Flightdeck Friday – The Way We Were
Something here for everyone – props & jets, straight deck carriers and battleships ("…a typical task force consisted of 3-4 carriers and a couple of battleships…" *sigh* those were the days – ed.), UNREPing a Gearing-class DD and more. Transferred from home movies shot by an F9F pilot during the period 1953-54, the narrative is a bit homespun, but genuine. Wait ’til you see the cat shot with the centerline elevator in the down position… Oh yes, and old school LSOs too – see why they called them "Paddles". Once finished, head over to the Hornet Association’s website and look around apiece.
Dang! Excellent stuff, SJS! I was nine years old in 1954 and had just begun my modeling career (as in building model airplanes, NOT walking down that “other” runway). The Cougar, the Panther, the AD, and such were among the first models I ever built…largely due to the influence of “The Bridges at Toko-Ri,” which I must have seen six times…
That was a pretty sweet video. Love the narration. Straight deck landings always make me cringe, but that cat shot with the centerline elevator down was wild.