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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The Korean War, 1950-1953 --

Aircraft Carrier Operations, July - September 1950

On 25 June 1950, as Korea erupted, the sole United States aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific, USS Valley Forge (CV-45), was more than a thousand miles away in the South China Sea. Two days later, following a quick replenishment at Subic Bay, Rear Admiral John M. Hoskins led Valley Forge and her group north to the war zone.

Joined by British Commonwealth naval forces, including the light carrier Triumph, RAdm. Hoskins began offensive work on 3 July with strikes on North Korean airfields. These attacks, the Navy's first jet aircraft combat operations, added to the already ongoing U.S. Air Force effort to eliminate the enemy's air capabilities. Further attacks, targeting railroads and other transportation facilities, followed later on the 3rd and on the 4th. Then the carriers were withdrawn to keep watch to the south, where it was feared that Communist China would take advantage of the Korean diversion to launch an amphibious attack on Nationalist Chinese Taiwan.

Valley Forge and Triumph rejoined the war on 18 and 19 July, hitting industrial, transportation and airfield targets at Wonsan, Pyonggang and elsewhere in North Korea. These efforts continued through the rest of July, with pauses as the only two carriers in the Western Pacific were withdrawn to replenish their stocks of ammunition and other supplies.

In early August, more flight decks arrived, in the form of the fleet carrier USS Philippine Sea (CV-47) and the escort carriers USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116) and Sicily (CVE-118), the latter two with U.S. Marine air groups. That, plus the addition of more underway replenishment ships, allowed a much increased tempo of carrier combat air operations, which were urgently needed to support the beleaguered defenders of the Pusan Perimeter and to continue the reduction of the enemy's rear areas. This work went on steadily through August and into September. Sadly, its potential effectiveness was constantly hampered by inadequate capabilities for controlling close air support of the ground forces, who were thus deprived of badly needed help.


This page features images of aircraft carrier operations during the early months of the Korean War, from 25 June to 15 September 1950.

For views of attacks conducted by carrier aircraft during this time, see:

  • Carrier Air Strikes, July - September 1950.

    For links to more pictures of the first months of the Korean War, see:

  • The North Korean Offensive, 25 June -- 15 September 1950.

    For a precis of our Korean War images, and links to more comprehensive pictorial coverage of later periods and other aspects of that conflict, see:

  • The Korean War, June 1950 - July 1953 -- Introductory Overview and Special Image Selection.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: 80-G-428152

    Grumman F9F-3 "Panther",

    of Fighter Squadron 52 (VF-52)

    Taxies forward on USS Valley Forge (CV-45) to be catapulted for strikes on targets along the east coast of Korea, 19 July 1950.
    Note details of the ship's island, including scoreboard at left.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 139KB; 740 x 620 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 96979

    USS Valley Forge (CV-45)


    A Vought F4U-4B fighter is fueled and armed with 5-inch rockets, prior to strikes against targets on the Korean east coast, 19 July 1950.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 110KB; 610 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 96982

    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) W. Boyd Muncie


    Disembarks from a H03S helicopter, upon his return to USS Valley Forge (CV-45) on 19 July 1950, following his rescue from the Sea of Japan by an amphibian "Sea Otter" from HMS Triumph. The first Naval Aviator to be shot down by North Korean anti-aircraft fire, he spent two and a half hours in the water.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 103KB; 600 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 96998

    Captain David Booker, USMC
    (left)

    "Mans his aerial reconnaissance plane on flight deck of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with the Seventh Fleet."
    Quoted caption was released with this photo on 19 July 1950.
    If the view was taken at about that time, the carrier would be USS Valley Forge (CV-45), then the only 7th Fleet carrier, which was engaged in early Korean War operations.
    Capt. Booker's plane is a Vought F4U-5P "Corsair". Note its camera hatch low on the fuselage behind the cockpit.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 120KB; 605 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 96976

    USS Valley Forge (CV-45)


    Flight deck crewmen wheel carts of rockets past a Vought F4U-4B fighter, while arming planes for strikes against North Korean targets in July 1950.
    This plane is Bureau # 97503.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 96978

    USS Valley Forge (CV-45)


    Flight deck tractors tow Grumman F9F "Panther" fighters forward on the carrier's flight deck, in preparation for catapulting them off to attack North Korean targets, July 1950.
    This photograph was released for publication on 21 July 1950. Valley Forge had launched air strikes on 3-4 July and 18-19 July.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 121KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     


    For views of attacks conducted by carrier aircraft during this time, see:

  • Carrier Air Strikes, July - September 1950.

    For links to more pictures of the first months of the Korean War, see:

  • The North Korean Offensive, 25 June -- 15 September 1950.

    For a precis of our Korean War images, and links to more comprehensive pictorial coverage of later periods and other aspects of that conflict, see:

  • The Korean War, June 1950 - July 1953 -- Introductory Overview and Special Image Selection.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Modified 19 December 1999