THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN
SUBMITTED BY VARIOUS F-8 DRIVERS AND/OR MAINTAINERS. NO
ATTEMPT
HAS BEEN MADE TO EDIT, OR EVEN ORGANIZE IN A LOGICAL
FASHION.
1501
VMF(aw)-232 and 212 were Kaneohe based in the 60's and caught decks on
boats transiting Hawaiian waters to and from WesPac. As is well known,
212 had a 1965 WesPac cruise in Oriskany during which Harley Chapman
was hit by AAA around Kep and spent the next 8 years as a POW.
Bruce Martin
1502
Both the Hancock and Midway both had Bridle Catchers. After my
bridle broke on July 28, 1959 halfway thru the cat shot due
to a manufacturing defect in the "claw" at the end of the
cable, they changed the use of each cable from unlimited to
only 100 shots. Then when another failure happened on Hancock
two months later, they dropped the use to 50. Then after
another failure 1 1/2 months later, again on Hancock, the
usage was dropped further to 10. I don't recall who the other
F8 drivers were on Hancock but they both also lived thru the
experience. One of them almost got it stopped before going
over the side of the ship. My shot was from the Midway waist
cat and I hit the water at about 110 knots and got out of the
sinking F8 at about 50 to 55 feet deep. The ship was about 1
1/2 miles away when I finally came to the surface. The
National Naval Aviation Museum published my account and also
put it on the Internet. It can be read by googling "F8 Cold
Cat Shot".
Hank Smith
1503
Fleet Air Arm threw away their bridles. French ops closer to RN than
USN so probably used disposable bridles as well.
Bridle retrieve mechanism fairly complex. The extensions "Horns" are
not a requirement; check the waist cats. Like CDP so many
uses and they become scrap; for last shot bridle not fastened
to retrieve and into the sea it goes.
YA, Boom Robert Powell
1504
During Saratoga's Med Cruise in '62 we threw hundreds of bridles.
I don't remember the cause but we knew we would have to work
without a bridle arrestor. To protect ourselves, while we
were in the yard, Clint Sledge the V-2 WO kept ordering extra
bridles and stowed them in a void below the angle. When we
were in the med the ship had a fire in a nearby void and the
Chief Engineer found our stash. It was then that he figured
out why he had been unable to perfectly level the ship ever since we
had left the yard.
Dick Bishop 1505
In 1964 I learned to fly the Crusader in VF-174 at Cecil. Destined
for VFP-62 we got a shortened course, about 35-40 hours and
then went to the photo squadron. When it became time to CQ
(July '64), VFP-62 didn't have a qualified LSO; either that,
or if they had one he may have been deployed. At any rate,
myself and a couple of other young photo pilots did our
FCLP's and carrier quals on the Independence under the
watchful eyes of the 174 LSO's, John Nichols and Joe Ruchula.
I guess Joe had recently qualed a few of the French drivers,
though none were with us at the time; I distinctly recall, on
a least one occasion, a call from Joe--"moteur, Moteur, PLUS
DE MOTEUR"; you don't have to speak French to
understand the intent. Along on the same CQ trip was recently
deceased Jim Doggette, Capt/USAF. We anxiously awaited his reaction
to landing on a carrier. After the first day landings he came
into the ready room and said, "Well, that was different,
really a bit of fun." That night after our first night
landings, he entered the ready room with eyes that looked
like they might pop out of his head, he kept muttering, "My
God, I had no idea, I had no idea."
Norm Green
1506
Anyone recall F-8 details of the armor plates placed under the cockpit.
I recall it was a mod circa 68-69? I remember but paid little attention
at the time to weight & balance issues...max trap
changes...what was the weight increase? Where exactly was this armor
mounted on the jet? What effect on CG.? I do not recall any reports of
pilots wounded through the bottom of the cockpit. Was it documented as
a must retro-fit? Did all F-8 get the Mod & were the
plates removed after deployment transfered to deployed squadrons? What
were they made of & what was the protection small arms...AAA?
Thank you for any input.
Bill Bertsch 1507
Concerning the armor plate under the cockpit area. It may have been
the result of the loss of a friend of mine.
Hank McWhorter was a team pilot of the Oriskany det that deployed
in 1965. A hard charger. He wanted to be an LSO, and was on
the platform observing one night when the F8's were running
the deck. On one pass, when it looked like the driver was
going to hit the ramp, everyone ended up in the net. Hank,
being the junior guy, ended up on the bottom of the pile -
result - simple fracture of the leg. The F8 missed. Everyone
gets back on deck and continues the evolution. while Hank is
waiting for the medics, the next F8 hits the ramp, and
everyone ends up back in the net on top of Hank. result - the
simple fracture ended up as a compound fracture. Hank fought
tooth and nail to go on deployment. Finally, he gets an up
right before the boat deploys, and away he goes. On one
particular mission in indian country, doing what photo pilots do, he
was lost. His escort noticed something odd about the RF8, and
closed in to see what was going on. He saw the canopy gone,
seat gone, tube sticking up in the air, and of course, no
Hank. The bird was motoring along. He looked the bird over,
and there was a hole directly under the cockpit area/seat
installation. it was later evaluated as a hit from a 37 mm
round. Apparently it was a dud, or had not had time to arm.
It apparently hit with enough force to fire the ejection
1508
AIM-9L Background #1 - Way Back
In following the recent postings about Sidewinders, and the Aim-9L in
particular, it is time I share what I know on how that came about. What
I know and think about this subject comes from my assignment as Air
Weapons Officer at Naval Weapons Station, China Lake from the fall of
1973 to summer 1976. Air weapons included Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground.
Naturally, Sidewinder projects fell under air-to-air, so I can tell you
today that I was there when it was being decided as to what the
off-boresight limit and other parameters were to be developed in that
missile. IMHO, as good as the -9L was, we, the Navy, gave up too much
all-aspect air-to-air weapons capability to accommodate the USAF's lack
of success. I'll let you judge later.
Recall the environment of the times; early 70's. Navy performance with
F-8s and F-4's getting some Mig kills. AF frustrations with guys in the
saddle only to have their Sidewinders go stupid or miss when they
should have hit. This was the era of Pirate and the others teaching
Navy tactics to them and the start of Top Gun. Now comes a big thrust
by USAF brass to stop the embarrassment. Their arguments were that they
needed a better Sidewinder, bought so many more missiles than the Navy,
and for that they should be given a larger say as to what the next
version would be. So they threw money at the project and DoD accepted,
even giving them project Management control. The PM at China Lake for
the AIM-9L was a LTCOL USAF. I know because I got to shoot one of the
development missiles that did not kill the target. The recorded data
showed the missile launch to be right in the designed test parameters,
but that a circuit failed some where in the weapon system. Obviously,
that flaw was fixed as your reported good results in the fleet show.
