[Jim Baker]

OK, not really riverboat stuff, but I thought some of you might be interested in the following information.

Last weekend, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation here in San Diego. In the literature they passed out at NAS North Island was a magazine with a number of articles about various historical items related to the history of Naval aviation. One story was titled "Fresh Water Flat Tops."

After Pearl Harbor, all the existing carriers were needed for combat; none were available for training. Also, US coastal waters had German or Japanese subs around, so this wasn't a good place for training. So, the Navy bought a couple of steam, paddle wheel, Great Lakes passenger ships.

Superstructures were removed and 550-foot flight decks installed. Operating out of Glenview NAS, Illinois, on lake Michigan, these ships were used for carrier landing training between 1942 and 1945, qualifying 17,000 Navy and Marine pilots. The Navy's only paddle wheel- propelled aircraft carriers!