Patriot's Point, Charleston, SC

USS Yorktown (CVA 10) at Patriot's Point.

F4-J Phantom II fighter-bomber

The view approaching the USS Yorktown (CVA 10) showed a number of aircraft on the flight deck.  By and large, these were almost all  post World War II jets, plus one of the helicopters assigned to carry out air-sea rescue, including participating in recovery of the Apollo 8 astronauts in the Pacific following capsule splashdown.

For this blog entry I'd chosen to showcase the two aircraft forward (that's the front of the ship) where they both sit displayed as if awaiting a "cat shot" from the under deck mounted steam catapult.  The Tracer, on the left was the forerunner to the more well known Hawkeye (still active, therefore none on display)  The Tracer was built in 1954, and ultimately left the fleet sometime in the 1970's,  replaced by the somewhat quicker Hawkeye.  The Tracer had a top speed of 280 MPH at 4,000 feet, which meant the catapult operator could set the cat shot differently than when helping the Phantom aloft.

View from the CAGs chair midway up the island

I've shown the view from the CAG's seat, halfway up the "island" on the carrier.  I sat in his chair and took the pictures herein.  I've always been fond of the F-4, as it was also adopted by the USAF and the Marines.  Built in my adopted home town of St Louis, the F-4 was the predominant aircraft at Ubon Royal Thai Airbase, where the 8th Tac Fighter Wind (the Wolfpack) had three squadrons of Phantoms.  I'd hear them taking off over the sounds of records playing at AFTN 840 radio,where I worked from midnight till six AM.  A very powerful wake-up call for those not yet awake.

Early AWACS - the Grumman E-1B Tracer

Below is a good look at the Tracer, which also carried the nicknames Willie Fudd, and Sloof with a Roof.  The WF original Navy designation resulted in explaining Willie Fudd,  but the other nickname warrants knowing more about the S-2 Tracker.  Rather than tell you, I took a picture of the on-board placard (below).  Also, for more information, I'd direct you to the website for the Yorktown, found at www.PatriotsPoint.org.

SA-2 Tracker, aka Sloof

For more:  www.PatriotsPoint.org 

Those daring young men........

These pictures were taken on my recent cruise, where the Vision of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) had several "aerialist" acts.  On the left side, I've captured the performance, showing the colorful costuming.  The more revealing pictures show the rehearsal where the young men in black were preparing for their late evening performance.  I'd call it more musical bungee jumping than a true circus aerial act, but considering this was done on a cruise ship from decks four thru eight, there was sufficient elevation and "zooming up and down" to give the audience oohs and aahs.

The actual rigging was quite elaborate and to my memory I had never seen this type of platform structures on the eighth deck of a ship, allowing for a forty foot performance area, clearly greater than was available in the actual theatre part of Vision.  This ship will come to Tampa in December so we might see her again.  The men were not exactly on the flying trapeze, but they certainly did fly about the atrium on Vision of the Seas.