Thursday, July 29, 2021

More Pics from USS Midway...

CH-46 Sea Knight, aka "Phrog"

When I saw that blue helo in the opening photo, it reminded me of The WSO's introduction to naval aviation. It was the summer of 2003, she had just completed her first year at the College of the Holy Cross and as a midshipman on an NROTC scholarship, it was time for CORTRAMID (Career ORientation and TRAining for MIDshipmen). This is the summer cruise¹ where the prospective naval officer gets a one week taste of: the surface warfare community, the submarine community, the aviation community, and the Marine Corps.

I can't remember where The WSO did her COTRAMID cruise (it was a while back after all) but when it was aviation week she was introduced to the mighty Phrog. It was a Marine Phrog and the first thing it's pilot asked the young midshipmen was where everyone was going to school. As luck would have it, the Marine pilot was from Massachusetts and as The WSO was the only midshipman going to school in Massachusetts, she got to fly first.

In fact, as I recall, she had about 20 to 30 minutes of stick time (stick and collective time?) and the others had quite a bit less. She loved it and made the decision to go the aviation route. Now she didn't go helos, she went jets. But still, that old helicopter has a place in our hearts.

The Phrog's cockpit.

The Phrog's cargo/passenger bay.

Vought F-8 Crusader
The Last Gunfighter

The view from the flight deck. The tall pair of buildings in the foreground is my hotel.
My room is in the tower furthest from the camera. I can see this part of the ship from my room.

Looking over at NASNI. That's USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) at the pier.
Couldn't make out the hull numbers on the two Fleet Replenishment Oilers forward of her.

The Shooter. How could I not take a picture of this iconic figure on the flight deck?

See the statue of the sailor kissing the nurse? An iconic image from the end of WWII.

The photo upon which the statue is based.
(Source)

Okay, so there is rather a funny story about that statue. Well, not the statue itself but my perception of said statue.

Now I had been in Sandy Eggo for one week. Up every day at 0500 (or earlier) and out the door of the hotel by 0600. I'd been looking out my window at the scene below all that time and not once had noticed that statue. Until Sunday morning when I awakened after "sleeping in" until 0730.

Upon opening the shades I noticed the statue, perhaps it was a trick of the light, or just random synapses firing in my brain, but I wondered to myself, "Why is there a statue of a penguin in that park?"

You can see the statue in this photo, circled in yellow.

Now you might remember that I rather like penguins, as I confessed in this post. So I am perhaps fixated on that aquatic creature. (I am also the sort of person who, upon hearing hoofbeats, might think zebras, not horses. I am wired differently. Let's leave it at that...)

After breakfast, with two cups of coffee on board, I decided to look up why there was a statue of a penguin in Sandy Eggo. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered that it was not, most assuredly not, a statue of a penguin, but a statue known as "Unconditional Surrender" which is in Tuna Harbor Park. (I had no idea Tuna had a harbor named after him...)

Yeah, not a penguin...

Of course I had to visit the pilot ready rooms.
(Yes, the Phantom called to me...)

The WSO's first operational squadron was VFA-32. Back in the day it was VF-32.

We must never forget those who gave all...

The guy at the desk caught my attention. That's a very typical "cruise 'stache." Yes, Big Time grows one every time he goes on deployment. Yes, The WSO makes him shave it off. Well, "makes him" is too strong, convinces him to shave it off is more accurate.

Never forget...

Had to throw this one in for my buddy, The Steeljaw Scribe. I also appreciate the tough job the VAW squadrons² have. The eyes of the carrier they are!

So yes, you get more pictures, so I can get more rack time. Though today (Wednesday) was "only" ten hours, I'm still tired. I'm getting too old for this...

Until tomorrow!






¹ Midshipman at the Naval Academy and on a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship will spend a month (or more) each summer learning about the Navy. The first cruise they visit each warfare community, the second they learn about the men and women they will lead someday, this is their "enlisted" cruise, and the final summer before their senior year is their "officer" cruise.
² VAW = Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron.

40 comments:

  1. One wonders how long it will be until that statue is removed? "Our Betters" have already called the incident upon which it is based "sexual harassment"!!!

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    1. It was marred with graffiti on at least one occasion. Our so-called betters are petulant children with no common sense, nor sense of decency. Yet, they point fingers.

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    2. Our so-called betters need a couple barrels full of rock salt. Or a good whuppin with a leather belt in a way they won't like. Petulant children? You can train petulant children not to be petulant. These imbeciles? I seriously doubt it.

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  2. Good stuff Sarge. I really do like the eye candy you've been putting out.

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    1. Pictures are good when you don't have the time to actually write!

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  3. Wonderful photos. The lists of casualties are sobering.
    - Barry

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    1. Military aviation is hard, Naval aviation is over the top.

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    2. Barry - Sobering indeed. For each name there were loved ones left behind for whom the pain will never quite end.

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  4. Again, Sarge, thanks for the pictures.

    The amount of instrumentation in that helicopter boggles the mind. I obviously hail from a simpler time...

