Steindaddie Posted April 12, 2011 Share #1 Posted April 12, 2011 Here are a few photos I recently acquired. All from the estate of a WW2 navy pilot who flew with VF-15 on USS Randolph. Most of these pics are from there, though there are a few odds & ends too. This photo shows CAG-15 and the F-6F Hellcat flown by Dave McCampbell, the navy's top ace. (He is seated to the right of the sign) This aircraft (BuNo 70143) was lost in December 1944. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share #2 Posted April 12, 2011 Corsairs and Avengers firing up their motors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share #3 Posted April 12, 2011 Couple more - Gotta love old airplanes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share #4 Posted April 12, 2011 An Avenger claws it's way down the deck. Another hangs on for dear life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share #5 Posted April 13, 2011 Nice group of aircraft aboard USS Randolph. Notice the ship's deck angle and wake - it and the others have just executed a sharp turn to port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack's Son Posted April 13, 2011 Share #6 Posted April 13, 2011 Great pix of planes and ships in the task force. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobrahistorian Posted April 13, 2011 Share #7 Posted April 13, 2011 Nice group of aircraft aboard USS Randolph. Notice the ship's deck angle and wake - it and the others have just executed a sharp turn to port. I always loved the tail striping on Randolph's birds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segedunum Posted April 13, 2011 Share #8 Posted April 13, 2011 Great pictures. All the best Stig Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Posted April 13, 2011 Share #9 Posted April 13, 2011 NICE!!!! Thank you for sharing!!! BR, Ricardo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry_k Posted April 14, 2011 Share #10 Posted April 14, 2011 Great photos... you got another thread here below with more Usn and Usmc aviation photos.. Regards, Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babaou Posted April 14, 2011 Share #11 Posted April 14, 2011 The first photo shows the pilots of the VF-15 around David McCampbell (CAG-15 commander) in front of his plane "Minsi III" with his impressive scoreboard. This shot was taken in a hangar of the USS ESSEX at the end of the combat tour of the VF-15. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share #12 Posted April 14, 2011 More photos from the same man. This approach doesn't look good. Note that the LSO, sensing impending disaster, has rushed out on deck to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share #13 Posted April 14, 2011 Not good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted April 14, 2011 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share #15 Posted April 14, 2011 All too common scene with powerful prop aircraft and non-angled flight decks. I hope this guy got out of it. Anyone have info on the crash? (Note the squadron insignia on the cowling) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigmike Posted April 17, 2011 Share #16 Posted April 17, 2011 thank you for posting the photos very neat to see the old naval pilots in action :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floyd Posted April 18, 2011 Share #17 Posted April 18, 2011 Nice group of aircraft aboard USS Randolph. Notice the ship's deck angle and wake - it and the others have just executed a sharp turn to port. That's Air Group 12 onboard USS Randolph - probably during early 1945. My dad was a Hellcat pilot in VF-12 during that same timeframe. I stumbled onto this website the other day and found some awesome color footage of AG 12/Randolph flight ops. There is a lot of other cool stuff there as well: http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675052...ght-deck_airmen I also recently found this picture of an F-18 painted up in AG-12 colors as part of the 100 anniversary of Naval Aviation (see attached) Steindaddie - I'd love to get a full size version of that picture if it isn't too much trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GalaxyC5 Posted April 20, 2011 Share #18 Posted April 20, 2011 Great pictures. The picture of the CAG-12 pilots is really nice. I believe in the pilots photo there is a movie star. In the 3 row from the bottom, standing 4th postion from the right, is the movie star Wayne Morris. He was a 5 kill ace flying Cosairs. Again, super nice photos. Nice pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GalaxyC5 Posted April 20, 2011 Share #19 Posted April 20, 2011 Sorry, I meant CAG 15 pilots picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T308 Posted September 11, 2019 Share #20 Posted September 11, 2019 All too common scene with powerful prop aircraft and non-angled flight decks. I hope this guy got out of it. Anyone have info on the crash? (Note the squadron insignia on the cowling) Pulling up a very old post, but here goes. This looks like it could be BuNo 97056 of VBF-82 piloted by Lt. Charles W. Meshier. Lt. Meshier had an accident on landing on the USS Randolph October 24 1946. If the OP is still here, any chance you can pick out the BuNo from the side view of the a/c going over the side? Also, I'm curious if with the original photos you can make out that the F4U-4 coming in high is the same as the three photos of the a/c going over the port side? It looks like it might be, but the LSO station on the high shot doesn't seem to match the background of the second photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hink441 Posted September 11, 2019 Share #21 Posted September 11, 2019 Pulling up a very old post, but here goes. This looks like it could be BuNo 97056 of VBF-82 piloted by Lt. Charles W. Meshier. Lt. Meshier had an accident on landing on the USS Randolph October 24 1946. If the OP is still here, any chance you can pick out the BuNo from the side view of the a/c going over the side? Also, I'm curious if with the original photos you can make out that the F4U-4 coming in high is the same as the three photos of the a/c going over the port side? It looks like it might be, but the LSO station on the high shot doesn't seem to match the background of the second photo. Looks like that Corsair is a VF-42 aircraft. Green Pawn on the engine cowl. Interesting fact; Future astronaut Alan Sheppard was in this squadron. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T308 Posted September 11, 2019 Share #22 Posted September 11, 2019 Looks like that Corsair is a VF-42 aircraft. Green Pawn on the engine cowl. Interesting fact; Future astronaut Alan Sheppard was in this squadron. Chris This photo is captioned as Alan Sheppard after the Green Pawns became VF-4B (briefly). On a Midway class carrier, likely the FDR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steindaddie Posted August 27, 2020 Author Share #23 Posted August 27, 2020 On 9/10/2019 at 5:17 PM, T308 said: Pulling up a very old post, but here goes. This looks like it could be BuNo 97056 of VBF-82 piloted by Lt. Charles W. Meshier. Lt. Meshier had an accident on landing on the USS Randolph October 24 1946. If the OP is still here, any chance you can pick out the BuNo from the side view of the a/c going over the side? Also, I'm curious if with the original photos you can make out that the F4U-4 coming in high is the same as the three photos of the a/c going over the port side? It looks like it might be, but the LSO station on the high shot doesn't seem to match the background of the second photo. I posted the originals but, alas: No matter how much I tweak the picture, the BuNo is completely illegible - it's just a blur. And yes, it is the same aircraft in all the photos. There are other photos which are almost exact duplicates of the mishap, but the photo angle is just slightly different leading me to believe these photos came from two photographers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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