P. Eells made history of sorts when hesuccessfully landed his F9F-2 on USSFranklin D. Roosevelt with only the nosewheel and right main landing gear. Whenthe port main gear failed to extend, Eellsburned off his Panther’s excess fuel,made the approach and got his cut. ThePanther caught a wire and rolled forwardon the nose and right main gear untilforward motion was lost. The aircraftthen settled onto its left wing tip tank,causing only minor damage.

—

In April 1952, following tests of theBri t ish-developed steam catapul tconducted during the first three monthsof the year at Philadelphia, Norfolk, and atsea, the Navy announced that thecatapult would be adopted for use onAmerican carriers. First installation wasslated for USS Hancock.

In late May 1952, the feasibility of theangled-deck concept was demonstratedin tests conducted on a simulated angleddeck, aboard USS Midway, by test pilotsflying both jet and prop aircraft.

—

In June, combined elements of the AirForce, Navy and Marine Corps virtuallydestroyed the electric power potential ofNorth Korea with attacks on primemilitary targets which had been bypassedfor nearly two years of the war. The two-day attack, which involved more than1,200 sorties, was the largest single aireffort since the close of WW II. It was alsothe first to employ planes from all of theU.S. services fighting in Korea.

Then, on July 11 and 12, in one of themajor coordinated air efforts of the war,Navy, Marine, Air Force, Austrailian andBritish air elements launched a round-the-clock attack on the railroad yards andindustrial facilities at Pyongyang.

Two days later, on the other side of theglobe in Newport News, Va., the keel ofthe 59,000- ton supercarr ier , USSForrestal, was laid. It was the first of itsclass.

—

Struck by canopy fragments when hisPanther took a hit near Wonsan, EnsignFloryan Soberski demonstrated a blindcarrier landing with the help of hiswingman, Lieutenant Francis J. Murphy,and a pair of LSOs, Lieutenant LawrenceA. Dewing and Lieutenant Junior Grade

18

George A. Parker. Soberski could seeslightly from his right eye but needed theradio guidance of Murphy and the LSOsto trap aboard the carrier, USS Princeton.

—

In February 1952, CNO approved amodification of the Project 27A carrierconversion program which provided anincrease in the capacity of deck operatingequipment. Changes included use ofmore powerful arresting gear, higherp e r f o r m a n c e c a t a p u l t s a n d areplacement of the number threecenterline elevator with a deck-edge typeof greater capacity. Conversion of threeEssex -class carriers incorporating thesechanges was completed in 1954 underProject 27C.

—

On August 29, the new UN philosophyof mass air attack was demonstratedonce more by a record-breaking, around-the-clock raid on Pyongyang. The entirecarrier air force of Task Force 77 teamedwith the Fifth Air Force and the British tos p r e a d d e s t r u c t i o n o n s u p p l yconcentrations in and around the city.

—

In January of the new year, duringtests aboard USS Antietam, the Navy’sfirst angled-deck carrier, Captain S. G.Mitchell, the ship’s C.O., landed in anSNJ. During the next four days, sixaircraft models made landings, touch andgoes, night landings and takeoffs inwinds of varying force and direction.

—

Major John F. Bolt, USMC, downed hisfifth and sixth MiGs while operating withthe Fifth Air Force in Korea on July 11. Hebecame the first Naval Aviator to attainfive victories in jet aerial combat. The warwas to end two days later.

On that final day, Task Force 77 wentafter t ransportat ion faci l i t ies withairfields as a secondary target. Theattacks destroyed or damaged 23 railroadcars, 11 railroad bridges, one railroadtunnel, nine highway bridges andnumerous buildings.

Uni ted Nat ions and communistrepresentatives signed an armistice atPanmunjom, bringing hostilities to a halt,on July 27, 1952.

Lt.Col. Marion Carl, USMC, piloted theSkyrocket experimental aircraft to83,235 feet, a new altitude mark, onAugust 21, 1-952. On September 2, aconversion plan for Midway -c l asscarr iers, t i t l e d P r o j e c t 1 1 , w a spromulgated. Changes were similar tothose for the angled-deck version ofProject 27C but with the addition of amodified C-11 steam catapult in theangled-deck area.

—

Lieutenant Commander James F.Verdin set a world speed record of752.943 mph over a three-kilometercourse in an F4D Skyray. This was a firstfor a carrier aircraft in its normal combatconfiguration. On September 16,Douglas test pilot Bob Rahn broke the100-kilometer closed-course record inthe Skyray with a 728.114-mph mark. OnDecember 3, the first successful test ofsuper circulation (boundary layer control)on a high-speed airplane, an F9F-4Panther, took place at Grumman’sBethpage, Long Island, facility. JohnAttinello, BuAer engineer, was creditedwith developing this practical applicationof a long-known aerodynamic principle.

II. Tactical Jet Missions

In spite of the Korean truce, peace inthe world remained on unsteady footingin the last half of the 1950s. There werecrises in the Far East, the Middle East,a n d a g e n e r a l d e t e r i o r a t i o n i ninternational relations. At the same time,a new importance was rendered to thetraditional practice of deploying navalforces to trouble spots of the world.

T h e r e w e r e a l s o s i g n i f i c a n ttechological advances. In fact, NavalAviation experienced changes that wereas great as any in its history during thistime. These improvements enhanced thespeed, firepower, versatility and mobilityof sea and air forces. Guided missilesbegan replacing guns, the capability todeliver nuclear weapons was increased,aircraft speeds jumped from sub tosupersonic, the adaptation of nuclearpower t o a i r c r a f t w a s underinvest igat ion, a n d a n increasedknowledge of space gave evidence of itsfuture effect on surface operations.

A new class of flattops was built andthe carrier modernization program wascompleted. Carrier forces were thusstrengthened and a new family of high-performance aircraft operated with them.

