USS Yorktown (CV-10)- Part 2 — AVIATION HISTORY MUSEUMS

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On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 was launched atop a Saturn V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Apollo 8 was the second manned Apollo mission, but it was the first to leave low earth orbit and the first to orbit the moon. The crew of Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders was originally scheduled for Apollo 9, to be launched in 1969. Because of concerns about advances being made by the Soviet Union, as well as President Kennedy’s promise to reach the moon by the end of the decade, the entire program was accelerated. Borman’s crew was moved to Apollo 8 and launched with several months less training than planned. Despite this, the mission was a complete success and it helped to pave the way for Apollo 11, the first Lunar landing, on July 20, 1969.

Apollo 8 made 10 orbits of the moon and the crew of three were the first humans to see the dark side of the moon and the first to witness an ‘Earth rise’- seeing the Earth appear as the capsule emerged from behind the moon. The crew began their return to Earth on Christmas Day, splashing down two days later in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of Hawaii. On station to recover the capsule and crew was the USS Yorktown.

Photo Courtesy of Patriot’s Point Naval and Maritime Museum

The recovery of the crew and capsule was also a complete success, with the three astronauts being picked up by a team from UDT-12 (Underwater Demolition Team 12). An SH-3 helicopter transported them to the deck of the Yorktown and the capsule was later lifted aboard the carrier. The Apollo crew was flown to Hawaii the next day and the Yorktown arrived there several days later with the capsule.

Displayed on the Hangar Deck is this mockup of the Apollo 8 capsule as it was after splashdown, as well as a variety of photos and information about the historic flight. The exhibit includes original items such as the actual hook from the tackle that was used to lift Apollo 8 aboard Yorktown. Younger visitors can take a ‘ride’ in the capsule while listening to actual recordings from the mission and watching original video. (Note- the capsule is currently closed to visitors, but will re-open in the near future).

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As was mentioned in last month’s blog, the Flight Deck of the Yorktown mainly displays Vietnam era aircraft and the Hangar Deck has predominantly WW-II and Korean War aircraft. Almost all of the aircraft types on display served on the Yorktown during its long history.

The first plane ever to land on the Yorktown was a Grumman F6F Hellcat part of Air Group Five commanded by James “Jimmy” Flatley. Flatley helped introduce the new Hellcat Fighters to the fleet in 1943 and was named Commander of Air Group Five, the first Air Group assigned to the new Yorktown. As CAG, Flatley had the honor of making the first landing aboard CV-10.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat was built between 1942 and 1945 with over 12,000 produced. Flying for the Navy, Marines and the Royal Navy, Hellcats were credited with destroying 5,223 enemy aircraft, the most of any allied Naval aircraft.

The Vought F-4U Corsair is perhaps the best known, and most recognizable carrier aircraft from the WW-II era. The iconic inverted gull wings give the Corsair a distinctive and aggressive look. The R-2800 Double Wasp engine was the most powerful available when the Corsair was designed and, combined with a very large propeller, it made the F-4U the first single engine aircraft capable of 400 MPH in level flight. The size of the propeller is what led to the wing design, to keep the prop from striking the deck during a carrier landing. Because of the high nose position and the aft position of the cockpit, the Corsair was a difficult plane to bring aboard. There were also problems with the stall characteristics at slow carrier landing speeds, which led to the first groups of Corsairs being assigned to land-based Marine squadrons.

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was an earlier design than the Corsair and the Hellcat and was, in fact, the first Navy fighter with retractable landing gear. Powered by the Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp, the Wildcat proved to be a very capable carrier aircraft during the early years of WW-II. As faster aircraft, particularly the F6F, became available, the Wildcat continued in service on smaller escort carriers, and was operational throughout the war. After April, 1942, Eastern Aircraft (a division of General Motors) provided a second production source of the F4F. The Eastern Aircraft planes were designated the FM-1, and a later, improved model, the FM-2.

Although it doesn’t look at home on an aircraft carrier, this North American B-25 Mitchell represents one of the great achievements of carrier aviation during WW-II. On April 18, 1942, 16 B-25s lifted off the deck of the carrier Hornet bound for Tokyo (The Hornet (CV-8) was a sister ship of the Yorktown). Led by Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the raid was a morale boost for the US, coming just four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The B-25 displayed on the Yorktown is painted to commemorate the plane of Lt. Ted Lawson, the Ruptured Duck.

Like the majority of the planes that participated in the raid, the original Ruptured Duck did not return. Unable to find a landing field in China in darkness and bad weather, Lawson flew out to sea and ditched. Picked up by Chinese fisherman, the crew all survived, even though some were badly injured, including Lawson, who lost a leg. Lawson’s popular book about the raid, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, was also made into a movie starring Spencer Tracy as Jimmy Doolittle.

The Hangar Deck is a large area and besides the many aircraft on display, there are numerous exhibits covering Naval history during WW-II and beyond. It is interesting to compare this large model of the Yorktown with a straight deck, as she was originally built, with her final, angle deck, configuration that you see on the Flight Deck. The shotgun in the foreground was presented to Captain James Cain, Yorktown CO 1965-66, by the crew.

