single Sea Otter, a biplane amphibian aircraft derived from the celebrated Walrus, for communications flying and, in emergency, for air-sea rescue. On 19 July an outstanding rescue was made when a US Navy Corsair fighter-bomber off Valley Forge, hit by enemy fire, had to ditch 120 miles from the carriers, close to the North Korean port of Wonsan and well outside helicopter range. Lieutenant Cane, the Sea Otter pilot, flew towards the scene of the ditching in poor visibility and made radio contact with two Corsairs circling protectively above the downed pilot in his dinghy. They reported that the seas were getting higher by the minute.
Arriving at the scene, Cane saw that a 30-knot wind was lashing the sea into white foam, with choppy waves at least six feet high. Cane's observer, Aircrewman O'Nion, recalled the landing: 'We hit the first wave with a hell of a bang and I thought we would dive into the sea with the next one, but with consummate skill Lieutenant Cane held the nose up and we settled into a trough.' Taxiing up to the dinghy, Cane and O'Nion were warmly greeted by Lieutenant Wendell R. Muncie USN, who confessed to a feeling of awe as what appeared to be a Wright biplane threw itself on to the water. O'Nion, standing in the open fore hatch, dragged Muncie aboard after sinking the dinghy. Cane described the take-off as 'very exciting because it consisted of ploughing into the sea, banging from wave to wave, trying not to porpoise, until a wave threw the aircraft into the air with just enough airspeed to enable me to keep it there without hitting the next wave'. In the cabin with the drenched Muncie, O'Nion recalled that 'it felt like being in a roller-coaster … seas were breaking over the top mainplane and the engine, which spluttered and caught again'.
Landing back on Triumph called for superb airmanship, as the ship's fighters were ranged forward on the heaving flight deck and the crash barrier was up. Both Cane and O'Nion were decorated for this outstanding rescue. Muncie afterwards confessed that he had found the rescue far more terrifying than his ditching."
(Hickey, Michael. The Korean War: The West Confronts Communism (p. 63). Kindle Edition. )
There are good pictures of this bird on the forum, in French service in particular:
Armee de´l Air after the WWII: Colonial Conflicts
Arriving at the scene, Cane saw that a 30-knot wind was lashing the sea into white foam, with choppy waves at least six feet high. Cane's observer, Aircrewman O'Nion, recalled the landing: 'We hit the first wave with a hell of a bang and I thought we would dive into the sea with the next one, but with consummate skill Lieutenant Cane held the nose up and we settled into a trough.' Taxiing up to the dinghy, Cane and O'Nion were warmly greeted by Lieutenant Wendell R. Muncie USN, who confessed to a feeling of awe as what appeared to be a Wright biplane threw itself on to the water. O'Nion, standing in the open fore hatch, dragged Muncie aboard after sinking the dinghy. Cane described the take-off as 'very exciting because it consisted of ploughing into the sea, banging from wave to wave, trying not to porpoise, until a wave threw the aircraft into the air with just enough airspeed to enable me to keep it there without hitting the next wave'. In the cabin with the drenched Muncie, O'Nion recalled that 'it felt like being in a roller-coaster … seas were breaking over the top mainplane and the engine, which spluttered and caught again'.
Landing back on Triumph called for superb airmanship, as the ship's fighters were ranged forward on the heaving flight deck and the crash barrier was up. Both Cane and O'Nion were decorated for this outstanding rescue. Muncie afterwards confessed that he had found the rescue far more terrifying than his ditching."
(Hickey, Michael. The Korean War: The West Confronts Communism (p. 63). Kindle Edition. )
There are good pictures of this bird on the forum, in French service in particular:
Armee de´l Air after the WWII: Colonial Conflicts