O n A p r i l 1 , 1 9 5 4 , t h e f i r s ttranscontinental flights in less than fourhours were made by three VF-21 pilots inF9F Cougars. They traveled 2,438 milesfrom San Diego to New York, refueling inflight over Hutchinson, Kans. This wasbut the first of a succession of record-breaking hops that reflected a giant stepforward in increasing jet a i rcraf tperformance. Early in 1955, an FJ-3 Furyfrom VF-33 scored a record whenLieutenant Commander W. J. Menbyflew it to 10,000 feet from a standingstart in 73.2 seconds. Less than a monthlater, McDonnell test pilot C. V. Braunpiloted an F3H-1N Demon to 10,000 feetin 71 seconds. On February 23, Douglas’Bob Rahn reached 10,000 feet in 56seconds in an F4D Skyray.

—

The Mirror Landing System, destinedto make carrier operations substantially

safer, was successfully tested aboardU S S B e n n i n g t o n o n A u g u s t 2 2 .Bennington’s C.O., Commander R. G.Dose, made the first carrier mirrorlanding in an FJ-3. Two days later,Lieutenant Commander H. C. MacKnightmade the first night landing with themirror, in an F9F-8 Cougar.

—

In order to increase range and overallperformance capabilities, the Navyannounced, in September, that allfighters in production should be outfittedwith in- f l ight refuel ing gear, thusstandardizing an operational procedure.

—

On October 1, Forrestal, first of fourflattops of the “supercarrier” class, wascommissioned at Norfolk.

PH3 M. Rizza

The last three operational TF-9FKennedy (CVA-67) in February 1

Cougars974.

prepare a final launch off USS John F.

In early 1956, the all-weather F3H-2NDemon fighter arrived at NAS Cecil Field-based VF-14. VA-83 headed for theMediterranean aboard USS Intrepid withits Sparrow /-equipped F7U-3M Cutlassaircraft, signaling the first overseasdeployment of a naval missile squadron.At the end of March, the initial fivenuclear-capable A3D-1 Skywarr iorheavy attack bombers were delivered toVAH-1 at Jacksonville, Fla.

In July, VA-46 and its F9F-8s departedfor the Sixth Fleet aboard USS Randolph.This unit was the first to deploy overseaswith the Sidewinder missile. Deploymentof this new weapon was extended to theWestern Pacific a month later when VF-211 and its FJs joined the Seventh Fleetaboard USS Bon Homme Richard.

On July 31, Lieutenant Commander P.Harwood A. Henson, with Lieutenant R.Miears, demonstrated the performancecapabilities of the Skywarrior when theym a d e a 3 , 2 0 0 - m i l e , n o n s t o p ,nonrefueling flight from Honolulu toAlbuquerque, N.M., in five hours, 40minutes. The A-3 averaged 570 mph.

In August, an F8U-1 Crusader capturedthe Thompson Trophy with a recordspeed of 1,015.428 mph. The Crusaderwas the first operationally equipped jetplane in history to fly faster than 1,000mph.

Speed records continued to fall withregularity but not all aeronautical eventswere success stories. An F11F-1 Tiger,f lown by Grumman test pilot TomAttridge, s h o t i t s e l f d o w n w h i l econducting test firings off eastern LongIsland by running into 20mm projectilesthat it had fired only seconds before.

—

A historic milestone was marked onOctober 16 when five students receivedNaval Observer Wings. They became thef i rst graduates of the Navigator-Bombardier School at NAS CorpusChristi, Texas.

—

The Suez crisis erupted into openwarfare on October 29, 1956, and allmajor fleet units were sent to sea undermaximum readiness conditions. TheSixth Fleet was ordered to evacuate U.S.nationals from the area. Aircraft providedcover and heavy combatant ships stoodby while ships and Air Force transportsquadrons went into Alexandria, Egypt;Haifa and Tel Aviv, Israel; Amman,Jordan; and Damascus, Syria. They

19

The F-4B Phantom II first flew in 1958 and provided yeoman service in Vietnam as a strike-fighter.

evacuated more than 2,000 persons byNovember 3. Operations by the SixthFleet, in the area for several weeks,included the logistic support of the firstUN International Forces which arrived inthe area in November.

—

On February 1, 1957, LieutenantCommander Frank H. Aust in , Jr . ,completed test pilot training at NATCPatuxent River, and became the firstNavy flight surgeon to qualify as a testpilot.

USS Antietam reported for duty toChief of Naval Air Training at Pensacola,providing the command its first angled-deck carrier for flight training. The firstT2V-1 Seastar jet trainer arrived at NASCorpus Christi on May 27, furtherupgrading the training command.

In the fleet, a pair of Crusaders and twoSkywarriors flew nonstop from B o nHomme Richard off the California coastto Saratoga off the Florida coast, inanother demonstration of the increasingperformance capabilities of sea-based jetaircraft.

Major John H. Glenn, Jr., astronautand later senator, made history on July16, 1957, when he flew an F8U-1PCrusader from Los Alamitos, Calif., toFloyd Bennett Field, N.Y., in three hoursand 22 minutes, averaging 7,232 mphalong the way. This was the first upperatmosphere supersonic flight from theWest Coast to the East Coast and brokethe transcontinental speed record.

—

In August, flying a F3D Skynight ,Lieutenant Commander Don Walkerlanded aboard Antietam in the Gulf ofMexico using the new Automatic CarrierLanding System. This inaugurated asequence of shipboard tests of theapparatus which were designed to bringplanes aboard in all weather conditionswithout help from the pilot.

At Patuxent River, Lieutenant SydneyHughes, RAF, ejected intentionally froman F9F-8T flying just above the ground at120 mph using the Martin-Baker ejectionseat, then under evaluation by GrummanAircraft.

