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A friend of mine was about 5'6" and an AD driver. He always said "On takeoff I can see over the nose or get full throw on the rudder. I can't do both."

The guy flying the helo that picked me up the first time I crashed was a NAP. That was 1960. Later when I was an instructor in VT-21 our leading chief wore aviator wings. He had some problem that kept him off flight status, but every time a new flight surgeon reported in, he'd go take another...

The 130 landing on the carrier was done by LCDR Flatley. Supposedly they bypassed the squat switch (the WOW switch for the AF types) so that he could go into reverse just before touch down. Sort of like getting a cut for AD drivers.

Nothing new. It's been going on for years. When I was instructing in Advanced (F-9s) we had a minority student that just couldn't "get" instrument flying. The kindest writeup that I saw said - Student is hypnotized by the atitude gyro. After he'd been sent to the admiral twice, the admiral...

The Air Farce F-4 guys used to love to take the MORST gear at Da Nang if the runway was wet. They then logged an arrested landing.

Having spent hundreds and hundreds of hours being flung about desert skies by a guy sitting in a yellow van on the ground, I was very glad that he had twenty years of experience driving manned aircraft. His insight also helped protect us from some of the more outlandish stuff that flight test...

You got there almost two years before I did (06/27/60). Did go through T-28 CQ with paddles (LSO - When I am banging the paddles together, I am NOT applauding your approach)

If you don't have to have them out, don't. When you're really old and have lost some of your other jaw teeth, the bottom ones at least make great anchors for your partial.

Had a friend who was 5'6" (he said) who flew AD's way back when. He said " I can see the runway ahead of me or I can get full throw on the rudder. Can't do both at the same time. Another friend had been flying QT-33's for a year when they started measuring butt to knee. if he had ejected, he...

Or on Lake Taal. The lake it self, not in the volcano. Even the AD didn't turn that tight.

I have dropped bombs on Padre Island. Lots of them. That was when I was a NAVCAD in ATU-301 flying ADs and we had three targets there (Caffee, duck, & edie) plus the "impact area" for rockets and straffing. Of course that was a while back.

Toward the end of my second cruise in '63, a sweetiepie in a bar in Kowloon, upon learning that I was an AD driver (abeit 5Ws) said that she could get me a flying job making three times what I was making as a JG. She also said that I could live in Hong Kong and spend all this cash on her. It was...

I know of two incidents where a SNA vaunted gracefully out of the back seat of a T-28, snagged his wedding ring, fell, and left his ring finger in the aircraft. They were both dropped from the program since the Navy thought aviators should have ten fingers. Can be avoided by not wearing rings...

Only got banged up in two of my crashes. The AD-5Q ditching got the left side of my face. My harness was locked but it was so violent that I slid in the harnness and smashed my face on the stick, driving pieces of my visor into my face. Still have a one inch vertical crack under my left eye...

In Texas, he would have shot them. Repeatedly.

A wise old chief told me as a fresh caught Ensign, " Mr. B, if you want a happy life, don't f-- up your twenties with marrige and don't f--- up your thirties with kids, sir. Good advice.

And it's below sea level.

Hillcrest is known locally as the "Swish Alps". A pity too, as the original Mickey Finn's, run by Fred and Mickey Finn was located there in the sixties and was one THE places to go.

Back in the day, fifties and early sixties, stews were A: single, B: under thirty, and C: attractive. If not they were let go or made ticket counter clerks. Also, TransTexas had the best looking group by far.

Once had the guy stationed by the water brake slip and burn his feet in the hot water. He appeared on deck next launch wearing those white boot camp issue sneakers. Of course the captain saw him, yelled at the air boss, who in turn yelled at me, so I sent him below. On the nxt launch the entire...

When I was a shooter, I actually heard an A-7 LSO (former Stoof LSO) say, "Donno, Boss, he was alright when he went by me. The 5MC then blared "LSO report to the tower -- NOW".

Going through advanced training in ADs, rudder control became critical very quickly. Since the first flight that you got to manipulate the controls was a solo four plane, there wasn't much room for error. Your left arm became connected to your right foot. When one went forward, so did the other...

In boot camp, the chow hall had a menu posted outside the entrance. Balitmore Steak turned out to be liver and Maryland Fried Chicken was rabbit.

Bananas beat up in milk worked for me when I was trying to reach the minimum for regular NROTC years go.

Just as a historical note, at least three of my preflight classmates got divorced to come into the NAVCAD program. I know that the midshipman contract said "not married and never has been", but the NAVCAD contract simplely said not married. I know this to be the case since I've been both. My...

