Wildcat lifted from Lake Michigan today

[MikeGazdik]

VBF-13 and others. I still have it somewhere, an old article in an aviation magazine about the Wolverine and Sable, being converted to flat-tops for carrier trials on the Great Lakes. Very interesting story, if you have not read it. Also in that same magazine, was a story of another Grumman, perhaps a TBF, not sure, that was recovered from one of the Great Lakes and the legal battle versus the U.S. Navy on the rights to the aircraft. Long story short as stated, they are all still U.S. Government property.

Interesting to me because I am from the Lorain, Ohio area. They once had shipyards there that one of the vessels in the article was constructed.

 

[VBF-13]

Interesting story on how they converted these, Mike. I read a little on that, myself. Did you happen to have read, BTW, whether they retained kitchen facilities on these? I believe they did. When my Dad went out there, they were going with two sessions per carrier per day. The first crew of pilots would come out on the carriers in the morning and await the arrival of the incoming pilots from Glenview to go through their qualifying; then, on the 8th landing, the pilots would switch, the incoming pilots would have lunch on the carriers, and the outgoing pilots would go through their qualifying, then take the planes back to Glenview, the incoming pilots returning with the carriers to Navy Pier. I just assumed that meant they had kitchens. Dumb me, I never thought to ask.

Maybe one day if I'm lucky some 15-year-old will post it in Wikipedia, then I'll know for sure!

 

[MikeGazdik]

I do not know the amenities they retained. The article touched on the fact that they cut away the top side of the vessels, and built the flight decks on top of that. If I recall, the Wolverine had the fur flight deck, but the Sable had a steel deck that was a testing situation. The Sable was originally built in Lorain, Ohio. They were both sold as scrap after the war. I would guess though that that did. The articles mentioned there were no elevators, so everything remained topside. That leaves a lot of space below deck.

 

[VBF-13]

I recall reading somewhere in reference to the Sable they had to cut some 18' or such off the width of the deck to fit it through a canal while enroute from your area to Lake Michigan. This is fascinating reading on how these happened.

 

[yulzari]

This seems to be a regular event. Are they breeding down there?

 

[VBF-13]

This seems to be a regular event. Are they breeding down there?

Just about. This baby they say went down for engine trouble. Probably the vast majority of those however simply blew one of their landings. The LSO gives them the engine-cut when he sees they're properly-oriented to make the landing, but that doesn't mean they always catch the wire, or that they always come down on both "legs." They invariably bounce when they catch that wire, and, don't forget, the carrier is moving away from them, and it's pitching and yawing, and bouncing up and down, as well. They're making 8 landings and take-offs in these hops. They come down hard on one leg for a gust of wind, or for whatever reason, and fail to "hook," or hook between the hash marks, they go right over that side, many times. And, these were pilots trained on that aircraft they were qualifying on, meaning, this carrier-qualifying wasn't a piece of cake.

 

[SonofaVBF-13Pilot]

Just saw your user name. I joined for that reason--That was my Dad's squadron, in it from beginning until it was disbanded Oct. 1945. How do you know of it? I just found an image of the squadron patch which I am restoring in photoshop and will post it soon.

 

[VBF-13]

Just saw your user name. I joined for that reason--That was my Dad's squadron, in it from beginning until it was disbanded Oct. 1945. How do you know of it? I just found an image of the squadron patch which I am restoring in photoshop and will post it soon.

Oh my gosh, I do believe it's one of Swany's sons! PM already sent!

 

[SonofaVBF-13Pilot]

My Dad qualified in F4F BuNo 3942 on July 25, 1944 on the U.S.S. Wolverine. This must have been a pretty beat-up Wildcat judging from the number and the late date. I'm sure a good share of these tired birds crapped out on the carrier quals as well as a large share of pilot error. There's a good book by Paul Somers in the Images of America series called Lake Michigan's Aircraft Carriers (Arcadia Press 2003) that covers complete history of the Sable and the Wolverine. My Dad has an interesting entry in his memoirs on his qualification flight. Here's his logbook entry.I wonder how many hundreds of logbooks LtCmdr F. Malinasky signed?

 

[VBF-13]

I wonder how many hundreds of logbooks LtCmdr F. Malinasky signed?

From the logbooks we shared he's been doing it for at least three months.

 

[SonofaVBF-13Pilot]

Apparently Frank Malinasky was later LSO on the USS Shenango CVE-28. He has an account of his war experiences in At war in the Pacific : Personal Accounts of World War II Navy and Marine Corps Officers by Bruce M. Petty, published by McFarland Company (December 15, 2005) ISBN-10: 0786423730; ISBN-13: 978-0786423736. I don't have the book, and haven't read it.

 

[VBF-13]

Funny, I read "Walinski" on my faded stamp. No wonder I couldn't find the guy!

 

[bromhead]

thats great,,very many of them down there get em all