AIM-9L Background #2 -
ACEVAL/AIMVAL Did any of you participate in this 1974-75 Air
Farce forced "flyoff to determine what off-boresight
capability the next joint missle should have?" In my duty as
Air Weapons Officer, I was the Navy operational tech rep to
the initial planning and evaluation with NAVWEPSCEN China
Lake as the technical folks. China Lake and I were pushing
for the 45 degree capability already proven available to our
satisfaction and originally planned for the -9L by the Navy. The
AF whose mentality at the time, if you recall, was based upon
an F-4 with a gun pod, of course, disputed this. That, of
course, turned it into a real fighter that could stay with
the Migs. What they really wanted was an AIM-9B with minimal
off-boresight, but one that worked. So the flyoff went on and
the result was a compromise. I think that the AIM-9L
off-boresight was set at one half of the 45 degrees and a head
on capability was also required. That also had some effect on
lowering the off-boresight angle because it was perceived
that you had to be closer to head on for the missile
performance to catch the guy if he turned away at launch.
That does make sense, but I say perceived in that I don't
recall if there was any real engineering quality data
gathered during these flights to support the operational
portion of this decision. Help us if you know something
different out there. Technically, you have to remember that
all Sidewinders, including the -9L, were fin controlled. That
reduced all Sidewinder turning ability two ways. The missile
had to go forward for a while to pick up speed before it
could turn and the size of the fins were limited because the
missile had to fit on the aircraft.
AIM-9L Background #3 - The Problem of Off-Boresight Capability
The issue of off-boresight capability was not, IMHO, fully
understood completely by even the good guy Navy operators in
the ACEVAL/AIMVAL decision loop. Frustrated as we were at
China Lake at the time that was somewhat understandable
because the whole thing was a humongous political football.
And, its awful hard to see how really close the technology is
to what you want without having at least some of the system
in your hands trying it operationally. Then, having to fight
for it in a David and Goliath scenario. They were in a tough
position. Eventually, Navy Washington showed us all the real
decision. They wanted the Air Force's money, so we were all
told to sit down and shut up which we did. It has become even
more understandable from your comments about the uncertainty
and flux in training, tactics, Top Gun, etc. going on in the
fleet.
The problem with off-boresight capability is that it goes against
the grain of our training, our weapons to date, and our
inherent instinct to best the other guy. We need to show him
we are superior to him by getting behind him in the perfect
firing so that he can't get away and blasting him out of the
sky. Funny, when you think about it. How gallant is slipping
up behind some unawares guy just motoring back to base and
letting him have it. Not necessarily superior because it was
Smiling Jack and he had the performance aircraft to kick your
ass, if he had seen you. Further, I don't recall hearing any
WWII ace say something like, "I got 123 kills, really 140,
but I don't count those where the guy obviously didn't see
me."
Yes, those individual kills win battles, especially a lot of them.
But wars are won by attrition. That is reducing the number of
enemy aircraft faster than he does yours. If I recall
correctly, top gun was created in order to improve the kill
ratio of Navy F-8s and F-4s to third world Migs. It is
particularly important when one side or both have a fixed or
limited supply of assets to draw from. IMHO, in the case of an
aircraft carrier, a lot faster. What off-boresight capability
gives you is a lesser need both air space and aircraft
performance wise to be in the position to achieve your kills
and very much less exposure to your being in position to be
killed.
AIM-9L Background #4 - The Off-Boresight Capability we could
Have Had (Agile)
I turned up at China Lake Naval Weapons Center as the newly
appointed Air Weapons Officer and Agile Project Pilot in
October 1973. The AIM-95 Agile was an air-to-air missile
being developed as an advanced replacement for the AIM-9
Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile. The Navy intended
it for the F-14. The US Air Force was developing the AIM-82
missile to equip the F-15 Eagle at the same time. Since both
missiles were more or less identical in their role, it was decided
to abandon the AIM-82 in favor of the Agile.
The Agile was equipped with a sophisticated, high tech (at the
time), Gallium-arsenide infrared band seeker by Hughes. The
seeker head had a large off-boresight capability (0 to +/-
165 degrees practical) lock-on capability. The pilot targeted
it by using a Helmet Mounted Sight (HMS). A solid-state
missile rocket engine was used to provide the go power.
Control was achieved by thrust vectoring giving it superior
turning capability over the Sidewinder. This combination of
greatly improved IR sensor, large off-boresight acquisition
and thrust vectoring control would allow Agile to be fired at
targets which were not directly ahead95thus making it far
easier to achieve a firing position. Did it ever,
I must have flown 20 or 30 test flights with the Agile seeker on
F-4s. It was amazing in its ability to detect targets and
lock on and track the target aircraft to all angles. Hughes
did a fantastic job. The helmet mounted sight to acquire
targets worked beautifully. I could climb, dive, stay level,
roll inverted, zoom climb or dive, keep my speed up
approaching the target or slow to simulate 1 vs. 1 turning
and that seeker would lock on as soon as I put the sight on
it and pressed the button. What made it even more outstanding
was its ability to discriminate the target with a high sun
caused hot white cloud background? I easily acquired the
target aircraft at off-boresight angles of 0 to about 170
degrees. Now don't restrict your visualization of this to the
plane of the wings. You have the whole half cone above you,
and you could look down; essentially, wherever you could look
you could acquire and shoot a launch and leave Agile. The
easier acquisitions occurred when you didn't have to stretch
your neck to make them; like between 30 degrees off the nose
to about 135 degrees. Tactics, oh yeah! How about this idea?
You are about to enter a many on many situation in deuce
formation. You both keep the speed up or accelerate, if
necessary. You pull up through the fur ball shoot two on the
way up. Pull over the top, and shoot two on the way down and
run like hell. Eight kills without not much chance of your
getting hit. I mean it was going to be that good, I think.
The official line is: The AIM-95A was developed to a point where
flight tests were carried out including test firing at China
Lake (Not true, to my knowledge) and inclusion in the
ACEVAL/AIMVAL Joint Test & Evaluation conducted with
both the F-14 and F-15 at Nellis AFB in 1975-78. AIMVAL
analysis results indicating limited utility of higher high
boresight capability and high cost resulted in opinion that
it was no longer regarded as affordable and the project was
cancelled in 1975. Instead both the Air Force and Navy
developed an improved version of the Sidewinder for use.
Although this was intended to be an interim solution, in fact
the AIM-9 continues in service today.
The Soviet Union did embark on development of an advanced high
boresight SRM with thrust vectoring and subsequently fielded
the AA-11/R-73 Archer on the MiG-29 in 1985. NATO learned
about their performance due to the German reunification and
efforts began to match or exceed the R-73's performance with
the IRIS-T, AIM-9X and MICA IR programs.
Author's Note: "If these used thrust vectoring it was Agile
again. If not, how could they compete?"
