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Old December 3rd 07, 01:44 AM posted to rec.aviation.military.naval
Ogden Johnson III
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Posts: 18
Default The start of jet operations in US Navy.

Frode Hansen wrote:

I was reading an interesting paper on China's 'naval dilemma'
(..basically whether to base it's navy on carriers or submarines), and
came across this quote:

'In 1954 alone, in working to master jet aviation off carriers, the U.S.
Navy lost nearly eight hundred aircraft'

Paper: China's aircraft carrier dilemma
By Andrew S Erickson and Andrew R. Wilson

That number seems extremely large to me, can it be that this was
including combat losses?


Not likely, the Korean War Armistice dates to July 27, 1953. No
"combat losses" in "1954 alone."

I'd be interested in the citation in the footnote that Andrew S
Erickson and Andrew R. Wilson provided in the paper to support
their statement. By 1954, the USN wasn't "working to master jet
aviation off carriers, ..." they had been doing it operationally
for some time by 1954, supporting that war that the Armistice of
July 27, 1953 put on hold for 54 years and counting.

Which is not to say that I don't believe that the Navy didn't
lose 800 jet aircraft during their entire transition of pilots
from prop aircraft to jet aircraft during that entire transition
over a period of several years, whether in land based training or
carrier training - I doubt it, but I'm not going to do the
research to find out how many losses were suffered. I just don't
buy the Erickson/Wilson statement.

[Why do I suspect that the statement isn't supported by a
footnoted/endnoted citation?]

--
OJ III