Flightdeck Friday – Bonus Edition
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…
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Flightdeck Friday: Those Fabulous Fifties
(…and no, it’s not .50 cals we’re talking about) The period from the end of the Korean War through the commissioning of the USS Enterprise (CVAN 65) was witness to an incredible period of growth in knowledge and experience with all things in naval aviation. From straight-decks and props to nuclear power and supersonic fighters,…
Flightdeck Friday: Valour-IT Video Edition – UPDATED
(5 Nov Update): Read this for some perspective on the competiton. Check current status here. And don’t forget the auctions — there’s some really great stuff over there, including signed original artwork and books, rare memorabilia and other great things. So it’s not Friday – but as promised here, presented for your viewing pleasure, a…
Naval Aviation Centennial: Neptune’s Atomic Trident (1950)
7 Feb 1950: In a demonstration of carrier long-range attack capabilities, a P2V-3C Neptune, with Commander Thomas Robinson in command, took off from Franklin D. Roosevelt off Jacksonville, Fla., and flew over Charleston, S.C., the Bahamas, the Panama Canal, up the coast of Central America and over Mexico to land next day at the Municipal…
Of Heritage and Advanced Hawkeyes
“Hawkeye, Ball…” Since the E-2A went to sea in the early 1960’s, “Hawkeye” was the name used for the ball call to the LSOs. Later iterations of the E-2C continued that practice but distinguished the a/c type by markings on the nose (a white “II” for Group 2 E-2s, or a “+” for H2Ks today)….
Flightdeck Friday: Desperate Times = Desperate Measures
(h/t to Southern Air Pirate for the topic suggestion) 29 April 1975. South Vietnam is ceasing to exist as a geopolitical entity – Saigon is falling. Under leaden skies, the assembled ships and aircraft of TF 76, headed by carriers Hancock and Midway begin executing Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of US personnel along with Vietnamese…
Flightdeck Friday: The F6F-3/-5 Hellcat – Scourge of the Pacific
5,156 victories (4797 by carrier-based F6F’s) vs 270 lost in air-to-air combat (19.1:1 kill ratio) 305 Aces 55 per cent of all aircraft destroyed by Navy/Marine aviators for all of WW2 When WW2 began, the US fighter force (land- and sea-based) was woefully inadequate. Slow in speed and maneuvering, out powered in the climb, often…