Doolittle Raiders Training....Say whhhhhaaaat?

[gary1954]

I've been surfing the net looking for information on the ACFC McClellan Field, Sacramento, CA circa 1942
(would still like to know what the ACFC acronym for by the way) when I ran across this....

" In March 1942 Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle's B-25s arrived at McClellan for arming in preparation for their famous Tokyo raid. The Doolittle Raiders practiced their aircraft carrier takeoff techniques at the Willows Airport in Glenn County, about 90 miles north on Highway 99: The airport runway was painted to represent the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet."

First I heard about it. anyone know about that?

found it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McClellan_Air_Force_Base

[gary1954]

Air Corps Ferrying Command, May 1941-June 1942

[bdk]

Haven't you ever seen that carrier practice scene in the 2001 Pearl Harbor movie?

[Jerry O'Neill]

Yep! The airport is still there, but I don't think any traces for the carrier markings survive.
Jerry

[Pathfinder]

I don't believe the Doolittle crews ever used the carrier outline....at Eglin they flew wheels-up practice crossing lines on the runway...

I believe I read in Glines that the Navy guys--or very first Army test crew--(not Doolittle Raiders)--had the carrier outline on a field....in Norfolk, VA?

I believe the work at McClellan was all mechanical and they did not do any short field take-off practices....

[JohnB]

And as I recall, Doolittle was none too pleased with the work done at McClellan.

[aerovin]

To quote Ted Lawson from this book Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, of the days after his arrival at McClellan in late March:

"We spent a few more days in that area, practicing full-flap takeoffs at small, almost deserted fields. Then one morning we hopped over the hump to Alameda."

Locals in the Sacramento area have thought it to be Willows, but there were a number of other airfields around that were auxiliary landing fields for Mather Field, such as Lincoln Airport, that may have been used. Lawson's account would suggest several fields were used. I doubt they had runway markings modified. The pilots could probably estimate their takeoff distances reasonably accurately without such markings.

[RareBear]

Flight deck markings for WW2 carriers were pretty basic in most photos I've seen. In February of 1942, the Hornet's deck was painted/stained a dark blue/gray and had 3 light gray dashed lines painted down the deck. These were the only deck markings other than the hull number painted forward.
For the Doolittle Raid, additional lines were painted on the deck as guides for the B-25's.

[jdvoss]

I too had read where they used Lincoln Field for short takeoff practice. But painting a carrier deck on the runway seems a little far- fetched as the Raider's mission had not been revealed to the crews at that point in time. Lincoln Field was an AAF aux field to Mather AAF and was located fairly close to McClelland (roughly 20 miles NNE).