Aircraft carriers on Lake Michigan

[beecher]

Salute right back to you folks. I can't wait for the Turkey Day feast. Speaking of feasts, we took a boat trip to Cabbage Island, ME this summer. Wow! The lobster bake was absolutely delicious. I ate two. Now that was a feast!

I wish all of you and those sailing away from home a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Go Bucks & Browns too!

[Les Weston]

Thanks for the info.

[wlbblw]

That book's title is "Lake Michigan's Aircraft Carriers".

[Les Weston]

There is an Arcadia book out that covers the conversions. I do not know the title as I have disposed of my book collection.

Also, as an interesting side light, George H. W. Bush trained in one of them.

[Jared]

They also tested the Gato and Balo class subs in Lake Michigan. We found a few military planes in Lake Huron including a biplane with .38 cal guns on the nose.

[Timerover51]

Here is a link to a National Archives video showing take-offs and landing on board the Wolverine while underway in Lake Michigan.

https://archive.org/details/NPC-5074

[Paul A]

This exercise always captured my interest even though I lament the demise of these beautiful passenger steamers. But, I always appreciated the effort and really enjoy the linked photos in this thread.

Also, It's great to hear from Beecher again and I hope you're doing well! I very much miss your posts and humor my internet friend.
Cheers Paul

[shirlohio]

My brother-in-law, who is now 92 was with the Coast Guard during WWII and because the U-boats were attacking the U.S. east coast, his unit as well as others were sent to the Great Lakes for safety and training ~ and while there he was stationed aboard the William H. Donner, which I think is being used as a crane boat now.

Good evening, Beecher!

[wlbblw]

Very interesting pics. The shots shown at the docks were taken in Buffalo at the lakefront yard of American Shipbuilding where both ships were converted to carriers.

[standuffer]

Beecher...
Great to know you're still around and keeping an eye out. We sure do miss your river updates and pics. :D
Happy Holidays

[beecher]

Thanks for the link John Sherwin. Much appreciated! Dad was a Naval pilot. You prompted me to pull out his papers for a lookey see. He graduated from gunnery school in Jacksonville Fla and then went on to finish at Iowa pre-flight in march of 1945. He was from Saginaw and I never recall him talking about these carriers. Very neat though. He received his papers to go overseas when the war ended.

Great photos of the greatest generation! I could just hear his voice in my head talking all about it. He was a great man.

Thanks again.

[Guest]

Can you scan them and send them in to here? news@boatnerd.net

[Guest]

Hi Mike,
I tried to send an email to you about your father's photos, but the mail bounced back. Please contact me at jimjarecki at aol dot com.
Thanks,
Jim

[pcolachap]

I have some pictures of one of these vessels upbound in the St. Clair River. I'd be glad to donate them to a museum if someone would contact me about them. They were taken by my dad in the 40s. Mike
mgarveyatneodotcom

[John Sherwin]

Interesting part of Naval history. We could not have won WWII if not for the benefits of the Great Lakes, their related industrial production centers, steel, etc.
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 but we could.
But how did we train so many pilots in both comfort (calm seas) and safety (with 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!

Check these out: The USS Sable and The USS Wolverine.

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... =3&t=48962