Warbird Information Exchange

USS Valley Forge (CV-45) Rounds Diamond Head, Oahu, while en route from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to San Diego, California, on 17 May 1949. She was transporting the headquarters of Rear Admiral H.B. Sallada, Commander, Air Force, Pacific Fleet, from Pearl Harbor to San Diego, and carried a deck load of flying boats and land-based planes. Aircraft types visible on her flight deck include one PBM, six PBY and 2 F4U parked aft. Those visible amidships include one R4D, one P2V, seven JRB/SNB and seven SNJ. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.




Underway at sea, while transporting aircraft, 26 April 1949. Planes on deck forward include R4D, PV, F7F, SNB/JRB and SNJ types, all normally based ashore. Those aft are carrier types: F4U, F8F and SB2C. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute Photo Collection, 1984. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]

Great pics Mark. In the second pic I see an F8F on the fore deck just behind the F7F and also what appears to me to be a Ryan Fireball. Very cool!

Also not the cars at the bow.

BTW:I didn't know PVs were carried capable!

It's like when I visited the Intrepid museum, I wonder how many "experts" tell their kids SR-71s flew from carriers?

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

They scrapped so many planes in place after the war ended I'm surprised they are taking them back.

The Blackbirds did a good job, but the Space Shuttle was the true workhorse of carrier aviation.

I think that's how Captain Kirk got his start with the Enterprise, flying off the Intrepid fighting Klingons.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

One of our longtime members, Frank Benson, was on S2F's off of the Valley Forge. He was aboard the night part of the bow broke off in heavy seas. he said the noise was deafening followed by the banging of the broken parts (which were held on by cables) against the hull all night. They cut off some of it in the AM.

He and his group were transferred to the Randolph afterwards..



From the Internet:

The VF was repaired using sections of the Franklin.
In early January 1959, while operating in the stormy North Atlantic, Valley Forge encountered heavy seas that broke over her forward flight deck, tearing away part of its port side. This was another dramatic example of the vulnerabilities of the "open bow" design typical of World War II aircraft carrier design (see also NS021252, NS021846 and NS022011), a problem solved by the enclosed "hurricane bow" fitted to carriers newly built or modernized during the mid-1950s and later. Valley Forge's damage was quickly repaired, using flight deck structure cannibalized from the decommissioned USS Franklin (CVS-13).

Top: Photograph taken on 6 January 1959, looking forward. Note ship's hull number ("45") painted on the flight deck, with the left part of the "4" folded by the broken decking. Official U.S. Navy photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 96971).


Middle: Photograph taken on 8 January 1959. Official U.S. Navy photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 96956).



Bottom: Forward port portion of the flight deck of USS Franklin (CVS-13) is hoisted into place on the Valley Forge. Photograph was taken on 24 January 1959. Official U.S. Navy photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 96972).

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Kevin Kearney
Vice President
Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation


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