Operation Ivory Soap
The smaller vessels were intended to repair fighter aircraft like the P-51 Mustang, Lockheed P-38, Sikorsky R-4 helicopters, and amphibious vehicles.
The idea was then advanced to Washington, where it was reviewed and approved by the commander of the Army Air Corps, Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold.
He took over the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama and in less than five months trained about 5000 Army soldiers in the skills necessary to repair aircraft and to operate aboard a ship.
The ship's early model Sikorsky R-4 helicopters were used to transport mechanics, parts, and later to ferry wounded soldiers to field hospitals.
The idea of floating aircraft repair units was conceived during U.S. military operations in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II.
[2][3] Brookley became Mobile's largest employer, with about 17,000 skilled civilians capable of performing delicate work with fragile instruments and machinery.
[2] The Air Technical Service Command decided in 1944 to take advantage of Brookley's large, skilled workforce for its top-secret "Ivory Soap" project to hasten victory in the Pacific.
[1] Eventually, six 440 feet (130 m)-long Liberty ships were modified into Aircraft Repair Units (Floating) carrying about 344 men.
Eighteen smaller 187 feet (57 m) long coastal freighters were designated as Aircraft Maintenance Units and manned by 48 troops.
[1][6] The conversion added multiple shops and equipment to the Liberty Ships: machine tools, welding, cranes, sheet metal, radiator, tank, wood, patterns, blue print, electrical, fabric and dope, paint, air-conditioned instrument and camera shops, radio, battery, propeller, tires and fuel cells, armament and turrets, plating, radar, carburetor, and turbosupercharger.
The helicopters were used to locate downed planes, rescue flight crews and passengers, ferry technicians and mechanics to islands, and to transport parts.
The guns were manned by 27 members of the Naval Armed Guard while the ships' operations were performed by merchant marine crews.
[5] The first and second ships were specially equipped and trained to support B-29s in the Marianas, including repair of their radar and complex central fire control systems.
"[5] Colonel Matthew Thompson of the Army Air Force, formerly a member of the British Royal Navy, was called back from Anzio in Italy.
All personnel referred to the floors as decks, kept time by a ship's bell and indulged in the use of tobacco only when the "smoking lamp" was lit.
[20] On October 1, 1944, SS Maj. Gen. Herbert A. Dargue sailed for New Orleans, then to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to join a convoy through the Panama Canal.
[6] The soldiers wore Navy dungarees and white sailor hats while on board ship, and an Army uniform while on land.
[23] Between November 1944 and 1 September 1945, Major General Herbert A. Dargue alone supplied B-29s and P-51s with over 38,000 parts and units, ranging from spark plugs to the central fire controls for the B-29.
[24] It was later used as a repair ship to maintain specialized equipment used during Operation Crossroads, the nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946.
[25] Helicopter pilot 2LT Louis Carle was assigned to the Brigadier General Clinton W. Russell, the Fifth Aircraft Repair Unit.
On June 15, 1945, the Fifth Air Force received a request from the 38th Infantry Division to evacuate two soldiers with head injuries from a spot 35 miles (56 km) east of Manila.
Under the best of conditions, the R-4 could carry, in addition to the pilot and fuel, only 195 pounds (88 kg), which meant only instruments and small components such as propeller hubs.
Carle removed a seat, placed the wounded soldier on the aircraft floor, and flew him to the 311th General Field Hospital near Manila.
In four days, pilots 1LT James Brown, 2LT John Noll, and Flight Officer Edward Ciccolella transported around 40 wounded.
[1][26] The Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio established an exhibit commemorating the ships and men of Ivory Soap.
Army, Navy and Merchant Marines combined to provide aircraft repair shops, specialty services, mobile maintenance, defensive gunnery, salvage and rescue operations.
This program involved conversion of a former World War II seaplane tender, the USS Albemarle (AV 5), into a floating helicopter repair shop for service off the coast of Vietnam.
