I managed to mess up my math. Midway was 127 feet longer than the Tripoli when it was first commissioned. the Essex class carriers were about 20 feet shorter. The pilots who flew from WW II light carriers were fond of saying “which runway do you want me to use’ when landing on one of the CV’s.
“The pilots who flew from WW II light carriers were fond of saying “which runway do you want me to use’ when landing on one of the CV’s.”
Too funny! I tell you, those guys had some ice water in their veins.
So did the US Army crews who flew the B-25s off the Hornet in Doolittle’s raid on Japan in April, 1942. To me, that was one of the ballsiest operations of WWII. Heroes, each and every one of them.