This scale model of a Douglas TBD Devastator dropping a torpedo is just one of the many interesting, attractive, and informative exhibits on the Hangar Deck.

The SBD Dauntless was an extremely capable dive bomber (earning the moniker Slow But Deadly). Douglas Aircraft built almost 6,000 of these R-1820 Wright Cyclone powered aircraft. The Dauntless was introduced to the Fleet in 1940 and was the main aircraft involved in the Battle of Midway, when four Japanese carriers were sunk or disabled. Three US carriers were involved in the battle, including the original Yorktown (see Issue 21 for more about Midway). As you can see in the photo, the SBD had large flaps. Not seen in the photo are similar flaps, called diving brakes, which extended above the wings, giving the Dauntless its great slow diving ability. Another factor was that, unlike most carrier aircraft, the Dauntless did not have folding wings, allowing for more structural strength. Almost a 1,000 of this type (with no tail hook) were flown by the Army Air Corps as the A-24 Banshee.

There are two aircraft on the Hangar Deck that post-date WW-II: this Grumman F9F Cougar and a Douglas AD Skyraider.

The F9F Cougar was developed from the F9F Panther, the Navy’s first carrier jet aircraft, which had a straight wing. First flown in 1947, the Panther was also the first plane flown by the Blue Angels. In 1952, Grumman began producing the F9F Cougar, a swept-wing version of the Panther. The Cougar in the Yorktown collection is one of the last built for the Navy, being accepted in 1959. Built as a trainer, an F9F-8T (later renamed a TF-9J), this Cougar spent its life at Naval Air Station Iwakuni, in Japan, and in Pensacola Florida.

Painted in its original gloss blue paint, this Douglas AD-4N, BuNo 127007, has the markings of Attack Squadron 65. VA-65 was assigned to Carrier Air Group Two aboard the Yorktown, circa 1953. Designed during WW-II as a carrier based long-range torpedo/bomber, the Douglas Skyraider did not become operational until 1946. Assigned a number of designations (variations of AD and A-1), the Skyraider was commonly called the Spad. The Spad had a long and successful career in the Navy and Air Force and it was still flying missions in Vietnam when I entered Navy flight school in 1971. Powered by the 18-cylinder Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone, over 3,000 Skyraiders were built.

As mentioned in last month’s blog, numerous interior spaces of the Yorktown are open to visitors. You can tour squadron ready rooms, kitchen and dining facilities, and even the depths of the engine room. These areas have been maintained in the condition they were in while the Yorktown was still active, making for a unique and very enlightening experience. I have toured three other carriers that are museums and each is unique in its own way, and certainly very interesting. I found the Yorktown, however, the best of the group because of the excellent historical preservation.

There are several well-marked tours that you can follow, or you can just wander and explore for yourself. Let’s take a look below.

Note-to visit many of the interior spaces, you will have to negotiate the original ship ladders. There is an elevator from ground level to the Hangar Deck and to the Flight Deck and you can see the vast majority of the museum, including all the aircraft, without using any stairs. If you begin your visit on the Hangar Deck, volunteer veterans are on duty to help you get started navigating the museum.

Some of the areas, such as this dentist office, have figures posed as they would have been in the normal course of daily operations on the carrier.

The crew mess has been given particular attention, with a number of spaces being designed to offer a great look at daily life for the over 3,500 men aboard the Yorktown. Because Navy ships operate 24 hours a day, four meals are served each day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midrats (midnight rations).

For the recovery of Apollo 8, the Yorktown cooks went to work and produced a 540-pound cake to commemorate the astronauts and their accomplishment.

As we travel further below, we find a number of spaces and levels of the engine room and engineering areas. Once again, we see everything preserved as a historic slice of the Vietnam era Navy.

Aircraft carriers are the largest Navy ships and are comparatively very roomy. Even so, as you can see here, space is always at a premium-even on a carrier. If you visit the destroyer Laffey or the submarine Clamagore while at Patriot’s Point, you will see much more cramped crew quarters. As COD pilots, we didn’t spend very many nights on the ship, but when we did, we never knew where they would put us. We would usually be assigned to someone’s bunk who was on leave, but at least one carrier, the JFK, would give us a bed in the ship’s hospital ward.

It is easy to imagine the tension in this ready room as a squadron briefs for a mission from Yankee Station in the South China Sea during the Vietnam War. The TV screen on the right plays a period video. This TV would have been showing the Flight Deck with launches and recoveries broadcast live and later played back on tape. Every carrier landing is taped and graded and pilots learn a lot from watching their own landings and others.

This is just a small sampling of all the interior spaces open to visitors. For more pictures, see the second Photo Gallery at the end.

