Opinions on Lehman

[beau]

a little off topic but some fun A-3 facts:

The A-3 was the best carrier born tanker the navy ever had...it was also the biggest operational carrier born aircraft ever. The A-3 could carry a crap load of gas, but one of the biggest design flaws was that fact that there were certain fuel tanks that if you transfered gas into it, you could not pump it out (or dump i think)....the bigger problem was the fact that that tank was aft of the C/G making the airplane very unforgiving and hard to control if you accidently pumped fuel to the wrong tank.....
The A-3D (affectionatly known as All 3 Dead or Whale) was my father's first fleet aircraft he flew.......actually have some 8mm of him bringing it aboard the handcock (i think).....GOD DA%N that is a small deck!! I think my paps said it was 11ft from #1 wire to the ramp.....yikes!!

 

[A4sForever]

a little off topic but some fun A-3 facts: .....actually have some 8mm of him bringing it aboard the handcock (i think).....GOD DA%N that is a small deck!! I think my paps said it was 11ft from #1 wire to the ramp.....yikes!!

Did your Dad ever fly with VQ-1? If so, I may have flown with him or waved him.

BTW, there is no such thing as a "small deck" --- they're ALL small. DON'T SPOT THE DECK and it will make no difference to you how "close" the ramp is to the #1 wire --- if you fly a centered ball --- no problem. Watch the ball -- Meatball, line-up, AOA ... and you will never know the difference. It wasn't too long ago that VT-4/VT-5 and Advanced Studs, prop & jet, were ALL doing initial CQ on "small" 27C style decks .....

 

[Fly Navy]

Whoa, that A-3 has an in-flight engagement. Is that ok in an A-3? NATOPS on the T-45 says thats bad juju for our aircraft.

 

[A4sForever]

Whoa, that A-3 has an in-flight engagement. Is that ok in an A-3? NATOPS on the T-45 says thats bad juju for our aircraft.

Nope, "WHALE DANCE" .... not an inflight engagement ... just the moment the picture was taken --- the Whale was a stiff-legged old girl and ALWAYS "bounced" down the deck after hook/wire engagement. Sometimes the A-7 and F-8 would get a little "squirly" after catching a wire during their run-out. It depended on any "drift" at the moment of engagement. Don't like that stuff too much .... Spooky at night ... it helped Whale crews and LSO's develop their sphincter muscle(s).

P.S. , now this LSO is smartly attired in the kind of garb we used to wear --- no gay inflatable vests favored/mandated today (how DID we EVER do it without all the current rules and regs, anyway??) with "CHUMP" written across the back. That was kind of like wearing a "kick me hard" sign. We wore flight suits; up or rolled down, flight jacket if chilly, and sometimes khakis and flight deck jersey and that cute little flight deck hat. Of course shades -- where are his shades?? Needed something to protect your eyes from all the crap blowing up off of the deck as well as keep the sun off and stay look'in good.

I still have my hat --- they were hard to come by. I should wear it to Starbuck's sometime ..... that would impress the espresso drinkers, Yes?

 

[beau]

VQ-1? not sure, if that if that was based out of Guam around 71-73ish then yeah he was there....(he had a 6 moth det to guam in that time frame)...he was also out at Midway for something too....cant remember exactly.

yeah too bad about the Lex not being the training Carrier, then we all could experiance Very Small deck ops. compared to just small deck ops....

well in that LINE UP, part you still see noses damn close to that Foul line.......espcecally if you are aiming at the Crotch and are landing an A-3 eh??? Or is it more mental block...to just do it....cause "if you think, your dead" haha!

 

[A4sForever]

VQ-1? not sure, if that if that was based out of Guam around 71-73ish then yeah he was there .....
well in that LINE UP, part you still see noses damn close to that Foul line.......espcecally if you are aiming at the Crotch and are landing an A-3 eh??? Or is it more mental block...to just do it....cause "if you think, your dead" haha!

I don't think we had our first VQ-1 det until @ '72-'73 ... so maybe I waved him, maybe not. I didn't get my "cross-training" in the Whale until @ 1973-4.

Line-up --- I hope the current LSO's are NOT telling you guys to "aim for the crotch" !!! It never works well --- it's the mark of a lazy boat pilot and I don't know what kind of LSO would tolerate it. 'Aim for the crotch" --- it's a bad idea --- whether we're talking about the ship or walking down the street in the Wanchai District of Hong Kong.

Moderators: I wish we could start a thread -- perhaps its own thread in the Naval Aviator's Forum, or perhaps on Military Aviation in General if another thread is not desired, re: "USS BOAT" . Something about how to do it --- flying off and on the carrier, things to think about, techniques, etc. They can take it for what it's worth and perhaps add the information gleaned to their "data banks" for future reference. Maybe cull some of these posts and others to start ..... this would not be meant to replace any instruction these young Studs are recieving in training --- maybe just enhance it or give another perspective for discussion ???

Any Studs or Boat Aviators interested in something like that ... ???

 

[nittany03]

Speaking as someone who's waiting to start flying Goshawks, I'd love all the gouge I could get my hands on.

 

[Pcola04/30]

I would like to see what kind info the "old balls" aheeemmmm, cough,... A4's,... cough...have to offer. Anything that gets me ready for my turn at the boat.

 

[nittany03]

I started a thread in the Private Naval Aviators forum. Here's the link.

http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?p=125527#post125527

 

[beau]

haha, my paps must have been a lazy boat flier then.....in your humble opition A-4's....but hes my Hero so I dont know if you could convince me otherwise. Well then tell me hows its suppose to be done...how do you correct for the moving ship......this is way down the road for me....as I'm in T-45 ground school right now.....(up Saturday night studying EP's!)....but might as well get it now......the separate forum would be great!

 

[A4sForever]

haha, my paps must have been a lazy boat flier then......but hes my Hero so I dont know if you could convince me otherwise.

Would never want to change that opinion, either ... but he was doing it "wrong" .... and he and I would have had a "little talk". Go over to the thread "The Boat" that Nittany started on Private Naval Aviators and maybe we'll get going in a day or so --- working on taxes right now and just taking a break.

One thing you "Boat jocks" will have to learn ... there are two ways to get aboard --- your way and the LSO's way. Who do you think is going to win ... ???

 

[wink]

It was called a Whale Dance. If the pilots had any choice the old girl would have had an empty dance card. I thought the Whale drivers had brass ones.