CARRIER LANDING TERROR!

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/navy_landing.html ^

[navysealdad]

This is very unnerving, landing with deck pitching 30 feet, at night, low on fuel. Incredible. You will never forget viewing this. I have seen a lot of aviation videos but the two videos below are undoubtedly the best. Turn on your sound. I guarantee this will definitely hold your attention.

[andrew2527]

Thanks for the post!

[Fighting Irish]

I worked on this aircraft way back when you had to work on drawings in a secure room, no windows, sign in and sign out. It was an amazing aircraft then and it is now .... and these aviators are all hard core. Made me just a bit proud and terrified watching these vids. Thanks for posting!

[5thGenTexan]

Ping.

[Fighting Irish]

I worked on this aircraft way back when you had to work on drawings in a secure room, no windows, sign in and sign out. It was an amazing aircraft then and it is now .... and these aviators are all hard core. Made me just a bit proud and terrified watching these vids. Thanks for posting!

[Fighting Irish]

Hmmmmmm .. mouse must have the hiccups

[freemike]

ping

[Walkingfeather]

captivating !

[r9etb]

I'm amazed any twin engine fighter could survive two crashes in a row, especially on the same night.

Well, hell... you said it yourself. Twin engines. The first time he had an engine left over, so he had to try again.

[RVN Airplane Driver]

Another of life’s unfair adventures....I got the same flight pay trying to find 10,000 ft of concrete as those boys got landing on that rolling pitching deck. My hat’s off to them...

[tanknetter]

One of the things I find interesting is how they talk, at the end of the first clip, about needing to hold off on a cat shot until the deck is starting to pitch up ... otherwise they'd be shooting planes straight into the water. Many of the cat shot clips show this, as well.

Post-RCOH, Nimitz is pushing 100,000 tons, if not a bit over. Anyone else ever see the old footage of the Doolittle Raiders launching in their B-25s from the deck of the ~22,000 ton USS Hornet? The timing of the deck runs, in very rough seas, was literally causing the Mitchells to be (or at least look like) flung up into the air. In some cases you'd see the B-25 get flung up, then drop down (significantly) towards the water before struggling to regain altitude. It was amazing that none of the Raiders went into the drink while launching, although some came pretty close. Worse was Ted Lawson, who felt his "Ruptured Duck" getting moved around on the Hornet's deck by the high winds while waiting for the pitch-up during the engine run-up and actually raised his flaps ... forgetting to lower them prior to commencing his deck run.

[philetus]

I take my hat off to all the fly boys.
They are something else.

[SakoL61R]

Awesome footage! Looks about as much fun as night desert dust landings in an H-60....

OBX,
F8U Crusaders! Last of the breed. My Dad drove’m as well back in the 50’s/60’s.
Do a Google search for “The Gunfighter’s Page” for a cool cloudnet.comm F8 link.

Cheers,
Sako

[OBXWanderer]

When You’re Out of F’8s..Your Out of Fighters...

Thanks Sako..will spend some time on that site

Cheers.
OBX

[Broker]

Granpa Petti Bones sez trust your instruments and save yur butt.

[freebird5850]

A true breed among themselves. I have the utmost respect for them.

[999replies]

That was awesome and it makes me ashamed that I suck at short field landings.

[US Navy Vet]

You should have been on a old Forrestal Class CV doing bridle operations w/ F-4s, F-8s and A-3s. Now that was when REAL men worked CV Flight Decks.

US Navy Vet
Air Dept USS Independence CV-62 1980-1984

[BIGLOOK]

Just a Navy training op!

It would be nice if this were on the Canteen too....

Big time thanks to Navy SEAL Dad and a hat tip to Magslinger!

[19th LA Inf]

At the Nimitz Pacific Museum in Fredericksburg, TX, there is a full scale mockup of part of the Hornet’s flight deck, with an actual B-25B and a mural of others lined up behind. There is a sound track of a Wright engine, cranking . . over . . and over, but it never catches. If that had been true to 1942 there were guys with tractors to push the crate over the side to give room for the others to take off. Fortunately that didn’t happen. Apparently there was plenty of wind over the deck to make the takeoffs successful also.

A few years ago at the University of Texas Dallas, there was a sort of Doolittle memorial gathering where we had a signalman from Hornet, who dropped the flag to signal the start of the takeoffs, and a gunner from the No. 4 B-25. These guys met there for the first time in 52 years. Very touching experience.

[luvie]

Awesome footage, Big Guy! Thanks for the ping! Those guys
are real heroes!