Ron Hinkel
1509
A little history on the F-8 which used to be displayed at the
Miramar East gate.
Back in 1969, when the F-14 was being created, the Navy
(NavAir), decided it's gun would be the GE M60 Gatling gun.
Based on experienced gained from the USAF and their F-4s,
both external pods (SU-23) and the M-60. The evaluation report held the
M-60 superior despite some test results to the contrary.The
M-60 went into the F-14 as it should have. The F-8A 143755
which is logged in my book as a TF-8A was flown to NKX and
mounted on the East Gate pylon next to an F-4B. I have no idea where
it went when the Navy left NKX.
As an aside, the old F-8A was a pleasure to fly. It could easily
out turn our F-8Es or F-8Js, Lack of ventrals, increased
rudder authority, and light weight made it very nimble.
Bob Heisner
1510
For decades the 'sader was credited with 18 kills but more
recently, unidentified agents in the navy have upgraded 1 or
2 probables. I think that Hal Marr is shown with 2 in some
official sources--really frustrating for researchers who
cannot get a handle on the paper trail. Turkey Tucker's 1972
victim was a "scuttle" rather than a shootdown, and sometimes
raises the toll to 19. Haven't seen Jerry in many years now
but I think he received a decoration for it.
BTW: do not recall if I ever mentioned a long-ago discussion with
Hal. He said that Hainan MiGs were making themselves
obnoxious to USN aircraft transiting to Yankee Station, and
CTF-77 issued "Burn before reading" orders to go solve the
problem. That was Eddie Outlaw, whose rep was such that the
claim seemed credible to those who knew him. Hal produced a
pen and drew a map on a restaurant table cloth showing
ingress/egress routes and said 5-6 kills resulted, all undocumented
of course. Wish I'd thought to "borrow" the table cloth since
it was of no further use. Have never heard of anyone else
discussing the reputed event.
As ever, Barrett Tillman
1511
I was a shooter on the Bonnie Dick for a couple of years and
we sometimes had to shoot bridles off when the bridle
arrester was out of commission. In most cases, it was due to
a failure of the BA system during a launch. Bridles were only
used for so many launches anyway and normally turned in for
scrap during the next in port period. I always kept a supply
of bridles with one shot lefts in a stack in front of the
island under a tarp. In case of a BA failure, I always had a supply
of throw aways available.
Chuck Klusmann
1512
For Barret, that tale of the F8 getting lost out of radio contact
near Hainan sounds like the incident in 1970 off the Hancock
when Lt. Rick Amber from VF-211 found himself alone near
Hainan, compass spinning, and unable to talk to strike. I was
oncoming barcap with our new XO Dave Perault, and heard the
call from Red Crown: "blue bandit coming from Hainan" We
could talk to Rick so I told him he should put the sun at his
seven o'clock, pick up his droops, go buster and check his
six. Eventually he outran them and got back in radar contact
and radio contact, and was vectored back to Rampage. Never
heard anything about Phantoms from the Kitty Hawk, so maybe
there was another such incident.
Frank Corah
1513
Gents:
Thank you for the input, much appreciated.
It's not unusual to find contradictions for cause of an aircraft
loss. Frequently what the MiGs claimed was attributed to
AA/SAMs on our part. (It appears that the MiGs
over-claimed by a factor of 5 or 6, which is not unusual. The
historic baseline starts at about 3X and proceeds from there.
The upper reaches belong to the Japanese and the Italians.)
In Korea both the F-86s and MiG-15s claimed a 10-1 exchange ratio.
As ever, Barrett Tillman
1514
Just finished reading the account of the time and weather worn
194 Crusader out by the barn in the Boerne, TX area. Seems it
is up the road a piece from San Antonio which I recalled as
the home of Mr. Crusader, Bruce Morehouse. Bruce had more
time in the Crusader than about anyone, having served three
consecutive tours it as I recall.
Kind of remembered some discussion a while back about Bruce
having acquired two Crusader Fuselages and he was looking for
wings. Bruce was a collector of sorts; had two Mercedes 300SL
Gullwings back when I knew him in 194 in the mid 60's.
I propose that any Crusader in a barnyard less than 50 miles from
San Antonio, TX is somehow connected to Bruce Morehouse if he
in fact lived there at some point.
Dudley Moore may have more information.
Jack Allen
--- Break ---
I am guessing that the F8 remains found in the bushes was the product
of Bruce Morehouse's effort to get the bird in flying
condition.
I believe he lived in the San Antonio area when he worked for UPS.
After retiring I think he moved to Idaho. Have no clue where he
bought the fuselage but I know that he had one.
The area is west of San Antonio.
PJ Smith
1515
My boat-school class put together a book of sea stories (title: There
I Was ...) and paid a press in Baltimore to publish it; we
actually turned a profit on the deal. The following is
lengthy and slightly edited from the original, but it does
involve Hainan Island. The allusion at the end to a Chinese
fellow's name comes from some of the fun and games the
upperclassmen had with Plebes at the Naval Academy.
---
A Rude Awakening
By the time I got to USS Oriskany in the Gulf of Tonkin in May of
1969 the war had quieted down a good bit. It still wasn't a
cake walk, but almost all our losses were self-inflicted.
During my two cruises in 69 and 70, the air wing lost 13
aircraft and killed four pilots, but only two were due to
enemy action (and one of those could have resulted from
target fixation).
Every night approach I made to that little deck in the
Crusader presented the opportunity to add to the losses. But
the closest I came to losing an airplane on those two cruises
had nothing to do with underpowered airplanes with
"challenging" flying qualities landing on an Essex-class
carrier. One of the beauties of flying single-seat airplanes
is that a lot of really dumb incidents don't get found out: this was
one of those.
Late in November 1970 we were finishing up our last line period.
The whole cruise had been mightily boring. We flew CAPs and
more CAPs, a few hours at a stretch during which the most
exciting event was usually rendezvousing with the tanker.
Some mornings we'd get to make a "reveille pass" on Red
Crown: low level, high speed, afterburner blazing. Photo
escorts were fun because you got to turn and burn a lot, but
aside from that, not much happening.
Then one day all the intel weenies got a certain bounce in their
step, and we knew something was up. Ranger had just arrived
in the Gulf as Oriskany's relief, so there were three full
air wings available for the Navy's role in whatever was
cooking.
On the 20th we finally got briefed: this was to be the special
ops attempt to free POWs from the prison camp at Son Tay, 20
miles west of Hanoi. Shangri-La was the other small deck on
Yankee station. Our part of the mission was to be
diversionary, sending all the attack aircraft up to the
Chinese border to get the NVN radars to look north. No
ordnance was dropped, just a whole lot of flares. Nobody expected
the MiGs to come up, but we launched one section of F-8s just
in case.
