Vlad wrote:
Is it therefore correct to show her in dazzle with the night fighter Hellcats and Avengers on deck e.g. training off Hawaii in late September or early October 1944?
You could probably "get away with that" but when she was based there she was essentially the training carrier "on call" for aircraft in the area in general. Examples from her October 1944 War Diary:
October 1 - "At 1330 Task Unit 19-4.2 Day Carrier Unit, U.S.S. Saratoga, Clark, Mitchell, separated and commenced day qualifications and refresher landings for pilots of air groups 3 and 81. Made 71 landings. 5 barrier crashes occurred without serious damage."
October 2 - "Conduction qualification and refresher landings for Air Groups 4, 81, 90, 82. 173 landings made. 4 minor crashes."
October 3 - "In the morning Air Group 4 simulated attack and landed aboard. In the afternoon Air Group 81 did same."
October 4 - "At 0830 Air Group 3 landed aboard after simulated attack and was launched at 1130. At 1330 Air Group VC 82 attacked, landed aboard, launched and landed and then was launched to provide combat patrol while VC 83 made simulated attack. VC 83 made two landings each."
She returned to Pearl the next day and stayed until the 12 and the next two days are of potential interest to the discussion:
October 12 - "At 1330 commenced refresher landings for pilots of Air Group 100. At 1630 gave day refresher to pilots of Air Group 80 that were to make night landings."
October 13 - "At 0430 commenced night qualifications for pilots of Air Group 80. At 0504 an SB2C-3 crashed into stack, overturned, and caught fire. No injury to crew but minor injury to three deck crewmen. Salvage operations consumed remaining darkness. At 0800 commenced day operations, refresher for Air Group 100 and pilots of Air Group 80 scheduled for night work."
So it might be a bit of a free-for-all. It's very possible/likely she trained with the night air group, but I don't have the time to go through all of her war diaries to confirm that or when at this point. I'd say "do it the way you want and dare them to prove you wrong."
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Tracy White -
Researcher@Large"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
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Barbara Tuchman