Us WWII Carrier Deck

[Guest]

As my Hellcat runs it's chubby little body nearer to the finish line, my thoughts naturally turn to my 'Scenic Base'. However my thoughts are blocked by the fact I cannot find a good colour reference of what a US 1944/5 Carrier flight deck looks like.

I have a great model of a Japanese Carrier of the period which appears to have a pale, beige coloured wooden deck, (Tamiya XF55 Deck Tan?). However, the mono shots of USS Princeton I have found show a dark deck

Did the US ships have a similar deck or did they have steel decks and whatever it is, what colour would it be? The aircraft is "White 7, Paper Doll' flown by Lt Carl A Brown JR from USS Princeton Oct 24 1944, the very day she was lost as far as I can ascertain.

Edit: While searching I have found a picture of the Japanese carrier that also looks as though it has a dark, but obviously planked deck. In a picture of the Princeton after a huge internal explosion, the deck looks buckled and twisted hinting at a steel deck. However, a reference to a Dragon Model of the Princeton states it has a wooden deck but the hanger deck plates are over done. Confused, you bet I am.

[Guest]

Graham will this help ShipCamouflage.com - Adoption of Blue Flight Deck Stain

Tony

[Guest]

Graham, The Tamiya magazine Issue 170 December 2009 featured a modeller who did a Corsair crash landed on the deck of an aircraft carrier sitting on its prop, and included a detailed description of how he did the deck. I can copy this for you, but perhaps you can tell me how to send it as I am not sure about infringing copyright. Cheers Derek

[Guest]

Thanks Tony, that is a great article and the blue stain would explain why it looks so dark in theB&W pictures. I will study that with interest.

Derek, If it is a single page and you have a scanner then it could be scanned as a picture but it would be big to email. There has to be consideration of copyright and by publishing the article, such as on a forum, you could probably be infringing it. I am not sure how it stands for copying a section for reverence. I know that with books, there is a limited percentage that can be copied for your own reference, by passing that onto someone else, I am not sure how that would figure.

So, to be safe and proper, I have located the issue and ordered a back copy. Thanks for the info. The cover pic looks like bare wood planking doesn't it. Be interested to see how it was done. Quite like the Tamiya Mag.

[spanner570]

Unlike British carriers which had armoured decks, the U.S. carriers were wooden. Which is why so many were badly damaged, and indeed sunk by Kamikazi attacks

So the American deck timbers would be a light brown due to the bleaching effect of the Pacific sun and the salt water.

That's my take on it after reading many a book on the Pacific Theater during WW2. However, if folks know different so be it.

Cheers,

Ron

[PJP]

Ron is correct.

My past reading has the American carriers with a wooden deck.

Only later in the war after a number of sinkings did they take the hint and start to build with steel.

Hope it helps.

Peter

[Guest]

Thanks everyone for the help. It is what makes this forum great. Always good people like yourselves ready to pass on their knowledge. Thanks again.

[stona]

They were wooden but I remember reading about a blue colour somewhere. I bet White Ensign would do it. Naval thinking of the time reckoned that carriers operating in the wide expanse of the Pacific ocean,as the U.S. ones did, would be unlikely to be shelled by other war ships. The Royal Navy, operating in more restricted waters, didn't buy into this and had armoured decks. Unfortunately both navies failed to take the likelihood of air attack seriously enough,whether conventional or Kamikaze, with disastrous results,not just for their carriers.

Aircraft sink ships,and still do. Anyone for an Exocet?

On a lighter note when you said someone had done a diorama of an aircraft on its prop I bet it wasn't like this one!!!

Cheers

Steve

Edit: Just found an article by John Snyder of WEM fame. Until early '45 the deck would be planked and finished in "flight deck stain 21",a tan colour which is indeed made by White Ensign as Colourcoat US-11. The 20-B "deck blue" stain superceded this during 1945.

Steve

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[Guest]

The article is very good with some good photos of the deck which is wooden. Cheers Derek

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[Guest]

Interesting. So if the blue came in in 1945 and Princeton sadly went down in 1944, then the deck tan it would be. Excellent info yet again guys.