Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Hardly noticed it at first – distracted by all those Tomcats.
What in the world is sitting on the starboard aft end of the Kitty Hawk’s flight deck? Looks like something with straight, fairly fat wings, not at all familiar.
Zoom pic of prop at back end: http://tiny.cc/ieSP7
A guess for da prop is ‘Pilatus Porter’. HMAS Melbourne was a ‘Light Fleet Carrier’ from end of WW2 (not built to last) that was the first complete carrier with angle deck, mirror sight and steam catapult combined, launched some years after WW2. Location of pic is Pearl Harbour, 1978. Comparo pic here: http://tiny.cc/1SVG0
Methinks a Helio Courier, wonderful STOL 6 seater allegedly beloved of all sorts of folks who need to land on 200 ft strips.
Yeah I agree looks like a Pilatus Porter to me too…
Grumman Tracker in the COD role, maybe?
What caught my eye after a very deep nostalgic sigh was the Vigi sitting just abaft the island. It has been a while, hasn’t it?
Mongo,
I always thought that the Vig was one of the coolest a/c ever designed. She looked like she was moving even when sitting on the ramp. Sweet flowing lines.
Anybody know location?
Earlier Utube video of USS Kitty Hawk off Pearl Harbour for RIMPAC73 filmed from HMAS Melbourne by A4G pilot Graham Winterflood. Earlier pic of them together in Pearl would have been for RIMPAC78.
The Melbourne was basically a WWII era CVL wasn’t it?
Not really. More like an Essex-class CV.
Essex: Displacement: 27,200 tons
36,380 tons full load
Length: 872 ft (266 m)
Beam: 93 ft (28 m)
Draught: 23 ft (7.0 m)
HMAS Melbourne:
Displacement: Standard: 15,740 long tons (17,630 short tons)
Full load: 20,000 long tons (22,000 short tons)
Length: 213.97 metres (702 ft) overall
Increased by 2.43 metres (8 ft) in 1969
Beam: 24.38 metres (80 ft)
Draught: 7.62 metres (25 ft)
I still remember that moment, as a two week old CMID, when I walked to the edge of the round-down, looked fo’ard and thought “Maybe not.”
I believe the “We’ll land athwartships a CVN if one of youse Yanks will take the wire” bet was never taken up.
This one of the Ark and the Nimitz at Navsta NorVa is also as amazing. 1978:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/HMS_Ark_Royal_USS_Nimitz_Norfolk2_1978.jpeg
Glad Paul noticed it! Tomcats!! Tomcats!!!!! VF-213 at least, dunno who the other squad is. I better go read more about F-14s so I can recognize the other outfit aboard. A little research sez VF-114.
What type of plane is that on the round-down?
I’m going to second the Pilatus PC-6 Porter guestimate.
Sorry, only thing I can see is the hulk of USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754), shorn in two abaft the forward stack on 3 June 1969. Seventy-four U.S. sailors died, including the three Sage brothers from Nibrara, Nebraska, as the forward section sank almost immediately after being hit.
The collision was the fault of the Evans’ Officer of the deck, turning into the carrier’s path to take plane guard station instead of turning away, so no blame at all on our Aussie friends for the incident.
Still, as a “shoe” on sister ships to the Evans, every time I hear “HMAS Melbourne” all I can see is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Frank_E._Evans_%28DD-754%29_post_collision.jpg
Replied earlier but post caught in “Internal Server Error” hell. This website has a good overall look at history of HMAS Melbourne including two collisions: http://tiny.cc/aQ1JT Probably a second URL messed it up. I’ll suggest that Googling USS Frank E. Evans will find regular reunion information (sometimes in Oz) for survivors.
Is that the infamous “it’s too close to moboard” training film incident?
Don’t know about training film but: http://tiny.cc/yhEbW
You can easily recognize the tails of VF-114 and 213, RVAH-7 and VA-192. Rest of the airwing was VA-195, VA-52, HS-8, VAW-122, and my sqd, VS-33. I was finishing the RAG as they were headed home, and joined them upon return. Final CV-63 cruise for CVW-11, it was the first F-14/A-6E TRAM/E-2C/S-3 cruise in WESTPAC.
Great sea story from this port visit, that I heard later. Six days transit to Sandy Eggo means that Pearl is within PCOD. One of your intrepid aviators didn’t let that deter him, and two days out he is suffering from NSU. Fighter Doc says that isn’t anything that 3,000 units can’t pound into submission, but warns he will be communicable for about three days after return. LT Intrepid notes that Mrs. Intrepid will have certain expectations upon his return to the hearth, and asks Doc for his advice. Doc says, well, I’m not the chaplain, but I know from examining you that you are uncircumcised. That surgery could give you a few days cover. The sinner says, nnnnaaaaahhhh. Doc says, then you better go to your stateroom and work on your story.
Thirty minutes later he is cornering Doc in the dirty shirt and asking him when they could do it.
Many folks might not know that Melbourne had 5 arrester wires.
I had the thrill of landing onboard Melbourne from a Seaking in 1980 as a midshipman. Watching the pilots trying to spot her in the ocean on a stormy day was a revelation: so tiny she looked. I imagine she looked pretty tiny for the A4 pilots all the time.
Melbourne is doing just fine thanks Lex
Melbourne, Florida must be balmy this time o’ the year?
I was there, on USS Kitty Hawk when that photo was taken in Pearl Harbor, on my first WESTPAC. I remember it well. That really brings back memories.
Richard Sherburne/
No “allegedly” about it.
Knew lots of Air America civilian contract types in both Laos and RVN that flew those things. The Air America house was right across the street from the I-Corps HQ and Quang Nam FAC house in downtown DaNang. CIA Raven FACs in Laos, not so much–almost all USAF issue stuff.
“The Super Courier, a more powerful derivative, was used by the US Air Force from 1958 onward, and by Air America during the Vietnam War as the U-10. In USAF service, the U-10 Super Courier was used for liaison work, light cargo and supply drops, psychological warfare, forward air control, and reconnaissance.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helio_Courier
SPAZ/
Al most ALL AF U-10s were used in RVN as “officially” the AF wasn’t IN Laos at all–thus almost all of those were flown by civilian contract side of Air America, tho a few by CIA, non-Raven FAC, “black ops” people that also flew the CIA rescue helos, etc.