In February 1958, the keel of theworld’s first nuclear-powered aircraftcarrier, USS Enterprise, was laid inNewport News, Va. A month later, CNOapproved a reorganization of carrieraviation that would create uniform airgroups, provide a more permanent groupassignment to ships, and permit areduction of assigned units and aircraftwithout reducing combat readiness. Thenew organization also provided for apermanent replacement air group to beestablished on each coast. These unitswere made respons ib le fo r t heindoctrination o f key maintenancepersonnel, the tact ical t ra in ing ofaviators, and for conducting specialprograms required for introduction ofnew models of combat aircraft.

—

Reflective of the growing dominance ofjet aircraft, an all-jet program in basicflight training began in May when 14students reported to ATU-206 at ForrestSherman Field, Pensacola, Fla., to fly theT2V Seastar.

That same month, four Demons andfour Crusaders completed nonstoptransatlantic crossings in OperationPipeline, demonstrating that carrieraircraft could be delivered from the East

20

Coast to the Sixth Fleet in theMediterranean expeditiously.

On May 27, 1958, the McDonnell F-4H-1 Phantom // flew for the first time.Thus began the career of one of the finestair weapons in the Navy/Marine Corpsinventory.

Facts about the Phantom:— In 48 seconds, the Phantom II

can climb four miles to intercept enemyaircraft.

— With the throttles two-blocked,the F-4 consumes enough fuel in 60seconds to drive an average Americancar more than 3,000 miles, and it carriesenough fuel to drive that car about35,000 miles.

— More than 643,000 fastenersare used to hold the Phantom together.

— Flight time from St. Louis toChicago is 12 minutes.

— Its generators can push enoughpower through its 14 miles of electricalwiring to supply a subdivision of 30-40homes with enough power to operatelights, washing machines, TV’s, toasters,can openers, vacuum cleaners, etc.

— And speaking of vacuumcleaners, its engines at full bore draw inenough air to collapse a typical six-roomhouse in two seconds.

— Painting one F-4 takes two days,36 people and 28 gallons of paint,enough to cover seven six-room houses.

An F3D jet fighter prepares to catapult offUSS Forrestal (CV-59) in February 1956.

— The catalyzed epoxy paintwithstands temperatures up to 450degrees and is resistant to engine andhydraulic oil.

— It can slow to a mere 125 knotsor streak through the sky at more than1,300 mph. For routine travel, it easesalong at 570 mph for more than 1,500miles without refueling.

— On takeoff it can hold anexternal load of more than eight tons.

— Unrefueled range from carriersor existing suitable friendly bases allowsthe Phantom to carry its payload ofground strike weapons over 92 percent ofthe earth’s surface.

—

In July 1958, while aircraft from Essexand Saratoga flew cover from long rangea n d S i x t h f l e e t s h i p s stood by,amphibious units landed 1,800 Marineson the beach near Beirut to support theLebanese government and to protectAmerican lives. In the days following,land, sea and air reinforcements weresent to the area and order wasmaintained without incident. Tensionsrose elsewhere, though, after ChineseCommunists shelled the Kinmen Islandsin August, renewing indications of navalactivity in the Taiwan Straits. SeventhFleet ships moved to the area to supportthe Republic of China in a firm standagainst aggression. Tensions remainedhigh and warlike action continued.Reinforcements, inc luding ai rcraf tcarriers, were sent to the area. ByOctober, the threat lessened and thesituation was somewhat stabilized.

—

Speed, altitude and distance recordscontinued. On January 24, 1959, MajorJ. P. Flynn and Captain C. D. Warfield ofthe 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, flewnonstop without refueling, from El Toro,Calif., to Cherry Point, N.C., in A4DSkyhawks, covering 2,082 mile is in fourhours, 25 minutes.

—

In March, Aviation Cadet E. R. Clarksoloed in a TT-1 Pinto, the first student inNaval Aviation history to solo a jetwithout previous experience in propelleraircraft.

In April, the Bullpup missile was firstdeployed overseas when VA-212, withFJ-4B Furies, sailed aboard Lexington tojoin the Seventh Fleet. The followingAugust, VA-34, flying S k y h a w k s ,departed from the East Coast aboardS a r a t o g a to jo in the Sixth Fleet ,extending Bullpup deployment to theMediterranean.

—

On August 25, 1959, a Skywarriorflown by Lieutenant Commander EdDecker launched from Independence at agross weight of 84,000 pounds. The A3Dthus became the heaviest aircraft ever totake off from a carrier.

—

In November, during a student trainingflight at NAS Pensacola, 2nd LieutenantDavid K. Mosher, USMC, and hisinstructor, Lieutenant Commander R. A.MacDonell, inaugurated use of the T2JBuckeye in basic training.

—

The Phantom // made its initial carriertrials in February 1960 aboard USSIndependence. The supersonic, two-seat,twin-jet, all-weather interceptor featuredlong-range capabilities with convention-al and nuclear bombs. The F4H first flewon May 27, 1958, and was subject to anexhaus t i ve f l i gh t demons t ra t ionprogram. The aircraft was destined toplay an instrumental role in the Vietnamfighting.

—

The year 1961 signaled the goldenanniversary of Naval Aviation. In lessthan a lifetime, the aircraft inventorychanged from fragile biplanes thatcruised at 80 mph to jets that achievedsupersonic speed with relative ease. Onenuclear and two conventionally poweredattack carriers joined the fleet that year.Before the decade of the sixties ended,t w o m o r e a t t a c k c a r r i e r s w e r ecommissioned.

