Fliger747 wrote:
Chuck:
Perhaps it was you, or someone else that posted a photo of such boat on this thread, I think the Motor mech's were doing some engine work on it. However looking at the profile of the dolly, it might well be for the observation planes. Such a dolly was used when the ship might be carrying a spare or two. Alaska carried four planes and the dolly's were used to wheel them into the hangars. The cradle on the catapult was not removable as it was connected to the piston and a different piece of equipment.
I love to look at large glossies such as the Navy would produce in the ships photo lab because of the great detail that can be seen under magnification. I used to do a lot of air photo interpretation and there is a lot to be seen in a good image!
Regards: Tom
Hi, Tom. The 33 foot boat sat on a dolly different from aircraft dollies. It is much larger, and had boat chocks on it.
The best I can tell, the cradle on the catapult is removable. There are photos where the catapults are bare, the cradle is not there on the catapult.
The Missouri had at least 2 aircraft handling dollies with caster wheels for rolling around on deck. There is a photo showing the Missouri with 1 King Fisher on cradle on each catapult, a third kingfisher on a handling dolly on deck, and another handling dolly sitting empty next to 1st dolly.
The deck handling dolly can also fit on the track on the catapult. When secured this way the caster wheels hang off the side of the catapults. There are several photos of Iowa class ships showing 2 king fishers or sea hawks were double parked on the same catapult. The aircraft in the front is secured to a handling dolly, which is secured to the catapult. The aircraft in the back is secured to a launch cradle. The photos appear to show the dolly can actually be secured to several different points along the length of the catapult, because the front aircraft is actually seen in different locations on the catapult.
There are photos actually showing 3 aircraft triple parked on the catapult on top of USS Texas’s midship turret.
I am not sure if the handling dollies can be used as a launch cradle as well.