7-18-2014: Great Lakes Training

[xoxoxoBruce]

I received an email with a story I'd never heard before...

The Great Lakes provided vital support for the war effort in WWII, from building 28 fleet subs in Manitowoc to providing the bulk of US industrial output, we could not have won the war if not for the benefits of the Great Lakes and their related industry.

Well maybe, that's a pretty strong claim, but I have visited the submarine museum at Manitowoc.

However there was another benefit of the lakes that is often overlooked. Japan quickly lost the war because, among many other things, its navy could not replace its carrier pilot losses. We could. But how did we train so many pilots in both comfort (calm seas) and safety (no enemy subs)? We took two old side-wheel Great Lakes passenger steamers and turned them into training carriers on Lake Michigan!

Well I'll be damned..

Never heard of this before...

Virtually every carrier pilot trained in the war got his landing training on these amazing ships! Sadly nothing, but these great photos and the wrecks of the aircraft that ditched alongside them, remain to tell their fascinating story!

This link to Warbird Info Exchange has a lot of pictures and more information.