—

T h e N a v y ’ s t r a d i t i o n a l r o l e i ncontrolling the sea was unchanged. Asuccessful naval blockade was employedduring the Cuban missile crisis. Theround-the-world cruise of a nuclear-

21

powered task force led by Enterprise andoperations in the Indian Ocean carriedthe flag into many foreign ports. Therewere crises in Africa, the Middle East,Berlin and the threat of war in theCaribbean. In Southeast Asia, the U.S.responded to aggressive actions withretaliatory air strikes. War developed andt h e A m e r i c a n c o m m i t m e n t t o i tincreased. The burden of the Navy’s airwar was carried by Seventh Fleet aircraft.

Nuclear Warfare

In 1943, the allied air forces in Europetried to annihilate Hamburg, Germany.During one week in July, they flew 3,028sorties and dropped 10,000 tons ofbombs. Thirty-five percent of the city wasdestroyed. T h e r e w e r e 8 0 , 0 0 0casualties. Two years later, on August 6,1945, a single bomber dropped one 20-kiloton nuclear weapon on Hiroshima,Japan. Much of the city was destroyedand 140,000 casualties resulted from theuse of the first atomic bomb.

In the years that followed, theseawesome weapons were ref ined,improved and eventually became aregular part of the arsenal.

By the late 1950s, aircraft werec o n s i d e r e d t h e k e y v e h i c l e f o r“delivering” nuclear weapons.

The P2V Neptune joined the fleet in1946 and could under certain conditionscarry nuclear weapons, but the first Navyplane designed for this duty was theNorth American AJ-1 Savage. T h eSavage was prop-driven, except for asmall jet engine for takeoffs and for run-ins over a target. The twin-jet Skywarriorbecame its replacement.

Two techniques were developed forh igh-a l t i t ude de l i ve ry o f nuc learweapons: visual and radar bombing, withvisual bombing planned only as anemergency backup measure. After theweapon was dropped, an escapemaneuver was developed that would givemaximum separation distance betweendelivery aircraft and burst effect.

Smaller aircraft also became nuclearweapon capable. Two of the mostpromising at the time were the prop-powered Skyraider and the Banshee jet.Two types of low-altitude bomb deliverywere developed. The dive or glide deliveryconsisted of a pullout at such an altitudethat the aircraft and pilot could safelyescape. Secondarily, there was loftbombing. Sometimes called LABS — lowa l t i t ude bomb ing sys tem — th isprocedure involved releasing the bombduring a pull-up before the aircraft pitch

22

An F-8 Crusader making a run against a Viet Cong stronghold in South Vietnam.

angle reached 90 degrees, the exactangle depending on target distance,aircraft speed and bomb characteristics.Loft bombing eliminated the need foraircraft to fly over what may have been aheavily defended target. After release,the aircraft flew a half Cuban-eightmaneuver which provided sufficientescape distance from the blast.

In a variation of this maneuver, thebomb was not released until after theaircraft had passed the target and thepitch angle exceeded 90 degrees. Thebomb was tossed back toward the targetand hoisted above the airplane’s turningradius. There was no need for an initialpoint (IP). The target was the IP. Thesemaneuvers have been modified throughthe years and become sophisticated astechnology improved.

The Navy was not abandoning itscapability of waging a conventional war.Nuclear arms were simply considered anaddition to the inventory of weapons, nota replacement for all older, time-testedbombs, rockets and the like. During theSuez crisis in 1956, for example, theNavy was the only service with an on-the-spot capability to fight a conventionalstyle war.

W ith respect to the progress inresearch and production of nuclearweapons, the abiding philosophy wasthat these weapons provided insurancethat the Navy could wage nuclear warand thereby effectively deter it.

—

On November 20, 1962, following aworldwide spell of international tension,an agreement was reached between theU.S. and the Soviet Union relative to theremoval of missiles and bombers fromCuba. T h e n a v a l b l o c k a d e w a sdiscontinued and the ships at searesumed normal operations.

—

Cont inued upgrading of carr ieroperat ions was mani fested in thedevelopment of an automatic carrierlanding system. On June 13, 1963,Lieutenant Commander R. K. Billings andR. S. Chew, Jr., of NATC Patuxent River,piloting an F-4 Phantom and an F-8Crusader, respectively, made the firstfully automatic carrier landing withproduction equipment, on board USSMidway off the California coast. Thelandings were made “hands off” withboth flight controls and throttles operatedautomatically by signals from the ship.This event highlighted nearly 10 years of

research and development and followed,by almost six years, the first such carrierlanding made with test equipment.

Vietnam

The war in Vietnam broke out in 1964.On August 5 the President orderedoffensive action preserving the U.S. rightto operate in international waters.A i r c ra f t f r om C o n s t e l l a t i o n a n dTiconderoga attacked torpedo boats andtheir support facilities at five locationsalong the North Vietnamese coast. Thismarked the beginning of a costly combatera in which Navy carrier forces played akey role for the duration. Conventionalarms were used throughout the war and,as they did during the Korean conflict,squadron planes flew cyclic operationsfrom flattop to enemy territory and backalmost daily. U.S. Marine Corps aircraftoperating primarily from below the 17thparallel saw constant action in South andNorth Vietnam.

—

On June 17, 1965, while escorting astrike on the barracks at Gen Phu, NorthVietnam, Commander L. C. Page andLieutenant J. E. D. Batson, flying F-4BPhantoms of VF-21 aboard USS Midway,intercepted four MiG-17s. Each shotdown one, scoring the first U.S. victoriesagainst MiGs in Vietnam.

—

The special capability of jets operatingfrom relat ively short airstr ips wasdemonstrated on May 11, 1966, when aMAG-12 pilot in an A-4 Skyhawk made aca tapu l t l aunch f rom the Mar ineExpeditionary Airf ield at Chu Lai,Vietnam. It was the first combat use ofthe new land-based catapult capable oflaunching fully loaded tactical aircraftfrom runways less than 3,000 feet long.

—

In mid-May, USS Intrepid heralded itsfirst day on the line by launching CarrierAir Wing 10, composed entirely of attacksquadrons, against Viet Cong troopsconcentrations and supply storage areasaround Saigon. The aircraft completed 97combat sorties in a day.

