Air Groups on CV-7 USS Wasp

1942 - MS 12

CV-7 U.S.S. Wasp

Version: 19-05-08 (D-M-Y) - 13 pics

The eighth USS Wasp (CV-7) was the sole ship of her class. Built to use up the remaining tonnage allowed to the United States for aircraft carriers under the treaties of the time, she was built on a reduced-size version of the Yorktown class hull.

Note: Each Carrier had an own color for the tail of the planes aboard - the Wasp used black tails.
The sections (of three aircraft) used different colored wingbands and cowlings. A complete colored cowling indicates the section-leader.

Wasp Air Group
Pre-War

circa 1939

Commander Wasp Air Group (CWAG)

Vought SB2U-1 VINDICATOR

COMMANDER WASP AIR GROUP

VB-7

VF-7

VS-7

VT-

18 Curtiss SBC-4 HELLDIVER

18 Grumman F3F-2

18 ?

18 Douglas TBD-1 DEVASTATORs

7-B-1
section leader I

7-F-1
section leader I

7-S-1
section leader I

7-T-1
section leader I

7-B-2

7-F-2

7-S-2

7-T-2

7-B-3

7-F-3

7-S-3

7-T-3

7-B-4
section leader II

7-F-4
section leader II

7-S-4
section leader II

7-T-4
section leader II

7-B-5

7-F-5

7-S-5

7-T-5

7-B-6

7-F-6

7-S-6

7-T-6

7-B-7
section leader III

7-F-7
section leader III

7-S-7
section leader III

7-T-7
section leader III

7-B-8

7-F-8

7-S-8

7-T-8

7-B-9

7-F-9

7-S-9

7-T-9

7-B-10
section leader IV

7-F-10
section leader IV

7-S-10
section leader IV

7-T-10
section leader IV

7-B-11

7-F-11

7-S-11

7-T-11

7-B-12

7-F-12

7-S-12

7-T-12

7-B-13
section leader V

7-F-13
section leader V

7-S-13
section leader V

7-T-13
section leader V

7-B-14

7-F-14

7-S-14

7-T-14

7-B-15

7-F-15

7-S-15

7-T-15

7-B-16
section leader VI

7-F-16
section leader VI

7-S-16
section leader VI

7-T-16
section leader VI

7-B-17

7-F-17

7-S-17

7-T-17

7-B-18

7-F-18

7-S-18

7-T-18

Wasp Air Group
Pre-War

December 1940 - March 1941

These first F4F-3s were the last U.S. Navy
aircraft to be accepted in the pre-war "golden wings" paint scheme direct from the factory,
between December 1940 and March 1941. That summer of 1941, the golden wings were gone forever as the Navy geared up to go to war.

Commander Wasp Air Group (CWAG)

Vought SB2U-1 VINDICATOR

COMMANDER WASP AIR GROUP

VB-7

VF-7

VS-7

VT-

18 Curtiss SBC-4 HELLDIVER

18 Grumman F3F-2

18 ?

18 Douglas TBD-1 DEVASTATORs

7-B-1
section leader I

72-F-1
section leader I

7-S-1
section leader I

7-T-1
section leader I

7-B-2

72-F-2

7-S-2

7-T-2

7-B-3

72-F-3

7-S-3

7-T-3

7-B-4
section leader II

72-F-4
section leader II

7-S-4
section leader II

7-T-4
section leader II

7-B-5

72-F-5

7-S-5

7-T-5

7-B-6

72-F-6

7-S-6

7-T-6

7-B-7
section leader III

72-F-7
section leader III

7-S-7
section leader III

7-T-7
section leader III

7-B-8

72-F-8

7-S-8

7-T-8

7-B-9

72-F-9

7-S-9

7-T-9

7-B-10
section leader IV

72-F-10
section leader IV

7-S-10
section leader IV

7-T-10
section leader IV

7-B-11

72-F-11

7-S-11

7-T-11

7-B-12

72-F-12

7-S-12

7-T-12

7-B-13
section leader V

72-F-13
section leader V

7-S-13
section leader V

7-T-13
section leader V

7-B-14

72-F-14

7-S-14

7-T-14

7-B-15

72-F-15

7-S-15

7-T-15

7-B-16
section leader VI

72-F-16
section leader VI

7-S-16
section leader VI

7-T-16
section leader VI

7-B-17

72-F-17

7-S-17

7-T-17

7-B-18

72-F-18

7-S-18

7-T-18

Ready now to join the fleet and assigned to Carrier Division 3, Patrol Force, Wasp shifted to Naval Operating Base, Norfolk (NOB Norfolk) from the Norfolk Navy Yard on 11 October 1940. There she loaded 24 P-40s from the Army Air Corps 8th Pursuit Group and nine O-47As from the 2nd Observation Squadron, as well as her own spares and utility unit Grumman J2Fs on the 12th. Proceeding to sea for maneuvering room, Wasp flew off the Army planes in a test designed to compare the take-off runs of standard Navy and Army aircraft. That experiment, the first time that Army planes had flown from a Navy carrier, foreshadowed the use of the ship in the ferry role that she performed so well in World War II.

While the majority of TF 39 joined the British Home Fleet—being renumbered to TF 99 in the process—to cover convoys routed to North Russia, Wasp departed Scapa Flow on 9 April, bound for the Clyde estuary and Greenock, Scotland. On the following day, the carrier sailed up the Clyde River, past the John Brown Clydebank shipbuilding facilities. There, shipyard workers paused long enough from their labors to accord Wasp a tumultuous reception as she passed. Wasp's impending mission was an important one—one upon which the fate of the island bastion of Malta hung. That key isle was then being pounded daily by German and Italian planes. The British, faced with the loss of air superiority over the island, requested the use of a carrier to transport planes that could wrest air superiority from the Axis aircraft. Wasp drew ferry duty once again.

Having landed her torpedo planes and dive bombers, Wasp loaded 47 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V fighter planes of No. 603 Squadron RAF at Glasgow, on 13 April 1942, then departed on the 14th. Her screen consisted of Force "W" of the Home Fleet—a group that included the battlecruiser HMS Renown and antiaircraft cruisers HMS Cairo and HMS Charybdis. Madison (DD-425) and Lang (DD-399) also served in Wasp's screen.

Wasp and her consorts passed through the Straits of Gibraltar under cover of the pre-dawn darkness on 19 April, avoiding the possibility of being discovered by Spanish or Axis agents. At 04:00 on 20 April, Wasp spotted 11 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters on her deck and quickly launched them to form a combat air patrol (CAP) over Force "W". Meanwhile, the Spitfires were warming up their engines in the hangar deck spaces below. With the Wildcats patrolling overhead, the Spitfires were brought up singly on the after elevator, spotted for launch, and then given the go-ahead to take off. One by one, they roared down the deck and over the forward rounddown, until each Spitfire was aloft and winging toward Malta.