quote:

Originally posted by JudgeG:
The three greatest sensations in life are a good dump, an orgasim and a successful night cat shot. Funny thing is that you get to experience all three at the same time. Kind of like getting hurled into a Coke bottle at 140 Kts. (This is not original, but funny as hell and the damn truth).

I did it all that stuff in an A-4 a very few times and also carrier qualified in an F-9 in training, but my heroes were the guys who flew bigs assed A-3's or wobbly-bricks like F-8s off of 27 Charlies. Damn little boats, that class.

I remember back in the late 60's someone wired F-8 pilots for blood pressure, etc., bending alluminum over Red River getting shot at by SAMS and MiGs. To the suprise of not a single aviator, the pulse was highest coming back aboard.

And God bless the Vigilante pilots. Those planes were hell to bring back.

But as they say: It's all a piece of cake if you're smooth in the groove.

The day before I qualified in the F-9, I flew out to the boat in an S-2. I de-planed and went down to the hanger deck, only to hear "Aircraft in the water off the starboard side!"... running to the elevator, I saw the plane I flew in on bouncing off the hull in two pieces and the pilot and co-pilot face down in the water. Killed them both... Ops were cancelled until the next morning when it was decicded that pilot error was the cause, but I was the first guy off the cat that day. I don't think I crapped for a week after that launch, but as the above post kind of states, with youth there is ignorance.

Heck, I usually had a problem just finding the damn carrier, much less landing on the thing.

But I'd give a testicle just to get to do it again.

Gear, flaps, hook, harness, speed brakes, armament, spoilers..

"Ringneck 21, ball, fuel state 1.5"....

"Roger ball"

Meatball, lineup, angle-of-attack...

And getting an O.k. 3 wire was like winning the lottery.