April 15, 20197 yr #1 Last year I got some things from the family of a Navy pilot who was Aircraft Handling Officer on the USS Yorktown during her last Pacific Cruise (1968-69) a most unusual cruise that included an Apollo recovery and having crews from Get Smart and Tora Tora Tora filming aboard ship. This is from the cruisebook - notice the Japanese flag above the "Zero's" nose (also notice how they spelled the movie's name). This week his family called and offered this 20th Century Fox prop flag, a Japanese rear admiral flag, that flew on the Yorktown when they were filming Tora Tora Tora. (He had one very very short scene in the movie as the "Japanese" planes took off). The flag is large, almost 9x6 feet.
April 15, 20197 yr Author #4 This was quite a cruise what with TV, a movie and three astronauts coming aboard. As Aircraft Handling Officer would he have been the leader for the actual launches of the movie aircraft? There must have been a fair amount of out-of-the-ordinary operations. We have a thread on the cruisebook for that tour at http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/311375-yorktowns-last-pacific-missions-get-smart-tora-tora-tora-apollo-8/
April 15, 20197 yr Author #6 THe flag really looks well made.Nice multi piece item. It is built tough and is in great condition: they filmed the launches "off the coast of San Diego" according to the cruisebook. Our prevailing winds are not that strong so the flag got an easy workout cruising around the Southern California Operations Area.
April 15, 20197 yr Author #7 Until recently this had been folded in a box for 50 years. It is 8 feet 7 inches by 5 feet 9 inches:
April 15, 20197 yr #9 What a neat piece of naval and movie history! It's also interesting to note that he retired in the 80s yet still wore bullion pilot's wings on his uniform.
April 15, 20197 yr Author #10 What a neat piece of naval and movie history! It's also interesting to note that he retired in the 80s yet still wore bullion pilot's wings on his uniform. His last command/assignment was in Crete - would that explan it?
April 15, 20197 yr #11 His last command/assignment was in Crete - would that explan it? Im thinking just a personal preference as far as the bullion goes.Nothing to do with station or command. If you have the money and have the rank.....you wear the nice stuff.
April 15, 20197 yr Author #12 As Aircraft Handling Officer on Yorktown his official duties make it sound like he was officer in charge for the movie aircrat ops: "Aircraft Handling Officers directs flight and hangar deck operations aboard carrier, including spotting, landing and launching aircraft and handling crashes and fires. Directs flight deck officer and hangar deck officer. Supervises elevator operations between flight and hangar decks. Directs spotting of aircraft for catapult launching and flyaway. Directs training of personnel in techniques of spotting, plane handling, recovering and jettisoning planes, rescue of pilots and combatting deck fires. Establishes safety practices."
April 15, 20197 yr #13 Neat item. I always wondered what it was like for the pilots taking off from the Yorktown for the filming of the movie. I know it was done with prop aircraft a million times during WWII, but it must have felt really odd with those flags flying in a replica Japanese aircraft, with the deck crew all in period uniforms. I was a kid when that movie was made. Plenty of the adults in the theater had lived through those days. For most of the bombing sequences they sat in silence. However, when an American P-40 took to the skies and shot down one of the attackers, people shamelessly cheered and clapped. It was quite a moment.
April 15, 20197 yr #14 Awesome piece! As I collect both flags and war movie stuff, that one ticks my boxes!
April 16, 20197 yr Author #15 I wonder if this flag was flown from a signal flag halyard? It has the lanyard and brass ring I normally expect to see on smal signal flags. Here's some screenshots from the movie showing this flag as Capt Minoru Genda makes a landing:
April 16, 20197 yr #16 That flag is beyond cool. I know a showroom not to far from you where that would look killer hanging in......
April 16, 20197 yr #17 That flag is beyond cool. I know a showroom not to far from you where that would look killer hanging in...… I have a bridge it can hang off of
April 16, 20197 yr #19 That flag is beyond cool. I know a showroom not to far from you where that would look killer hanging in...... Mr. Chatt... I am surprised you do not have an original one already!
April 17, 20197 yr Author #20 This Rear Admiral flag style was used through the end of WWII. Notice how few rays it has compared to the regular rising sun flag.
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