USS Hornet (CV-8) wreck found by Paul Allen's team

I may have posted this before so here it is again, my painting of Doolittle's take off from the Hornet. The original is in the home of Dick Cole, Doolittle's copilot, who is still alive I think. File is too large so no picture.

 

Bob- Email it to me and I will downsize it for you and post it.

 

Thanks, Tay. It's on the way.
Bob

 

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Finally stumbled on to how to make this work. The Fossil is slow at 93.

 

Bob- Looks great. Hard to believe it was April 1942 and the war was only 4 months old when that raid launched. Things moved more quickly back then when necessary.

 

I suppose the historian in me would argue the war on our part was only 4 months old only because all of the conflicting political interests preventing us from direct involvement months or possibly years prior.

 

No nose guns on those aircraft?

 

Nope, all the guns and ammo and many other items were removed to save weight and get maximum range out of the airplanes. Quite a few people ask that question so there are sharp eyes out there. If you count the number of planks between tie-down cleats you will find the same number on the deck of the Hornet. I have had people challenge me on things like this in my airplane paintings, too. There's always a sniper in the bush but it keeps you honest..

 

Not only that, but the tail gun was removed and replaced with a wooden dowel (broomstick) painted black for a deterrent effect,

Saving weight was the thing.

 

That mission was all volunteer and nobody figured that they would survive it or that the chances were slim if they were to survive. Certainly all combatants nowadays have that feeling in the back of their minds but in 1942 the only thought was to do whatever had to be done to fight back and it would most likely be fatal. " They Were Expendable". The 8th AF in 1942-1943 was a meat grinder but a lot of guts kept it going.

 

I think I said on here before, my Dad's college roommate left school to join the AAF... he was on that mission...one of the few that died.

 

At risk of sounding like a brass drummer, I look back at how many of the kids in my high school enlisted in a service at age 17. Some actually made it into a branch of the service and went into action. Some did not return. I enlisted into the USAAC at age 17 but was not permitted to go active so for the next year I was in the Florida National Guard. We trained almost every weekend and by the time that I was called to report I had been trained in rifle, skeet, and side arms. Field training in the bush was omitted because so many of us already spent time there quail and duck hunting...and rattlesnake dodging. As I remember, nobody sat on their butts at that time, everybody pitched in to support the war effort. It was a different time in our history.

 

Someone pointed out that the wrecks of all 3 large U.S. carriers lost during the war - Lexington, Yorktown and Hornet - have all been located.

They also pointed out that the later Essex-class namesakes of all three ships are still with us as museum ships - interesting coincidence.