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    1. A Helicopter was the only Aircraft I've taken the controls in and could NOT fly it. My mind could not get out of the right hand is for up and down and left is for faster slower. It's the exact opposite in a Helo Or at least it was in the Loach I got a ride in while in Hawaii on staff.

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    2. TB - Well, it is an older aircraft, with two engines, and it's a helo to boot! Lots more instruments.

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    3. juvat - I am gobsmacked, something you can't fly? But yeah, that whole collective thing is mind boggling for one used to fixed wing controls.

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  5. Really like the photo tour. But....wut....wait.....hoofbeats = zebras?!? Really? The mammal mix in the NorthEast is different than what I thought it was.....hmmmm......:) As to the lists of KIA, MIA, and POWs it's sad to see so many names, hope LBJ is burning somewhere.

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    1. Too bad we, apparently, learned nothing from LBJ about endless war.

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    2. Nylon12 - Hahaha!

      Yeah, LBJ , like many politicians, has many sins to answer for.

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    3. Beans - Roger that. Politicians never learn.

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  6. I spent a summer in Mobile Alabama at the CG aviation training center. I was TAD to help with all the helicopter flights for the USCG Academy cadets.
    one afternoon a quick storm blew through and several helos were damaged. One was turned up when the storm happened, the pilot shut it down and they all sat in back talking to wait it out. That helo was pushed over in the storm.... It was still raining hard when the door opened into the hanger and these 4 wet & shaken looking people walked into maintenance control. The pilot & crewman were ok, the kids looked shaken and I wonder if those two kids from the academy ever sat in the back of a helo again?

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    1. Helos are different, thousands of parts flying in loose formation.

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  7. So you like Penguins....

    Dead Penguins
    Either You Love Them Or You Hate Them!
    Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica?
    Where do they go?
    Wonder no more!
    It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguin isvery committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintain a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.
    If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the nearby snow, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into, and buried.
    The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:
    "Freeze a jolly good fellow. Freeze a jolly good fellow."

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  8. That smell, I can almost smell it in the pictures. Every Navy vessel I've ever been on has it, sure there are slight variations, but the base odor is the same. From the four still in commission at the time to the seven museum ships I've touted, they all had it. In a way it smells like I'm "Home".

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    1. Toured...the word is toured. Proofreading is OP.

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    2. I don't know DV. Seems like you've been "touting" ships lately. ;-)

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    3. DV - I know the smell of which you speak!

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    4. DV - It's okay to tout the ships you've toured. 😉

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    5. juvat - Why yes, yes he has!

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  9. So are the patches on the headrests the names of aviators who sat there or aviators who were no longer able to sit there due to being dead? I know, morbid question, but still.

    Never got to tour a carrier of any variety. Did go tour the USS Alabama, but most of it was closed down at the time, dammit.

    As to penguins, I prefer puffins. All the grace and elegance of a penguin, and the ability to go sea, land and AIR!!! Plus the colored 'staches just are sooo cute against the black and white.

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    1. Alabama was... Awesome. Sister ship to my beloved South Dakota. Spent about an hour "geaking out" in the engine room showing and explaining all i could to my teen boys (started getting a small group of "tourists" listening in, I was using my noisy engine room voice.
      Stunned me to see that the entrance to the engine room led through the 5" gun ammo storage... To Quote "Snipes Lament"
      "When ships converge to have a war upon the mighty sea. The men below just grimly smile at what their fate might be. They're trapped below like men foredoomed who hear no battle cry. It's well assumed that if they're hit the men below will die. For every-day's a war down there when the gauges all read red, 1200 pounds of heated steam can kill you mighty dead."

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    2. (Don McCollor) [Paraphrased from Adm Gallery]...It takes a special kind of guts to stay at your post keeping propulsion on the ship and power on the pumps to allow the topside boys fight the fires raging above you...

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    3. Beans - Good question I really don't know.

      Yup, toured the Alabama back in the day.

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    4. DV - The snipes don't get nearly the recognition they should.

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    5. Don - Good words, and so true.

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  10. Time was, that wouldn't be a "deployment 'stache" but "everyday wear". A different time t'was.
    Boat Guy

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  11. Thanks again, Sarge! I enjoyed the times I was on the Midway. She's a fine ship with an amazing history. I didn't know she was so active in Gulf War I until we visited her the first time. I thought she'd be been decommissioned by then.

    And the Empty Table in the mess made us both get misty-eyed.

    We had a smaller version of "Unconditional Surrender" at the Iowa, and it always drew smiles from the older people walking past it.

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  12. CORTRAMID had a lasting impact on me as I got to fly in a VS-41 S-3A Viking. Despite getting a little airsick, I had a great flight that led me to choosing it out of P-Cola.

    I took a long look at those F-4 aviators. I was privileged to hear CAPT Rod Knutson speak about his time as a POW. Being shot down in '65, he had a lot of it. He was funny, poignant, and at times there wasn't a dry eye in the room. We owe them so much.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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