If you've watched enough documentaries on the subject of naval aviation you may believe you've seen all the contemporary footage that exists -- those old, slow-motion shots of biplanes careering clumsily down the deck on landing, rearing up, losing a tire, tipping over gently onto the nose. But the people who have put together this program, which combines modern flight training with the evolution of naval air, have dug up early footage that's entirely new, at least to me.
Seven years after the Wright brothers, the first take-off from the half-sized, downward-sloping flight deck of an American cruiser, in slow motion, the undercarriage grazing the sea before the flimsy craft acquires flight speed; one of the earliest landings, with the airplane pulled to a halt by sandbags. The pilot who pulled off these stunts was dressed in a business suit with a couple of bicycle inner tubes wrapped around his torso for flotation, wearing a leather football helmet.
You'll learn about the American military's gradually growing interest in the field, which had been no more than popular entertainment, and its subsequent stagnation in America while Europe took over the lead. The first dedicated aircraft carrier, built from the keel up to be nothing else, was completed by Japan. (Not much discussion of naval air in other nations.) In the late 20, America launched it first two carriers, the Saratoga and the Lexington, both to be lost during World War II. The U.S. Navy also developed perforce the tactic of dive bombing because, after all, how else can you possibly hit a speeding, twisting ship at sea? In 1932 the Navy staged fleet exercises involving surface ships and carriers. The exercise was a fake attack from the sea on Pearl Harbor. Unprotected by any battle line or escorts, the two carriers launched their airplanes and "demolished" the target, but it wasn't enough to convince the old Battleship Types that a new kind of warfare was at hand. They still envisioned two lines of capital ships slugging it out. The Japanese paid more attention than the Admirals.
The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 forced the U.S. to concentrate development on the air arm. A few months later the three American carriers fought the Japanese four and won a celebrated victory, due largely to our having broken the Japanese naval code. We learn about the loss of almost all our torpedo bombers who failed to score a single hit but, as usual, the full sense of the initial failure of Midway to protect itself is omitted. High-level Flying Fortresses bombed the Japanese fleet. (No hits.) The fleet was attacked by B-26 medium bombers. (No hits.) Even a PBY managed to launch a torpedo, which missed. There is no detailed analysis of this or any other engagement because there just isn't time.
A parallel story traces the training of Navy and Marine pilots in carrier operations, from beginning to apotheosis. We learn two things: It's a tough program, and the aircraft carrier is now called a "boat."
