USS Langley

The USS Langley (CV-1) was - surprise, surprise - the U.S. navy's first aircraft carrier. A whole generation of navy pilots leading up to World War II got their initial flight training aboard the Langley. Langley started life as the collier Jupiter, completed in time for World War I, then converted to an aircraft carrier in 1922. In the late 1930's she was getting old and at 15 knots was pretty slow for normal carrier operations of the period so the navy converted her to a seaplane tender with the change in designator to AV-3 in 1937. During the conversion the forward part of the flight deck was removed exposing the original bridge from her collier days. Langley was a victim of the Japanese early in the war, being sunk on 27 February 1942 - initially hit by airplane attack and then scuttled with torpedoes from a U.S. destroyer to keep her from falling into enemy hands. Previously the only company to make a model of Langley was Panzerschiffe (background in picture) in epoxy resin, but recently GHQ has produced a version (foreground) in metal and more detailed. I have just completed the GHQ model and thought I would show it off. A friend of mine said he wished someone would do the original Langley carrier version, and that would be nice, but I would like to see that plus a model of the original Jupiter collier. If you have to dream then ask for the stars is my motto.