I got to lead the CAP that night. My wingie and I launched
first sometime after midnight and took up station off the
coast of Haiphong. We started out with our lights out,
presumably so the bad guys couldn't see us. Then the attack
pukes started streaming past our position, also with their
lights out. Everyone had assigned altitudes, but it got
pretty unnerving when the stars winked off and on from time to time
as someone flew by. I rated the risk of a mid-air collision
higher than that of Major Toon showing up, so we went bright
and flashing!
It was quite a show from my vantage point: hundreds of flares up
north, non-stop SAM launches. Nobody was anywhere near the
SAM sites, so the NVN just launched them straight up in
barrage mode. Still, it was more hostile fire in two hours
than I had seen in two cruises.
The recovery that night was weird. I had seen flight decks pitch,
heave, and roll, but never anything like this. The fantail
was describing a figure-8, with a slide from side-to-side
superimposed on the roll and yaw. Most of us got a courtesy
look - one waveoff - and trapped on the next pass.
Interestingly, all the aircraft on Oriskany and Shang got
back aboard, but the big-decked Ranger sent a passel of aircraft into
Da Nang that night.
The rescue attempt turned out to be a failure, since the prisoners
had been moved some time before the raid. We didn't find that
out for several days, so we were still pretty pumped. We were
even more pumped the next day when we were treated to a 24
hour lifting of LBJ's bombing halt. All the next day we
launched strikes on anything that moved. The fighters tagged
along, hoping for some action, but nobody showed up. So,
after being up all day and all night, I was off flying fighter
escort and TARCAP missions.
The adrenaline started to wear off.
Some time in mid-afternoon I manned up as a spare for yet
another strike. I watched as all the fighters launched, and
reckoned a combat nap was next. I was surprised when I was
taxied forward to the catapult. I started to ask the boss
what was up, but no red-blooded fighter pilot would turn down
free flight time and the chance for a day trap. So, boom, off
I went, with no mission. I checked in with the ship and asked
them what they had in mind. As suspected, nothing.
The bad news was, however, that there was no tanker available for
me. This wouldn't be much fun after all: with no gas and a
1:30 cycle, I wouldn't be jumping in some hapless A-7
driver's mess kit for a few turns. So I climbed to 20
thousand, set max conserve speed, and engaged the autopilot.
The sun was beaming through the canopy, making it all nice
and warm. The rush of the air conditioner provided white noise
in the background. Nobody talking on the radio. Altitude
hold, on, dial in twenty degrees of bank so the airplane
would just orbit the ship while I ...
Fell sound asleep.
The winds aloft that day were southwest, so while I was flying a
perfect circle relative to the local air mass, that air mass
was moving rapidly toward Hainan Island. There the ChiComs
had a fairly strong military presence. They maintained
navigation aids used to spoof us, transmitting on the same
frequencies as the friendlies, hoping to bag an unsuspecting
yankee air pirate with their SAMs.
I always wondered what the commies made of seeing a target
meandering across the Gulf toward them, on a perfectly clear
day. Whatever they thought, they weren't going to pass up an
opportunity. I was awakened to the deedle-deedle sound of the
radar warning receiver in my head set. It's sort of like the
rumble strips on highway shoulders used to wake up dozing
drivers, but a WHOLE lot more attention-getting. I had no
idea where I was or why somebody wanted to shoot me, but in a
heart beat I rolled inverted and pulled toward the strobe.
Half-way through my patented octafloogaron maneuver the warning
stopped. Like almost every other near-disaster I've been in,
it was over before I knew what happened. I finally got
oriented and bored away from the island toward Oriskany.
Approaching the ship I cautiously checked in, expecting to
catch hell. They hadn't even missed me! I had very nearly
become the first guy in history to get shot down while in the
holding pattern, and nobody would ever have known what
happened to me.
Well, that's the story. No real punch line, except that I
survived. There is a prequel, however. I taught a course here
at Virginia Tech in flight dynamics and control. It was a
required course for graduate students, and there were often a
few students from the PRC in the class. I told this story to
the class one slow Friday. After class one of the Chinese
students stopped me and told me one of his uncles had been
stationed at Hainan Island during the 70s. Small world, eh?
More remarkable still was this student's name: Hao Long. I
asked him if he knew the length of the mess hall at the Naval
Academy, but he didn't.
Bull Durham
1516
I'm probably going to get some hate mail but here it goes anyway. I
hope you don't mistaken the following for arrogance (which is
a character trait that I particularly despise) but hopefully
see it as an honest expression of what I believe to be true.
Ask almost any fighter pilot about what I'm going to say and
I'm quite confident that he/she would agree with me.
In every trade, there is a range of skill among the people who
practise that trade. For many reasons, you will find poor,
good, and great performers. Normally, you have to work really
hard to be really good at something and, usually, you have to
also have some innate talent for that trade. If a person is
not particularly good at something, that doesn't in any way
demean that person. I suck at a lot of things but I am a
decent human being regardless.
By virtue of the training they receive, and of the weeding out
process they constantly undergo, 99% of fighter pilots are
excellent pilots; not poor, mediocre, or average. That DOES
NOT mean that ONLY fighter pilots are excellent pilots, but
it does mean that ALMOST ALL fighter pilots are excellent
pilots. They wouldn't have made it to flying fighters if they
weren't.
There are many excellent pilots that never got a chance to fly
fighters or chose not to. There are many people who could
have been excellent pilots that never even got a chance to
fly. Have I qualified my statement enough so that I don't
sound like a total p$%#k? And, taking it one step further,
even in the ranks of fighter pilots you have fair, average,
and excellent FIGHTER pilots. However, I would still consider
99% of the whole lot of them as excellent pilots. Think of
professional hockey players. There are fair, average, and
excellent PROFESSIONAL hockey players. However, they're all
among the best hockey players in the world.
So, getting back to your question, if you are suggesting whether
a fighter pilot could take over the flying of a commercial
airplane if something were to happen to the pilots, I would
say absolutely yes. He would need some coaching from a type
rated pilot on the ground but I'm confident that the fighter
pilot could fly and land that plane (not saying the landing
would be pretty but, as any seasoned traveler knows, that's
true of airline pilots too). If the fighter pilot had to deal
with multiple emergencies at the same time, he would need a lot
more coaching and, hopefully, someone else in the cockpit to
help him with the switches. Depending on the severity of the
emergency, things might get out of hand. But that might also
be true for the regular crew.
Also, I'm not saying that I'd rather have non type rated fighter
pilot flying the airplane as opposed to a commercial type
rated pilot. That would just be silly. I am saying that when
it comes to actual flying anything, the fighter pilot has
many highly effective mental, physical, and emotional skills
and experience that he can use in any flight situation.
Some Canadian Via Bob Beavis
1517
Circa 1987, Adm Gillcrist was COMFIT at NKX, I think that's what it
was called at the time.