In June, Skyhawks and F-8 Crusadersfrom USS Hancock made the first carrierstrike against petroleum facilities in twoyears. This signaled the beginning of asystematic e f fo r t t o des t roy theCommunists’ petroleum storage system.

—

The first application of aerial mining inVietnam took place on February 26,1967. Seven A-6A Intruders, led byCommander A. H. Barrie of VA-35,planted mine fields in the mouths of theSong Ca and Song Giang rivers. Theoperation was aimed at stopping coastalbarges from moving supplies intoimmediate areas.

Toward the end of April, carrier planeslaunched their first strikes on MiG basesin North Vietnam with an attack on KepAirfield, 37 miles northeast of Hanoi.Intruders and Skyhawks from Kitty Hawkwere principal planes. The A-6s attackedagain the same night. While providingbomber cover during the first attack,Lieutenant Commander Charles E.Southwick and Lieutenant Hugh Wisely,in VF-114 Phantoms, each were creditedwith a probable MiG-17 kill.

—

On the home front, a new plane-theA-7A Corsair // — showed its capabilitieswhen two of the jets, piloted byCommander Charles Fritz and CaptainA l e x G i l l e s p i e , U S M C , m a d e atransatlantic crossing from PatuxentRiver to Evreux, France. This establishedan unofficial record for long-distance,nonrefuled light attack jets. They flew3,327 nautical miles in seven hours andone minute.

—

Meanwhile, an older p lane wasearning a reputation as a lifesaver inSoutheast Asia. An NAS Whidbey Island,Wash., report, published in late 1968,described the value of the aircraft knownas the “Whale,” the A-3 Skywarrior.

At least 499 flak-damaged jets, valuedat $958.5 million, have made it back totheir ships after air strikes over Vietnambecause a “Whale” was in the air.

More than that number of NavalAviators have not had to take the risk ofejecting because of a low fuel state.

23

Lt. John C. Carter

Two heavily armed A-6A Intruders from USS Constellation (CVA-64) fly a combat mission over North Vietnam.

The Whales are KA-3B tankers. Themen who fly them gave the swept-winged jets the nickname.

Skywarriors entered the early sixtiesas heavy attack bombers, the mission forwhich they were originally designed.Withdrawn from that assignment whentheir replacement, the A-6 lntruders,joined operational forces, the twin-jetSkywarriors were outfitted with a hose-reel assembly, pipes and a pump. Theyu s e t h e i r o w n in te rna l fue l fo rreplenishments.

The number of aircraft saved isprobably much higher, since the periodreported covers January 1, 1965, toAugust 1, 1968, and does not include

24

aircraft with low fuel states for reasonsother than combat-connected missions.

—

Demonstrating the ability to project atsea expeditiously, a task group composedof the carrier Enterprise and screen wasordered to reverse course in the EastChina Sea on January 23, 1968, and torun northward to the Sea of Japan. USSPueblo had been captured by the NorthKoreans. Enterprise and companyoperated off the South Korean coast fornearly a month. In CONUS four dayslater, six Naval Air Reserve carriersquadrons were activated in support of

the Pueblo emergency.

Top Gun

Top Gun, the Navy Fighter WeaponsSchool at NAS Miramar, Calif., wasformed in 1968, to improve aircrewproficiency in air-to-air combat. A NavalAir Systems Command study, promptedby a less than desirable kill ratio in theskies over North Vietnam, called for ahigher level of weapons and tacticstraining. There was a need to shift all-weather fighter emphasis from heavyreliance upon radar to more eyeball-oriented tactics. In the beginning, thespecially selected Top Gun instructors

flew stripped-down A-4 Skyhawks as“opposing” fighters in realistic practiceengagements with “students” fromother squadrons who flew their own unitaircraft.

—

In February 1969, the Naval AirSystems Command issued a contract fordevelopment of the F-14A Tomcat, avariable-sweep wing fighter to succeedthe F-4 Phantom.

On June 24, 1969, Lieutenant DeanSmith and Lieutenant Junior GradeJames Sherlock of VF-103 in a Phantomfrom Saratoga made the first operational“hands-off” arrested landing with anAN/SPN-42 automatic carrier landingsystem.

—

Vietnam fighting remained a priority asthe decade of the seventies began but, inthe next few years, the American publicwas to become increasingly aware of thecountry’s critical dependence upon oilf r om fo re ign sou rces . An acu teconsciousness of the U.S. position as atwo-ocean nation reemphasized thereliance upon the Navy to keep the sealanes open to ensure the free flow ofcommerce.

—

On March 28, 1970, the first NorthVietnamese MiG kill occurred since a

November 1, 1968, bombing halt.Lieutenant Jerome E. Beaulier andLieutenant Junior Grade Stephen J.Barkley, in a Constellation-based VF-142Phantom, shot down a MiG-21 whilethey were escort ing an unarmedreconnaissance plane near Thanh Hoa,North Vietnam.

—

On April 10, the A-4M made its firstflight at Palmdale, Calif. This version ofthe Skyhawk featured 50 percent morethrust than that of the first in the series,the A4D-1 of 1954. It was ideally suitedfor operations from short airfields inforward areas, a factor that made theplane especially valuable to the MarineCorps.

In late September, as a result of theJordanian crisis caused by Palestiniancommando attempts to unseat themonarchy in Amman, USS Kennedyjoined Saratoga and Independence in theMediterranean, followed by seven otherU.S. Navy ships, including USS Guam.This strengthened the Sixth Fleet to some55 ships which served as a standby forcein case U.S. military protection wasneeded for evacuation of Americans andas a counterbalance to the Soviet Union’sgrowing Mediterranean fleet.

