An engagement credited to Lieutenant McCoy of VF-51 aboard USS Bon Homme Richard was a group achievement rather than an isolated single-pilot story. The Essex-class carrier had been conceived for Second World War aircraft but was operating the much later F-8 over Vietnam. Aircraft such as the Crusader helped older carriers extract combat capability from successive generations of aviation technology. The Essex class had originated as a mass-produced development of the Yorktown design rather than as a hull planned around every later jet. Carrier flight decks and air groups therefore had to absorb technologies that did not exist when the ships were laid down.
Notable Point · 36:18-37:40
VF-51 and Essex-class carrier adaptability
An engagement credited to VF-51 aboard USS Bon Homme Richard leads into a lesson about how adapted Essex-class carriers kept operating aircraft generations beyond their original design.