posted
One day I was looking at a magazine which showed symbols used by aircraft carrier planes during WWII. For example, planes belonging to the Yorktown CV-10 had a Y, the Hornet an H.
When I came up to the USS Enterprise CV-6 it had an arrowhead identical to that of Star Trek's. In TOS the arrowhead was unique to the Enterprise. I find it more than a coincidence that two ships with the same name would also have the same symbol.
I never heard of this connection, but thought maybe someone else had. I wrote this question to The Magazine, but they only answer the really easy stuff.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
Well, maybe Roddenberry took it from the carrier when he designed TOS. He did serve on the Enterprise in WWII, which is why he chose that name (at least that's what I've been told).
Explaining it in the universe: When 1701 came along, all ships had the unique symbol thing goin on and April or whoever chose the arrowhead from CV-6. For ENT and Friendship One, the early/pre Starfleet chose it because it represented both Naval tradition and space exploration/future/etc.
But as for the reality of whether it's a coincidence or not? I have no idea.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
Jimmy Doolittle launched a group of B-25 mitchel bombers on a bombing raid on Tokyo. off the U.S.S hornet. the deck obviously wasn't too short then eh? i guess you people have been spending more time in sci-fi land than in your grade 11 history class.
also nearly, if not all of doolittles planes ran out of fuel and crashed. i believe in either china or russia. i can't remember.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
posted
USAF has flown U-2s and even C-130s from carrier decks (and the Dutch at one point seriously considered selling Fokker 100 jets to the USN for COD planes), yet this is hardly standard practice or even a frequent occurrence. For Roddenberry to have flown something counting as "bomber" and owned by the USAAF instead of the Navy, he'd practically have to have been in the Doolittle raid himself!
Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
as for mr. too short of runway, warplanes of that era could be considered S.t.o.ls now adays, as they could take off from a carrier deck unassisted. witch is also a whole lot smaller than today's Nimitz class. sorry if i sound like a history channel guy but i like history, specially world war 2.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Actually, Doolittle barely managed to avoid hitting the water... his B-25 dropped like a rock after he cleared the "runway", due to its large payload. It was that downward plunge which gave the plane enough speed to stay airborne. Unassisted takeoff (they throttled the engines up to full emergency power while holding the brakes, IIRC) perhaps, but not a pretty one.
[ June 27, 2001: Message edited by: The_Evil_Lord ]
posted
I don't know if Roddenbury serverd aboard the Enterprise or not, but I remember hearing that the original name of Star Trek's ship was to be the Yorktown before they decided on Enterprise. At least that's what I remember hearing.
Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
i guess Enterprize sounded cooler at the time.
i do remember reading about Doolittle having to max the engines to take off. i also remember that to save weight, he had the rear guns removed and replaced with painted broomsticks. he also had most of the regular bomb load replaced with extra fuel.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
posted
Ah. I would like to remind you, however, that the USS Hornet was approximately 79 feet longer oa, 113 feet longer runway-wise, than the USS Enterprise, (if I'm reading Jane's correctly). Does not 80-100 feet make a rather large difference in terms of takeoff space? Especially with an unassisted bomber?
And, yes, I know they could be considered S.T.O.L.'s nowadays, but back then is not nowadays. With the technology to be had then, a fully laden bomber might have been able to lift off precariously from an aircraft carrier, but it would have been very very close. Every foot would have counted.
P.S. I never saw Pearl Harbor.
[ June 27, 2001: Message edited by: Daniel ]
-------------------- "A celibate clergy is an especially good idea because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism."
posted
Whoops! Major mistake on my part. The USS Hornet of 1941 was of the same class as the USS Enterprise. The USS Hornet of 1943 (Ex-USS Kearsarge) was of the newer, longer, Essex-class. Sorry everyone!
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-Eleanor Arroway, "Contact" by Carl Sagan
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
First of all, as far as I know, Roddenberry was an Air Force man...well, Army Air Force at the time, I suppose. And he had considered Yorktown as a name for his ship, but decided on Enterprise because he thought it sounded better, and not, as far as I know, to tie into the real ship of the same name.
posted
Quite so. He was a co-pilot on B-17s and B-25s, flying off of South Pacific island airstrips. He was never in the Navy and it shows in his original rank structure for "The Cage" (remember Spock as being a "1st Lieutenant"?).
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
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