An A-7 Corsair II receives fuel from a Skywarrior in 1971.

Back on the other side of the globe theU.S. responded to an attack on anunarmed reconnaissance aircraft onNovember 21 and 22. Two hundredplanes conducted protective reaction airstrikes against North Vietnamese missileand antiaircraft sites south of the 19thparallel.

—

The F-14A, piloted by Grumman testpilots Robert Smyth and William Miller,made its first flight on December 21 atGrumman’s Calverton Field, Long Island,N.Y.

—

In January 1971, Task Force 77, theAttack Carrier Striking Force, SeventhFleet at the core of Yankee Stationoperations, interdicted the Ho Chi MinhTrail and provided air support for alliedground forces in South Vietnam.

—

Marine Corps/Navy’s f i rst AV-8Harrier was accepted by Major GeneralHomer S. Hill, USMC, at Dunsfold,England, on January 6, 1971. The Harrierwas the first vertical short takeoff andlanding (V/STOL) fixed-wing aircraftever accepted for use as a combat aircraftby U.S. armed forces. Later in the month,the Navy ’s newes t ca r r ie r -basedelectronic warfare aircraft, the EA-6BProwler, entered service with VAQ-129at NAS Whidbey Island. A derivative ofthe two-place A-6 intruder, the Prowlerwas lengthened to accommodate fouraircrewmen.

—

In the war zone, Hancock, Ranger andKitty Hawk planes flew more than 3,000sorties in January, most of them bombingtype missions in Laos. A-6 Intruders andCorsair lls were particularly effective inattacks against the heavy flow of supply-carrying trucks. Estimates were that theenemy was putting close to 1,000 trucksper day on the roadways.

By late February, strike sorties wereaveraging 122 per day because of thecontinuing truck movements, estimatedat 1,400 a day. On March 10, Ranger andKitty Hawk set a record 233 strike sortiesfor one day and went on during theensuing six-day period to mark up a strikeeffectiveness record that exceeded

25

recorded performances by Task Force 77during the previous three-year period. OnMarch 31, strike sorties launched by thecarriers during the month totaled 4,535,of which nearly 4,500 were ordnance-delivery sorties. These figures were up bymore than 1,000, respectively, over theprevious month. Over 680 “seed” (landmine type weapons) and interdictionmissions were flown during the monthswith unknown results. About 75 percentof the interdiction missions, however,obtained one or more road cuts whileimplanting seeds.

Interdiction flights in great numberscharacterized Vietnam action from thecarrier-based jet’s vantage point.

Weather seemed to be the only foe tostifle Yankee Station efforts. In July,Oriskany, Midway and Enterprise servedintermittently on station but operationsduring the month were disrupted whenthe flattops evaded three typhoons —Harriet. Kim and Jean.

Back home, the jet-powered S-3AViking, the Navy’s newest ASW aircraft,made its official rollout at the Lockheed-California Company’s Burbank facility onNovember 8. This plane was designed toreplace the venerable but aging S-2Tracker.

Also in CONUS, Commander GeorgeWhite from NATC Patuxent River becamethe first Navy test pilot to fly the F-14ATomcat. By the end of 1971, nine of thefighters were assigned to various testprograms.

—

On December 15, 1971, VMA(AW)-224, part of Carrier Air Wing 15 on boardUSS Coral Sea, arrived on YankeeStation. The unit was the first MarineCorps squadron to fly combat missionsinto North Vietnam from a carrieroperating on Yankee Station.

On January 19, 1972, LieutenantRandall Cunningham and LieutenantJunior Grade William Driscoll in an F-4 ofVF-96 off USS Constellation shot down aMiG-21. This action took place during aprotective reaction strike in response toearlier AAA and SAM firings from anarea which had menaced an RA-5Creconnaissance plane and its escorts.

—

On January 21, 1972, the S-3A Vikingconducted its maiden flight in California.The sub hun te r me t the Navy ’srequirements for a 400-knot-plus aircraftwith a 2,000-mile range capability.

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Search and Rescue

Countless rescue stories emanatedfrom the war in Southeast Asia. Thefollowing one had a happy ending.

Drama and an air of uneasiness filledthe Gulf of Tonkin early one summermorning as men from HC-7, the carriersSaratoga and Midway, and the frigateDewey combined efforts to retrieve aNavy pilot downed more than 20 milesinside North Vietnam.

Lieutenant James R. L loyd hadlaunched in his A-7 from Saratoga on aroutine bombing mission over NorthVietnam at 2015 the previous evening.An hour later, things were not quite asroutine. “It was just after dark and I haddropped my ordnance over some trucksmoving south near Vinh,” related the VA-105 pilot.

“Suddenly I had an indication of a SAMfiring. It was a definite lock-on, coming atme at 12 o’clock.

“I maneuvered to avoid the SAM. Thenext thing I heard was a thud on my leftwing and I went into a hard left roll. Ilooked and saw big metal sheets of mywing coming off. I really wanted to bringthe aircraft out over the water. I tried todo it with the rudder but my stick wasfrozen. Then my plane went into a fullnose-down dive, so I ejected.”

Lloyd said he does not rememberfalling. “I just wanted to get to my radio tolet them know I was alive. When I camedown, I started running away from theburning plane. (I could feel the heatduring my descent.) I remember hearingchickens and pigs; even the dogs barkedfunny. It was my state of mind, I guess,”he said.

According to Lloyd, after he safelyparachuted, people were running all overthe countryside. “I could hear at least 300people and see over 100. At one timesome of them came within six inches ofme. The men near me had guns and werefiring randomly. I knew it was bad. I hidin a bush but they never did beat the one lwas hiding in. My green flight suitblended in well with the vegetation.”

Using his hand-held radio, Lloydcommunicated with other Navy jets stilloverhead. “I told them that there werepeople in the area, that I was scared andwanted to be picked up.”

