It is April 1963.The USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA 42 had completed its nine month Med Cruise. The USS Saratoga CVA 60 would relieve us and take our spot in Task Force 6.0. The change of command ceremony would take place at Suda Bay, Crete. Then the FDR would head home to Mayport, Florida.
We'll have Flight Ops one more time, as the Saratoga enters the Straights of Gibraltar. Commander H.H. Lowery the CO of Fighter Squadron Eleven the "Red Rippers", walked towards F8E Crusader #201. Bureau number 150301. He handed me his helmet, as we started the pre-flight routine. I hung the helmet in its carrying case on the sidewinder rack on the port side. Inside the helmet was a rubber chicken. A rubber chicken? I looked over the other Crusaders being readied for launch. Their pilots were carrying rolls of toilet paper. What the ....................? Those pilots asked the plane captains to put the rolls of toilet paper inside the speed brake,and then pump up the speed brake by hand so the TP and rubber chicken wouldn't fall out before the engines started.
It seems our relief carrier Saratoga had entered the Med but was a few days away from Suda Bay, Crete. The mission of this sortie was to find, and buzz the Sara, dropping the rubber chicken and toilet paper as Air Group One's way to say" Hi welcome to the Med". The" going home hi jinx" had begun.
Both carriers anchored at Suda Bay. Libety launches from both ships shuttled crews of bot ships back and forth. Larry Purser and I were going to go over, but we see an old shipmate Duke Buettner from our old squadron VF-132, walking over to us in Hangar Bay 3. I ask3ed Duke if he still carried his one gallon jug of Listerine on long cruises. Judging from his big grin, he still did. Duke replaces the Listerine with rye whiskey. a good man to know on long cruises. we exchanged small talk for a short time. We told him where to go in each Liberty Port, our favorites, and ones to be avoided.
Early the next morning after Change of Command, the FDR began to sail slowly out to sea. The ship unfurled the "Homeward Bound"pennant. It was longer than the normal six month cruise banner as we were on station and extra three months. The destroyers in the plane guard and the light cruiser USS Boston joined us as we sailed to the Straight of Gibraltar. Regulations and normal shipboard routine were relaxed. There was a beard growing contest, mine was pathetic but much better than some of the officers in the squadron. Because of Russian Bear overflights and the presence of Russian trawlers, Captain Clark announced over the ship's 1 MC that the Roosevelt would sail a southernly course, while the rest of the ships in the flotilla would take the normal route back home. For the next 72 hours all electronic gear, including electric razors must be turned off. It seemed eerie to see the rest of battle group sail away leaving us alone except for the submarine escort. In ten days we would be home.
Those ten days would be spent packing shop equipment into cruise boxes to be hauled back to NAS Cecil Field. About three days out of Jacksonville, Fla. e saw our first signs of civilization. Bottles, tree branches, and other flotsam and jetsom were espied. Two days out and you can smell land. It has the smell of a compost pile. The exercise to fool the Russians had ended a few earlier. Personal radios were now allowed. The ships radio, played over the 1 MC local Jacksonville stations. The first station I heard was W.A.P.E radfio 760. approve by the FCC to broadsat from Sun up to sunset. with call letters such as WAPE, the management had a Tarzan ape call going to and from commercials. It also had Preparation H as a sponsor. It went tlike this, Tarzan ape call, sponsor tunes in with the announcer in a slow southern drawl," Freeenz............ do you suffer from hemmor hoids? It always gathered a laugh, and still does.
One day out of Jax, we had the last Air Op. All aircraft that could fly would go in this launch. The ilots get home one day early. VAH 11 would transit their A3 SkyWarriors back to NAS Whidby Island, Washington state. The A1H's of VA 35 would fly to mainside at NAS Jacsonville. The Willie Fudds of VAW 12 , and helos of HU2 head back to NAS Oceana, Virginia. VF-11, VF14, VA 12, VA 172 would return to Cecil Field where we had started the cruise last year.
The pilots shaved off their beards to allow for a good seal on their O2 masks. Pilots and plane captains scurry about the flight deck. Flight Deck personnel , in various colored shirts, shwing their jobs are all anout the deck.
