Tag Archives: Casco Bay

Big Apple Kingfishers

80 years ago today: Casco Bay, Maine, June 1943, a trio of OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes of Observation Squadron Five (VO-5) aboard the battlewagon USS New York (BB-34) while anchored at Casco Bay, Maine on 16 June 1943.

USN Photo via the National Archives

The archives also have two great images of these VO-5 Kings in a take-off in formation on Casco Bay, undoubtedly taken around the same time, although they are for some reason listed as being in May and July respectively, although DANFS does list that New York was at Portland, Maine from 2 May until 27 July 1943 in between the Torch Landings and training “11,000 enlisted men and 750 officers from the Navy, Coast Guard, and Allied navies” prior to D-Day:

80-G-65895

80-G-286250