|
|
Post by dave on Aug 3, 2017 9:57:13 GMT
hi,
with all my enthusiasm this last week over the Bushes visit, my daughter taped me the above film, and I enjoyed it very much. I noticed it was CVW8 involved and apart from E-2's, back then on the USS Nimitz they used A-7's.F-15's, A-6's and HS9 had SH-3's... so apart from the air wing, the E-2 and HSC-9 Sq, I thought of Triggers brush... Forgive the ramblings of a old man, winding down after all the excitement, before I start to wind up for the LAA fly in at Sywell...
regards,
dave...
|
|
|
|
Post by rh226 on Aug 3, 2017 14:30:02 GMT
F-14's I think you will find, Dave.....not F-15's. Those were the latter days of interesting aircraft.
Were there no S-3's?
|
|
|
|
Post by dave on Aug 3, 2017 17:10:48 GMT
hi,
yea should have put F.14's and it only showed 1 scene with a S-3... Yes those were the days a good variety of types, loved the A-6's.
regards,
dave...
|
|
|
|
Post by davebasing on Aug 4, 2017 10:22:57 GMT
Mention of previous carrier visits prompted me to look back at those I have visited in either Portsmouth Harbour or the Solent over the years. In the early part of my spotting career all but one of the carriers that visited were anti-submarine carriers and as such could tie up alongside in the harbour and were normally open to the public (with only the Shangri-La as an attack carrier in 1960 which visited Southampton, as the Forrestal had done 3 years earlier and before my time. It was only in 1962 that the carriers switched from Southampton to Portsmouth). Visits were made to the Essex, Wasp, Intrepid (now preserved in New York) and the Randolph (missed the visit of the Yorktown in 1969 but went on her in her now preserved state at Charleston in 1991). Later, the size of the attack carriers limited them to anchoring in the Solent; the America, Bush, Eisenhower, Enterprise, Forrestal, Independence, JFK, Nimitz, Roosevelt & Truman were duly noted (managed to miss the George Washington in ’94 by being out of the country). I saw the Truman again in Marseilles in 2010 for the centenary of French naval aviation and the Pacific Fleet carrier USS Kittyhawk in Hong Kong in 1992. US Marine carriers also visited along with non-US carriers including Australian, French and Spanish and the Canadian HMCS Bonaventure which I went on in 1962 and 1968. I’ve pulled out just a few grainy old pictures from those far off days. The early quality is inconsistent and not very good due to a mixture of 40-50 years of slide degradation, a basic camera and less than perfect processing by our local small chemist shop (pocket money from licking the gravel out of our shoe box each morning before being sent up the chimneys did not run to a better camera or more professional processing. And you tell that to the kids of today…). But hopefully they give at least a flavour of what was on offer. The first is the Bonaventure in 1962. The Sikorsky HO4S3 877 I photographed again a mere 48 years later preserved in the museum at Rockcliffe, Ontario. By the carrier’s 1968 visit Sea Kings and colour film and had just arrived. The US anti-submarine carriers normally carried 3 squadrons of S2 Trackers with a detachment of E1 Tracers for AEW duties and, from 1969, a small ship protection flight of A4 Skyhawks. They also carried C1 Traders for the ash & trash duties now performed by the Greyhounds. Helicopters carried in 1962 were HUP2 & HSS1N but by 1964 the Sea King had arrived. Made two visits each to the Essex (1964 & 1967); the Wasp (1962 & 1968) and the Intrepid (1971 & 1972) & a single visit to the Randolph. In 1962 the Wasp also carried a pair of AEW Skyraiders and a pair of SNB5s (Beech 18s) though just why they had the SNBs is unclear as they could not land back on the carrier if launched. In those pre-Vietnam days most aircraft had colour, witness the three different rudder colours of the Tracker squadrons. Some web sites still show C1 Trader 136764 as having crashed fatally in Crete in August 1968 but is clearly in one