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were there any night carrier ops during ww11?
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The US Navy did do night ops in WWII including having several night air groups (NAGs), including NAG-90 on the USS Enterprise which was even designated CV(N)-6 as a 'night carrier' towards the end of the war. The main aircraft used during the war were night fighter and attack versions of the Hellcat, including F6F-3E/3N/5N, and the Avenger TBM-3/3E/3N.
Probably the heyday of night ops for Naval Aviation came during the Korean War though when Marine F7F Tigercats and F3D Skynights had several kills and Guy Bordelon became the only Navy ace of the war by shooting down 5 North Koreans intruders at night during the end of the war in the F4U-5N. They were predominantly landbased during that war though.
This is a book about NAG-90 while this one covers the whole history of night carrier ops.
Probably the heyday of night ops for Naval Aviation came during the Korean War though when Marine F7F Tigercats and F3D Skynights had several kills and Guy Bordelon became the only Navy ace of the war by shooting down 5 North Koreans intruders at night during the end of the war in the F4U-5N. They were predominantly landbased during that war though.
This is a book about NAG-90 while this one covers the whole history of night carrier ops.
Quite a famous incident involving unplanned night ops during the Battle of the Philippine Sea (second to last paragraph).
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwari1/p/philippinesea.htm
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwari1/p/philippinesea.htm
I don't know if it's correct to say the last strike was "unplanned night ops". Spruance knew the distances involved and that the aircraft would be coming back after sunset.
I like how AirWarriors is the first search result.
I'm reading The Twilight Warriors at the moment (the title referring to the Americans and Japanese who were just getting into combat in the last six months of the Pacific war, either brand-new ensigns or more senior guys who'd been in staff/instructor jobs the whole war). Reading about the night-fighter squadrons during Okinawa, referred to as the 'Bat-CAP', which the rest of the CAG 'regarded with a mixture of awe and suspicion. Anyone who volunteered for night carrier ops was by definition certifiably weird'.
http://www.amazon.com/Batmen-Night-Air-Group-World/dp/1883809088
Got this book in the mail today... Didn't really have the focus on the development of carrier landing techniques/procedures that I was hoping for. Very good book though. Most of the discussion is about the establishment of the the squadron and the development of offensive night tactics. I'm still on the hunt for one that discusses in greater detail the first couple of crazy bastards that put their hooks down at night.
Got this book in the mail today... Didn't really have the focus on the development of carrier landing techniques/procedures that I was hoping for. Very good book though. Most of the discussion is about the establishment of the the squadron and the development of offensive night tactics. I'm still on the hunt for one that discusses in greater detail the first couple of crazy bastards that put their hooks down at night.