NOW SHOWING in Theater 1

 1944 Academy Award Winning Feature Documentary

USS Yorktown (CV-10) - The Fighting Lady

Made at the height of World War II, The Fighting Lady is considered one of the best documentaries films of the Word War II era. The film records the life of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, from her commissioning in 1943 through her victorious sweep towards Japan. The film includes unsurpassed color footage of the battle of the Pacific including suicide attacks by Kamikaze pilots. The Fighting Lady received the Academy Award for Best Documentary as well as a Special Documentary Award from the New York Film Critics.

Review Source:  http://navytv.org/channel.cfm?c=52

The Fighting Lady, directed by William Wyler, provides a portrait of life on a World War II aircraft carrier, a vessel that is "enormous, wonderful, and strange to us." After profiling the various activities of the soldiers' day and following the ship's voyage through the Panama Canal, the film takes the audience through a litany of actual combat engagements. The Fighting Lady participates in a strike on the Marcus Islands, then defends itself against a surprise nighttime raid by Japanese fighters. Some of the photography comes from cameras set up in the cockpits of American planes, showing first hand what it's like to be diving through enemy anti-aircraft fire. The film culminates in a major confrontation with the Imperial Japanese Battle Fleet. In this massive operation, later dubbed the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," American pilots downed almost four hundred Japanese Zeros, while incurring only twenty-two losses themselves.
 

Producer: William Wyler
Audio/Visual: sound, color

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Source: http://www.archive.org/details/FightingLady

A review of the documetary:
Reviewer: Cherokee Jack -

- January 31, 2007
Subject: A carrier at war
This is the only film in the Cinemocracy listings that had no reviews, and I feel it's deserving of one. Shot in Kodachrome, this film depicts life onboard an Essex class carrier during WWII. Though not named in the film, most of the footage was shot onboard the USS Yorktown. "The Fighting Lady" highlights the saying that war is 99% boredom followed by 1% of sheer terror. We see footage of everyday life aboard the ship: from sailors stuck on KP duty to the aircrews responsible for arming and fueling planes to the pilots who manned them. At the end of the film we find out that some of the people depicted were KIA or MIA. I think that would have made more of an impact had they actually interviewed these people and create a relationship with the viewer rather than simply including them in the narration. I believe documentaries like this were created for presentations to workers in the factories (Grumman in this case) so that people who built the aircraft and material of war could see the end product of their efforts in action and making a difference in the war. A pretty good film that won the Best Documentary Oscar in 1945.

Review located at: https://archive.org/details/FightingLady

NOW SHOWING in Theater 2

USS YORKTOWN CVS-10 Recovered Apollo 8 after its mission.

View the cruise book pages covering this at this link  http://navysite.de/cruisebooks/cv10-68/index_007.htm

Enjoy this message from the crew on Christmas Eve 1968

NOW SHOWING in Theater 3

Webmaster's Note:

James H. Flatley, Jr., Commander of Air Group Five (CAG-5) on board the USS Yorktown (CV 10),  helped introduce Grumman’s F6F Hellcat to combat in August 1943.

Landing on a ship at sea during WWII took skill. Each aircraft had a tailhook to catch the cable on the deck in order to stop the aircraft. That continued long after WWII until...

In 1963, the Navy was searching for a new plane to serve in the Carrier Onboard Delivery, or COD, program. The plane they used had a 300-mile range. The Chief of Naval Operations ordered a feasibility study of using the C-130 on aircraft carriers.

Lt. James Flatley III, a fighter pilot attached to USS Forrestal, landed a Marine Corps KC-130 refueling variant on the Forrestal in October 1963. He performed 29 touch-and-go landings, 21 unassisted full-stop landings (no tailhook on the Hercules!) and 21 unassisted (no catapult) takeoffs at weights up to the aircraft's maximum rated weight.

For his efforts, Lt. Flatley, who would later be promoted to Captain, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Yes, Flatley's son continued the service to country. Below, view footage of Lt. Flatley's efforts. On the nose of the aircraft, you can see "Look Ma, No Hook."

Remember, this is 1963 and not aboard an Essex class carrier.

Find the complete story and photos here:  http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/025982d.pdf