Two more aircraft will finish up our visit to the Yorktown. This TBM Avenger is a Grumman designed aircraft (TBF), but the TBM designation means that it was built by General Motors Corporation’s Eastern Aircraft Division at Linden, New Jersey. As with the F4F, whose production was also moved to New Jersey, this allowed Grumman to concentrate on F6F production. The very successful TBM torpedo bomber had a crew of three and the type was credited with sinking 30 submarines as well as sharing credit for sinking two Japanese super-battleships, the Yamato and Musashi. The TBM is well-known as the type future President George H.W. Bush flew (and in which he was shot down). Actor Paul Newman also served on TBMs as a gunner (he was not accepted as a pilot because he was color-blind). The Avenger continued in active service well into the 1960s.

Although not a carrier aircraft, this Model 75 Stearman is appropriately on display here, as the vast majority of pilots who served on the Yorktown during WW-II received their basic training in this plane. Stearman originally built the Kaydet Model 70 in 1934, the same year that the company was bought by Boeing. The Model 70 won an Army contract but the Navy was the first service to take delivery, and designated it the Boeing NS. The Army called their Stearman the PT-13, which had a different engine. Eventually, the two services standardized as the Model 75, which the Navy then called the N2S. The type was probably the most produced biplane ever.

There is no doubt that this is one of the great aviation museums. The fact that so many interior spaces are preserved, combined with the way the aircraft are separated into two distinct eras, make it a superb visit. From the feedback I received about part 1, it is clear that the Yorktown is very popular with readers, and one that people enjoy visiting multiple times. I know I’ll return; there is so much to see at Patriot’s Point.

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Many thanks again this month to Captain Thom Ford of the USS Yorktown Foundation for his assistance with research for this blog.

And, as always, many thanks to my brother Mike who proof reads for me each month- there is always an apostrophe or two out of place!

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To learn about what to do in the local area, museum hours, and costs, as well as books to read and other interesting odds and ends, keep reading! At the end you will find a photo gallery of the entire museum.

PLANNING YOUR VISIT

Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum is open every day aside from Christmas Day. Current operating hours are 9 AM to 6:30 PM. The last tickets are sold at 5 P.M.

Admission includes:

USS YORKTOWN- Aircraft Carrier

USS LAFFEY- Destroyer

USS CLAMAGORE- Submarine

3 Acre Vietnam Experience

Medal of Honor Museum

Adult Tickets: $24

Veterans/ First Responders (ID Required) : $21

Active Duty/Retired Military (ID Required): $19

Senior (62+) Tickets: $19

Children (6-11) Tickets: $16

Children Under 6: Free

FLYING IN

Charleston International Airport (CHS) and Charleston Executive (JZI) are each about 25 minutes from Patriot’s Point. Both are full-service airports.

A smaller field, also 25 minutes away, is Mount Pleasant Regional Airport (LRO). It has a 3,700’ runway (17/35), RNAV approaches to each runway, and a full service FBO.

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

There is a lot to see in the Charleston area but a visit would not be complete without a trip out to Fort Sumter. Construction started in 1814, after the British attacked Washington by sea during the War of 1812. The site of two Civil War battles, Fort Sumter is a very interesting historic site to visit.

WHERE TO EAT

Museum Staff recommended Water’s Edge Restaurant on Shrimp Boat Lane, just a few minutes away.

Reader Andy Brothers added this recommendation: Vickery’s Bar & Grill, a great casual spot which is also on Shrimp Boat Lane. He also recommended Red’s Ice House, which is in the same area. Thanks Andy!

SUGGESTED READING

USS Yorktown, The History of the “Fighting Lady” by Douglas W. Bostick is full of facts and stories relating to the Yorktown. This highly illustrated and interesting book is available in the excellent Patriot’s Point gift shop as well as various on-line sites.

When I was a 737 first officer (yes, many years ago!) one of the Captains I enjoyed flying with was Tom Block who, at the time, wrote a column for Flying Magazine. Tom has written a number of best sellers, and his first, Mayday, was made into a CBS movie. I mention them here because one of his books Forced Landing involves the hijacking of the USS Yorktown. I’ll quote from the Goodreads listing- “Taking place in a pre-9/11 world of the 80's, a former US submarine is hijacked in the Gulf, a floating aircraft carrier museum is hijacked from its dock in South Carolina, a Learjet and then a DC-9 are hijacked from New York shortly thereafter. The story is a vintage-era caper that involves gold, hostages and a cast of noble and exceptionally nasty characters”. A fun read to go with this visit to the Yorktown! Tom mentioned that all of his books are available on audible.com, narrated by the author. Check his website to see all Tom Block books.

http://thomasblocknovels.com/

MUSEUM WEBSITE

https://www.patriotspoint.org/explore/uss-yorktown/

UP NEXT

Fantasy of Flight, Polk City Florida

MUSEUMS ARE WHERE YOU FIND THEM

This segment is dedicated to finding interesting aviation artifacts that are in public view- but not in an aviation museum. If you see one send a photo!

This entry does not quite fit the category, as it is not in public view, but reader Steve M. has built such an amazing aviation artifact that I am sure it will be of interest.

The Avro Vulcan is a much-admired British bomber from the 1950s. After hearing about a group of enthusiasts in England who had built a full-sized Vulcan simulator, Steve decided to build his own and he now has a fully operational, actual size, Vulcan simulator.