Professional reading. - 'An Illustrated History of World War II Aircraft' - book review

0 Comments | Naval Aviation News, Jan-Feb, 2003 | by Peter B. Mersky

Freeman devotes several pages to describing the arrival of old bombs a few days before the fire, delivered by the ammunition ship Diamond Head (AE 19). It is difficult to determine the veracity of whether these supposedly preWW II bombs were actually there. According to his running account, the carrier's ammunition officer--whom he never names and interchangeably calls a Sailor, then officer--becomes incensed when he discovers that these old bombs are in crates with what appear to be manufacture dates in 1935. It is these bombs, loaded on several A-4s, that quickly drop off and explode after the initial flare-up started by the inadvertent firing of a Zuni rocket from an F-4 across the flight deck--setting in motion the terrible sequence of events that took 134 lives. More likely, the "1935" was part of a lot number, and the senior ordnance officer might have mistaken it for a manufacture date. Also, no bomb in use at that time would have withstood the tremendous heat of the initial flare-up caused by the Zuni hit, and would have exploded just as quickly.

Finally, it is hard to believe, and probably impossible to prove, that such ancient ordnance was still in the system. Bombs that old were probably made by the Army and would not fit on Navy aircraft without massive modification, which would have been completely uneconomical and logistically wasteful. Yet, the author does quote several people who were there, even a "20-year-old" A-4 pilot. At this point, the days of teenage Naval Aviators, like George Bush or Don Engen, were long gone. Perhaps as a NAVCAD (Naval Cadet) he might have been 22 or 23 after nearly two years of flight training, but not 20. He would have had to begin flight training when he was 18! We meet this individual again later in the book, and I am confused as to whether he was indeed a pilot or perhaps a Sailor, which makes his age more plausible.

Among other errors: no carrier ever had three deck-edge elevators; the portly G4M "Betty" bomber is described as not only a fighter, but as "beautiful"; and, there's "night rats" for "midrats" and "ceiling" for "overhead." Two photos of Forrestal come from well outside the period in the book. The back cover shows A-7s on the flight deck, but Corsair ils didn't join a Forrestal air wing until nearly four years after the fire; and one of the interior photos plainly shows such late 1950s types as Cougars, Furies and Skyraiders. This writer desperately needed a knowledgeable editor.

When Freeman begins weaving individual stories of survival and accomplishment into the main narrative, he does well. The crew first thought the fire and subsequent explosions were the result of a major enemy attack by MiGs or by surface craft. Since they had been involved in combat operations for four days, the assumption was understandable. Soon, however, they realized that the danger was from a shipboard fire and turned to fight it.

The story is heroic, as young, terribly injured Sailors stand by their stations and try to overcome the tragedy unfolding around them. Even now, 35 years later, we feel proud of Forrestal's crew, the ship's company and air wing.