Back before World War II broke off for the U.S. Navy, carrier airgroups were very logically laid out and, very colorful. Before 1941, the Navy had just eight carriers.
*The original Langley (CV-1), converted from a collier and relegated to seaplane tender duties in 1937.
*The Lexington and Saratoga (CV-2 and CV-3), converted from canceled battle cruiser hulls after WWI.
*Ranger (CV-4), the country’s first purpose-built carrier
*The three new 25,000-ton fleet carriers, Yorktown, Enterprise, and Hornet (CV-5, CV-6, CV-8) respectively
*And the budget 19,000-ton USS Wasp (CV-7).
To keep the squadrons of aircraft assigned to these carriers organized, they were established into carrier air groups whose squadrons were typically named after the flattop’s hull number. For instance, the Enterprise Air Group, (later Carrier Air Wing 6, only decommissioned on 1 April 1993) included “Fighter Six” VF-6 (a fighter squadron made up of F3F-2 & 3 aircraft), “Bomber Six” VB-6 (a squadron made up of BT-1 dive bombers), “Scouting Six” VS-6 (a scout plane group equipped with SBC-3 Helldivers), “Torpedo Six” VT-6 (armed with TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bombers), as well as an Air Group Commander (flying a SBC-4), and some utility aircraft.
These air-groups had distinctive markings for their craft, which not only made it easy to tell which group and squadron it was in, but also the formation, and individual USN Bureau number (serial number) for the plane.
For example:
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The image above is from LIFE magazine (Hattip D Shelly), 1938. It is of a SBC-3 Helldiver scout bomber getting ready for takeoff from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) during maneuvers off the coast of Hawaii in September 1940. It is from Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6).
This plane, bureau number 0542, was soon pulled from front line service (as were the rest of the cumbersome Helldivers). This airframe was kept around until 1944 as a trainer.
The blue tail indicates this aircraft is from the USS Enterprise. The red chevron on the top of the wing and the bottom of the cowling are the colors of the first section, made up of three aircraft, out of six sections in a squadron. The cowling being painted only on the bottom indicates this is aircraft number three, which would fly on the left-wing of the section leader when in a “V’ formation. It’s number, which you cannot see, would be “6-S-3″ for Sixth Carrier Group, Scouting Squadron, aircraft #3
Also, the rear observer looks exceptionally non-plussed.
Incidentally, the Curtiss SBC-3 Helldiver, built in 1935, was obsolete as soon as it left the factory. While it would have been useful over the skies of France in WWI, any fighter of its day could have cleaned its clock. In fact, it was the last bi-plane built for the US Navy and Marine Corps. Slow (230 kts) and not very maneuverable, the plane had a short 150-200 nm radius of action as a scout plane and was pitifully armed with just two 30.06 caliber M1919 light machine guns (one forward and one rearward). It could, however, carry a half ton of dumb bombs.
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Here we see a Northrop BT-1 dive bomber of Enterprise’s ‘Bombing Six’ squadron, BuNo 0681. This one, according to the plane, from the “6-B-10″ you can see its the Sixth Carrier Group, Bomber, 10th aircraft.
These BT-1’s were even worse than the Helldivers. Although colorful and at least a mono-plane, they had exceptionally bad low-speed maneuverability, which made them about the worst choice for a carrier aircraft in the world. The Navy accepted just 56 of these troubled planes. They were soon replaced by the much more effective Dauntless SBD in 1940.
These planes, however did appear in the 1941 film Dive Bomber, with Errol Flynn. Apparently the footage was already ‘in the can.’
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Here we see a beautiful formation of Douglas TBD-1 Devastators of “Torpedo Six” from USS Enterprise off Hawaii for battle fleet exercises. The TBD-1 was a new plane, entering service in 1937. While just 130 were built, they made up the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s torpedo bomber program in the first part of WWII. The thing is, as one aviation writer termed it, they were Not-so-Devastating. Barely able to keep above 130 kts when armed with a usually non-functioning Mark 13 torpedo, these planes had an effective radius of action of just 200 miles. Some 41 Devastators are famous for their suicidal attack on the Japanese fleet during the Battle of Midway in 1942, which caused no damage to the Emperor’s forces. Not a single TBD-1 survives to this day although the location of five wrecked ones are known.
Here we have a (more than 50% replicated) Grumman F3F Flying Barrel, N20FG (1938 built Grumman F3F-2 Model BuNo 1033) that is owned by Chino Warbirds of Carlsbad, California, in a photo by Richard Seaman taken at the 2008 Planes of Fame Airshow. The plane is marked in the same paint scheme as the Enterprise group’s “Fighting Six” VF-6 squadron. Just 137 of these chubby fighters were produced, and soon were replaced by the F4F Wildcat. These chunks had a single .30 caliber machine gun and a single .50 caliber gun, and, while maneuverable, could only make 260 kts at best possible speed.
It would have been suicidal going up against a Zero in one of these. Gratefully, they spent WWII in training and utility duties.
As an homage to the Enterprise Group, here we see a US Navy T-39 Saberliner painted in the same scheme as the Enterprise‘s 1938 Strike Group as a retro throwback during the 2011 Centennial of Naval Aviation. The Saberliner, used by the Navy since 1962 in a number of variants for expedited cargo delivery, RIO, undergraduate flight officer and bombardier/navigator training, has been retired this year. This plane, BuNo. 165523 formerly of VT-86 aboard NAS Pensacola, was delivered to the AMRAC boneyard 22 May of this year– still in its distinctive scheme. As such, it is the only plane painted in the colors of the USS Enterprise’s pre-WWII Carrier Six group currently in the military’s inventory.
To all, salute.