One last time from the bridge:"On the flight deck.Pull down your goggles, roll down your sleeves, buckle your helmets. Check chocks, tie downs , fire bottles and all loose gear about the deck. Stand clear of jet intakes and tailpipes. Stand clear of props and helo blades. Stand by to start the Heavies and the props. Start the Heavies, start the props. Silence is broken by APU's ( Auxillary Power Units), and huffers. The APU's give electrical power to te plane before the jet engine can start. The" huffers" spin the blades of the jet by blowing air over the engine blades The Heavies A3's and props A1H's are "Spotted" on the fantail. Thus begins the "Airedale Ballet". Yellow shirts give directions to blue shirted plane handlers and brown shirted plane captains. The A3 heavies engines roar to life. The propellers of A1's become a blur as the engines come to life.
Commander Lowery and I had completed the preflight walk around. I help the CO to strap into the Martin Baker ejection seat. He puts the leg lanyards from the cockpit floor through the loops in the legs of the flight suit. In case of ejection the lanyard will pull his feet snug into the seat. Thus avoiding having his feet severed as he he leaves the plane. I take out the safety pins from the seats face curtain, drogue chute. and canopy firing mechanism. He hands me the safety pin from the ejection handle between his legs. We count the pins, and check hem to seeif any springs may have come off on the seat. We find they are all accounted for. We agree the seat is armed. The Martin Baker Ejection Seat will send a 200 pound pilot 50 feet in the air while on the deck. Always a good idea to beware of things that can go boom. The APU hooks up to our Crusader, followed by the huffer. I signal the pilot one finger, he give me a thumbs up he has external power. I signal him two finger and begin to turn he two in a circular motion. The blades on the JP 57 P20 engine begin to spin. I watch the UHT ( Unit Horizontal Tail) spring to life and level off at at the first position. Flaccid flight controls come to the active positions. ( Another flight deck axiom: check flight controls to see if they're in a flying configuration. another is don't walk in front or behind things that are round. Like jet intakes, tailpipes , 20mm cannons. It's much harder to do at night. Primary flight deck hand signal, one you never want to see is the balled fist being pulled out of an open hand. It means get you head out of your ass, or you're gonna die). The CO signals the engine is running. As quickly as I signal"Pull" the yellow shirt sends them to the next plane to be started. I signal the skipper to "raise the wing" the Crusader has a variable incident wing. I check the space beneath the wing for fuel leaks. There are none. I check the leading edge droop for leaks. none.
We'll have Flight Ops one more time, as the Saratoga enters the Straights of Gibraltar. Commander H.H. Lowery the CO of Fighter Squadron Eleven the "Red Rippers", walked towards F8E Crusader #201. Bureau number 150301. He handed me his helmet, as we started the pre-flight routine. I hung the helmet in its carrying case on the sidewinder rack on the port side. Inside the helmet was a rubber chicken. A rubber chicken? I looked over the other Crusaders being readied for launch. Their pilots were carrying rolls of toilet paper. What the ....................? Those pilots asked the plane captains to put the rolls of toilet paper inside the speed brake,and then pump up the speed brake by hand so the TP and rubber chicken wouldn't fall out before the engines started.
It seems our relief carrier Saratoga had entered the Med but was a few days away from Suda Bay, Crete. The mission of this sortie was to find, and buzz the Sara, dropping the rubber chicken and toilet paper as Air Group One's way to say" Hi welcome to the Med". The" going home hi jinx" had begun.
Both carriers anchored at Suda Bay. Libety launches from both ships shuttled crews of bot ships back and forth. Larry Purser and I were going to go over, but we see an old shipmate Duke Buettner from our old squadron VF-132, walking over to us in Hangar Bay 3. I ask3ed Duke if he still carried his one gallon jug of Listerine on long cruises. Judging from his big grin, he still did. Duke replaces the Listerine with rye whiskey. a good man to know on long cruises. we exchanged small talk for a short time. We told him where to go in each Liberty Port, our favorites, and ones to be avoided.
Early the next morning after Change of Command, the FDR began to sail slowly out to sea. The ship unfurled the "Homeward Bound"pennant. It was longer than the normal six month cruise banner as we were on station and extra three months. The destroyers in the plane guard and the light cruiser USS Boston joined us as we sailed to the Straight of Gibraltar. Regulations and normal shipboard routine were relaxed. There was a beard growing contest, mine was pathetic but much better than some of the officers in the squadron. Because of Russian Bear overflights and the presence of Russian trawlers, Captain Clark announced over the ship's 1 MC that the Roosevelt would sail a southernly course, while the rest of the ships in the flotilla would take the normal route back home. For the next 72 hours all electronic gear, including electric razors must be turned off. It seemed eerie to see the rest of battle group sail away leaving us alone except for the submarine escort. In ten days we would be home.
