Historical PHOTO - 1972: Don Garlits' Swamp Rat 16 Dragster on the Flight Deck of the USS Lexington

NavSource Online ^ | 1971 | Contibuted by John C. Driskill

[DogByte6RER]

From NavSource Online, John C. Driskill -

"In 1972, I was stationed on the Lexington (CVT-16) as a PH3. President Richard Nixon asked Don Garlits to do a "Fly Navy Promo" with his car the Swamp Rat 16. We photographers mates were allowed to photograph the scene while assisting the photographers from "Hot Rod" Magazine. We had to swear we would not sell the photographs we took to any other magazines. This is my shot of the Swamp Rat 16 on the flight deck of the Lexington," [ready to race an A-7E Corsair II of VA-81 "Sunliners."]

William Carter Fields adds: "The Catapult Officer is LCDR Mckinney, Flight deck Photographer (back to camera) is PH2 John Signaigo, Phone Talker is AN Parrish. I was Flight Deck Control Phone talker when the photo shoot was done."

[DogByte6RER]

A color photo too ...

[cripplecreek]

The catapult would probably rip the car in half.

[Jacquerie]

Wooden deck. Bridle retract . . . a bit of history. Thanks.

[DogByte6RER]

A US Navy warship and one bad@ss hot rod dragster ... two great things that go GREAT together!

[SampleMan]

That yoke apparatus on the shuttle is impressive.

Remember when they used to buy used cars and shoot them off the cat just for fun?

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Can't resist this superb Photoshop.

[Liberty Valance]

[Yo-Yo]

Remember when they used to buy used cars and shoot them off the cat just for fun?

Yeah, they used to do that a lot!

[Carriage Hill]

[Mouton]

I had the good fortune to be at Island Dragway in NJ when Garlits ran the first 200mph NHRA sanctioned quarter. His car was top fuel, mine was racing K/SA...55 olds. I recall there was some chute problems and he eventually came to a stop in the field!

[katana]

That picture revives a sound in my old brain that was drilled into the head of every kid listening to AM radio in 1960's NE Ohio.

"SUNDAY!!!!! SUNDAY!!!!! SUNDAY!!!! AT DRAGWAY 42!!!!! BIG DADDY DON GARLITS AND HIS SWAMP RAT 16 DRAGSTER!!!!!!

SUNDAY!!!! AT DRAGWAY 42 .... SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!"

[SubMareener]

Wasn’t this the scene when the Eisenhower was turned around to respond to the Crisis in Lebanon?

[Carriage Hill]

Page says it was USS Enterprise doing a fund-raiser:

http://www.strangemilitary.com/content/item/7310.html

Never saw this article before:

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/16/why-aircraft-carriers-may-be-good-for-parking-cars-but-not-landing-new-jets/

[Chode]

IIRC that was a recruiting poster...

[Chode]

heads up...

[tanknetter]

Never saw this article before:

Yeah, January 2012, so a year and a half old. Good number of updates since then ...

The issue with the F-35C trapping was that the tailhook is short and very close to the main landing gear. So when the gear passes over an arresting wire the wire doesn't have enough time to "bounce" back up so that the original hook could catch it. The Navy believes it's solved the problem by changing the shape of the F-35C's hook (and possibly revising the hydraulics that keep it down). Result will be a better-trapping F-35C, but also one that goes through arresting cables faster.

As it is, the Brits are out of the F-35C game, having decided to go back to the STOVL F-35B, eliminating the cost associated with putting cats and arrestor gear onto the QE class carriers.

I think the USN still projects an 11-carrier fleet. There was some talk about either the USS Abraham Lincoln or USS George Washington being decommissioned at mid-life refueling to save the cost. But Lincoln is now undergoing refueling and I haven't seen anything else about decomming Washington early. Should be noted that the Navy IS going down to 10 carriers for a few years, as Enterprise was just inactivated (and is being defueled in prep for decommissioning) with the USS Ford still a couple years away from being commissioned.

Hauling the crews cars on the flightdeck is nothing new. IIRC the two Atlantic Fleet carriers (Forrestal and Saratoga) did it when going up to Philly for their SLEPS in the early/mid 80s.

[rabidralph]

LOL! I remember those! Maybe you will win one of the Vegas!

[Carriage Hill]

Thanks for that F-35C update. Not having a military background and not knowing what credible sources to reply upon, all I hear is bad stuff about the F-35 and F-22 programs.

I almost thought the cars on deck pics were PhotoShopped. Heh.

[NTHockey]

Ha, that’s nothing. We used to drag race the aircraft towers and starter jeeps on the flight deck of the USS Princeton (LPH-5, ex CV-37). Both had governors, but we managed to disable them.

The towers were full cast iron and lumbered along, while the starter jeeps had three wheels (rear one rotated 360 degrees).

And to the NSA trolls, FU.

[cripplecreek]

The Brits do it too.

Jag fired off the deck of the HMS Invincible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eiJkQzpzRc