USS Boxer (LPH-4), USS Princeton (LPH-5), USS Valley Forge (LPH-8)
The Essex class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy that constituted the 20th century's most numerous class of capital ships. The class consisted of 24 vessels, which came in "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two ships were originally ordered, but as World War II wound down, six were canceled before construction, and two were canceled after construction had begun. No Essex-class ships were lost to enemy action, despite several vessels sustaining very heavy damage. The Essex-class carriers were the backbone of the U.S. Navy's combat strength during World War II from mid-1943 on, and, along with the addition of the three Midway-class carriers just after the war, continued to be the heart of U.S. naval strength until the supercarriers began to come into the fleet in numbers during the 1960s and 1970s.
Of the unmodernized Essexes, LPH-4 Boxer , LPH-5 Princeton, and LPH-8 Valley Forge were redesignated Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH) amphibious assault ships for the Marine Corps, and remained in commission with their original straight decks until about 1970.[20] The remainder decommissioned in the late 1950s and early 1960s and were promptly reclassified as aircraft transports (AVT), reflecting their very limited ability to operate modern aircraft safely.
Several Essex-class ships played a part in the United States' human spaceflight program, as recovery ships for unmanned and manned spaceflights, between 1960 and 1973.
USS Valley Forge (LPH-8) was the recovery ship for the unmanned flight of Mercury-Redstone 1A on 19 December 1960.
The successful use of the carriers as recovery ships continued into the Apollo program. On 26 February 1966, USS Boxer (LPH-4) recovered the command module from AS-201.
USS Princeton (LPH-5) recovered the second crew to orbit the Moon, aboard Apollo 10, in May 1969.
For all models i changed all the arming (remove most AA gun and different numbers of normal guns),the bridge and many other things.
All of them will come in different outfits for the timeline after korean war to the vietnam war. Three or four different models each. One of each modelhas an empty deck. So you can create other outfits.
The LPH-5 Princeton also will show a model that builds the recovery ship for Apollo 10 mission.
Credits go to: I use the carrier from Collin Glendinning, with different changes from other authors.
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Boeing CH-46 Credits go to Rory Kelly for the original model, to Shane Strong for his liveries, to Bob Chicilo and Michael Pook for their FSX update
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Seaking model : Original model by "The Gaffer" at www.ukmil.org.uk with update from Lars Maassen
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Mojave Helicopter : David C. Kane
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Apollo Landing Module comes as a file from SkatchUp Autor : rubencraninx
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I used other freeware models from unknown authors for this too.
Surely all models i use are freeware. So please don`t use all the elements of this models/scenery in other way as freeware without the permission of all the designers.
I hope you will enjoy these models.
Klaus Nowak (aka klnowak in Sim Outhouse)
21 July 2019 (50 years landing on the moon)
klnowak@web.de
