Iowa floatplanes enigma

[KRK4m]

The question may seem strange, but I have been intrigued by this topic for years. Especially since yesterday I came across this formulation in en.wikipedia.org: Initially, the Iowas carried the Vought OS2U Kingfisher and Curtiss SC Seahawk, both of which were employed to spot the battleship's main gun batteries – and, in a secondary capacity, perform search-and-rescue missions.

Logically, it would seem that these were initially Kingfishers, and then (from spring 1945) Seahawks. But the "and" used in this sentence suggests that both types existed simultaneously, probably in a 2+1 arrangement (Iowas had 3 seaplanes as standard). I know Wiki is not a perfect source, but logic is not always followed, too. An additional aspect is Yamato (a potential equivalent of Iowa), which certainly had E13As and F1Ms on board at the same time.

 

So does anyone have any data (preferably a photo) indicating the simultaneous presence of OS2U and SC-1 on Iowa board, or was it just that one day in 1945 when Kingfishers were lifted by crane to the shore and Seahawks were transferred on board?

Cheers

Michael

[Mr. Church]

I think they were simply swopped out, don't think they were carried simultaneously.

 

I don't think they carried their full compliment of three aircraft most of the time either. Pretty sure it was commented on in one of the USS New Jersey Museum's YouTube videos that they only tended to carry one or two aircraft. And seldom three.  

[ArnoldAmbrose]

3 hours ago, KRK4m said:

So does anyone have any data (preferably a photo) indicating the simultaneous presence of OS2U and SC-1 on Iowa board,

       G'day, I have the "Anatomy of the Ship - USS Iowa", which says that she initially carried three OS2U Kingfishers when commissioned in 1943. These were replaced by SC-1 Seahawk in/by 1945. This implies to me that the first was replaced by the second, and didn't carry both simultaneously. They'd gone by 1948. The book has diagrams but only one photo that I found showing the spare Kingfisher on a cradle during sea trials. Not definitive proof either way I'm afraid.

       HTH. Regards, Jeff.

[EwenS]

2 Jan 1945

BATDIV 7 with VO-7 

Iowa - 1xOS2U-3 & 1xOS2N-1

New Jersey - 1xOS2U-3

 

BATDIV 10 with VO-10

Missouri - ?

Wisconsin - 1xOS2N-1 & 2xOS2U-3

 

28 July 1945

BATDIV 7

Iowa - 3xSC-1

New Jersey - 3xSC-1

 

BATDIV 9

Missouri - 3xSC-1

Wisconsin - 1xOS2N-1 & 1xOS2U-3

 

The OS2N-1 was the Naval Aircraft Factory produced version of the Curtiss built OS2U-3.

 

Information taken from the official USN aircraft location reports produced weekly. You can dig into them in more depth here (you need to scan well down the .pdfs to find the floatplane allocations)

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/naval-aviation-history/involvement-by-conflict/world-war-ii/location-of-us-naval-aircraft-world-war-ii/1945.html