Lloyd recalled that people wereconstantly talking and he knew he had tobe quiet and furtive, and that he had towork northeast up a small hill. “Everyone

I encountered was shouting,” he said. “Idon’t know if it was my imagination ornot, but I heard my name mentionedthree of four times. It could meansomething in Vietnamese.”

The most horrifying chapter of theadventure occurred when two menactually found Lloyd as he lay entwined ina bush.

“Something was said and I figured itwas all over for me,” said Lloyd. “I didn’tknow what to do; I just didn’t move. Theyjabbed me in the back with a barrel of arifle, two times, I guess. Something wassaid again and I heard footsteps running.

I figured one guy was standing guard.I knew I had to get away. I slowly rolledover to see who he was. To myamazement, both were running up thehill. I got up. I guess they thought I waseither dead or injured. I ran like hell.”

While the North Vietnamese ran northfor help, Lloyd ran northeast. Whenautomatic weapons fire began to whizover his head, he started to crawl. “Icrawled because I could see the horizonand I could feel where I was going. Butthe stench of the rice paddies wasunbelievable.”

Lloyd then moved two miles furthernorth and, when he heard more voices,dove into a rice paddy. People camewithin five feet of him this time butpassed by without noticing him. Seeinghis chance, he again made contact withthe planes above him.

“I told them to bring in the helicopter,”Lloyd continued. “They tried to bring it inearlier, but they never would have madeit. Calling off that first helo was probablythe biggest decision of my life.”

“When I was talking to the planesabove, I wanted to know who I wastalking to. It gets awful lonely downthere,” sighed Lloyd. “I found some morebrush to hide in, and it was then I realizedhow I ached, how I stunk.”

While Lloyd was on the ground, air andsurface search and rescue units were farfrom idle. When the 27-year-old NavalAviator ejected from his Corsair II, hiswingman immediately assumed dutiesas air on-scene SAR commander, andDewey became the surface SAR controlship, coordinating the efforts of thesurface units and controlling the aircraftthat completed the rescue.

Air intercept controllers aboard Deweywere kept busy during the five-hourrescue mission. RD1 Paul Mosscontrolled all aircraft operating inlandwhich provided surveillance, groundsuppression and the pickup of the

downed pilot. At the same time, RDCWilmon Crowe and RD1 Antonio St.James controlled all jet aircraft operatingoff the coast, and RD2 James Barnetthandled the reserve helicopter assets.

Chief Crowe directed in-flight refuelingfor 16 aircraft during Lloyd’s ordeal andthe destroyer Hepburn provided refuelingfor the rescue helicopter.

At 2:45 a.m., Lloyd was able to see theHC-7 SAR helo. I started to vector himin,” explained Lloyd. “He had his lightson and I never thought he would do that.It made him a sitting duck. He was takingfire from all over the place. He circled thearea and wanted me to show him where Iwas.”

The SH-3A, with Lieutenant Harry J.Zinser as aircraft commander, made oneapproach. Lloyd jumped up in an attemptto catch the hook but missed. Helo pilotLieutenant William D. Young then madeanother pass.

“This time he landed about 100 feetfrom me and I just ran like hell towardthat beautiful single Big Mother,” saidLloyd. “I just dove in.”

Other crew members in the Sea Kingincluded crew chief AT3 Douglas G.Ankney and AMAN Mathew Szymanski,the helo’s gunner who answered the

enemy’s ground fire with rounds from hismachine gun.

HC-7, home-based at NAS ImperialBeach, Calif., was involved in manyrescue missions, most of them overwater. Not since 1968 had a squadronhelo gone so deep into enemy territory ona rescue mission. Most of the rescuehelicopter’s journey into North Vietnamwas done at low altitudes and over roughmountainous terrain. “It would havekilled us if we had hit a mountain or atree,” says Zinser.

When the Sea King returned to thecarrier, a jet pilot who had been overheadduring the rescue mission told the heloc rew tha t t hey had been tak ingantiaircraft fire at point-blank rangewhen they touched down to pick up Lloyd.

“It was an outstanding effort by allinvolved,” said the overjoyed Lloyd whosuffered minor injuries. “ I t ’ s j us tfantastic what so many people will do tosave one life. I’m very impressed at theNavy’s all-for-one, one-for-all effort.”

Reactionary Air Strikes

On April 6, 1972, heavy air raids wereconducted against North Vietnam, thefirst since October 1968 when a halt was

called on such attacks. Since that halt,the U.S. air effort had concentrated oninterdicting soldiers and supplies movingalong various routes into South Vietnam.Except for protective reaction strikes anda five-day operation at the end of 1971,called Proud Deep, very few heavy attackmissions had been flown into NorthVietnam. The U.S. reactionary raids wereprompted by a massive invasion of SouthVietnam by six North Vietnamesedivisions. The objectives of these raidswere the destruct ion of a l l NorthVietnamese aggression supportingresources; harassment and disruption ofenemy military operations; and reductionand impediment to movements of menand materials through southern NorthVietnam.

—

The Marine Corps demonstrated itslong-range punch when elements of twoPhantom squadrons, VMFA-115 andVMFA-232, flew into Da Nang fromIwakuni, Japan, on April 6 as part ofthe reinforcing effort in support of SouthVietnamese troops, particularly aroundQuangTri. VMFA-212 arrived fromKaneohe, Hawaii, eight days later.

An A-7A Corsair II armed with bombs prepares to launch from USS Constellation (CVA-64). PH1 Derby

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An example of Naval Air action againstenemy positions inside central and SouthVietnam during North Vietnam’s springoffensive took place the last six days ofApril as Hancock’s VAs 55, 164 and 211struck enemy-held territory aroundKontum and Pleiku and Constellation’sVAs 146, 147 and 165 hit areas aroundthe beseiged city of An Loc in support ofSouth Vietnamese troops, some only 40miles outside the capital of Saigon.

