Carrier planes

[TAMMY]

I have a echnial question for gamung purpose. How the carrier planes werw able to find their own carrier on the open sea and moving.

[michaelw43]

Hi Tammy,
In WWII a US Navy carrier pilot was returning from his mission. His carrier was one of about six in the same task group, all Casablanca class; they all looked exactly alike. He radioed his home ship on its assigned frequency and said, "Rub a dub dub, where is my tub?" The carrier's radioman shot back, "Hey diddle diddle, we're in the middle!" LOL
Michael D. Waters

[piersyf]

A reasonable post for USN flyers
http://www.ww2f.com/topic/21346-carrier ... hey-do-it/

Don't forget FAA aircraft commonly carried navigators even for their fighters (Firefly), and many also had pretty short ranges/air time. Consider a long patrol for a fighter (single crew, no navigator) as 4 hours; you fly a set search pattern and even at full speed a carrier is only going to move about 120 miles. Considering you can see a carrier in good weather from over 20 miles you only need to be competent, not brilliant. The major issue was disorientation because the sea all looks the same. At that point basic navigation by the sun is useful to know. In bad weather you use instrument flying, which all pilots need to know. The only real difference between land and sea is that the carrier moves, and during briefing you are given the intended track of the carrier (course and speed).

All would have had radio beacons, but almost certainly would be LOS only.