Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
1 Like  #1
Barrier Landing
Posted By: Dewman, 06-05-2018, 05:28 PM

I posted this series of photos taken while I was aboard the USS Ticonderoga CVA14, some time ago, but since there seems to be quite a bit of interest in these older photos taken during the Vietnam War, I'll take the chance and post them again.


In the first photo, you'll notice that the F-8 Crusader had a landing gear malfunction (only one wheel down!) and so they decided to raise the barrier and let the pilot make a belly landing. The following photos show how the barrier worked to perfection. Pilot was fine and there was actually little damage to the plane, all things considered. To be sure, it's a violent sequence of events, but it was better than the pilot having to punch out over water, losing the plane and the pilot having to suffer the immense strain on his body from the ejection process.

Attached Images
         

Views: 1,530
06-05-2018, 05:36 PM   #2
Veteran Member
SSGGeezer's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Indiana, U.S.
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 4,845
It sure makes for a badly fouled deck though! "All Hands on the Flight Deck! FOD walkdown! Assemble aft!"
06-05-2018, 05:36 PM   #3
Pentaxian




Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 4,833
Great sequence.

I'm curious how you have all these photos considering they were done with film. Did you make extra prints for personal use, or when the Navy had no more use for the negatives did they return them to you?
06-05-2018, 05:47 PM   #4
Pentaxian
forensicscientist's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: DFW Texas and Michigan - I commute :)
Posts: 1,011
any landing you walk away from, is a good landing!

06-05-2018, 06:06 PM - 2 Likes   #5
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Dewman's Avatar

Join Date: May 2012
Location: Idaho
Posts: 5,492
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by DeadJohn Quote
Great sequence.

I'm curious how you have all these photos considering they were done with film. Did you make extra prints for personal use, or when the Navy had no more use for the negatives did they return them to you?

I was a US Navy Photographer and my duty often had me manning the video camera mounted on a small sponson deck on the O7 level, nicknamed "The Greenhouse." Mounted on top of the video camera was a motorized KE28 film camera. It used rolls of 6" film on a spool and when there was a plane coming in for a capture.... and us video camera operators determined something was about to happen "out of the ordinary," we would hit the "red button" mounted on the swing arm of the video camera and it actuated the KE28 and it began shooting at the rate of 3 FPS, if my fading memory serves me right.


Part of my duties also included developing said film and making 8"x10" prints from the negatives. I brought several of these photos home with me as souvenirs. Some were "official US Navy" photos (unclassified, of course) and some were my own personal photos taken with my Pentax Spotmatic during my duties on the flight deck. A lot of the time, I would wander around the flight deck, even when I wasn't on duty, simply because I loved the goings on so much. The noise, the danger, the smells can be very intoxicating. I always had my Spotmatic with me and took photos of lots of things I found interesting.



Often, I'd put on a "slide show" in the evening, featuring photos I shot that day of things many of my fellow photographers thought were rather odd. Photos of rusty bolts, dripping paint, red doors with chipped paint.... things like that. It was always fun, because I had "contacts" aboard the ship that would supply us with lots of free popcorn, cans of pineapple juice, crispy bacon, 3-gallon tubs of ice cream and all kinds of gedunk.
"Pogie bait," as it was often called. Tom, does that term bring back memories?

I might also mention that we developed literally thousands of feed of BDA film (bomb damage assessment). I wish I had some of those to share, but they were all classified. Most were just photos of "interdicted earthen causeways,".... the Navy's term for a blown up dirt road! Others were quite graphic in nature. The gunsight film was the most interesting, in my opinion. To see actual air to air combat film was a real favorite of the photo guys.

Last edited by Dewman; 06-05-2018 at 06:13 PM.
06-05-2018, 06:24 PM   #6
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
DW58's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Rural Oregon
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 7,061
QuoteOriginally posted by Dewman Quote
since there seems to be quite a bit of interest in these older photos
I've been enjoying looking at these. Thanks for posting them.
06-05-2018, 08:11 PM   #7
Veteran Member
bertwert's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Golden, BC
Posts: 15,173
Thanks again for sharing more images, I really enjoy seeing them!

06-06-2018, 08:21 AM   #8
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Stormstown, Pennsylvania
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 605
Brings back memories. I flew aircrew with a Recon squadron out of Rota Spain from '65-'67 and we'd send two plane Dets to a carrier coming into the Med. Flew off 3 carriers in EA3B Skywarriors which was the largest aircraft to ever fly operationally off them. I'd go up to "Vultures Row" when I wasn't flying or helping launch our other plane with my Kodak 8mm and Minolta 35mm and film the going's on and I'd send the pics home to my dad. He kept them in a shoebox which disappeared after he died. Pity. I had years of pics/film in that box. Thanks for the memories .
06-06-2018, 08:42 AM   #9
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Dewman's Avatar

Join Date: May 2012
Location: Idaho
Posts: 5,492
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by joelbolden Quote
Brings back memories. I flew aircrew with a Recon squadron out of Rota Spain from '65-'67 and we'd send two plane Dets to a carrier coming into the Med. Flew off 3 carriers in EA3B Skywarriors which was the largest aircraft to ever fly operationally off them. I'd go up to "Vultures Row" when I wasn't flying or helping launch our other plane with my Kodak 8mm and Minolta 35mm and film the going's on and I'd send the pics home to my dad. He kept them in a shoebox which disappeared after he died. Pity. I had years of pics/film in that box. Thanks for the memories .


