December 1944
The takeoff, if the strip was as narrow as it appears judging from the figure in the foreground, would be one thing. Landing on it, with the ship rolling, would be another thing! Note the ships crew members right below the ramp, right in the crash zone. That is one hairy looking operation

That is a takeoff ramp for L planes that was built on an LST for foreward oberservation planes. Just watched a video at our EAA meeting Saturady from a gentleman who owns one of two existing L-14 Pipers. On one of the takeoff videos, a crosswind catches the airplane, and with left wing down, the plane hits the water but the pilot escapes. The ramp was not used for landings. On a cargo ship there was a contraption built to catch and depart L planes using a cable mechanism hung out from the side of the ship. I'll try to get segments from the video and post some pictures. The L planes were FACs for the artilary to spot targets.
HC