Navy Chief
January 19th, 2011, 09:27
Fred sent me this story this morning. Thought I would pass it on:
On the boat, the least said, the better. We "hide" by not talking on the radio. Usually.
During daytime ops, you just don't say much. When you come in to land, its something like, "Tango Sierra, Chief 305, Corsair Ball, 2.2". The LSO will reply "Roger ball", and then you perform the orchestrated crash, and then taxi what's left of the airplane out of the landing area. Remember, this was during the Cold War, and the Russians HATED the US Navy having two carriers in the Med, at all times, and they were all over us, all the time. If you broadcast, they'll find you. How you hide in the ocean? Big ocean, little ship.
If we got serious about really pis..ing off the Russians, we'd go to a condition called "EMCON". Nobody emits ANYTHING. No radio, no TACAN, no radar - NOTHING. Not the boat, not a plane, nobody. Its all done with advance planning and light blinks. We are essentially hiding. We had, later on the A-7E's, a fine inertial navigation system. We brief, always, 2 hours before launch, and the ship would tell us where it planned to be 2.2 hours after our launch. So, we'd go there, and look for a "big gray thing" to land on. There were alternatives if someone got lost, but they are complex and I won't go into them.
When in a formation bombing flight of two or even four, we did all our comm with hand signals. Even for emergencies. (I once was flying as wingy on a guy from out sister squadron, EXTREMELY close formation. We each had a "Rockeye", a cluster bomb. We flew in very close formation, sank a ship - never said one word over the radio. When I saw his bomb come off, I pickled mine.)
We had "HEFOE" signals. If you are flying in formation, and you have a severe problem, and don't want to use the radio, or (most likely, can't), you put your forearm across your brow, like you are weeping, then put up between 1-5 fingers:
1. Hydralics
2. Electrical
3. Fuel
4. Oxygen
5. Engine
So you join up on the lead plane, and the lead calls the boat and says he has a wounded plane on his wing, and flies a normal approach to the boat, and about 20 seconds away from the trap, the lead flies away and the damaged plane continues the approach and lands. The lead gets in the "bolter pattern" and lands whenever there is an opening. If the damaged plane bolters, you just join up again and keep doing it.
At night, its done with flashlight blinks. I brought a guy aboard the Kennedy one night in the Med (wee hours of the morning, overcast, no moon - redefines the word "DARK") using HEFOE. I saved his rear that night. He was "NORDO", our term for "no radio".
On the boat, the least said, the better. We "hide" by not talking on the radio. Usually.
During daytime ops, you just don't say much. When you come in to land, its something like, "Tango Sierra, Chief 305, Corsair Ball, 2.2". The LSO will reply "Roger ball", and then you perform the orchestrated crash, and then taxi what's left of the airplane out of the landing area. Remember, this was during the Cold War, and the Russians HATED the US Navy having two carriers in the Med, at all times, and they were all over us, all the time. If you broadcast, they'll find you. How you hide in the ocean? Big ocean, little ship.
If we got serious about really pis..ing off the Russians, we'd go to a condition called "EMCON". Nobody emits ANYTHING. No radio, no TACAN, no radar - NOTHING. Not the boat, not a plane, nobody. Its all done with advance planning and light blinks. We are essentially hiding. We had, later on the A-7E's, a fine inertial navigation system. We brief, always, 2 hours before launch, and the ship would tell us where it planned to be 2.2 hours after our launch. So, we'd go there, and look for a "big gray thing" to land on. There were alternatives if someone got lost, but they are complex and I won't go into them.
When in a formation bombing flight of two or even four, we did all our comm with hand signals. Even for emergencies. (I once was flying as wingy on a guy from out sister squadron, EXTREMELY close formation. We each had a "Rockeye", a cluster bomb. We flew in very close formation, sank a ship - never said one word over the radio. When I saw his bomb come off, I pickled mine.)
We had "HEFOE" signals. If you are flying in formation, and you have a severe problem, and don't want to use the radio, or (most likely, can't), you put your forearm across your brow, like you are weeping, then put up between 1-5 fingers:
1. Hydralics
2. Electrical
3. Fuel
4. Oxygen
5. Engine
So you join up on the lead plane, and the lead calls the boat and says he has a wounded plane on his wing, and flies a normal approach to the boat, and about 20 seconds away from the trap, the lead flies away and the damaged plane continues the approach and lands. The lead gets in the "bolter pattern" and lands whenever there is an opening. If the damaged plane bolters, you just join up again and keep doing it.
At night, its done with flashlight blinks. I brought a guy aboard the Kennedy one night in the Med (wee hours of the morning, overcast, no moon - redefines the word "DARK") using HEFOE. I saved his rear that night. He was "NORDO", our term for "no radio".