And All the Ships at Sea (May 2, 2008)

[Bandit LOAF]

Wing Commander novelist William Forstchen is keeping a blog at Newt.org in order to promote his new alternate history book, Days of Infamy. The latest entry may be of interest to Wing Commander fans, since it details his adventures visiting an active United States Navy aircraft carrier, along with the importance of 'experiential' research:

We were talking one day as we were working on Pearl Harbor and I mentioned to Newt that I felt I had a real grasp of Civil War battles, from a lot of experience as a reenactor etc., but I did not yet quite have the feel of what it must have been like aboard a carrier, in the heat of action. Yes, I had visited the fabled Yorktown at Patriot’s Point in Charleston Harbor and spent nearly a day crawling around every inch I could get access to, but it was not “alive,” at that moment, it is a museum, a wonderful museum that if you are within five hundred miles of Charleston you must immediately go and visit, but it is not alive. A Civil War analogy. Take a look at a cannon at any battlefield park. You can learn a lot from studying it, even simulating loading it, but imagine actually firing it for real. That is what I sought.

.... but his lack of aircraft carrier experience didn't stop him from writing several great Wing Commander books set aboard them! It's also interesting to note that the Wing Commander IV team visited the USS Lexington early in that project's development cycle in order to get the look and feel of the real thing down correctly.


--
Original update published on May 2, 2008

 

[Dundradal]

His thoughts on the matter remind me of how I feel at times about my Master's thesis which is on the Evolution of Fast Carrier Doctrine. I've visited the Intrepid (before it moved to undergo renovations) and Battleship Cove here in Mass, but nothing really gives you a sense of what such a ship was like fully crewed and underway.

Despite his feelings he has done a fine job describing carriers and how they operated despite his lack of firsthand experience seeing one underway.

 

[MannPower]

The Intrepid is a must-visit, once it returns in September. If you watch the film they present in the theater there ("The Story of Intrepid"), you'll see my great uncle Felix Novelli give breath-taking accounts of what it was like on the ship, and at war. He's given more air-time than any other veteran in the film, and seeing him talk about it tears me up - guy's incredibly charismatic. He was a Plane Captain.

His dialogue is completely unscripted. He was always a good storyteller.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I definately want to see the Intrepid -- maybe we could organize a squadron trip?

 

[ELTEE]

I love visiting the Fighting I - been there many times.

My father actually did all of the sound and editing work for a Medal of Honor short documentary that they used to have on board as an exhibit- last I heard, the exhibit was moved to the USS Yorktown museum in the Carolinas.

I would definitely be up for visiting again when the ship returns - we should definitely make a point to go. If you've never visited such a ship before, it will help you to visualize some of the scenes described in the WC novels.

Plus, the carrier is not far from Times Square - so if you've never been to NYC, you will have no excuse not to come!

 

[MannPower]

Maybe if I can coordinate it right - and health permitting - my great uncle'd be up to giving a little tour. He's there a lot - he's part of the organization that preserves the museum. His stories are incredible.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Awesome, lets do it -- it'd be a cool day or weekend trip.

If there's interest we could work out some neat Wing stuff, too -- maybe a showing of the uncut version of the movie!

 

[ELTEE]

I'm completely committed to this idea. I'll be happy to drive from the Boston area if others want to go along with me.

Showing the movie is a great idea - we could definitely come up with a couple of things to do during the week/weekend!

 

[McGruff]

A few years back while visiting the Hornet, one of the oldtimers who had served on her back in WW2 took a liking to the Filipino girlfriend I had at the time (fond memories I guess). He gave us a private tour of the entire carrier including sections like the galley and engine room which were not open to the public because they hadn't yet cleaned out all the asbestos and stuff cough.