Warbird Information Exchange

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

Thanks for posting the pictures, Mark. Always love to see ready room shots.

Any idea where the wing ended up?

Mac

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WWII Naval Aviation Research - Pacific
https://www.ww2nar-pac.com/

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

Here's a rare shot of the deck of the USS Franklin in October 1944. Notice the rockets being attached and also notice that VF-13 had a mix of tri-color schemes mixed with all solid schemes on the Hellcats. Hard to find photos of the Franklin's VF-13 activities during the war.

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

And this was the Franklin's (Edit: Bunker Hill's) deck a few months later in March 1945. Most of those planes lost are Corsairs



With a lot of lives lost

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

I believe the one picture of the flight deck damage is Bunker Hill from May 1945 and not Franklin. No planes on Franklin's deck survived the conflagaration, while a handful of Helldivers, as in this picture, did escape damage on Bunker Hill at the extreme rear of the deck. I'm not sure about the casualty photo, but I also believe that is Bunker Hill as well.

Wartime photos of activities aboard Franklin are rare as literally thousands of images and their accompanying negatives were all destroyed in the March 19th, 1945 attack.

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

It would be interesting to know the specific changes in carrier design this incident influenced. Thanks for sharing your Dad's photos!

Tom P.

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

My Uncle wold have enjoyed that report on the Franklin as he was in the mess hall that day. Thank you for sharing it...

Lynn

There is a pretty good book on the Franklin "Inferno: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin in World War II" by Joseph Springer. He details a lot of the changes that were made to carrier design as a result of the Franklin's experience. Off the top of my head, I know some of them were relocation of the ready rooms and CIC from the gallery to closer to the island and replacing the single ventilation trunk which allowed smoke to get into otherwise undamaged compartments. A lot of the changes incorporated in the SCB-27 and SCB-125 modernization programs for Essex class carriers were also a result of what was learned from Franklin.

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”