piece in my picture from September ’68. Her actual crash date was on 15 November of that year. The arrival of the Independence in the Solent in 1969 was the first from an attack carrier to that now familiar spot. Liberty boats were made available for visits. It was my first close up sight of the mighty RA5 Vigilante, though I was lucky enough later to photograph quite a number in MASDC and various museums after their retirement. Hawkeyes had replaced the venerable Tracers, most of which (including the one below) still sit forlornly to this day in a yard outside Davis Monthan. Had seen the early E2A Hawkeye two years before in the static at the Paris air show. She was eventually broken up at North Island. The Skyhawk went to the Malaysian AF and finally expired on the fire dump at Kuantan. The Navy Phantoms also appeared here for the first time on a ship. Caught up with the Skywarrior again in 2008, now preserved on the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. Part 2 of this story will be continued as time permits with more carriers with Phantoms and the arrival of types such as the Tomcat, A6/EA6, A7, Viking and Hornet and a welcome appearance by the venerable RF8 Crusader (plus some better quality pictures).  IMG_7821 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  IMG_6767 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bonnie1 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  IMG_7858 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  IMG_7835 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  carrier10 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  carrier9a by dave tompkins, on Flickr  IMG_7828 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  Intrepid3 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  intrepid1 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  Intrepid2 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  carrier13 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  carrier17 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  US08 217 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  carrier12 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  carrier11 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  carrier19 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  carrier15 by dave tompkins, on Flickr |
|
|
|
Post by rh226 on Aug 4, 2017 16:08:48 GMT
Umm......what colour do you get when you mix blue and yellow???
Dr-oo-oo-oo-l-l-l.
|
|
|
|
Post by davebasing on Aug 4, 2017 17:36:02 GMT
Umm......what colour do you get when you mix blue and yellow???
Dr-oo-oo-oo-l-l-l.
It doesn't matter when one started with the hobby, whenever it was its always the things that were just before you started (or even in my case after you started but had no transport - or pocket money - to get to the more out of the way places) that makes one go the colour you mention. I drool over earlier things too, Peter Brown's Blackbushe pictures for starters. One day people will drool over things like Typhoons I suppose and you and I will just yawn. One problem I had when first staring with my Ilford Sportsman camera was that I tended to graph only the new and therefore "exciting" stuff. Well remember graphing the first ever visit by an Iberia Caravelle to Heathrow in 1962. It parked next to a SAS Convair 440. Did I graph the Convair -nope! Then they were gone but the Caravelles went on for years and didn't get a second glance. |
|
|
|
Post by privatepile on Aug 4, 2017 18:24:01 GMT
Brilliant Dave, thanks for posting these, and, "Please, sir, I want some more." lol  |
|
|
|
Post by billsamuels on Aug 5, 2017 7:38:45 GMT
Morning Dave,
Outstanding mate... You ought to produce a slide show with your vast collection of photos, I'm sure people would pay money to see them and listen to your memories of such visits... From your description you must have seen the entire US. Carrier fleet over the years!!!
Thanks Dave. Always an immense pleasure reading your posts.
Cheers.
