carrier fights for her life

[crsutton]

I don't think that I have ever seen this footage. Pretty amazing stuff. You just can't imagine how vulnerable and expendable human beings are in a situation such as this. The most amazing part is the effect of a near miss. It literally rocks the carrier like an earthquake and bounces a SBD into the drink.

http://youtu.be/WPa_KyimFOk

[dr.hal]

Wow, I've never seen that before, very interesting. Witness how much the CV is healing in those defensive turns. I use to get yelled at by the airboss if I tilted the carrier more than THREE degrees in a turn, here you see what combat can do to peacetime maneuvers! In fact the A/C on the tail end of the CV actually bounces into the catwalk! Thanks for sharing this.

[jb123]

Fighting fires on those things must have been the closest to hell one could get on earth.

[wdolson]

I think that was from the Easter Solomons. The carrier still had 1.1 inch and it was a Yorktown class. I believe the Enterprise was upgraded to 40mm by Santa Cruz. Though I may be wrong about that.

I noticed in the description it said a carrier under attack by Zeros. To some people every Japanese airplane is a Zero I guess.

Bill

[rustysi]

I believe the Enterprise was upgraded to 40mm by Santa Cruz. Though I may be wrong about that.

Believe so, although she still had the 1.1 incher on the bow. Don't recall if and when that one was changed.

[wdolson]

The Navy got rid of the 1.1s on all ships as soon as they could. The 40mm was so much better in so many ways, the only thing slowing down upgrades was ship schedules and supply of guns.

Here is a history of the Enterprise's armament:
http://www.cv6.org/ship/armament.htm

There was one 1.1 mount still on the Enterprise until the October 43 upgrade.

Bill

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I think that was from the Easter Solomons. The carrier still had 1.1 inch and it was a Yorktown class. I believe the Enterprise was upgraded to 40mm by Santa Cruz. Though I may be wrong about that.

I noticed in the description it said a carrier under attack by Zeros. To some people every Japanese airplane is a Zero I guess.

Bill

I was thinking Eastern Solomons too but the first plane shown is an old TBD. Thought they were all gone by then. The film could be a composite in that respect.

[wdolson]

The Enterprise only came under air attack once while operating TBDs and that was during the Marshalls raid in February 1942. During that raid she was attacked by Nells and Claudes. The Hornet never came under attack while operating TBDs. The Yorktown herself was attacked by carrier aircraft while operating TBDs, the first time at Coral Sea where the star with dot was in use. The next time was during Midway when the planes were operating without the dots in the star (as shown in the video), but I don't recall the deck being holed at Midway. I know a val put a bomb down the funnel of the Yorktown.

Bill

[rustysi]

I've heard that the 1.1 inchers were referred to as 'Chicago Pianos', anyone know why? And I am asking because I don't know, not because I'm trying to stump the forum. Figured if anyone knew they would be here.

[rockmedic109]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I've heard that the 1.1 inchers were referred to as 'Chicago Pianos', anyone know why? And I am asking because I don't know, not because I'm trying to stump the forum. Figured if anyone knew they would be here.

I've heard the Thompson Submachine gun referred to as a Chicago Piano but I never heard the 1.1 referred as such.

[LeeChard]

That's all new to me, Thanks!

[wdolson]

I don't know where the Chicago comes into it, but the 4 barrels side by side looked a bit like the guts of a grand piano and was about the same size. Possibly the manufacturer of the guns was in Chicago?

If you Google 1.1 inch and Chicago Piano you will find a plethora of sites describing the mount as that, but I didn't find one in a quick search that explained the origin of the term.

Bill

[Mundy]

Were they fixed capacity magazines on the 1.1" or were they a "chute" like the 40mm?
 
I can't seem to find anything that clarifies this.
 
The box magazines helped make the Japanese 25mm pretty lame, too.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

The Enterprise only came under air attack once while operating TBDs and that was during the Marshalls raid in February 1942. During that raid she was attacked by Nells and Claudes. The Hornet never came under attack while operating TBDs. The Yorktown herself was attacked by carrier aircraft while operating TBDs, the first time at Coral Sea where the star with dot was in use. The next time was during Midway when the planes were operating without the dots in the star (as shown in the video), but I don't recall the deck being holed at Midway. I know a val put a bomb down the funnel of the Yorktown.

Bill

Which is why I think it is a splice of a different older shot. Not unknown for that type of film.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I don't think that I have ever seen this footage. Pretty amazing stuff. You just can't imagine how vulnerable and expendable human beings are in a situation such as this. The most amazing part is the effect of a near miss. It literally rocks the carrier like an earthquake and bounces a SBD into the drink.

http://youtu.be/WPa_KyimFOk

Great footage, thanks for the link.

Here’s another great old reel. Check out the Betty fly-by at 8:18, it’s a really amazing shot for the era, some of the clearest footage I’ve ever seen in an old battle reel. It’s purported to be part of the battle of midway, but I think it’s probably from Coral Sea as there were certainly no Betties attacking US ships at Midway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iipW_576Ea0

Jim

[Cerion]

Reverted video of aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in Battle of Santa Cruz. See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8n3wTIrx4Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhlXaqS67GE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i9DyEBtAHA

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfJ7rEjcaLY

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I don't know where the Chicago comes into it, but the 4 barrels side by side looked a bit like the guts of a grand piano and was about the same size. Possibly the manufacturer of the guns was in Chicago?

If you Google 1.1 inch and Chicago Piano you will find a plethora of sites describing the mount as that, but I didn't find one in a quick search that explained the origin of the term.

Bill

I seem to remember the Tommy Gun being called a Chicago Typewriter - does that sound right? If so, maybe the 1.1 inch was nicknamed a Chicago Piano because of the size difference.

[geofflambert]

Hey Bill, what's with the new Moderator avatar? Are you Magneto now?

[wdolson]

It appears Matrix changed their logo. I didn't have anything to do with it, the thing just changed one day. I liked the old logo better, but oh well.

Bill