Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: b4o2s9s on December 02, 2009, 02:49:20 AM
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Thought you guys might enjoy this.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/features/article_1516312.php/In-Pictures-World-War-II-Fighter-Recovered (http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/features/article_1516312.php/In-Pictures-World-War-II-Fighter-Recovered)
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I heard something about this on the news. I think it is great! Hope discovery channel does something on this.
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I think that is great, but it is very unlikely that this Great Lakes-based, 1945 training plane also saw action in the "Battle of Guadalcanal" and the Pacific as the story states.
Really good to see another Hellcat restoration though. For as many as were made, its a pretty rare warbird nowadays.
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One thing stood out in this artical that made me :headscratch:. It stated that the plane was practicing carrier take offs and landings on the Great Lakes.
Now with it being about 8am, and i hadnt had my first cup of coffee, i was thinking "no way did this happen". " How in the heck did they get an aircraft carrier on The Great Lakes"? So i googled "Aircraft carriers on Great Lakes" and this is what i came up with. Pretty cool stuff. In all my reading on WWII i never ran across these.
http://ix-carriers.blogspot.com/2008/02/video-history-of-great-lakes-carriers.html
<S>
Mbailey
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Hmmm... missing the vertical stab and half of each wing... that looks like my F6F after landing from a typical sortie! :lol
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I hope in the next update we get the version of the F6 encrusted with mollusks :pray :D
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That video was great. They trained over 17,000 pilots on the great lakes carriers!
+1 for the mollusk encrusted cockpit :lol
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There are many navy planes just off the beach of my hometown of Waukegan, IL.
From just after the beginning of the war to just past the war's end the US Navy practiced everything from strafing moving targets, divebombing, and limited no-ammo dogfighting.
My father-in-law (who would later be at 2nd wave on D-Day) remembers riding his bike from western Zion, IL down to the lakefront to watch the planes train. The lake has grown some 6-8 blocks from where it is now, but he remembers vividly seeing navy planes practice strafing runs on both stationary and moving maritime targets (towed by ships) (with live 50 cals....no less). There are probably 50 to 65 planes (according to navy records) in the lake waters near the are as over years of training during the war some planes developed engine troubles and were unable to ditch on land. Most ditched in the lake and were picked up by coast guard or small naval craft in the area.
Thanks to fresh water and not salt water, as well as the lake water's cool to cold tempratures (I never remembered the lake temp getting much over 65F during the hottest of summers) the planes are slow to corrode---leaving them in pretty good shape 50 years later...considering.
The one they found last year is being restored and will hang in O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. I hope they restore this one and keep it in Lake County. Somewhere in the public area of Great Lakes Naval Training Center (nearby, on the lake at the city of North Chicago, IL) would be nice.
ROX
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Cool, welcome back aboard Hellcat. Missed the wire what a noob, I kid heeh. :aok
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Theres a video link for it in the Officers Club cool footage