US Navy Seaman Evelis Santiago adjusts the position of a jet on the "Ouija board," the table used to plot aircraft locations, in flight deck control aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the Pacific Ocean, Oct 22, 2011. The Ronald Reagan is conducting routine training in the eastern Pacific Ocean. - Photo courtesy of US Department of Defence
THE Ouija board has been a plot point in many, many tales of the paranormal and supernatural – one used to move the story along.
From spooky stories around a campfire to Hollywood horror blockbusters, the Ouija board has been a centrepiece given how it is well-known in folklore as a way to contact the dead or other spirits from realms beyond our own.
Having said that, it's also been claimed in more serious publications over the years that the United States Navy uses an “Ouija board” on their aircraft carriers, and that it has been doing so for decades.
Is there any truth to this?
VERDICT:
TRUE – but it's not what you think.
The US Navy actually uses an “Ouija board” on its aircraft carriers, but it is not what one thinks of when such a device is brought up in conversation; here, it is not a board with the letters A-Z, the numbers 1-10, the words “yes” and “no” written on it along with a piece to be moved around.
In this context, an Ouija board is what they call a map of the ship which is used to show in real-time where every aircraft is parked on the carrier's flight deck and hangar.
As quoted in the March 2008 edition of the Smithsonian's Air and Space Magazine, US Navy Lieutenant Commander Ray Spradlin says that “the Ouija board is one of the most critical tools we have in coordinating flight operations.”
In the article, this Ouija board is described as being a replica of a carrier's flight deck and hangar as big as a large coffee table on a 1/16th of an inch to one foot scale, with small templates of aircraft made to this scale.
As Spradlin – an aircraft handler on the now-decommissioned USS Enterprise – explained, “anything that’ll fit on the Ouija board in flight deck control will fit out on the flight deck or in the hangar bay.”
This Ouija board is basically used by personnel tasked with handling aircraft to oversee everyone involved in moving them around, from those who tie and chain aircraft down to the deck right up to the elevator operators moving multi-million dollar hardware between the flight deck and hangar.
So yes, there's two kinds of Ouija boards, and one of those basically keeps people from being maimed or killed by fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters.
SOURCES
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/how-things-work-the-ouija-board-10048217/
https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2001186543/
