Does anyone know what type of markings Hornet had on her flight deck at the Battle of Midway? All I know for sure is that the deck was stained blue. I’ve seen many photos of various completed models which show just the two closely-spaced white stripes painted on the deck for the Doolittle raid. To me, those would seem impractical for normal operations and I think they must have been painted out after the raid. Anybody have any data on this?
TIA,
Paul
Here’s the only photo I can find of Hornet’s flight deck after Midway…
This was Santa Cruz at the time of her loss, almost 5 months after Midway. I can’t make out any flight deck lines at all, but if you look closely at the photo, you can make out the individual deck planking lines…your guess is as good as mine.
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff. I’ve seen that photo before and scrutinized it for details, but you’re right - can’t see much of anything in the way of markings. I appreciate your response; maybe somebody else will chime in with some more info.
Paul
It looks to me that there might be markings around the aft elevator, but that could just be a difference in the sheen of the stain/paint due to the metal surround.
It’s hard to tell on the early war carriers. I swore up and down for years that the Yorktown had no deck markings at Midway. The just don’t show up in any of the photos. But when the F4F DVD came out last year, there’s footage of Cheek’s F4F landing onboard during Midway and flipping onto its back. And I’ll be damned if you can’t see white dashed line markings in that close-up footage of the deck. Too small to show up in photos (some even closer than the one you’ve posted above).
I’d guess that there was probably something there, but couldn’t say what. I agree that the Doolittle lines should have been painted out by then, or at the very least worn away.
Devin