Posted on 05/06/2025 7:19:51 PM PDT by Macho MAGA Man
On our first med cruise, in 1976/77, the Nimitz lost 7 or 8 aircraft. Some of those were top gun F14 Tomcats. The active duty military is a dangerous job, in peace time.
High level of operations inevitably leads to accidents and losses. Sounds like this was a mechanical malfunction. Fortunately the crew was saved.
Thanks for that story and wisdom.
JFC I can’t with you people.
This.
Finally someone understands.
It gets more like DU everyday.
‘78???
We were aboard the JFK in ‘78......
VAQ-133
Please tell me again how long we've been fighting those turban heads and haven't made a dent. They're still firing them missiles and hitting airports and causing our ships to take erratic maneuvers (which dumps a jet or two into the ocean).
What exactly has all this drama accomplished? I mean the so-called mightiest military in the world, costing us a trillion dollars, fighting them little bitty Houthis. Does this sound like history repeating (Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam)?
Heya Shipmate!
You know, I thought those EA-6Bs were absolutely boss!
I was always a big fan of A-6’s, but there was something about those Prowlers that made them seem almost like a different plane to me, hotter, faster, and more maneuverable than the standard A-6s.
When they did their fly-bys during the impromptu air shows that were occasionally performed for the benefit of the crew when at sea, those Prowlers seemed to scream by even faster.
And the gold-plated canopy made them look like planes that were bad enough that they wore mirror sunglasses at night!
By the way-I have the cruise books from the ‘77 and ‘78 cruises...if you are interested, send me a Freepmail and I can scan your squadron pages and send you a link to them-I expect you are in there, too! (I didn’t buy one at the time, I didn’t have the money! But I picked them up after the fact, years later. They are kind of fun to look at...:)
*
good stuff...
Indeed, especially if reports are accurate about arresting gear failure.
I bought a cruisebook...
SLUF was in command....
“Not accidental. I believe deliberate negligence.”
LOL!
One of those might fit me. It would be a tight fit though.
You lost another F/A-18 Super Hornet?
Haha!....Poor Dimitri...
Good deal! I always thought the self-application of the SLUF nickname would have been kind of funny in someone else, but most of my squadron mates who worked on the “SLUF” didn’t really laugh when he came over the 1MC. It just seemed off-putting to many of us, but...we were just worker-bees, what did we know!
You are most welcome, thank you for saying so.
I am getting on in years, and many of those memories now seem like faded, yellowed photographs, so I have been recounting them in that storytelling format so that as they fade further, it will still be available in my mind!
I keep them on my computer in a folder as text snippets...:)
Regnery
One thing I liked about him... I don’t was in line for chow, and he and his staff cut in front and got the same chow we got, then sat down with us and ate. If it was not good, cooks went to the brig.. we did have real chow there... on the FID, a bean from the chili got up and walked up my spoon...
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