Carrier Planes and Carriers of WWII

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Well there is a tank on the subject so I'm creating one dealing with Carrier Warfare.

Well My grandpa Jerry served in the U.S. Navy as CPO (E-07) abroad U.S.S. Franklin (CV-13) and worked on the following planes

F6F Grumman Hellcat


F4U Vought Corsair (Notable the Black Sheep Squadron Planes to be exacted)


TBF Grumman Avenger


SB2C Curtiss Helldiver

Nice planes, I want to get my pilots license and fly one of those some day.

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I liked the Tank thread, and knew someone was going to discuss the WWII Pacific area.
JerryHatake I read about the Franklin and other Carriers, and your grandfather was a brave man. My great uncle was in the Army in the Pacific, and my Step-Mothers' Father almost was placed on the Roosevelt coming home after the war. I think the Essex Class Carrier were the best at the time.
I also went to church with someone who served on the Hornet. I remember tour the Lexington(CV-16) , and instantly had a fondness for them.

The Franklin was involved in late the Marianas Campiagn with the invasion and retaking of Guam then in the Peleliu operations and later in the Leyte operation and fought in the last great naval battle, the Battle for Leyte Gulf. It was the only U.S. Carrier during to be close to mainland Japan (50 miles from it).

Look at Japanese Navy of WWII. Yes they developed good carrier plane tactics but they lose their veteran pilots by keeping them on active instead of what we did with veteran pilots was sent them back state-side and train more pilots. The Zero was a formidable foe for our earlier carrier planes (F4F with Thatch Weave put up a fight against Zeros). Still the Hellcat with 5000 combat kills in the Pacific alone with a few in the European Theater.

Hey Jerry, what time frame was your grandpa on the Franklin?

Mr Wally served on CV-12.I would also like to see the Intrepid, Yorktown one day.
The Zero was a very good plane,yet the P-51 Mustang was better. The Wildcat, Hell cat were also good planes for their time.

JerryHatake what do you think was the best bombers carrier or non-carrier either side in the Pacific? Have you read any books on the subject?

I read books on the matter and based of the information SBD Dauntless was the best dive bomber in US Navy spite being replaced by the Beast. Torpedo Bombers in the US Navy goes to TBF Avenger because it was more updated then TBD-1 Devastor which meant its end at Midway. Land Based Air Bombers in the US Forces would be difficult to chose from because B-29 was quite effective by war's end. However, you had the B-26, B-25, and B-17 serving in the Pacific conflict. Even fighters were bomber like land based F4U's which was quite effective. On the Japanese side of the conflict, You had Kate, Val , Jill, Grace, and Judy which were good by Japanese standards. However, easy killing for US Fighter Groups. The Betty was the only effective bomber that the Japanese had as a land based bomber still not effective as US Bombers were. Plus Yamamoto was killed after being shoted down in a Betty by P-38 Lightings.

You know more than me. What about commanders? I admire Nimitz,Halsey of the Navy , and McArthur of the Army.