A carrier fighter lies crumpled on the flight deck of the escort carrier USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) after a landing accident - a common hazard given the short decks and demanding conditions of carrier aviation. Petrof Bay operated in the Pacific during 1944-45, supporting the Leyte and Lingayen Gulf campaigns. Photographs such as this document the routine, often dangerous realities of flight deck operations aboard America's escort carriers during World War II. Project: 218458