I (CO VC-13 NKX -cocky senior fighter pilot) taxied onto 24R at
NKX leading a flight of 2 A-4s. I always did a manual fuel
(85%) check with my mask off, switched back to normal(?), put
my O2 mask on and took off.
About the time I started the manual fuel check runup somebody over
tower freq sez,"lead A-4 put your mask on". I thought 'who
the hell is telling me to put my mask on'.
My immediate response, over tower freq in a curt manner, was "WHO
SAID THAT"?
The immediate response to my question came from an F-14 at the
hold short.
"FIGHTER ONE said that!" Guess who- ADM Paul Gillcrist.
I immediately put my mask on and we took off.
Fast forward a couple of hours. I am in my office.
From the outer office, "Skipper (me), some guy from COMFIT wants
to talk to you.
(Me) "Who is it"? Outer office, "I don't know, some Lt. Cdr.".
I pick up.
(me)"CDR Lowry". (COMFIT guy-not Gillcrist) "Skipper, ADM
Gillcrist would like to know who the lead was in that flight
of 2 A-4s that took off a couple hours ago? (DUH-me). (me)
"Not sure, what happened"? (COMFIT guy) The ADM said the lead
guy did not put his O2 mask on before taking the runway,
safety thing I think.
(me) "I'll find out. Does he want me to get back to him". (COMFIT
guy) 'No, he said for you to take care of it". (me) "Tell the
ADM thanks for the call, I will find out who it was (me) and
it won't happen again".
I did not call COMFIT back.
He was a great Fighter Pilot and gentleman.
Charlie 'WeaZel' Lowry
1518
In September '65, VF-13 was wrapping up a 7-month
Mediterranean deployment aboard USS Shangri La in F8-E
Crusaders. Our last launch would be off the East Coast with
destination NAS Cecil Field. Our Skipper Jim Foster was
spotted on the port catapult and Air Wing Commander Tom
Heyward was on the starboard. I was number two behind the
skipper and my wingy Larry Durbin would be next after me.
"Shang" rolled steady into the wind, CAG went to full power,
saluted, and was airborne. Seconds later, Skipper Foster
attempted to follow suit. Unfortunately, something went
really wrong! He fell off the front of the flight deck with
far less than the required airspeed. His Crusader hit the
water, wings level, in front of the huge steel bow of the
Shangri La, barreling down upon him at 30 knots. What followed
was an unforgettable demonstration of incredible will to live
on the part of the Skipper, and, very clearly, intervention
in the form of a God-ordained Miracle!
In the final analysis, Skipper Foster made that "fly-off";
but it was in the ship's C1-A, which was the last aircraft
launched, and he was in a dripping wet flight suit after escaping
the cockpit of the sinking Crusader, the carrier's huge
"screws" passing nearby, and being picked up by the ship's
plane-guard helicopter, appropriate call sign Angel. Several
of us in the Air Wing fly-off did not know he had survived.
We deplaned, greeted our families, and were nervously
considering what to say to the Skipper's wife, when the C1-A
rolled up and he jumped out. God is good!
Ten months later, in another world known as Yankee Station, I
was spotted on the port side of the flight deck of the USS
Oriskany, in a VF-111 Sundowner F8-E Crusader, but this time
with MK-83 thousand pound bridge-buster bombs on each wing.
My wingman, nugget Bill McWilliams was number two behind me.
We had a prime target assignment of a bridge southwest of
Thanh Hoa, and we were ready! The last of the A4 Skyhawks
were fired off and it was our turn. The taxi director lined
me up on the port catapult. I rolled smoothly and carefully
over the large catapult shuttle, from which a strong cable
bridle would be attached to a hook on the belly of my Crusader. I
moved gently forward as a brave young sailor positioned under
the hot tailpipe of that Crusader inserted a "T" hold-back
fitting that attached my Crusader to the flight deck and
would hold my aircraft firmly as power was applied, but break
free when the catapult fired. Ever hear of "Rube Goldberg?"
But that was carrier aviation life in those days. I
double-checked ordnance switches safe and put my hands on my helmet
so the red-shirted ordnance boys could pull the safety pins
from my Mk-82's. The job was done and the Catapult Officer
gave me the signal for full power. I checked the engine
gauges at normal, and looked up to see the Catapult Officer
giving me the signal for afterburner, which would be required
for takeoff with that bomb load on a hot July day on Yankee.
I positioned my head firmly against the headrest, saluted,
saw the Catapult Officer lean forward to touch the flight
deck, and felt a very unusual minimal jolt. I looked up to
see the catapult bridle flying through the air several
hundred feet in front of me. I was in afterburner,
accelerating slowly down the deck. Following "cold cat"
emergency procedures I'd thought through hundreds of times, during
long hours sitting in the cockpit manning the Alert Five
aircraft, I immediately came out of afterburner, chopped the
throttle to idle, and stepped on the brakes. The ever-alert
Air Boss simultaneously broadcast: "Power back, hit the
brakes." Later investigation revealed the "T" holdback
fitting had broken, and the bridle had fallen free, a
nanosecond before the catapult fired. I was sliding down a
slick catapult track, in a heavily loaded aircraft, with less
than 120 feet in which to stop, and it was a little unnerving
to hear the Air Boss call for the rescue helicopter. I
suppose I was applying the brakes like I'd learned on icy
Nebraska roads as a pre-teen driver, trying not to let those
narrow high-speed jet tires skid. However, when I reached the
position where I couldn't see the edge of the flight deck over
the Crusader's nose, my hands went instinctively to the face
curtain to prepare for ejection. Our Crusaders did not have
the new Martin-Baker zero-airspeed, zero-altitude capability
for safe seat ejection, but I resolved to shoot myself out of
that apparently doomed Crusader if its nose wheel dropped
over the edge of the flight deck.
I had a firm grip on the face curtain handles, and was
looking to the right to watch the edge of the flight deck
approaching. The cockpit seat is directly above the Crusader's
nose wheel, I was almost looking straight across the front
edge, and my adrenalin was absolutely over-dosing, when I
saw, and felt, that magnificent aircraft stop. It turned out,
I still had three feet of deck space left, which was enough
to get the Crusader's nose turned and pointed back down the
flight deck. The mission launch was continuing off the
starboard catapult as the taxi director and brave young
blue-shirt plane pushers got me headed back to safety. The
Air Boss was on the radio. His first call was to the Angel
helicopter to return to station; then he asked me if I wanted
to try it again. Why not? My wingy was lining up on the
starboard cat and I didn't want him going "feet dry" over
North Vietnam without me. I taxied back down the deck and turned
to get in line for the starboard cat. A green-shirted
maintenance "final-checker" was banging on the side of the
cockpit and the Boss was giving me the news: The outer barrel
of the "unbreakable" nose wheel strut on the Crusader had
split vertically and it was in danger of exploding. Hydraulic
fluid was spraying everywhere. When the unloaded shuttle had
been fired under the nose wheel, the tremendous upward impact
had almost exploded the strut. As I found out years later, it
also "exploded" three of the discs in my lower vertebrae. I'm
writing this today because there was absolutely Divine
Intervention involved. There was just enough friction on that
slippery wet catapult track to allow me to stop. Maybe it
wasn't a miracle, but I'm damned sure it wasn't me that
stopped that Crusader and full load of bombs! Would I have
survived if I had ejected?
