YorksPast

Part of the USA Today Network

Pacific Ocean Archives

The S. Morgan Smith Company, in York, Pennsylvania, was a prime contractor for manufacturing hydraulic-pneumatic catapults for launching Navy planes from the decks of aircraft carriers during World War 2. The catapult model, they produced, was capable of reliably launching 9,500-pound airplanes in 73-feet to a speed of 61 knots. Praise for manufacturing the catapult very much dominated the presentation of the Army-Navy “E” Award this company received on August 19, 1944.

YorksPast started with a post on July 26, 2012. Two years and nearly two months later, this marks my 500th post of sharing a hodgepodge of explorations of York’s Past. I’ve learned a lot, via my research, for those posts; I hope my readers enjoyed what I’ve shared along the