Shorties first job

shorty943 · 11-20-2007, 08:10 AM

I have just found a small trove of video gems I never even knew existed.

Go here,

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...113586&page=23

about 3\4 the way down the page, post 344 by "drakegoodman".

You will find a group of Royal Australian Navy 35 mm film footage.

Taken during the time I served on board that ship, doing that job, on the land on deck of HMAS Melbourne. Ah the good old days.

Greg · 11-20-2007, 12:11 PM

Wow! There's lots of neat stuff there! I've always thought that aircraft carriers combined the best of all worlds. Aircraft carriers spoken in Strine are about as good as it gets!

Were you the fellow in yellow?

shorty943 · 11-21-2007, 02:11 AM

Nope, I was the 3rd in the tail team, the only one in white with black stripe.
My responsibility was actually the arrestor wires themselves.

After unhooking, I check the wire physically for damage after every land on, gave it a rub with a gloved hand full of grease and made sure it reset centrally for the next land on. All done in licketty split time mind you, there was always another aircraft turning on to final approach, as one was being taxied forward.

At full pace, we were faster at launch and recovery, with our one "cat" than Big E was, with her three. We took some pride in that, as you might well imagine.

Edit.

Fact, Enterprise has a twin deck hangar below the flight deck, take out the second floor, remove the island superstructure from Melbourne so she is just hull and deck.
She would fit inside the hangar of USS Enterprise.
Is Big E big, or was "little M" tiny.

In 5 years on her, I only ever knew one American pilot who had enough of "the right stuff".
A US Marine Major, who did over 500 missions in 18 months with us.
Most flew past and said no way man.

Greg · 11-21-2007, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shorty943

She would fit inside the hangar of USS Enterprise.
Is Big E big, or was "little M" tiny.

Yes, and yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shorty943

In 5 years on her, I only ever knew one American pilot who had enough of "the right stuff".
A US Marine Major, who did over 500 missions in 18 months with us.
Most flew past and said no way man.

Now that sounds like a marine!

Any landing you swim away from...

shorty943 · 11-21-2007, 01:26 PM

Here he is.

And just look at the hooplah surrounding his big event.

Oh yeah, when we have something to celebrate we go right over the top.

Greg · 11-21-2007, 11:57 PM

Wow! Complete with non-existent marching bands and imaginary dancing girls!

What's a trap?

Miros1 · 11-22-2007, 03:02 AM

I think that's the technical term for the gear used to help the plane land on the ship. Or it could be the landing itself.

shorty943 · 11-22-2007, 12:59 PM

The deck gear is called the Arrestor Gear, the aircraft's tail hook is called the....
and a trap is the American carrier slang for a land on. More properly called a Recovery. Aircraft are launched and recovered. Mostly.

Greg · 11-24-2007, 12:28 AM

Any day that the number of take-offs and landings are equal is a good day!

shorty943 · 11-24-2007, 08:44 AM

Not such a good year '77.

We lost one of each. All crew fine, the aircraft were a bit messy.
We got 1 1\2 of them back messy.

Greg · 11-24-2007, 02:23 PM

Aw, darn. That's the risk you take when you're working on a flattop, but still...

Do little aircraft carriers pitch and roll more than big aircraft carriers?

shorty943 · 11-25-2007, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg

Aw, darn. That's the risk you take when you're working on a flattop, but still...

Do little aircraft carriers pitch and roll more than big aircraft carriers?

Just a little.

In Big storms she played submarines.

Mental picture.

Flight deck, 65 feet above water in harbour.
Storm at sea blows up 80 to 90 feet waves.
As did a cyclone, off Fiji in 1971.
That means big waves crashing OVER the forward end, and rolling down the flight deck.

Fun.

We drive a 30,000 ton submarine.

Greg · 11-25-2007, 05:45 PM

Omigoodness! It's hard to imagine green water over the bow of an aircraft carrier!

What do you do? Put pontoons on the airplanes?

Miros1 · 11-25-2007, 09:08 PM

They're in their hangers where they won't get wet or washed away.

shorty943 · 11-26-2007, 01:15 AM

And bang into each other when lash down chains break.
The ones that have to be left on deck can fall over the side.

It's fun alright.

Greg, at sea, 10 knots of wind, brings up 3 meters or 10 feet of wave height.

Katrina was how strong?

There has never been, or never will be built, a ship that the ocean can't best, easily.

She is not to be taken lightly, our mistress, the sea.

Greg · 11-26-2007, 03:18 AM

I don't know about Katrina specifically, but hurricane winds get up to 150 knots or so.

The best solution to sailing during a hurricane is to be elsewhere.

shorty943 · 11-27-2007, 02:31 AM

Greg · 11-28-2007, 12:19 AM

Aha! It says here on a sometimes accurate source that Katrina had sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. I assume that's statute miles per hour, with is 152 knots, so my guess was spot on!

shorty943 · 12-02-2007, 12:20 AM

That makes for BIG open ocean waves.