Fifteen months later, my roommate Lieutenant Edwin Van Orden
of Arlington, Texas, had a similar event on the starboard
catapult. Unfortunately, when Ed's F8-C was sliding and
skidding down that slippery catapult track, his nose wheel did drop
over the front deck edge. I was watching from Pri-Fly as the
squadron's observer for that launch, when an erroneous,
over-boosted, catapult setting tore the hook out of his
Crusader. I saw Ed's hands go up to the face curtain just as
mine had earlier. When the Crusader's nose dropped over the
deck edge, he shot himself out. Ironically, the nose wheel
and strut caught in the safety net strung across the front of
the Oriskany's flight deck. The Crusader did not crash into
the water and was later hoisted back aboard. Ed's early-model
Martin-Baker got him up a couple hundred feet, and his drogue
chute actually pulled the main chute out far enough to
deploy, before it took one wild swing and slammed him into
the side of the forward gun-tub on the Oriskany's port side.
That Officer, Gentleman, and courageous Warrior did not
survive. I kept him in the fight through my 276th and last
mission over North Vietnam. Every time I'd taxi onto the
catapult and feel the nose wheel drop over the shuttle, I'd
mutter into my oxygen mask: "This one's for you, Ed."
Why did I get at least three "God-ordained Miracles" during
that war, when Ed needed one so badly? He was twice the
Officer and Gentleman that I was, and probably a better pilot! It's
been a burden on my conscious for 50 years. I can only
rationalize that our dear Lord had a more important job for
him, somewhere, in those high heavens, way above the rest of
us.
Very Respectfully, Dick (Brown Bear) Schaffert
1519
When the air war over NVN began, Chief of Naval Personnel decreed a
limit of one combat cruise per pilot. "The action won't last
long and everyone shou ld have the opportunity to participate . .
. " Rolling Thunder emphaticall y changed all
that. As it began to wind down in '68, several of
us survivo rs reached the revised (temporary) limit of "two"
and rolled into VF-124 as i nstructors. 20
There was a sense of urgency in the "RAG." In three years of
combat from YA NKEE, Oriskany's CVW-16 had lost 73 aircrew, KIA / MIA /
POW. The statisti cal probability of a pilot
surviving all three of "O Boat's" Rolling Thunder deployments was less
than 30%! We had a pilot shortage before we even got s tarted.
The majority of the student input into VF-124 was direct from VT-23 and
26. Having instructed basic aerial combat for three enjoyable
years at VT-23 in the early 60's, I recalled a relaxed feeling of
achievement and success on t he part of our graduates.
Generally lacking was the hunger and drive that w ould better suit a
fledgling fighter pilot. They were not to blame!
Naval A ir was in a "valley"; not many squadron seats were available .
During my week of playing golf at Miramar in February '68, before
checking a board VF-124, I thought about what a challenge it was going
to be to instill a desire to fight in "relaxed" training command grads
while instructing the m in flying and fighting the Crusader.
Considering what we'd just been thro ugh on YANKEE, failure was not an
option! 20
Glory Hallelujah! Whether it was a gut patriotic reaction to
high school cl assmates burning draft cards and rich college kids
heading for Oxford, or th e sleaze media ridiculing our military, the
young stalwarts we received from the Chief of Naval Advanced Training
Command were full of fire and vinegar! During '68-'69, guys like Denny
Duffy, Ed O'Gara, Don Priest, Rick Amber, a nd over a hundred more,
made me very proud to be an American Naval Aviator! The
challenge became not one of "making a Tiger", but rather keeping him on
a leash strong and short enough to keep him alive!
It was humbling to watch those young guys "let it all hang out" on
every tra ining flight. To a man, they pressed it to the
limit, and then did it again, only better! I had the enviable
honor of handing out the "fast badges" af ter their first flight; which
included the 1,000mph jaunt heading seaward fr om NKX. Each
awardee was required to give his most vivid description of tha t feat
at the next Happy Hour, and some were very "enlightening" as to the d
epth of his character. As I recall, Denny was a student (more
like a discip le) of "Devil" Houston and was very eloquent!
It was a privilege; no, an HO NOR, to have been a part of producing
fighter pilots of Denny's quality, ded ication, courage, and patriotism!
Fast forward to 1976. I'm sitting at my desk in the Pentagon,
doing my "Pen alty Tour" in the office of McNamara's former
"Whiz Kids", when the "Duffer " steps in and invites me to
lunch. Last I'd heard, he was pushing crowds a nd clouds for
Continental; but it seems General Dynamics had noticed his Cru sader
background. Being in a tough fight for the Light-Weight
Fighter contr act, GD was leaving no stone unturned and decided to hire
their own Crusader Driver to match up with the one in the OSD
(PA&E) TACAIR Office (me). I re call one of our early
meetings to discuss the merits of the F-16 took place a t a Washington
Bullets (?) basketball game. Unfortunately, it was that time
in the Pentagon when 05 himself was on the hot seat for having hunted
some d ucks at the invitation of a Defense Contractor.
Therefore, most of our time together was strictly business; although GD
did come through with the great est Navy Birthday Ball ever at a grand
hotel in DC. Complete with movie sta rs, it was a night to
remember! The next time I had dinner with Denny and D iane
was the LACB that he and his superb Texas crew put on for us a few year
s back.
Looking back, the "FNG's" of Duffy's time frame became the nucleus of
"natur al born heroic SOB's" that held our fighter community together
during some r eally rough times, and ensured a place in history for our
beloved Crusader. Here's a whole handful of nickels on the
grass, my friend! Say hello to Ga briel for us, Denny, see
you shortly.
V/R, Dick (Brown Bear) Schaffer
1520
During the summer of '67 on Yankee Station, we were shuttling old F8C
replac ement aircraft we'd received to a maintenance facility at NAS
Cubi Point, fo r installment of the latest in electronic warfare
equipment, code name "Shoe Horn." On 22 October, it was my
turn and I caught the daily Oriskany C1A m ail-run to Cubi.