Bill
|
|
|
|
Post by davebasing on Aug 5, 2017 10:34:08 GMT
Morning Dave, Outstanding mate... You ought to produce a slide show with your vast collection of photos, I'm sure people would pay money to see them and listen to your memories of such visits... From your description you must have seen the entire US. Carrier fleet over the years!!! Thanks Dave. Always an immense pleasure reading your posts. Cheers. Bill Thanks Bill but nah, I'll continue showing them here for free as a small appreciation of the efforts that you and your fellow conspirators put into setting up and maintaining this excellent friendly site (and those who contribute to it). But if my namesake Dave (see under the Greenham thread) did a slide show of the semi naked women of Greenham Common then .... . I am however slightly bemused that he says he only has "vague memories" of those semi naked women! Surely he's not as old and forgetful as me since while I can remember chasing after women I can no longer remember why. Cheers Dave |
|
|
|
Post by keefyboy on Aug 5, 2017 10:50:48 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by dave on Aug 5, 2017 12:47:20 GMT
Morning Dave, Outstanding mate... You ought to produce a slide show with your vast collection of photos, I'm sure people would pay money to see them and listen to your memories of such visits... From your description you must have seen the entire US. Carrier fleet over the years!!! Thanks Dave. Always an immense pleasure reading your posts. Cheers. Bill Thanks Bill but nah, I'll continue showing them here for free as a small appreciation of the efforts that you and your fellow conspirators put into setting up and maintaining this excellent friendly site (and those who contribute to it). But if my namesake Dave (see under the Greenham thread) did a slide show of the semi naked women of Greenham Common then .... . I am however slightly bemused that he says he only has "vague memories" of those semi naked women! Surely he's not as old and forgetful as me since while I can remember chasing after women I can no longer remember why. Cheers Dave |
|
|
|
Post by davebasing on Aug 5, 2017 13:59:13 GMT
Part 2 of my personal carrier saga (a few more to come in part 3). Thanks to keefyboy for the visits link. For those with access to 1960s Air Britain Digests you might see a couple of my own carrier visit reports. In part one I mentioned the E1 Tracer that still rests in one of the yards surrounding DM. Most of them arrived in MASDC in 1973 where they remained stored for some 13 years until sold in 1986 to the Consolidated yard which is fairly close to the Pima Museum. They have therefore been in that small area of Tucson for over 40 years. Here’s how some of them looked in the yard on one of my visits.  04-fu by dave tompkins, on Flickr So after the demise of the anti-submarine carriers we saw a succession of attack carriers, but after 9/11 access on board became harder to get. Here are just some shots in no particular order from those visits. 4 of those shown below can still be seen preserved in the States, A7 158819 is at Tilamook, Oregon; Trader 136752 is at Buckeye, Arizona; F18 AG401 is at Willow Grove, Pennsylvania; while I graphed Sea King 154118 again in 2014 preserved on the deck of the USS Midway collection in San Diego. Marine Corps fighter squadrons were sometimes embarked, hence the Phantom below. The Phantom marked USS Saratoga was actually with its mates on board the Nimitz. Note the squadron badge which was evident in black & white on the F18 pictures already posted from the recent visit of the Bush.  75-ho by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-hm by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-hi by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-hv by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-hu by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-hs by dave tompkins, on Flickr  76-gd by dave tompkins, on Flickr  76-fz by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-hy by dave tompkins, on Flickr  76-gi by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-ia by dave tompkins, on Flickr  IMG_7757 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Sad that the Hornet/Growler now does the jobs that previously allowed us sight of a wider variety of types. Still good to see though. 3 years ago 3 mates & I were given access to the touchdown point at NAS Lemoore in California to watch practice carrier landings which are duly scored by an instructor in the hut beside where the arrestor wire positions are marked on the runway. The noise and smell of burning rubber from being so close was really something else.  IMG_7415 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  IMG_7457 by dave tompkins, on Flickr |
|
|
|
Post by davebasing on Aug 5, 2017 14:01:54 GMT
Some of the notes in Part 2 refer to photos that will be in part 3 due to my having to shut down the computer in the all of the thunder & lightning we had.
|
|
|
|
Post by dave on Aug 5, 2017 14:03:24 GMT
hi,
first off in those days (pre digital) it had to be a very good subject, as the price of films, developing were pocket breaking (well mine anyway). My attention was the USN and US Army deployment helicopters, besides from what I can remember there was some frightening sights non were under 40...and we were spat at queuing to get in.
regards,
dave...
|
|
|
|
Post by graham on Aug 5, 2017 19:47:25 GMT
Fabulous anecdotes and superb photos Dave B, always a total pleasure to read and see your posts. Amazing. We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful "raconteurs" here on AFA.
|
|
|
|
Post by bizfreeq on Aug 21, 2017 17:23:59 GMT
Keep them coming, loving this thread!
