USS Saratoga's J2F-1 Duck

Pictured below is the Grumman J2F-1 "Duck" float-plane belonging to Sara’s Utility Squadron. The photos were taken at Cowlitz Bay, Waldron Island, San Juan County, WA in the winter of 1939. The Saratoga was at Puget Sound Shipyard from 19 February until 22 May 1939. (Photos courtesy of Richard Brummett, who got them from Bruce Garman. They were taken by Bruce's father John. "John Garman," says Richard, "was a photographer with a fine sense of composition and captured many interesting scenes of general interest to the Waldron community near the post office and public dock.")

The Saratoga was also at Puget Sound in July 1936. In my book I tell the story of LT John C. Waldron who borrowed one of Sara’s J2Fs – perhaps this very one – and flew out to Waldron Island. There he was introduced to a fifty-year resident of the island and asked him how many people lived there. “Count ‘em,” was the reply. There were thirteen people present, ranging in age from eight to eighty. Waldron learned that the island was named for Captain Isaiah Waldron, who visited Puget Sound in 1842 aboard the Brig Porpoise. Sara’s Lieutenant Waldron, as Commanding Officer of VT-8, would lose his life at the Battle of Midway when his entire squadron – save Ensign George Gay – was lost attacking the Japanese.