P-47 from a carrier?

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Wild_Bill_Kelso

Senior Master Sergeant
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Mar 18, 2022
LolWut?

P-47_69_n.jpg


Did I have a stroke? What am I looking at here
 
The Navy transported Army aircraft aboard carriers and when they got near their destination, they'd fly them off.

It was much faster and efficient than transporting them crated aboard freighters.

Were they piloted by Army or Navy pilots? If the former, did they get extra training in order to take off from a carrier? Seems to me a carrier take off would be something quite unusual for an Army pilot.
 
Were they piloted by Army or Navy pilots? If the former, did they get extra training in order to take off from a carrier? Seems to me a carrier take off would be something quite unusual for an Army pilot.
The Army aircraft were piloted by their own pilots.
They were briefed on what to do, but essentially it would be the same proceedure as taking off from a short field: flaps sets, brakes set, run the RPMs up, brakes off and go like hell.

I should also add that they didn't have a full loadout, which helped with their takeoff.
 
Many times people have seen the Operation Torch P-40s flying off the USS Ranger and assumed they were carrier capable, too.
The 77 P-40F of 33rd FG flew off the CVE Chenango during Operation Torch. During that Operation, Ranger was fully operational with her own carrier air group.

Earlier, on 22nd April 1942, Ranger had loaded 68 P-40E destined for the American Volunteer Group in the CBI, which were flown off to Accra on the Gold Coast in West Africa, to be flown across Africa, the Middle East and India to reach their destination. Then on 1 July she took 72 P-40F of the 57th FG to be flown off to Accra. These aircraft were then flown across Africa to become operational in Egypt.
 
The P-47s were given just enough fuel to get to their new base, and had no ammunition in them ... they were LIGHT ... at least, for a P-47 they were light. The carrier would steam into the wind at 30+ knots and they could make it off, but could not land back aboard.
The P-47D flown off carriers to the Marianas were flown off the Manila Bay and Natoma Bay. These were 19 knot Casablanca class escort carriers.

Edit. They were catapulted off the carriers

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The P-47s were given just enough fuel to get to their new base, and had no ammunition in them ... they were LIGHT ... at least, for a P-47 they were light. The carrier would steam into the wind at 30+ knots and they could make it off, but could not land back aboard.

Escort carriers can make 30 knots?
 
Edit. They were catapulted off the carriers
That's about the only way you'd ever get the average P-47 off a carrier and into the air, no matter what class you're talking about:

Essex class carrier length: 888 feet

P-47D-10 take-off run at combat weight with full flaps and maximum combat power: 1650 feet

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Now even though that take-off distance was to clear a 50 foot obstacle in a "no wind" condition, under similar circumstances (but without combat power) the F6F could easily cut that distance in half but even they occasionally required catapult assistance depending on deck position (i.e. those up front).

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As you can see the take-off distance was cut in half with the aid of a head wind, but even if we did this for the Thunderbolt the take off distance would still be the entire length of the largest carriers of the war (while under the most favorable circumstances conceivable).
 

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