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» Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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» Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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» Topic:
PT-48 at MTBSTC
http://www.ptboatforum.com/cgi-bin/MB2/netboardr.cgi?cid=101&fid=102&tid=979
Greetings All,
In going thorugh my photos while working on my MTBSTC Book, I came across this photo for the boats along the waterfront.
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/CharlieJones/waterfront1-COPY.jpg[/image]
MTBSTC Waterfront
[green]To see original large photo [b]click this link:[/green][/b] [b][url]http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/CharlieJones/?action=view¤t=waterfront1-1.jpg[/url][/b] - [green]Remember to zoom or click on the image when you get to this PhotoBucket page.[/green]
In looking at it, I noticed PT-48 right out in front. So I zoomed in on it.
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/CharlieJones/waterfront1crop_1-1.jpg[/image]
Close-up of PT-48
Didn't see this picture on earlier posts so thought I'd post it here.
Enjoy.
Charlie
Posted By: 29navy | Posted on: Sep 7, 2008 - 10:22am
Total Posts: 600 | Joined: Dec 28, 2006 - 3:02pm
Charlie -
Please drop me an email at PTConsultingNHR@aol.com, Thank you.
Garth
Posted By: TGConnelly | Posted on: Sep 7, 2008 - 11:41am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered
Great photo Charlie...thanks for sharing it! Ted will love that!
Here's to hoping we'll see the 48 look like that again...
Grandson of James J Stanton
RON 15 PT 209 and RON 23 PT 243
Check out: www.pistolpackinmama.net
Posted By: newsnerd99 | Posted on: Sep 7, 2008 - 11:41am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered
Terrific photo! I am adding a photo I took this summer. How Melville has changed.
[image] http://www.valinet.com/~natsmith/PT/Melville2.jpg [/image]
natsmith
Posted By: Nathaniel Smith | Posted on: Sep 7, 2008 - 4:53pm
Total Posts: 211 | Joined: Jan 19, 2008 - 6:55am
Nat, I just posted an image on the photobucket in th PT167 Who-Me album. It is the front cover of a Melville booklet published in Sept-Oct of 1943 a copy of which I have and was in my Late fathers PT archives. Do you have a copy of this booklet?
Dick Weaver
Posted By: Dick Weaver | Posted on: Sep 7, 2008 - 6:13pm
Total Posts: 3 | Joined: Sep 1, 2008 - 1:19pm
Charlie;
This photo is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the only photo I have seen so far that has actually shown her number. I still believe those earlier photos are of her also, but we can't see the number. Do you have a date by any chance? I now it is after Aug 1944, but could this actually be a 1945 photo?
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!
TED
Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Sep 8, 2008 - 8:53am
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am
Dick
I do not. The image you posted looks very intriguing. Is this booklet something you can scan and send? The picture looks a lot like my dad's PT-154. It started the war with torpedo tubes and no gun up front. My dad says he tried to run down a Japanese destroyer but the damn thing out ran him. It is amazing that the famed PT boat was not faster than the Japanese destroyer it was designed to sink.
Does anyone know what the structure is that is above the windscreen and below the searchlight?
Nat
nat@nathanielsmith.com
[image] http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/PT167%20Who%20Me/Mosquitofleet.jpg?t=1220911118 [/image]
natsmith
Posted By: Nathaniel Smith | Posted on: Sep 8, 2008 - 3:17pm
Total Posts: 211 | Joined: Jan 19, 2008 - 6:55am
Hi Ted,
No,don't have a date, but as you said, it after August 1944 as that is when PT-48 was transferred there. Sorry.
Charlie
Posted By: 29navy | Posted on: Sep 8, 2008 - 3:26pm
Total Posts: 600 | Joined: Dec 28, 2006 - 3:02pm
Got a question about the 77-footers....When they were reclassified as small boats, would they remove (paint over) the original numbers since they were no longer PT boats? If so, this may narrow the picture date down to a couple of months in 1944. Just a thought.
Charlie
Posted By: 29navy | Posted on: Sep 9, 2008 - 4:38am
Total Posts: 600 | Joined: Dec 28, 2006 - 3:02pm
Excellent shot Charlie, thanks for sharing it. Have noticed that 48 still has a torpedo rack portside forward, was kind of surprised to see that on a returning obsolete craft. Photo may have been taken shortly after arrival to the States. To bad that landing craft is in the way it, It might answer if 48 had an aft set of racks. This feature wasn't on the mystery 77 footer featured on this board earlier this year.
Also appears that 48 retained the Colt turret mounts that she went over with.
Wayne Traxel
Posted By: Wayne Traxel | Posted on: Sep 9, 2008 - 10:09am
Total Posts: 248 | Joined: Oct 11, 2006 - 5:40am
Nat,
The "structure...above the windscreen and below the searchlight" in that painting of the 80' Elco on the booklet cover is an airfoil, which acted to deflect the wind over the open cockpit. Those wing-shaped airfoils had two support arms at each end, which could raise or lower the foil as needed. When not raised, the folded-down airfoil would lay on top of the charthouse.
Someone more knowledgeable than myself on the board will probably know which 80' Elcos had these devices, which number boats they began and ended with, etc.
It seems to me, from some of the PT cockpit photos I've seen, that the foils could possibly have served double-duty as a kind of sun visor, also.
I wondered for years, when viewing the movie "They Were Expendable," what those things were. You can see them, in the folded-down position on top of the charthouse, on the 80' Elco boats in some scenes in the film.
Posted By: Drew Cook | Posted on: Sep 9, 2008 - 7:32pm
Total Posts: 1306 | Joined: Oct 19, 2006 - 10:44am
Drew,
Thanks for the explanation. I looked through scenes of the movie to find what you were referring and I found these frames. Good observation. This is a great board.
Nat
[image]http://www.valinet.com/~natsmith/PT/airfoil.jpg[/image]
[image]http://www.valinet.com/~natsmith/PT/airfoil2.jpg[/image]
[image]http://www.valinet.com/~natsmith/PT/airfoil3.jpg[/image]
natsmith
Posted By: Nathaniel Smith | Posted on: Sep 10, 2008 - 3:27pm
Total Posts: 211 | Joined: Jan 19, 2008 - 6:55am
Charlie and Wayne;
Looking at this photo, it appears like they are either removing stuff from below decks or re-stowing it. Notice pile of gear in front of the cabin. as for the date of the photo, if my dates are correct, she was returned to Melville on August 7, 1944, she was reclassified as a small boat on October 14, 1944. In fact, PT 39, PT 47, PT 48, and PT 59 were all reclassified on this day. PT 40 which was also at Melville at this time, was reclassified on April 15, 1944. The Mysterious PT 38 which appears to have been brought back to Melville also was reclassified on February 16, 1944.
Take care,
TED
Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Sep 11, 2008 - 2:29pm
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am
Nat; I have completed the Melville booklet scan and can send you a disk with the same. I inquired of the PTboats Museum if they have a copy or if they would like one. The museum should have the booklet itself if they do not have a copy.! Please send me an Email with the address of where to mail the disk..my email is.............cpoweaver@gmail.com
Dick Weaver
Posted By: Dick Weaver | Posted on: Sep 12, 2008 - 8:59am
Total Posts: 3 | Joined: Sep 1, 2008 - 1:19pm
I am not that convenienced that the device you see is anything to do with an Air Foil . I remember speaking to several boat Skippers who told me these were a canvas roll up used to cover the cockpit to protect against wind and rain. They were not used often because they blocked visibility and many boats just simply removed them.
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Sep 14, 2008 - 1:25am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am