Nope. They did training off Navy Pier on lake carriers they built a flight deck on top of. George HW Bush was one of the trainees.They're saying it is a Dauntless.
http://www.wbbm780.com/Navy-to-recover-WWII-plane-from-Lake-Michigan/4243541
This is where I got my info - and I lived 1 mile W or rwy 9/27 during some of my high school years:
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/IL/Airfields_IL_Chicago_N.htm#glenview
Aircraft that were used at Glenview from 1941-46 included the
N3 Yellow Peril, GB-1, Stearman N2S, Howard H-1, Piper NE-1, SO3C-1 Seagull,
SB-2A Buccaneer, SNJ Texan, F4F Wildcat, SB2C Helldiver, Curtiss SNC-1, and SBD Dauntless.
A 1942 aerial view looking east at Glenview showed the field in its original configuration (courtesy of Rex Ricks),
shortly before it was significantly expanded during WW2.
In 1942 plans for a radical expansion of the base were disclosed.
Hangar One was expanded, new buildings were constructed & runways were lengthened,
with the longest reaching 6,600'.
The total area of the airfield more than tripled.
On March 24, 1942, LtCdr G.A.T. Washburn assumed command of Glenview,
with orders to direct the expansion of the base.
In one of the largest & fastest paving jobs ever undertaken in the Midwest,
1,300,000 square yards of concrete landing mats & runways were poured
in only 121 working days following the awarding of the construction contracts.
Modern barracks, recreation hall & dining facilities,
a gymnasium with a training pool, a firehouse & hospital were all built.
Paved streets, streetlights, sidewalks & the shops, theater,
and chapel in the recreation building all completed the picture of Glenview as a self contained community.
On August 1, 1942, the Carrier Qualification Training Unit (CQTU) officially began operations.
Brainchild of Commander Richard F. Whitehead of the Ninth Naval district,
the CQTU fulfilled the need for carrier operations training in the safety of the Great Lakes,
beyond the reach of German & Japanese submarines operating in coastal waters.
Under Commander Whitehead's direction,
two coal-burning Great Lakes paddlewheeled excursion ships, the Seeandbee & the Greater Buffalo,
were converted into flattops.
Refitted with a wooden flight deck on a steel structure,
they were renamed the USS Wolverine (IX-64) and the USS Sable (IX-81).
They were to be the only inland aircraft carriers ever commissioned by the U.S. Navy
and became part of a fleet familiarly known as the "Corn Belt Fleet".
The 2 carriers, based at Chicago, trained pilots & flight deck personnel 7 days / week,
year round, throughout the war.
Together they logged over 135,000 landings & qualified over 15,000 Navy & Marine Corps pilots,
among them a young aviator named George Bush who would later become President.
An undated (1940s?) photo of biplanes passing over Glenview's control tower (courtesy of Mike Luxem).
The Naval Air Primary Training Command was established by the Secretary of the Navy on October 1, 1942,
and Glenview was placed under its command.
Approximately 9,000 men received their primary flight training at Glenview during the war years,
flying 786,928 daylight hours & 27,425 night flight hours.
The October 1944 Chicago Sectional Chart (courtesy of Richard Doehring)
labeled the airfield as “Glenview (Navy”).
A 1945 map of Glenview NAS & its 15 satellite airfields,
courtesy of Dick Ferron (a Naval Aviation Cadet at Glenview in 1945).
A total of 15 outlying airfields were used by Glenview,
from Volo & Grays Lake down to Schaumburg (some with names like Melody Farm, Murphy's Circus & Prall's Pit).
The cadets logged over 2,225,000 takeoffs & landings.
Manning the outlying fields could be a lonely job at times, particularly in bad weather.
The January 8, 1943 issue of the Exhaust (NRAB Glenview's original newspaper)
printed a report from Site 8, Schaumburg Field in Roselle, that included:
"The wind sure does howl & blowout this way and loneliness sometimes gets you,
but we overcome this by holding discussions, on current events, with the field mice."
A WW2-era view of Glenview (National Archives photo)
shows the massively-expanded airfield configuration, with one of the 2 huge paved landing circles visible
in addition to the multiple paved runways, ramps, and Hangar 1.
The 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields (courtesy of Ken Mercer)
described Glenview as having a 6,300' hard-surface runway.
A [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1946 USAAF KS-NY Pilot's Handbook [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif](courtesy of Chris Kennedy)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]depicted Glenview as having 5 paved runways,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]with the longest being the 6,300' Runway 17/35.[/FONT]
Following WW2, Glenview became a Reserve facility, hosting a large number
of disparate units of the Navy, Marine Corps, Army & Coast Guard.
Both Neil Armstrong & Gerald Ford served at the base in Navy reserve units after WW2.
Aircraft that were used at Glenview from 1946-50 included the
PBY Catalina, F6F Hellcat, PV2 Harpoon, F4U Corsair, TBM Avenger, F8F Bearcat,
AM-1 Mauler, FH-1 Phantom, F9F-8 Cougar, JRB-4 Expeditor, and SNB Kansan.
