Carrier Flight Deck

[Pips]

Amazing how flight deck activity draws such attention. Really quite surprised that so many guys have so little to do they can stand around watching what's going on. Admittedly I know I would be one!

[Plain Old Dave]

Note the wheel chocks on the F6F. That pic ain't during Flight Quarters. Having spent 3+ years on a CVN, I can tell you that on a "no-fly day" as we called them there would be a LOT of people topside to get fresh air. Working 12 and 12s at sea, you really just want to go relax after watch and there's not a lot of topside on a CV that isn't flight deck.

[JamesL]

Just a reminder that a lot of guys above decks, the 'deck apes', were unskilled labor. Mainly anti-aircraft gunners. They didn't have much to do except in battle.

Then you have the highly skilled people below decks such as the 'black gang'. They were too busy doing their job to lollygag around.

[CharlesRollinsWare]

Gang;

Actually, it is very likely that they are "warming up" ...

Aircraft (especially those with radial engines) were frequently started up and then run until the desired temperature was reached, then shut down. Especially in a "hot climate" the engine actually heated up more for a bit, then remained warm for quite a while - during which time the fuel tanks were topped off so that the amount of "on board fuel" was at the maximum possible level at take off. Engine re-start would take place just before the launch was to begin or, if the launch was significantly delayed, when the engine temperature sank low enough that it again needed to be "warmed up".

Mark

[Takao]

Well, that is the F6F of the USS Yorktown's CAG Lieutenant Commander James H. Flatley, so anything is a possibility, although the engines are not running at this point. And given the oft listed date of August, 1943, and this photo is usually identified as waiting for the launch to begin the Raid on Marcus Island, August 31, 1943.

For a little more detail(this photo is not near as dark as the one posted), see here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... g_1943.jpg
and another from the same set: http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/021049.jpg