| (Above) The USS Saratoga during the 1929 Panama Games, the first time carriers were used in fleet exercises. The sister ships looked so much alike (see below) that aviators from Coco Solo dropped flour bombs on the Lexington thinking it was the Saratoga. Sailors perched on the 8" gun turrets had obscured identifying marks placed there. A Boeing F3B-1, flown by Sara's "Felix the Cat" squadron, leaps to the air in this photo. The squadron changed from VF-6B to VB-2B when it took possession of the F3B for this deployment. Hard to imagine today, but Charles Lindbergh came aboard during the Panama Games, and was allowed to take off in one of the new Boeing bombers. Perhaps this is he.
(Below) The Lexington and Saratoga at Bremerton Naval Ship yard in the latter part of 1929. The Sara's famous vertical stripe was added to her stack during this stay to prevent future identification problems.
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