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Operations by Navy and Marine Corpsa i r c r a f t e x p a n d e d s i g n i f i c a n t l ythroughout April. Nearly 5,000 Navysorties in the South and 1,250 in theNorth were flown in the month. TheMarine Corps flew 537 sorties in theSouth Vietnam area. The dramaticincrease in Navy flights was supported byfour Western Pacific carriers. Coral Seaand Hancock were on Yankee Stationwhen the North Vietnamese’s springoffensive began. Ki t ty Hawk a n dConstellation were ordered to the sceneat the beginning of the month. As thedays progressed in April, the Navy effortgrew from 240 to more than 300 sorties aday.

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The Navy unveiled the first nightcarrier landing trainer at NAS Lemooreon May 4, 1972. The device permittedpilots to simulate A-7E landings oncarrier decks.

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At 0840, on May 9, during OperationPocket Money, Intruders and Corsairsfrom Coral Sea, with an EKA-36 insupport, departed the vicinity of the ship.They were to execute a mining missionagainst the outer approaches toHaiphong Harbor. Their “time on target”was to be precisely 0900 in order tocoincide with the President’s publicannouncement in Washington thatmines had been seeded. CommanderRoger Sheets, wing commander, led thethree A-6s, which were USMC planesfrom VMA-224. They headed for theinner channel of the harbor. The A-7Es,led by Commander Len Giul iani ,consisted of six aircraft from VA-94 andVA-22. They were tasked with mining theouter segment of the channel. Eachaircraft carried four Mk 52-2 mines.

C a p t a i n W i l l i a m C a r r , U S M C ,bombardier/navigator in the lead A-6,established the critical attack azimuth

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and timed the mine releases. The firstwas dropped at 0859 and the last of thefield of 36 mines at 0901. All mines wereset with 72-hour arming delays. Thispermitted merchant ships time fordeparture or a change in destinationconsistent with the President’s publicwarning.

Thus began a mining campaign thatplanted more than 11,000 Mk 36-typedestructors and 108 of the special Mk 52-2 mines over the next eight months.These missions played a large role inultimately bringing about a stop to thewar.

—

On May 10, Linebacker /, a heavy strikeoperation against targets throughoutNorth Vietnam, evolved. An outgrowth ofthe President’s mining declaration,which also stated that the U.S. wouldmake a maximum effort to interdict theflow of supplies, the operation lasted fiveand a half months.

The 10th was the most intensified air-to-air combat day of the entire war. Navyflyers shot down eight MiGs. A VF-96F-4, while engaged in aerial combat overHaiphong, shot down three of them, thefirst triple downing of enemy MiGs by onep lane du r i ng the wa r . L t . RandyCunningham was the pilot, Ltjg. WilliamDriscoll, his RIO. Coupled with January19 and May 8 downings of two MiGs, thisfeat made Cunningham and Driscoll thefirst MiG aces of the Vietnam conflict.

The scope of the air war changed onMay 18, 1972, when the Uong Bi electricpower plant near Haiphong was struck.This signaled the beginning of strikes ontargets formerly avoided, includingpower p lants, shipyards and theHaiphong cement plant.

Beginning in late May, Navy nightoperations were conducted on a regularbasis. In the ensuing two months, nightstrikes constituted 30 percent of the totalNavy attack effort in North Vietnam.Corsairs and Intruders performed thebulk of this night work.

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On August 5, a Naval Air Test Centerpilot made the first fully automatedlanding aboard Ranger in an F-4JPhantom. The test landing device linkedthe aircraft’s controls with a shipboardcomputer and enabled the Phantom toland with the pilot’s hands off thecontrols.

The first two F-14 Tomcat squadronswere formed at NAS Miramar. VF-1 andVF-2, formerly disestablished units, werereactivated to receive the Navy’s firstnew fighter plane in 14 years. The F-4Phantom, introduced in 1958, was itsimmediate predecessor.

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The war in Vietnam was windingdown. The U.S. ended all tactical airsorties above the 20th parallel onOctober 23, 1 9 7 2 , a n d b r o u g h tLinebacker / operations to a close. Thisgoodwill gesture was designed topromote peace negotiations. But onDecember 18, Linebacker II was initiatedafter Paris peace talks were stalemated.Linebacker // ended on December 29when the North Vietnamese returned tothe peace table. Operations involvedheavy bombing of the north above the20th parallel. Also, there were minereseeding missions and concentratedstrikes against surface-to-air missile andantiaircraft artillery sites, enemy armybarracks, petroleum storage areas, theHaiphong naval and shipyard areas andrailroad and truck stations. Navy tacticalair attack sorties in Linebacker II werecentered around Hanoi and Haiphong.

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An example of an attack squadron atwork in combat is contained in thefollowing account of A-7 equipped VA-56aboard Midway. The squadron ended itsseventh period on the line on December23, 1972.

Flying with CVW-5 since April, thesquadron recorded 180 days on the line,flew more than 5,500 combat hours,made more than 3,000 sorties andcompleted 2,090 day and 781 nightcarrier landings. Pilots amassed 6,301hours. VA-56 conducted strikes againstsuch targets as the Haiphong, Ninh Binh,Ha Tinh, Kien An, Tam Da and Thanh Hoabridge complexes; the Haiphong, Vinh,Doung Nham and Nam Dinh petroleumareas; and the Gia Lam railroad yardsacross the Red River from Hanoi. Otheractions included mining operations andprotective flights for four search andrescue missions, including one at nightinside North Vietnam, and one for two AirForce officers downed off the coast.During the line periods, four of thesquadron’s A-7Bs were lost to AAA andSAM missile fire. Two pilots were takenprisoner, one was listed as missing inaction, and one was retrieved.