I've never seen anything that big, close to 100 feet is, um, impressive enough!

Luckily, most oceanic waves are rollers not breakers. Most breaking waves are due to a shelf of land, the volume of water piles up before, and spills over the sea shore line.
At sea, it just keeps rollin' along. Quite fast.

Greg · 12-02-2007, 01:01 PM

I'm puzzled by the numbers in wave heights. They talk about a 30-foot storm surge from a category five hurricane, but it seems the rollers would be much larger than that. Maybe storm surge is more than a wave. It could be a very large volume of water pushed up by the storm with waves riding on top of that.

11-20-2007, 08:10 AM	#1
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	Shorties first job I have just found a small trove of video gems I never even knew existed. Go here, http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...113586&page=23 about 3\4 the way down the page, post 344 by "drakegoodman". You will find a group of Royal Australian Navy 35 mm film footage. Taken during the time I served on board that ship, doing that job, on the land on deck of HMAS Melbourne. Ah the good old days.

11-20-2007, 12:11 PM	#2
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Wow! There's *lots* of neat stuff there! I've always thought that aircraft carriers combined the best of all worlds. Aircraft carriers spoken in Strine are about as good as it gets! Were you the fellow in yellow? __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-21-2007, 02:11 AM	#3
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	Nope, I was the 3rd in the tail team, the only one in white with black stripe. My responsibility was actually the arrestor wires themselves. After unhooking, I check the wire physically for damage after every land on, gave it a rub with a gloved hand full of grease and made sure it reset centrally for the next land on. All done in licketty split time mind you, there was always another aircraft turning on to final approach, as one was being taxied forward. At full pace, we were faster at launch and recovery, with our one "cat" than Big E was, with her three. We took some pride in that, as you might well imagine. Edit. Fact, Enterprise has a twin deck hangar below the flight deck, take out the second floor, remove the island superstructure from Melbourne so she is just hull and deck. She would fit inside the hangar of USS Enterprise. Is Big E big, or was "little M" tiny. In 5 years on her, I only ever knew one American pilot who had enough of "the right stuff". A US Marine Major, who did over 500 missions in 18 months with us. Most flew past and said no way man. Last edited by shorty943 : 11-21-2007 at 02:20 AM.

11-21-2007, 11:57 PM	#6
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Wow! Complete with non-existent marching bands and imaginary dancing girls! What's a trap? __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-24-2007, 12:28 AM	#9
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Any day that the number of take-offs and landings are equal is a good day! __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-22-2007, 03:02 AM	#7
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	I think that's the technical term for the gear used to help the plane land on the ship. Or it could be the landing itself.

11-22-2007, 12:59 PM	#8
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	The deck gear is called the Arrestor Gear, the aircraft's tail hook is called the.... and a trap is the American carrier slang for a land on. More properly called a Recovery. Aircraft are launched and recovered. Mostly.

11-24-2007, 08:44 AM	#10
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	Not such a good year '77. We lost one of each. All crew fine, the aircraft were a bit messy. We got 1 1\2 of them back messy.

11-24-2007, 02:23 PM	#11
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Aw, darn. That's the risk you take when you're working on a flattop, but still... Do little aircraft carriers pitch and roll more than big aircraft carriers? __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-25-2007, 05:45 PM	#13
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Omigoodness! It's hard to imagine green water over the bow of an aircraft carrier! What do you do? Put pontoons on the airplanes? __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-25-2007, 09:08 PM	#14
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	They're in their hangers where they won't get wet or washed away.

11-26-2007, 01:15 AM	#15
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	And bang into each other when lash down chains break. The ones that have to be left on deck can fall over the side. It's fun alright. Greg, at sea, 10 knots of wind, brings up 3 meters or 10 feet of wave height. Katrina was how strong? There has never been, or never will be built, a ship that the ocean can't best, easily. She is not to be taken lightly, our mistress, the sea.

11-26-2007, 03:18 AM	#16
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	I don't know about Katrina specifically, but hurricane winds get up to 150 knots or so. The best solution to sailing during a hurricane is to be elsewhere. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

11-27-2007, 02:31 AM	#17
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805

11-28-2007, 12:19 AM	#18
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Aha! It says here on a sometimes accurate source that Katrina had sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. I assume that's statute miles per hour, with is 152 knots, so my guess was spot on! __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

12-02-2007, 12:20 AM	#19
shorty943 Banned Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 805	That makes for BIG open ocean waves. I've never seen anything that big, close to 100 feet is, um, impressive enough! Luckily, most oceanic waves are rollers not breakers. Most breaking waves are due to a shelf of land, the volume of water piles up before, and spills over the sea shore line. At sea, it just keeps rollin' along. Quite fast.

12-02-2007, 01:01 PM	#20
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	I'm puzzled by the numbers in wave heights. They talk about a 30-foot storm surge from a category five hurricane, but it seems the rollers would be much larger than that. Maybe storm surge is more than a wave. It could be a very large volume of water pushed up by the storm with waves riding on top of that. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?