Aircraft Carrier: An RKO-Pathé Documentary
This Is America, a series of documentary shorts, released Aircraft Carrier, in April 19441. PeriscopeFilm put it up on YouTube, where I found it. It gives a glimpse into life on an unnamed Essex-class carrier during WWII. Note that this is not USS Franklin.
While watching the film, I learned a couple of minor but valuable tidbits. For example, I didn’t know that the ammunition was ferried up to the flight deck by hand and that each sailor carried 80 pounds. Nor ws I familiar with the lowering of the handrails or the hosing down of the anchor chain a it was weighed (but it makes perfect sense). I also found the footage showing the 5-inch turrets interesting, as one of the aft turrets blew up on Franklin. Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O’Callahan would be awarded the Medal of Honor, partly because he formed a chain of men to empty one of the forward turrets of its ammunition before it detonated.
Note that the editing, due to wartime security, did not show any identifying numbers on either the ship or any aircraft. One brief glimpse of an aircraft’s numbers led me to believe the ship might have been USS Wasp CV-18. I cannot confirm that. That film clip could have been from a different ship.
As domestic propaganda, the films deserve study along with such better known titles as John Huston’s Report from the Aleutians (1943), William Wyler’s Memphis Belle (1944), Huston’s The Battle of San Pietro (1944), or the Louis de Rochemont-Edward Steichen film, The Fighting Lady (1945).2
Aircraft Carrier pairs especially well with the Academy Award-winning documentary The Fighting Lady, also released that year. Both will interest those who enjoy naval history, especially that of the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO). To learn more about that documentary, read my blog post, Life Aboard An Essex-Class Carrier.
Did you arrive here via a search engine? I am the author of the forthcoming book Heroes By The Hundreds: The Story of the USS Franklin (CV-13). In addition to writing about the bravery of the crews that saved her, I will discuss the lessons we can learn in leadership and decision-making and the changes the US Navy made because of those lessons.
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-Glenn