All the Carriers were on Yankee and the Club was almost em
pty. Early next morning, I took a base taxi to the flight
line. The friend ly Filipino taxi driver asked me if I'd be
taking part in the raid on Phuc Y en. Somewhat surprised, I
asked him when that would be. He assured me it w ould happen
in the next few days.20
An uneventful flight back to Yankee, followed by a shoulder harness
restrain t system failure on arrested landing, which resulted in my
attempt to take-o ut the radar scope with my head. Shattered
my helmet; and, as revealed by C T scans years later, compression
fracture of T-1 vertebra and herniation of 4 discs in my cervical
spine. Also apparent concussion, with occasional, ver y
distracting, double-vision which persisted for two days. At
the Air Wing A lpha Strike planning meeting that evening, the taxi
driver's prediction came true! Beginning at 10:00 the next
morning, I flew 4 missions "downtown" ov er the following 56 hours. 20
I've never walked out on the field to play in the Rose Bowl, but it
could no t have made me as proud as I was to rendezvous overhead
Oriskany with 40 oth er Air Wing Sixteen pilots, and roll out on a
heading straight up the Red Ri ver for Hanoi; and I got to do that 4
times in 56 hours! During one of thos e run-ins, someone came
up on Strike frequency with a few bars from a record ing of Petula
Clark's hit rendition "Downtown." Some 35 years later, at a p
ost-concert audience-participation event at a theater in San Diego, I
had th e privilege of telling the story to that gracious and caring
Brit Lady. I w as rewarded with a hug and a sweet kiss . . .
in front of my wife and 400 pe ople!
My first two missions were Iron Hand, and the last two were
MIGCAP. I had t he honor and self-ordained privilege (as
squadron Operations 0fficer) of fly ing the Iron Hands with VA-164's
incredible Warrior, Denny Weichman. Denny b egan flying
combat over and around all of Vietnam when President JFK first s aid,
"We have to do something about that mess over there!" He
already had o ver 400 missions when I enjoyed watching him in
action. During the first st rike on Phuc Yen, I recall (with
aging memory) that our primary assignment w as the major SAM complex
located west of Hanoi and south of Phuc Yen. The w eather
over the Red River (for 3 days) was broken clouds and heavy haze belo w
10,000 ft. with brilliant blue sky above. Perfect
for our "Supreme Comma nder" to watch over us, to see if we performed
our duty to our Country, and t o Him, in an honorable manner; and,
thankfully, to lend His hand when approp riate. I'm living
proof of that! 20
Suppressing SAM's "downtown" was a mathematical impossibility, but
Denny was no Mathematician, and we "tore them a new one!"
Thinking back, Charge of t he Light Brigade comes to mind. We
evidently got the job done, as our Air W ing suffered no losses to
SAM's on that first strike. When we were finally "
Winchester," with two SAM sites destroyed and only my two remaining
Sidewind ers for weapons, we covered the strike group's withdrawal; but
the MiG's tha t hadn't fled to China or been destroyed on the ground,
weren't having any m ore of us! Unfortunately, 85mm sites had
locked on us several times and Den ny had been hit twice.
With some of that "Help" from above, we made it back to the "O"
boat. His crew counted 140 holes in his Skyhawk. 18
hours late r we did it all again. Same targets, same
assignment, but this time Denny a nd I must not have been so
effective. We lost an A4E to a SAM and VA-163 nu gget pilot
LT(jg) Krommenhoek was missing. When Denny finished
with his Sh rike deliveries, we both still had full loads of 20mm and I
had two Zuni roc kets. Phuc Yen was smoldering, but the Hoa
Lac airfield was open for busine ss and we closed them down with
several very accurate attacks. 20
It was a "target rich" environment for our Iron Hand
missions. During the f irst 4 raids on Phuc Yen, 117 SAM
launches were recorded, 36 against our Air Wing. A
few hours later, my third trip downtown was a comparatively easy T
ARCAP, but the fourth on 26 October was a nightmare as we lost both
John McC ain and Chuck Rice. There was absolutely no chance
of a rescue for either o ne. It was a bitter pill to
swallow. My official Navy pilot's Log Book sh ows I
flew a fifth Alpha Strike Iron Hand to Hanoi on 27 October, but I can'
t recall the details, and I have no notes about that. Hey,
I'm 83! During t hose 56 hours of strikes on Phuc
Yen and "downtown," our Air Wing had 8 air craft hit and 4 shot down;
with one KIA, two POW, and one rescue.
Thirty years later, my Hungarian bride and I flew over "downtown"
again. Th is time in a chartered brand new Boeing 777, with
British pilots and Chinese crew, enroute to Bangkok. 46rom
37,000 feet, the Hanoi mid-afternoon weat her looked much the same,
broken clouds and haze. However, there was a high cirus
layer, and as I stared out the first class cabin window, I saw the fa
ces of KIA roommates Norm Levy and Ed Van Orden, and there was wingman
Bill M cWilliams; 3 of the 58 we left behind on Yankee. Gone
and totally forgotten by the America they died for, but not by those of
us who led them into the f ight or fought on their wings, and certainly
not by the loving God who calle d them to His paradise. Tears
were running down my cheeks and the cute Chin ese Stew with the bottle
in her hand was apologizing, "Sorry, Sir, is our ch ampagne that bad?"
Respectfully Submitted, Dick Schaffert 1521
Last Thursday the USS Midway Museum hosted an event called Dogfights
to Detente where 6 or 7 North Vietnamese Mig pilots visited
San Diego and wanted to meet with Navy pilots who had flown
against them. I was not able to attend, but Garry
Weigand went and spoke one on one with the NVN top ace (7
kills) who told him they preferred going after Air Force
planes because they flew in nice tight formations while the Navy was
all over the place and hard to keep track of (loose deuce),
but they especially did not like to fight F8s because of the
guns.
Frank Corah
1522
[Duke Hernandez]
In June/July 1959 “DUKE” was VF-11 LSO
and responsible for waving all F8s at Leeward Point at
GITMO. We were preparing for boarding USS INDEPENDENCE for
its initial shakedown. The “Fresnel” lens
had only recently been incorporated and on several occasions it was not
in service.
NOT TO WORRY ! “DUKE" came up
with some paddles and we proceeded with night work at Leeward Point. I
may be wrong but I do not believe that many F8 drivers ever flew
paddles’ approaches. PERIOD?
The night pattern was very much like the real thing, turn outbound and
there was no horizon , pitch black, instruments then back to runway
lights. there was at least once collision with the cliffs on the East
end of the runway>
There was only one port call liberty and the guy to be close to on
liberty was the guy who spoke the language. Although he was
only a couple of years older he became “PAPA DIEGO”
to me. Over the years we would at least have a few drinks or
have dinner when I visited his latest duty station. Key west
was one of the most memorable.
Some were highly critical of his overflight of Naples and landing in
Yugoslavia. In those days I never knew the true identity of
who was controlling us. weather reports were not too
reliable. Take off from Rota and with stronger than predicted
tailwinds and a thick undercast, and no TACAN, he over flew Naples and
landed on the nearest field he saw at very low fuel level.
