I was totally worn-out from playing at the Dusty Rhodes Dog Park before I was left in my crate to sleep while dad and momma went to tour their first aircraft carrier, the USS Midway, in downtown San Diego. They had a great day....and this is what they told me....I hope you understand it better than I did!
The USS Midway was built in 17 months for the anticipated invasion of Japan in 1945, but the war ended shortly before the ship was commissioned. It was the largest ship in the world until 1955. There is an excellent audio-tour available, plus Navy veterans, some who served on the Midway, give tours and explain take-offs and landings.
Crew sleeping quarters were a bit tight!
The windlasses which raise and lower the anchors were a bit larger than the ones on Snow Cat. Each link weighed 156 lbs. When deployed, the entire ship would shake. When preparing to anchor, sailors would place bets on the exact second the windlasses would engage.
We had a tour of the flight operations area where all landings and take-offs were controlled. On deck you can see some of the aircraft that operated from the Midway's decks.
A very relaxed Captain on the Bridge.....
The USS Midway was an active aircraft carrier for 47 years, being decommissioned in 1992. It served in the Vietnam War and was the flagship during the Persian Gulf Desert Storm, when the Admiral on board was in charge of the "war games" involving 3 other carriers and scores of other ships.
These helicopters, probably from Camp Pendleton, were involved in some kind of "operation." Nice to have our own fly-by!
You can see the fence around the flight deck....that wouldn't have been there normally.
We learned how planes took-off from an 800 ft. runway. Steam catapults under the deck catapulted them off the ship. Planes went from 0 to 170 mph in under 3 seconds!
The crew launched one plane every 45 seconds.
Planes and helicopters that flew from the Midway were displayed on the deck.
The F-14 Tomcat, a twin engine jet....would take-off and land on a runway about 800 ft. in length.
The arresting cables used to stop the planes were 1500 ft. long, and their life span was 100 landings.
The Tomcat's predecessor...
This private dining table was always set...in memory of the POW and MIA.
You may want to copy and paste the site below. It's an amazing story of how $10 million worth of helicopters were pushed off the Midway into the South China Sea so South Vietnam Air Force Major Buang-Ly could land a two-seater Cessna with his wife and 5 children aboard during the evacuation of South Vietnam. The next time we go to the Pensacola Air Museum we have to find his plane!
http://forum.worldofwarships.com/index.php?/topic/2246-one-of-the-more-interesting-carrier-landings/
