Fwd: Great Lakes Carrier Landings In On (and IN) Lake Michigan!





Thought you might like this blurb.  It's about two aircraft carriers that operated in Lake Michigan during WWII – USS Sable (a converted great lakes steamer) and the Wolverine (a small, but regulation type carrier).  Flip through the pictures and you'll see Chicago in the background; no kidding!

Lake Michigan & The Last Great War
 The Great Lakes provided vital support for the war effort in WWII, from building 28 fleet subs in Manitowoc to providing the bulk of US industrial output, we could not have won the war if not for the benefits of the Great Lakes and their related industry.  However there was another benefit of the lakes that is often overlooked.  Japan quickly lost the war because, among many other things, its navy could not replace its carrier pilot losses.  We could. But how did we train so many pilots in both comfort (calm seas) and safety (no enemy subs)?

We took two old side-wheel Great Lakes passenger steamers and turned them into training carriers on Lake Michigan! Virtually every carrier pilot trained in the war got his landing training on these amazing ships!  Sadly nothing but these great photos and the wrecks of the aircraft that ditched alongside them remain to tell their fascinating story!  Thanks to Tom Ursem for sending this link!

 
Check this out! USS Sable and USS Wolverine
...http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48962


 


 





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