By Brandon Montanye
In today’s Navy it is routine to launch and recover aircraft aboard carriers and land helicopters aboard small deck ships. Prior to the advent of the helicopter in the Fleet, it was unheard of to land an aircraft on a ship that wasn’t an aircraft carrier. But did you know that during WWII a Minnesotan invented a system that made it possible to recover small aircraft directly aboard small deck ships?
Captain James H. Brodie of the U.S. Army was born in Minneapolis in 1916, and a graduate of the University of Minnesota, He led the modification of the Landing Ship Tank (LST) to be used as an aircraft carrier, a concept initially developed for Operation HUSKY to launch Army L-4 observation planes for artillery spotting. However, only for launching the aircraft and not recovering them. These LSTs were nicknamed the “Cub Carriers.” The flight deck, or runway, was orientated centerline on the main deck from the superstructure to the bow. The ship was able to accommodate a total of ten aircraft; six of which would be stowed on the sides of the flight deck until they were ready to be used. The runway measured 220 feet long by 16feet wide. Because the flight deck was too short to land on, as well as the superstructure obstructing the approach end of the runway, the aircraft would land on friendly territory when the mission was complete. The additional aircraft were launched when the off-going aircraft would be ready to land to have constant surveillance of the area. They reported the location of friendly and enemy forces, directed naval gunfire on enemy positions and guided landing craft to the beach.
To solve the problem of landing back onto the ship, the Army developed a “Brodie Device,” named after its inventor Army 1st Lieutenant James H. Brodie. This device was used with spotter planes, Marine OY-1s at Iwo Jima and Army L-4s at Okinawa. It was a contraption that consisted of a cable strung between two cargo booms mounted on the Main Deck, one forward on the forecastle and one aft of the superstructure that would catch the aircraft upon landing. Originally it was developed for use on land when an airstrip was not able to be constructed for landing light planes. The cable was stretched over the water on the port side of the ship between the two booms. The aircraft, with a hook attacked to the top of it, would catch the cable athwart ship, flying from starboard to port. A winch system would then lower the aircraft to the deck from the cable that caught it. Later the system would be used to assist in launching the aircraft as well.
Modifying an LST with this equipment eliminated the need for an aircraft carrier and, with the shallow draft of the LST, it was able to approach closer to shore than an aircraft carrier, which also gave the aircraft more time on station. A total of seven LST’s were modified as aircraft carriers, only one of those (LST-776) was fitted with the Brodie Device system. Even though there was only one ship with a Brodie device installed, the Army incorporated the procedures into their first air-observation-post doctrine, Field Manual 6-150. The introduction of the helicopter made this system obsolete before it could be developed throughout the Fleet.
After the war, Brodie founded an engineering company and moved back to Minneapolis. His company specialized in unique mechanical engineering devices for submarines and aircraft carriers. Today, an example of an aircraft rigged for the Brodie system can be seen at the National Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Washington D.C. And now you know.
