Hi all,

I need some help. I want to detail the interior hanger deck of my Yorktown build but have come up empty on reference material. I have the Essex plans from the Floating Drydock, the Essex Class Carriers book by Alan Roberts, and the Anatomy of the Ship Intrepid (paperback version). None provide a great deal of information about the hanger deck or show where doors/stairwells are.

Does anyone have or know of another reference source that can provide that detail?


Thanks

Dave

Dave I don't know if this will help but have you TRIED this photo DVDs from Still Motion?

I have a couple on the Nimitz and Soviet/Russian ships and they do show some interesting images, the Nimitz disc includes lots of hanger photos. You may try emailing him first and ask if that Essex class disc includes any hanger photos.

Luciano,

I have not tried that. Thanks for the information. I will contact him and find out.

Dave

You might try Tracy White: [email protected] Tracy has been researching Essex Class Carriers in the National Archives for several years now, and has many links to photos. His Kitmaker user name is TracyWhite. Tracy and I have compared notes regarding the Essex, as my father was an Aviation Metalsmith on her from her commissioning until April 1944. I can only relate what he told me about the maintenance spaces and lockers on the hanger deck-- the metal working facilities were on the Port Aft quarter Hanger Deck on the other side of the bulkhead for the 5" mounts-- his battle station. There was a complete metal workshop there with heat treating ovens, freezers (for tempering) and a complete machine shop.
VR, Russ

Dave,

Here is a link to Tracy's site.
http://researcheratlarge.com/Ships/

That is a great site!
I found a wonderful side view blueprint of the Arizona I am going to add to my son's display

Hi Dave,
The Yorktown II is docked at Patriot's Point, in Charleston South Carolina. (The first Yorktown was sunk during the Midway battle.) I would recommend you contact the naval museum folks there to see if they could help. They have lots of photos and videos that may be of help to you. I've toured the ship many times. If anyone gets the chance you need to go. Plan to be there all day as they have several ships, including a US submarine, and a lot of Vietnam era displays including a PBR.
HTH
John

@ Harry - Thanks for the resource information, it is a great page with a lot of good information. I will contact Tracy and see if he come across pictures or plans of the hanger deck.

@ John - Its funny you mention the Yorktown at Patriot's Point. I was there less than a year ago and it did not occur to me to take pictures of the interior hanger deck. It is a great place to visit. I need to look for the pictures that I took but I am pretty confident that I did not take a whole lot of the interior hanger walls.

I must have missed the PBR, but then again near the end my then 8 year old was itching to leave.

Dave

Hi David,

My hard back copy of the Intrepid work includes deck planforms, and the hatchways and ladder wells are all there. Also, there is a wonderful isometric drawing of the entire hangar deck in Section E that shows hatches and vertical ladders along the entire starboard side as well.

--Karl

Karl,

Thanks for the detailed description, it reinforces my decision to buy the hardback version. I have a copy of that book on its way.

Hopefully it will be here soon.

Dave

David - not sure if you emailed me yet but I didn't find anything. Not sure of your email account so apologies if you did send something and it got into my spam filter.

Hardbound AOTS Intrepid is indeed your best bet at this point. I've got "tons" of digital photos scanned in of the Essex class at this point, but very, very few of them are in the hangar bay. They just weren't as "cool" as the flight deck so most photographers flat-out skipped them unless there was a big event with lots of sailors in view to hide all those details we love to see. I still don't have a good shot of the ammo chutes for the forward 5"/38 dual mounts, for example.

One comment on the AOTS Intrepid book plans - they're not dated but include the hangar catapult. This means they are early in the ship's WWII service, which explains why the stairways from the hangar deck to outside doors are labelled "open to hangar" (Look for #9 on plans A7/1 & A7/2 on pages 42 & 43 and #4 on the next set of pages). Those were ordered enclosed in mid 1943 and this enclosure was referred to as a light labyrinths or light lockers. They essentially just wrapped light sheet metal around an inclined stairway to enclose it and trape light. Note that the memo orders flat black paint used for 20' around the lower opening, but I've never seen a photo clear or far enough back to demonstrate if it was circular or square.

Best pictures I have so far are from damage reports, specifically CV-13 Franklin and CV-14 Ticonderoga's Kamikaze hits:

Franklin:
3996-44
4006-44
4011-44
4014-44

Ticonderoga:
932-45 (Lower right hand corner, the rectanngle next to the 20mm ammo boxes is the opening)

If you want to busy up your Yorktown, I'd pay attention to the plans. Not all of the vertical supports that are shown in the plans are present in the Trumpeter/Dragon kits. There were also horizontal stiffeners in between that you can make out in some of the light locker photos. Note that a couple of the roller doors had bits inboard - you can see one here on CV-9 Essex's Navsource page. The black band around the top of the elevator well was so that they could drop the elevator enough at night to allow air flow and run engines up early morning.

Tracy,

I apologize, I have not had the chance to send an email. I greatly appreciate the information you have provided. It gives me more to work with than I have had up to this point. My AOTS Intrepid should arrive soon, if not this week then when I get back from Alaska next week.

My hat is off to you and the excellent research you have collected on the Essex class carriers. I will be following along as you continue to build the data base. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist.

Dave

Just enjoy the build and post pictures. The more people are interested in the class, the more value continued efforts on my (and others) part has!

Tracy,

Its a deal!!!

Dave