The following eight pictures were received on 24 February 2006. Few details but hope for more soon. Following is a copy of the letter that accompanied the pictures.
Dear Dave Sincerely
I read in the October letter about airplanes and catapults. I went aboard the Helena on August 1947 and got off in June 1949 and the catapults and airplane were still there. I'm sending some pictures of when the airplane flipped upon landing, but we got her abaord o.k. Also there are some good looking sailors from the 3rd division next to the airplane.
Tom Pollock
3rd Division 47-49
Excerpts from Tom's letter dated 1 March 2006.
I am in the picture of the guys in front of the airplane--I'm in the middle with my thumb stuck in the waist of my pants. The plane didn't crash as such, they drug a sled and the plane would taxi up on that and then the pilot would jump out and sit on the top of the plane because they had a habit of flipping which is what happened this time. I didn't know any of the pilots or the date this happened. It happened two or three times while I was aboard.
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Helena's Curtiss SC Seahawk
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Pictures taken and donated by David Stiles