Those ten days would be spent packing shop equipment into cruise boxes to be hauled back to NAS Cecil Field. About three days out of Jacksonville, Fla. e saw our first signs of civilization. Bottles, tree branches, and other flotsam and jetsom were espied. Two days out and you can smell land. It has the smell of a compost pile. The exercise to fool the Russians had ended a few earlier. Personal radios were now allowed. The ships radio, played over the 1 MC local Jacksonville stations. The first station I heard was W.A.P.E radfio 760. approve by the FCC to broadsat from Sun up to sunset. with call letters such as WAPE, the management had a Tarzan ape call going to and from commercials. It also had Preparation H as a sponsor. It went tlike this, Tarzan ape call, sponsor tunes in with the announcer in a slow southern drawl," Freeenz............ do you suffer from hemmor hoids? It always gathered a laugh, and still does.
One day out of Jax, we had the last Air Op. All aircraft that could fly would go in this launch. The ilots get home one day early. VAH 11 would transit their A3 SkyWarriors back to NAS Whidby Island, Washington state. The A1H's of VA 35 would fly to mainside at NAS Jacsonville. The Willie Fudds of VAW 12 , and helos of HU2 head back to NAS Oceana, Virginia. VF-11, VF14, VA 12, VA 172 would return to Cecil Field where we had started the cruise last year.
The pilots shaved off their beards to allow for a good seal on their O2 masks. Pilots and plane captains scurry about the flight deck. Flight Deck personnel , in various colored shirts, shwing their jobs are all anout the deck.
One last time from the bridge:"On the flight deck.Pull down your goggles, roll down your sleeves, buckle your helmets. Check chocks, tie downs , fire bottles and all loose gear about the deck. Stand clear of jet intakes and tailpipes. Stand clear of props and helo blades. Stand by to start the Heavies and the props. Start the Heavies, start the props. Silence is broken by APU's ( Auxillary Power Units), and huffers. The APU's give electrical power to te plane before the jet engine can start. The" huffers" spin the blades of the jet by blowing air over the engine blades The Heavies A3's and props A1H's are "Spotted" on the fantail. Thus begins the "Airedale Ballet". Yellow shirts give directions to blue shirted plane handlers and brown shirted plane captains. The A3 heavies engines roar to life. The propellers of A1's become a blur as the engines come to life.
Commander Lowery and I had completed the preflight walk around. I help the CO to strap into the Martin Baker ejection seat. He puts the leg lanyards from the cockpit floor through the loops in the legs of the flight suit. In case of ejection the lanyard will pull his feet snug into the seat. Thus avoiding having his feet severed as he he leaves the plane. I take out the safety pins from the seats face curtain, drogue chute. and canopy firing mechanism. He hands me the safety pin from the ejection handle between his legs. We count the pins, and check hem to seeif any springs may have come off on the seat. We find they are all accounted for. We agree the seat is armed. The Martin Baker Ejection Seat will send a 200 pound pilot 50 feet in the air while on the deck. Always a good idea to beware of things that can go boom. The APU hooks up to our Crusader, followed by the huffer. I signal the pilot one finger, he give me a thumbs up he has external power. I signal him two finger and begin to turn he two in a circular motion. The blades on the JP 57 P20 engine begin to spin. I watch the UHT ( Unit Horizontal Tail) spring to life and level off at at the first position. Flaccid flight controls come to the active positions. ( Another flight deck axiom: check flight controls to see if they're in a flying configuration. another is don't walk in front or behind things that are round. Like jet intakes, tailpipes , 20mm cannons. It's much harder to do at night. Primary flight deck hand signal, one you never want to see is the balled fist being pulled out of an open hand. It means get you head out of your ass, or you're gonna die). The CO signals the engine is running. As quickly as I signal"Pull" the yellow shirt sends them to the next plane to be started. I signal the skipper to "raise the wing" the Crusader has a variable incident wing. I check the space beneath the wing for fuel leaks. There are none. I check the leading edge droop for leaks. none.
posted by philtait at 2:02 PM
0 comments
