Erroneously landing on an enemy aircraft carrier?!

[DLee12]

Hi -

Sorry if this has been asked here before or if this is a stupid question for any reason, but the Battle of The Coral Sea in early May 1942, since it was the very first naval battle in which enemy ships never came within sight of each other, there were so many errors & mistakes made by both the U.S. & Japanese forces that once, supposedly, airplanes even mistakenly landed on an enemy aircraft carrier.....really?!

I can't remember where I read about it (a couple years ago), but where I can find more info. about it & its details? Did it actually ever happen? During the Battle of the Coral Sea? Or was it actually in some other battle?

Any attempt to help would be well-appreciated - THANKS very much.

[wadinga]

Hi DLee12,

There are no stupid questions, although sometimes conclusions appear dumb.

The following is a recollection from Bill Surgi, a midshipman aboard the Yorktown at the time of the incident:

The LSO sees an aircraft with wide spread, fixed landing gear coming into the landing pattern. It was a Japanese Aichi Type 99 “Val” dive bomber, so he waves it off, and the Japanese pilot took the wave off. Our skipper, Capt. Buckmaster, passed the word ‘stand by to repel boarders’.

The full story is recounted at https://tacairnet.com/2014/01/09/wrong-ship-sherlock/

There are a number of jokes circulating about the idea of a keen young American pilot joyfully reporting his successes on landing to a strangely inscrutable officer in an unfamiliar uniform who is somehow less than impressed. An apocryphal event.

All the best

wadinga

[DLee12]

THANKS very much! - That's fascinating, and exactly the type of info. I was looking for!

[RF]

I would have thought that if it was an enemy aircraft you would shoot it down rather than allow it in close to land or fly straight into the ship.... as the Japanese were to later do.

[wadinga]

Hello RF,

As the article suggests, in the dusk and from head-on, one radial engine aircraft looks much like another, until it gets real close. Presumably one carrier looks much like another too.

All the best

wadinga

[Bill Jurens]

I believe these stories are largely just that 'sea-stories'.

Most or all aircrew approached a carrier using quite specific routines regarding courses, speeds, and altitudes, etc. These are unlikely to have been similar in both navies. Also, as part of the recognition system, most approaching aircraft were required to approach on certain 'safe' bearings and altitudes, often making a specific type of turn, etc. so that the receiving ship would recognize them as 'friendlies'. Radio and light signals were exchanged also, although admittedly these might not always work if the approaching aircraft was damaged.

It's implausible to conclude that an incoming pilot, who would presumably be in visual touch with a landing signal officer, would not also recognize that the ship he was landing on was not one of his own. Also, as the pilots were required to follow landing signal officer signals, it would be immediately apparent to both LSO and pilot that they weren't talking the same language.

Also, although I'm unfamiliar with the precise details, it's improbable that the arresting gear arrangements were similar enough to allow an American aircraft to utilize a Japanese arresting system or vice-versa. And, of course, screening vessels surrounding the carriers were tasked with the job of ensuring approaching aircraft were friendlies as the approaching aircraft passed over.

So although these sorts of ideas might make good 'long tales', I'm not sure there's much chance that they actually occurred in real life.

Bill Jurens

[dunmunro]

In May 1942 it appears that IJN aircraft may have signalled a USN carrier in an attempt to land on her:


USNI Report on Coral Sea:

The combat patrols were landed well after sunset. In the case of the Yorktown, this was begun at 1858 and completed at 1930. While the fighters were in the landing circle, about 1800, three enemy planes flew by on the starboard side flashing lights. As they crossed the bow to port a Yorktown fighter opened fire on them without visible effect. Again, at 1910, enemy planes appeared over the Yorktown, which took them under small caliber fire briefly and drove them off.

There is some confusion among the different reports concerning the appearance of enemy planes over our task force. Captain Buckmaster of the Yorktown said that one enemy plane was downed by the fire of an unspecified screening ship, and that one of his carrier's planes was damaged by the firing.

Captain Sherman of the Lexington reported that planes also flew about his ship and that he opened fire upon receiving word from the Yorktown that they were hostile. He stated that the enemy planes mistook our force for their own, and that radar later showed them moving off only 30 miles to the eastward, circling, and apparently landing on a Japanese carrier.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN ... l-3.html#B

Lundstrom, First Team:

Just about to come on board the Yorktown, Macomber had to sheer off when the LSO gave him a waveoff because the deck was not clear. He climbed back to 1,000 feet and circled the ship. Just after 1850, he glimpsed an aircraft on the Yorktown’s starboard side signaling the ship by means of a hand-held Aldis lamp. This was not standard procedure at all, and Macomber thought instantly the intruder was Japanese. In the near blackout, three more Japanese dive bombers had stumbled upon Task Force 17. Evidently their pilots entertained second thoughts about their navigation and tried to find out whether the ships below were friendly by flashing a recognition signal. The ships did not turn on their searchlights in response, but neither did they open fire, adding to the uncertainty of the Japanese pilots...

....“Strange” indeed describes that evening. Enemy aircraft on three separate occasions had buzzed Task Force 17. Despite reports that the Japanese had actually tried to land on board, it appears far more likely they were puzzled and descended to check their navigation. The crews were night-trained and expected their carriers to illuminate with landing lights according to normal doctrine. The Japanese probably flashed something like “Turn on the lights,” or perhaps a special recognition code. They later complained that American radio communications greatly interfered with their radio direction finding/homing devices. It is quite possible the American CAP radio transmissions inadvertently drew the Japanese to Task Force 17 or just jammed their homers. Obviously the day’s two missions had taken a toll on the aviators, particularly the Zuikaku carrier bomber pilots, aloft since 0800 with only one hour’s doubtful respite.

[dunmunro]

D. P.

[RF]

If IJN aircrew landed on a US carrier by mistake in 1942 - what happens? Do they try to kill themselves to avoid being taken prisoner, shoot it out on the flight deck until they are killed? What about their aircraft? Destroy them first? And what about the US crewman response, as presumably the crewmen did not routinely carry firearms on deck?

[Steve Crandell]

It could have been awkward. Nearby aviators would have pistols, but the ship would probably have had to issue weapons from a small arms locker somewhere.