Cheers
Mark
|
|
|
|
Post by davebasing on Aug 22, 2017 9:05:50 GMT
Thanks to Mark for reminding me that I never finished Part 2 which was cut off early due to the need to switch off the computer in an electrical storm we had that day. So here are what I think are the missing bits -  76-gr by dave tompkins, on Flickr  76-gn by dave tompkins, on Flickr  76-go by dave tompkins, on Flickr  90-04 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  91-gu by dave tompkins, on Flickr  91-hw by dave tompkins, on Flickr  91-hx by dave tompkins, on Flickr  91-hz by dave tompkins, on Flickr  76-gg by dave tompkins, on Flickr  76-gh by dave tompkins, on Flickr Apart from actual carrier visits there have of course been a number of UK shows over the years where carrier based aircraft have been present. Perhaps the most memorable for all the wrong reasons was the Abingdon Battle of Britain show in 1988 where no less than 8 aircraft from the USS Roosevelt (which was off the German coast at the time) arrived on the Friday. S3 Viking 160147 was last in and landed on RW 18 but overran and rolled through the boundary hedge and ended up straddling Barrow Road. I was quite close (and at one stage prepared to run) and photographed the result. Fortunately there was no real damage to the aircraft (though the gap in the hedge is still visible in Barrow Road) but the incident did cause other arrivals to divert to Brize Norton. After the runway was cleared these returned to Abingdon but sadly amongst these was Phantom XV428 which, while practising its display on its return, failed to pull out of a loop hitting the runway and exploding killing both crew members. This resulted in the following day's show being cancelled. RIP.  88-cj by dave tompkins, on Flickr Most of the Vikings ended their days in the AMARC store where I photographed this gaggle.  US08 1345 by dave tompkins, on Flickr |
|
|
|
Post by zz on Aug 22, 2017 9:50:45 GMT
Only just seen this thread - wow- great stuff!
I started spotting as a 6 year old in 1981 and so my first carrier memories are decks full of A6s, A7s, F14s, S3s !
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos at the time, so it's great to see these pictures!
Thanks
|
|
|
|
Post by dave on Aug 22, 2017 11:05:25 GMT
hi,
I remember the 1988 show, saw it on the central news the night before and that the show was cancelled, but as me and my mate had already made our plans we decided to go, we ended up parking up about 3-4 miles from the airfield and then walking in the rain to get a view of the USN contingent-2xA.6, 2Xf.14, 2Xf.18, 1XEA.6, and the S.3... Not sure now but i'm sure whilst visiting Oxford that morning 24th Sept. we saw a S.3 flying over low, and we thought it was to do with the accident of 160147, or would it have been that one going back to the carrier?
regards,
dave...
|
|
|
|
Post by dave on Aug 22, 2017 11:12:19 GMT
hi again,
just flipping through my old mark.1 recording device and it was a 2nd S.3 160144 saw it at Brize...
regards,
dave...
|
|
|
|
Post by billsamuels on Aug 22, 2017 11:41:30 GMT
Morning guys,
Dave (Basing), this is now beyond outstanding mate... The narrative that accompanies the photos almost gets you alongside...
You could keep us entertained for hours mate...
All the best.
Bill
|
|
|
|
Post by davebasing on Aug 22, 2017 11:59:55 GMT
hi again, just flipping through my old mark.1 recording device and it was a 2nd S.3 160144 saw it at Brize... regards, dave... Hi Dave. Yes 160144/AJ700 arrived at Brize on the 24th with a maintenance crew to check over 160147 (Abingdon still being closed for the investigation into the Phantom crash). The Belgian contingent of 2 F16s and a Magister never made it to Abingdon before the Phantom crashed and remained at Brize all weekend. Guess you saw those too. |
|
|
|
Post by davebasing on Aug 22, 2017 12:01:26 GMT
Morning guys, Dave (Basing), this is now beyond outstanding mate... The narrative that accompanies the photos almost gets you alongside... You could keep us entertained for hours mate... All the best. Bill That's what I keep telling Raquel Welch but she still hasn't turned up!! |
|
|
|
Post by dave on Aug 22, 2017 16:16:44 GMT
hi Dave,
recorded the 2 F.16's but not the Magister so mustn't have needed it...
regards,
dave...
|
|
