Midway entered the force the US Navy was building for a future conflict. As flagship of Carrier Division One, she participated in Operation Frostbite and helped test high-powered fighters and helicopter rescue methods in northern conditions. The navy also used the carrier for V-2 rocket work beyond routine air-group operations. Later suitability trials with the F9F Panther continued the effort to adapt carrier aviation to jets. A late-war hull had become an experimental foundation for Cold War naval aviation.
Chapter · 20:43-23:46
Midway as a Cold War carrier testbed
Midway's first postwar assignments used the new carrier to test northern operations, rockets, jets, and helicopter rescue techniques.