LSOs have been rated carrier pilots since the end of World War II, but during the war the need was such that some non-aviators were trained. Because of the importance of LSOs, the duty offers great responsibility for junior officers, generally lieutenants (junior …

The Royal Navy mostly did without deck landing control officers (DLCOs), until the verge of World War II. More commonly DLCOs were called “batsmen” for the paddles they wielded. During joint operations with the Americans, as the junior partners the British adopted U.S. LSO signals, which sometimes were opposite of the Royal Navy’s.

Since the earliest days of the experimental USS Langley (CV-1), pilots have been aided by the landing signal officer (LSO). At first, the LSO’s outstretched arms waved semaphore flags to indicate whether the pilot’s approach was too low, too high, or okay.

2020年10月22日 · During World War II, the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps trained tens of thousands of pilots to make those carrier landings guided only by hand signals. The lack of technology in World War II forced LSOs, like Lt. Tripp in this photo, to use the paddles to guide pilots back to safety. (US Navy)

Leadership also was evident on the Big E’s flight deck, never better demonstrated than during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands at the height of the Guadalcanal campaign. The ship’s landing-signal officer was Lieutenant Robin M. Lindsey, assisted by the air group LSO, Lieutenant (junior grade) James G. Daniels.

2018年10月22日 · In World War II and through the early 1950s, a landing signal officer (LSO) on a flight deck port side platform directed pilots with paddle signals. It was an awkward, hard-to- see arrangement. Even with keen eyesight, pilots could only reliably discern paddle signals several hundred feet from the flight deck, necessitating a precise, low ...

Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) played a crucial role in aircraft carrier operations. During World War II, available radios, unlike the ones from the modern day, were primitive and could only send Morse code—a type of communication not very well-equipped to send urgent messages to pilots quickly and clearly.

Everyone is familiar with the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) of World War II and Korea. Along with the tailhook, he was the symbol of carrier aviation: “He stood on his precarious flight deck perch with just the ‘paddles’ he used to ‘wave em in.’

WWII era LSO using "paddles" to communicate with landing aircraft. Landing signal officers aboard USS Independence. The LSO Platform, in this configuration, was approximately 2.5 feet below flight deck level.