Joel, what a tragedy to lose all those photos chronicling your times in the service. I can remember the first time I saw an EA3B Skywarrior coming in for a landing on the Tico and thought to myself, "You've GOT to be kidding! NO WAY!" If they caught the #4 wire, they had something like 10' of flight deck left before they went overboard!
06-06-2018, 10:12 AM   #10
Veteran Member
SSGGeezer's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Indiana, U.S.
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 4,845
QuoteOriginally posted by joelbolden Quote
Brings back memories. I flew aircrew with a Recon squadron out of Rota Spain from '65-'67 and we'd send two plane Dets to a carrier coming into the Med. Flew off 3 carriers in EA3B Skywarriors which was the largest aircraft to ever fly operationally off them. I'd go up to "Vultures Row" when I wasn't flying or helping launch our other plane with my Kodak 8mm and Minolta 35mm and film the going's on and I'd send the pics home to my dad. He kept them in a shoebox which disappeared after he died. Pity. I had years of pics/film in that box. Thanks for the memories .
You always knew when a Whale was launching or trapping just by the sound and feel. On a trap especially the arresting cable brakes would scream like a banshee caught in a vice! Most dangerous for Aircrew on that bird also, limited flight hours available for Pilots, tough to carrier qualify with because of the high maintenance requirements and age of the bird, along with poor escape systems for the guys in back. I did hundreds of hours in Blackhawks but would never want to be an EA in the "Whale."

---------- Post added 06-06-18 at 10:12 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Dewman Quote
Joel, what a tragedy to lose all those photos chronicling your times in the service. I can remember the first time I saw an EA3B Skywarrior coming in for a landing on the Tico and thought to myself, "You've GOT to be kidding! NO WAY!" If they caught the #4 wire, they had something like 10' of flight deck left before they went overboard!
I can't believe they could actually launch and recover that big bird on the Tico!
06-06-2018, 11:03 AM   #11
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Dewman's Avatar

Join Date: May 2012
Location: Idaho
Posts: 5,492
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by SSGGeezer Quote
You always knew when a Whale was launching or trapping just by the sound and feel. On a trap especially the arresting cable brakes would scream like a banshee caught in a vice! Most dangerous for Aircrew on that bird also, limited flight hours available for Pilots, tough to carrier qualify with because of the high maintenance requirements and age of the bird, along with poor escape systems for the guys in back. I did hundreds of hours in Blackhawks but would never want to be an EA in the "Whale."

---------- Post added 06-06-18 at 10:12 AM ----------



I can't believe they could actually launch and recover that big bird on the Tico!

It was also known as an A3D.... and they said it stood for "All Three Dead," because.... as Joel said, they had a very poor escape system in that particular plane.
06-06-2018, 11:11 AM   #12
Veteran Member
SSGGeezer's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Indiana, U.S.
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 4,845
QuoteOriginally posted by Dewman Quote
It was also known as an A3D.... and they said it stood for "All Three Dead," because.... as Joel said, they had a very poor escape system in that particular plane.
That was me! And the Bird was hard to land on the Kittyhawk class with much larger decks. I can't imagine trying to trap on the Tico at night.
06-06-2018, 12:43 PM   #13
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Stormstown, Pennsylvania
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 605
Yeah, no one had much success bailing out of that bird. My first carrier was the old Midway class ....the old FDR(CVA 42) and everyone would gray out during the cat shot...short cat!! We lost 3 birds and damaged a few more that were just dumped over the side in the years the EA3 flew off the carriers. One had one empty seat....it was mine. There was some mixup with me making rate, so I flew back to Rota with the other bird that morning. Night op...altimeter was screwed up.....flew it right into the water. Never found the plane or the people. Still, it was a beautiful plane.
06-06-2018, 12:48 PM   #14
Veteran Member
SSGGeezer's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Indiana, U.S.
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 4,845
QuoteOriginally posted by joelbolden Quote
Yeah, no one had much success bailing out of that bird. My first carrier was the old Midway class ....the old FDR(CVA 42) and everyone would gray out during the cat shot...short cat!! We lost 3 birds and damaged a few more that were just dumped over the side in the years the EA3 flew off the carriers. One had one empty seat....it was mine. There was some mixup with me making rate, so I flew back to Rota with the other bird that morning. Night op...altimeter was screwed up.....flew it right into the water. Never found the plane or the people. Still, it was a beautiful plane.
That is both tragic and lucky, at least for you. Sorry to hear about your comrades. The losses were common with that bird by the end of its life cycle due to inexperienced pilots and maintenance issues. Can't train if the bird is iron nosed.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
barrier, bird, camera, carrier, flight, hours, memories, photo, photos, pilot, plane
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Machinery The Barrier Dewman Post Your Photos! 17 01-21-2018 10:56 AM
Landscape Flood Barrier De Kromme Nol PatMortko Post Your Photos! 5 02-09-2015 08:51 AM
Getting past the sync speed barrier Spodeworld Flashes, Lighting, and Studio 12 01-12-2015 01:02 AM
Opinion: Postal Barrier @ 49th parrallel mattt General Talk 12 05-28-2011 05:08 PM
Abstract barrier series (revisited) rparmar Post Your Photos! 8 08-31-2010 03:09 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 07:09 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top