It took 6th FLEET several days to get things in order. In
those days the F8 did not have an internal starter. By the
time the rescuers arrived with a starter “DUKE” had
talked the Yugoslavians into building a starter. I never
found out if it worked or did the US Sailors crank the F8.
Never flew with him but truly enjoyed his company over the years!
P J Smith
1523
June 21,1966
On this date 35 years ago, while in aireal combat over North Vietnam,
US Navy Lt. (jg) Phillip Vampatella of Islip Terrace, Long Island,
became the 9th Naval Aviator to down one of the elusive Mig-17's of the
North Vietnamese Air Force. Lt. (jg) Vampatella was flying cover for a
downed F-8P Photo recon. Crusader with members of his squadron, VF-211
"Checkmates" from the USS Hancock, when his own Crusader was rocked by
enemy AAA. He immediately headed out to sea to his ship, not knowing
what the extent of the damage was to his aircraft. Suddenly, he heard
the call "MIGS!, MIGS!" from his squadron mates still covering the
downed pilot. Disregarding the damage to his plane, he turned to get
into the fight. As he approached the scene, an air battle was in
progress, with a Mig pulling in behind one of his squadron's Crusaders.
Phillip called out "F-8, you've got a Mig on your tail, BREAK RIGHT!.
Every F-8 in the area broke except the one that was now being gunned
down by the Mig. Phillip rolled in on the Mig to get him off his
buddies tail, but that Fighter Pilots sixth sense told him it looked
too easy, and to "Check Six" Sure enough, another MIG-17 was sliding
into position on his tail, ready to shoot. Phillip dove for the deck,
heading out to sea, at full power trying to lose his pursuer. His
damaged aircraft was vibrating so wildly his helmet was hitting the
canopy. Low on fuel, he was calling for a tanker. All this while the
Mig was shooting at him, but not leading him enough to hit him.
Suddenly, the cannon shells stopped going by his canopy. Looking behind
him, he could see the enemy plane turning for home, probably low on
fuel himself. Waiting a moment to make sure the enemy wasn't trying to
draw him into a trap, Phil "Got Mad" as he later told the Long Island
Press. The pursued became the pursuer as Phil turned in behind the
departing Mig. Getting a good "tone" from one of his heat-seeking
Sidewinder missiles, he fired and watched as the missile guided
directly to the Mig's tail and exploded, knocking him down. It was only
then that he now turned his fuel-starved, and damaged Crusader toward
the waiting tanker, and recovered on the waiting Hancock. For his
"Dogged determination to stay in the fight, inspite of the damage to
his plane, when others might have left, Lt.(jg) Phillip Vampatella was
awarded the Nation's second highest honor, the NAVY CROSS. Phillip went
on to fly with several airlines, retiring as a senior 757 captain, and
lives in Maine. In the early 1960's his father, Phillip Sr. married my
paternal Grandmother, Katherine Calma, whose husband had died when I
was very young. Phillip Senior was the only Grandfather I ever
remembered on my Father's side. As a young boy I was very excited to
find out we had a real Fighter Pilot in the family, and several years
ago, I was privileged to hear the story of Phil's saga of aerial combat
from Phil himself when I called him soon after moving to upstate NY.
"And now you know the rest of the story"
Rich Calma 1524
I thought I might add some experiences from my1,600 hours of flying
F-8's I flew F-8A's through RF-8G's. I also flew F-4A's,
F4-B's, even an F-4C, accumulating over 300 hours in type. I
was a production test pilot at O&R, PAR, NARF, "Paint and
Return", whatever you wish. Unless the aircraft broke very
early in the flight, for 2 years, I did nothing but complete test
flights, each one containing a "Speed Run". I learned a
number of things about the differing models of both types.
Each "Speed Run" was started at 40,000 feet, after completing an idle
jam acceleration to full power, then full After Burner. As
full After Burner was achieved the aircraft at about 0.9 IMN was Zero
(0) G'ed until about 20-25 degrees nose down, pulling out of the
descent no lower than 26,000 feet. The aircraft would be
supersonic and accelerate and climb to 40,000' where it was leveled and
allowed to accelerate to maximum capable speed.
The RF-8A had become somewhat of a slug by 1965. Seldom could
one coax more than about 1.45 IMN from the machine. Once, I
remember seeing 1.6 IMN. The "Photo" was faster on the deck
than the other J-57-P-4A types, but 0.999 IMN near sea level in level
flight was it.
The F-8A, F-8E, DF-8A types would usually reach 1.65 IMN.
Most F-8C's - J-57-16 could reach in excess of 1.70 IMN. At
his time in the life of the aircraft, both F-8D's and F-8E's were
faster than the predecessor models. The fastest that I ever
flew an F-8 was one day I pushed an F-8D to 1.95 IMN. I hope
everyone recalls that the stabilization systems in the F-8's of that
time was vacuum tube derived. That F-8D at 1.95 IMN started
jittering very lightly in yaw. Of course the F-8, unlike the
F-4, was speed limited without viable Yaw Stab. I believe
limited to 1.45 IMN. Maximum on the F-8D was 1.85
IMN. Discretion being the better part of valor, watching the
nose go back and forth, thinking of the electrons in the Yaw Stab being
asked more than planned, I slowed.
I recall my first test flight with an F-8E. I was sent to
Atsugi Base from Cubi Point with an RF-8A that had a spread
keel. Nippi was to do a repair. While there, I
asked if there were any test flights that need accomplishing.
Answer, yes an F-8E. Took off in glorious CAVU weather to
find the field at minimums upon return. I noticed how heavy
the nose seemed, as previously I had only flown A's, B's and
C's. The GCA to minimums was interesting.
Another area of interest to me was a Yaw Trim problem with an
RF-8A. I do not recall with precision, but I believe the Yaw
Trim had to be adjusted as one climbed to altitude, as a result of the
"Temperature Compensation Rod". This particular RF-8A seemed
bent. The Rudder Trim simply was not correct. I
wrote it up, and several flights later, it was decided to pull the
tail. Seems the shims placed to install the tail over the
engine to the forward section had been installed on the wrong
side. Once the tail was on straight, the aircraft flew
correctly. As a result of this, I became very sensitive to
any trim oddity. Again, memory?, but I believe that the
correct setting for the Roll Trim, for takeoff, was 3/4 degrees
RWD. I had noted a good deal of variation aircraft to
aircraft. Therefore, I visited with Charlie Marak my former
Chance Vought Tech Rep at VU-7. I was informed that the
factory used a "3 Board System" to set proper placement of the droops,
ailerons, flaps, at the various settings, Wing .Up, Wing Down, Cruise
Droops, Clean Droops. O&R was only using 2 of the 3
Boards. As soon as I basically began squawking every F-8
regarding trim, O&R commenced to use 3 Boards.
Amazingly, every aircraft, trimmed correctly, flew faster more quickly,
and operated more economically. None of them were "bent" as
had been claimed!
