Ford Island

[CoastieJohn]

These are making the rounds in the Coast Guard circle courtesy of the PAM. Don't know if they have been posted before. The close ups I did for clarity. It is Ford Island sometime shortly after Dec 7th. If anyone can pinpoint a more accurate date that would be nice. There is a potluck of planes in these pics. We know LT Frank Erickson flew a Duck off of the CGC Taney and had duty in the control tower when the attack happened. We don't see any CG-looking Ducks in these pics.





An RD at the top....


We "think" this is the CG Goose that survived the attack.....it appears to have the vertical stripes on the tail and the distinctive waterline mark.

[dbrown]

This looks like perhaps a Kingfisher from one of the battleships. Note what appears to be a missing stbd wing float, missing engine and cowling and oil stained wings.

[CoastieJohn]

One of our sharper guys is thinking this is a Brewster Buffalo. The side number looks like 2-F-12. If so, this was on the Warbirdforum listing for it. I don't know what the "Wfu" date is??

Completed with c/n 116
Delivered to US Navy as F2A-2 probably with serial BuA 1417 (reassigned)
Delivered on 18 October 1940
Operated by VF-2 as 2-F-12
Operated by VF-3
Operated by VMF-1212
Operated by VMF-112
Converted to F2A-2P
Wfu 30 November 1943

[Chris Brame]

WFU = Withdrawn from use. Next stop, either the torch or an A & P school.

[tulsaboy]

Is that a Sikorsky in the hangar near the Buffalo? And if so, is it the one that is at NASM now?
kevin

[Rajay]

Speaking of Ford Island, yesterday I caught for maybe the 79th time the movie "In Harm's Way" with John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, & Patricia Neal. Never noticed it before, but the close to opening sequence of a "dance" at the "Commissioned Officers Club" on the night of Saturday, December 6, 1941 claimed to be at the "Ford Island Naval Station" with Tiki torches all around an Olympic-side pool. Never seen anything like that in any photos of Ford Island so I guess they were taking some creative liberties. From what I've always seen, Ford Island was all-business, aircraft & ship maintenance shops, hangars, and runway from one end to the other.

And another "goof" as far as I'm concerned - while I suppose it's possible he was supposedly identifying an Army Air corps variant, when John Wayne (Capt. "Rock" Torrey) is informing Paula Prentiss (Bev McConnell) that her husband (played by Tom Tryon) is missing in action, he takes over for her for a minute as a civil defense aircraft spotter and calls out one airplane as an "AT-6" whereas as a Navy man, he would have known it as an "SNJ" just like the Mitchell that Kirk Douglas flies at the end is identified as a "PBJ" not as a B-25.

Last edited by Rajay on Sun Feb 07, 2016 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Rajay]

Here's a photo of Barbara Bouchet as Liz Eddington (Kirk Douglas' character's "wife") in the movie "In Harm's Way" from 1965 next to the pool in the scene in question. The Listal.com site incorrectly identifies her as Jill Haworth who as I informed them does not appear in the movie until much later.

[Rajay]

Hmm. Maybe I was wrong. There does seem to be a swimming pool located on Ford Island and some tennis courts too near the "old" BOQ on the Eastern tip not far from the last resting place of the USS Arizona. Don't know if it's actually the same one or not (probably not) but I was mistaken to assume that Otto Preminger was using too much creative license. Check the link below...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ford+Island,+Hawaii+96818/@21.3659568,-157.9521625,226m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x7c00658d72eedc0f:0x70f825f6245cb82a

[CoastieJohn]

It's possibly accurate. IMDB says......

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059309/loc ... _=tt_dt_dt

Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, O`ahu, Hawaii, USA (exteriors, Base Housing)

[JohnB]

About "In Harms Way"...remember it was based on a novel. Don't worry too much about "goofs".

Yes Wayne does call a T-6 a T-6...perhaps Captain Torrey could tel the difference because of paint job?

Logistics they called the Mitchell a PBJ.

Still it's better than Black Sheep Squadron where they all ways called a DC-3 a C-47...and the L-5 was never called a OY. In a couple of dispersing hadaT-6...I can't recall if they ever called it an SNJ.

[JohnB]

About "In Harms Way"...remember it was based on a novel. Don't worry too much about "goofs".

Yes Wayne does call a T-6 a T-6...perhaps Captain Torrey could tel the difference because of paint job?

At least they called the Mitchell a PBJ. Probably the only film that does so. For that bit of correct detail I'm willing to overlook them calling the other type a T-6.

Still it's better than Black Sheep Squadron where they always called a DC-3 a C-47...and the L-5 was never called a OY. In a couple of episodes featured a T-6...I can't recall if they ever called it an SNJ.

[Rajay]

JohnB, if you remember that the movie "In Harm's Way" was based on a novel, then you are older than I am. I turned 4 the year that the movie came out and was probably still playing with coloring books back then, not yet reading novels.

CoastieJohn, sorry for hijacking your thread! Speaking of which, I know that "we" have discussed it before, but my own particular interest regarding your photos of Ford Island would tend to lean toward being able to identify the various Gooses (JRF series.) Looks to me however that even if hi-rez versions of the photos were available, the airplanes don't seem to have any identifiable markings.

[snj-5]

Black Sheep Squadron actor Robert Conrad (correctly) referred to the DC-3/C-47 as an R4D and/or Gooney Bird, and also used the correct name for the SNJ in the (1?) episode where he gets jumped by "Zeros" while taking Sarge (Red West) for a flight in the squadron's "hack" SNJ.

[Mark Allen M]

Pool quite evident ...

[wendovertom]

Wow - when was that second photo taken Mark? It looks to be quite some time ago but a great shot!

Tom P.