WI Phillips uses his Shagbats?

Hi riggerbob

Is that what they did in practice, or are you suggesting an answer to the risk ships were at while recovering a seaplane?
USN procedure

For that operation, "Portland" would steam 30 to 60 degrees off the wind line at 12 knots, raising the "CAST" flag (now called "CHARLIE") halfway up the halyard. The CAST flag informed the seaplane pilot that the ship was about to commence a turn through the wind line for the purpose of recovery.

The pilot then flew the airplane at 500 feet altitude abeam of the ship, that is to say, at a 90 degree angle from the ship's heading, either port or starboard. At that point the flag was "two-blocked", or raised to the top of the halyard, and the ship commenced its turn across the wind line to create a relatively smooth landing "slick" on the surface of the water for either a port or a starboard recovery.
SOCrecoveryonmat.jpg

The Curtiss SOC seaplane hooks on to the "sled" or recovery mat in preparation for being hoisted on board. Note the flags marking the front edges of the "sled".
The pilot would synchronize his final approach with this maneuver; making a wide left turn; gradually letting down with full flaps; and setting his plane down in the slick as close as possible to the ship. He would then taxi the plane forward until a hook on the underside of his main float snagged the webbing of the "sled", which resembled a cargo net, being trailed from a boom on the ship.

The pilot would then turn off the ignition and stop the engine as the crane operator on the ship lowered a hook. At this point, the radioman/gunner would climb forward from the after cockpit and stand upright over the pilot in order to grasp the crane's hook. The pilot would hold on to the radioman/gunner's ankles to prevent him from falling off the aircraft which would now be swaying back and forth in the wind. After the radioman/gunner slipped a steel loop from the upper wing of the aircraft over a hook lowered by the ship's aircraft-handling crane, the seaplane was hoisted aboard ship and secured to the catapult amidship.http://www.pacificwar.org.au/Midway/RalphWilhelm/SOCrecovery.html
 
exactly ZERO multi-engine aircraft in the entire Pacific.

Well, did have R4D, aka C-47 aka DC-3 in service, and the R2D, the DC-2 before that, starting in 1935.
But there wasn't the thought of having a long range torpedo plane, at all.
 

CalBear

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Well, did have R4D, aka C-47 aka DC-3 in service, and the R2D, the DC-2 before that, starting in 1935.
But there wasn't the thought of having a long range torpedo plane, at all.
Not in the Pacific. The first R4D didn't get to the Navy until 1942. The USN/USMC only purchased a total of 5 R2D, as far as I can find none of them were in the Pacific before December 7th.

R4D-1: The 101 DC-3A-360's were ordered in three different groups; 30 were ordered directly by the USN on16 September 1940, followed by an order for 33 more; these were delivered between February and October 1942. The next 34 were ordered by the USAAF as C-47-DLs and transferred to the USN between November 1942 and February 1943. The last aircraft was transferred from the Royal Air Force (RAF) to the USN in March 1946 for service with the U.S. Naval Attache in London, England. These aircraft, built at the Douglas Long Beach, California plant and powered by two 1,200 hp (894.8 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 engines, were cargo and passenger transports with a large cargo doors, on the port (left) side of the fuselage aft of the wing, a reinforced metal floor with tie-down fittings and a 12-volt electrical system. The cargo doors consisted of two large panels, the forward portion incorporating a standard passenger door; the dimensions of the cargo openings were 7 feet inch (2.146 meters) wide and 5 feet 10 inches (1.791 meters) high at the front and 4 feet 7 inches (1.41 meters) high at the rear. The interior had wooden seats folding against the sides of the cabin for 28-fully-armed paratroopers and fittings for 18-stretchers and a medical crew of three. The aircraft also had a glider-towing cleat in the tail. All were struck from the inventory by December 1949.
http://www.microworks.net/pacific/aviation/r4d_gooneybird.htm

The USAAC had three Transport Wings with C-47 on the West Coast (1 at Pendelton Field in Oregon, the other two at March & Hamilton Fields in Northern California) There was also the 50 Transport Wing at McClellan with C-39s (sort of a bastard mash up of the DC-2 & DC-3) along with another Wing at Hill Field in Utah. None of the aircraft were in Hawaii or elsewhere in the Pacific Theater.
 

CalBear

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USN procedure

For that operation, "Portland" would steam 30 to 60 degrees off the wind line at 12 knots, raising the "CAST" flag (now called "CHARLIE") halfway up the halyard. The CAST flag informed the seaplane pilot that the ship was about to commence a turn through the wind line for the purpose of recovery.

