PART 1 OF 2 Click here for information about Part 2 by Edward M. Atkins Flight Deck is a compilation of 201 photographs of activities on the flight deck of a large World War II aircraft carrier. These photos were derived from originals located at the National Archives. They consist of all varieties of activities taking place on the flight deck of a carrier, whether they are of air operations or activities between air operations. The chapters include Ship and Aircraft, External Activities, Flight Deck Activities, and Launch Activities. Each photo, 5 by 7-inches in size, has a page of text devoted to the description of that photo. These photos have never, to the author’s knowledge, been presented in such a number, and to the author’s knowledge, no book has ever addressed itself exclusively to flight deck activities. In this, it is truly unique. An Airdale’s duties involved the pulling of wheelchocks during launch operations, the placing of wheelchocks during parking operations, and the respotting of the aircraft after air operations (i.e., pushing aircraft from here to there). The day was full because on the U.S.S. Antietam (CV-36), there were two air operations a day consisting of essentially one hundred aircraft per operation. Being a training ship, the author and his crew had air operations essentially every day for a thirteen-month period (with about one month of that time in port). There is no mention of these liberties because the most they received was a half-day ashore. The text is geared toward both the actual mechanics of what an Airdale did on the flight deck, as well as the thoughts and feelings of this Airdale. At the same time, a little philosophy is included in the process of describing the implications of dealing with many high-powered aircraft with all the attendant noise, the ferocious wind, and those fearsome, slashing propeller blades. As said in the text, the job of an Airdale, though simpleminded, was definitely not simple. ABOUT THE AUTHOR After five years at Newark Academy and graduation in June 1944, Edward M. Atkins joined the Navy as an enlisted man. Following boot camp, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Antietam (CV-36), an Essex-class fleet aircraft carrier, which was being built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. They arrived at Pearl Harbor in June 1945 as a training ship for naval aviators. He was discharged from the Navy in May 1946 and that fall, Atkins attended Yale University, where he graduated in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. After seven years working in New York City banks and later in electronic companies, he went back to school fulltime to earn a BS in Electrical Engineering. Then there were two years at Western Electric and the Polaris missile system (Vitro), next going to the Navy Department from 1963 to 1991 as a management engineer, at which time, he retired. (2006, paperback, 430 pages) Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days. |
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