Posted on 09/12/2002 3:19:06 PM PDT by vannrox
It would depend on the condition the birds were in on the hangar deck of the Nimitz. When the fire system was activated maintenance checks were being performed and on one bird in particular the radios were being worked on. If access panels and cockpit windows were open the odds that the powder would invade critical areas is pretty high. The birds were all washed within 30 minutes but it's unknown, definitively, if all the PKP was removed. I've seen the effects on equipment from birds that were doused with PKP and which the O level types thought were spotless after being washed. That stuff gets everywhere.
You ought to find one by Naval Institute press, THE IRANIAN RESCUE MISSION: WHY IT FAILED, and since I am at work, I cannot remember the author!
By the way, I spoke to a person that was on the last ship to come in, the one with the bad primary hydraulic system, it was Beckwith that called the mission off! Not Sieffert!
pp 279, 284
I mentioned the book: "The Guts to Try" by James H. Kyle and "The Iranian Rescue Mission: Why It Failed." Paul B. Ryan.
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