Night VFR pattern: a tin can at the 180 in addition to the plane guard, moved the pattern all the way up to 500', two ensigns and an AT3 in an AD-5W, all for $220 a month plus $100 skins.

As they say, the three best things for an aviator are a great landing, a great bowel movement and a great orgasum. A night carrier landing is the only time that you can enjoy all three at the same time.

Was single the first ten years in the fleet. I used to go from number seven in seniority to OinC in a Guppy Det whenever the CVS turned toward NORIS.Same was true coming home from a ten month deployment.

A Ryan tech rep gave me a bumper sticker back in the seventies that said "Assault drones are fearless." Ryan was trying to sell the Navy on the idea of armed BQM-34s. Guess it took a few years for the technology to catch up.

Way back, I was on a TACAN approach to the One Nothing Maru when she runs into a heavy rain shower. I was in an AD-5W and as I approached minimums turned the windshield wiper on and it doesn't work. I can't see a thing and now I've got cock in the smokepit. I report popeye and smoke and the LSO...

San Marcus Brewery's answer to Arrogant Bastard, called Pompous Ass ain't half bad.

Back in the day, calling an AD driver a "fighter pilot" would not have been considered a compliment.

for e6bflyer, re shooter school, as a shooter for two and a half years, mostly on Yankee Station and later FTG Cats & AG instructor, you can be sure to generate a batch of seastorys of your own. My claim is that I never put one in the water that had anybody in it when it left the deck. Also...

for e6bflyer, re shooter school, as a shooter for two and a half years, mostly on Yankee Station and later FTG Cats & AG instructor, you can be sure to generate a batch of seastorys of your own. My claim is that I never put one in the water that had anybody in it when it left the deck. Also...

The Connie cruise of '67 was when I arrived on board. I do have a few hours in A-4's, just passing through as it were. Convinced the Ops O at China Lake that I had to check out in A-4's to chase BQM-34's. Got a few hours in NA-4E 148613. Charlie wings and echo fuselage. Strange aircraft.

Looks like you in front of 604 in the cruise book photo. That being the case, I probably have flung you off into the blue (or black) a few times since I was Bow Cats for the last half of that cruise.

The USS Blueback has a bit to do with aviation. She picked me up after I'd ditched an AD-5Q off San Diego.

A preflight classmate of mine (Steve Pless) wasn't all that tall either. Check out his citation. The only Marine aviator to win the MOH in Viet Nam.

Out here on the left coast, Pendleton MCX sells weapons and ammo. Miramar does not. Maybe they think hand guns and airdales don't mix. North Island and 32nd street certainly don't. Right now Pendleton keeps running out of certain calibers and doesn't carry a few (like 22 magnums).

Thought they were just Spooks. BTW, when I rode Deepsea 31, she was black and white. The OinC at DaNang thought we Whale drivers should see how the other half lived. Actually he insisted. Good galley though.

Originally Nugget meant Ensign, referring to the gold bar. That was when there were a number of us that went through the program as NAVCADs and so reported to our first squadron as O-1s.

I got my wings in June 1960. I was NAVCAD class 38-58 and was a fleet cadet as were many in that particular class. Served in VAW-11 (AD-5W), Monterey, BuWeps, VT-21, Connie (shooter), VQ-1 (EA-3), China Lake, and FTG (Gitmo). They really weren't pumping out aviators that fast when I went...

In the day, you were given a small certificate titled "Naval Aviator Certification. It was form CNATRA-1210/1 (Rev. 7-57). It had your name, date of birth, appointment date, and Naval Aviator number and was signed by CNATRA. My number is V-16762. This certificate is a 4 x 2 1/2 inch card. Not to...

I don't think anyone ever caught Trader wearing matching socks. Drinks were on the house if you did.

As far as swiping a military aircraft, back in the day a flight engineer (PO-1) on a P-2V got tired of waiting for the pilots to man up and fired it up and flew from NORIS to NAS New Orleans. He did run off the end of the run way at New Orleans though.

When I was growing up in Maine, we had a woman senator to be proud of, Margaret Chase Smith. What the hell happened?

ADR = Resip mech ADJ = Jet mech once upon a time

Back in the day, we deployed to DaNang with an EA-3 for a month or so at a wack. The whale crews would occasionally get a stand down day (usually when switching from night to day schedule) and some OinCs would have us A/C ride along in one of the Big Birds to see how the other half lived. So...

Those are the cleanest F-9's that I've ever seen. (Except the one in the Boeing museum) That old centrifugal flow engine left a lot to be desired, though. Took an eternity to spool up.

oops. Old song Our LSO never wears glasses - but that doesn't mean he can see - he crys as we crash through the barrier - he was alright when he went by me!