The pilot then flew the airplane at 500 feet altitude abeam of the ship, that is to say, at a 90 degree angle from the ship's heading, either port or starboard. At that point the flag was "two-blocked", or raised to the top of the halyard, and the ship commenced its turn across the wind line to create a relatively smooth landing "slick" on the surface of the water for either a port or a starboard recovery.
SOCrecoveryonmat.jpg

The Curtiss SOC seaplane hooks on to the "sled" or recovery mat in preparation for being hoisted on board. Note the flags marking the front edges of the "sled".
The pilot would synchronize his final approach with this maneuver; making a wide left turn; gradually letting down with full flaps; and setting his plane down in the slick as close as possible to the ship. He would then taxi the plane forward until a hook on the underside of his main float snagged the webbing of the "sled", which resembled a cargo net, being trailed from a boom on the ship.

The pilot would then turn off the ignition and stop the engine as the crane operator on the ship lowered a hook. At this point, the radioman/gunner would climb forward from the after cockpit and stand upright over the pilot in order to grasp the crane's hook. The pilot would hold on to the radioman/gunner's ankles to prevent him from falling off the aircraft which would now be swaying back and forth in the wind. After the radioman/gunner slipped a steel loop from the upper wing of the aircraft over a hook lowered by the ship's aircraft-handling crane, the seaplane was hoisted aboard ship and secured to the catapult amidship.http://www.pacificwar.org.au/Midway/RalphWilhelm/SOCrecovery.html


Got to love that recovery process. Enlisted man climbs up onto the fuselage, straddles the pilot's canopy, while the officer holds his ankles to keep the chop from bucking the poor EM into the sea.
 
Not in the Pacific. The first R4D didn't get to the Navy until 1942. The USN/USMC only purchased a total of 5 R2D, as far as I can find none of them were in the Pacific before December 7th.

The Corps had its R3D-2s by mid-1941 and placed two each in VMJ-252 and 152, respectively located in Hawaii and Quantico. One of the old R2D-1s remained in service at the air station in San Diego.

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003147-00/sec6.htm
Another R2D seems to have crashed near San Diego in Jan. 1941
Does West Coast count for Pacific?
 

CalBear

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You might also find some Douglas DC-5/R3Ds in the Pacific, both USMC and KLM. Just a few. A KLM example was captured by Japanese forces, and an R5D2 was shot down by a submarine off Australia, Feb/1942. 2 R5Ds were on Ford Island, that day, and survived.
 
USN procedure

For that operation, "Portland" would steam 30 to 60 degrees off the wind line at 12 knots, raising the "CAST" flag (now called "CHARLIE") halfway up the halyard. The CAST flag informed the seaplane pilot that the ship was about to commence a turn through the wind line for the purpose of recovery.

The pilot then flew the airplane at 500 feet altitude abeam of the ship, that is to say, at a 90 degree angle from the ship's heading, either port or starboard. At that point the flag was "two-blocked", or raised to the top of the halyard, and the ship commenced its turn across the wind line to create a relatively smooth landing "slick" on the surface of the water for either a port or a starboard recovery.
SOCrecoveryonmat.jpg

The Curtiss SOC seaplane hooks on to the "sled" or recovery mat in preparation for being hoisted on board. Note the flags marking the front edges of the "sled".
The pilot would synchronize his final approach with this maneuver; making a wide left turn; gradually letting down with full flaps; and setting his plane down in the slick as close as possible to the ship. He would then taxi the plane forward until a hook on the underside of his main float snagged the webbing of the "sled", which resembled a cargo net, being trailed from a boom on the ship.

The pilot would then turn off the ignition and stop the engine as the crane operator on the ship lowered a hook. At this point, the radioman/gunner would climb forward from the after cockpit and stand upright over the pilot in order to grasp the crane's hook. The pilot would hold on to the radioman/gunner's ankles to prevent him from falling off the aircraft which would now be swaying back and forth in the wind. After the radioman/gunner slipped a steel loop from the upper wing of the aircraft over a hook lowered by the ship's aircraft-handling crane, the seaplane was hoisted aboard ship and secured to the catapult amidship.http://www.pacificwar.org.au/Midway/RalphWilhelm/SOCrecovery.html

Thanks marathag

superb post, which does kind of suggest your pretty unlucky to be caught, while recovering a seaplane, by a submarine. On balance launching the plane is a sound tactic, only weather or immediate action would override it. Even better if its an escorting cruiser, and not a battleship doing it.
 
Got to love that recovery process. Enlisted man climbs up onto the fuselage, straddles the pilot's canopy, while the officer holds his ankles to keep the chop from bucking the poor EM into the sea.

Almost as awesome as the WWI ASW tactic of a guy climbing out on the nose of a seaplane and firing at a submarine with a recoilless rifle.
 
WI Phillips had kept his ships well back and instead used his aircraft to search up the coast for IJN landing ships?

Ironically, he did launch a Walrus off POW, on the 10th at 07.18, once he had given up trying to catch the invasion transports. It flew to Kuantan and checked out the report of possible enemy invasion ships there. Phillips didn't believe that and diverted his ships towards Kuantan, thereby being missed by the Japanese naval bombers sent out to attack him. They only found him on their return leg back home, otherwise the action would have happened earlier on Phillips original course returning to Singapore.
 
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