Remembering the past

[tbm3fan]

Now and then the museum ship I restore gets some photographs donated to her rather than directly to the Navy in Washington. They then get scanned and put up on the Hornet Buzz website. All I can say is that these are fabulous pictures not seen by many. The photos at the Washington Naval Base are extensive but you have to have a compelling reason in order to go through their files such as writing a book. Those photos are not web accessible like ours are.

Here is Air Group 11

http://usshornetmuseum.org/PhotoGallery/gallery.php?galleryFolder=1944_Air_Group_11

Air Group 2

http://www.usshornetmuseum.org/PhotoGallery/gallery.php?galleryFolder=1944_CVG2_March_June_1944

1957 Cruise pictures. If you have never seen a Cutlass you will now. Rare bird the Navy had made and only flew a few. Dangerous aircraft being under powered and with that tall front gear.

http://www.usshornetmuseum.org/Phot...r=1957_Far_East_Cruise_Dick_Dansinberg_part_2

Below the typhoon that took her out of the war as the first 24' of her forward flight deck gets smashed to splinters.

 

[Big blubber]

Jeez there's nothing like the force of nature it's the ultimate bad *** wrecker. Did the ship get fixed or Broken up ,Hope it got fixed air craft carriers where pivotal to winning wars ,Great post s_dancing2:

 

[patrick66]

(My original response incorrectly swapped out the Hornet and Hancock, so below, I've corrected the references correctly to the Hancock...oops!)

Hancock served through the Vietnam War, and was decommissioned in 1976(?). It was instrumental in the evacuation of Saigon in 1975. They took on over 4,000 Vietnamese refugees; this added to the number of crew (3K and change) on board. They were taken to Guam. My brother served on Hancock then. One of the famous pics of a Huey being shoved overboard to make room for other aircraft coming in; my brother is one of those guys shoving that chopper over.

Another feat of airmanship then was done by a South Vietnamese Major, who took his family of five and stuffed them in a Cessna 152 - a two-seater. Hancock was sailing upwind. The Cessna came in, full flaps with just enough airspeed to keep from dropping out of the air. He set the 152 down on the very front of the deck almost like a helicopter! His family got out, as did he, safely. The Cessna was then shoved over the nose of the deck into the water.

 

[tbm3fan]

I will need to correct you since I know the Hornet history start to finish. The Hornet was decommissioned on June 26, 1970 right after she picked up Apollo 12. The carrier you are thinking of is the USS Hancock CV-19 which was off Vietnam in 1975 before being decommissioned in 1976. More than a few helos were pushed overboard rather than one. The reason they were pushed overboard was because they were in bad shape with many of the parts and instruments already stripped out of them. Photo taken by Arthur Ritchie who was on the Hancock as a crew member. The link below shows his pictures most of which are the Marine helos flying refugees from the top of the US Embassy. The South Vietnamese Army has Huey's and that is what they flew to any ship that could take them.

There is one famous video of a larger helo trying to land on a destroyer but obviously couldn't. The passengers, children included, where pushed out in the ocean t be picked up while the pilot landed the helo in the water. You all know what happens when moving blades hit the water. The pilot survived. The ship was the USS Kirk and the helo was a Chinook. The ship did also land Hueys all of which were pushed overboard from her small helo deck.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/19.htm

 

[tbm3fan]

Some links to the Kirk's story. Still looking for the actual video. In actuality many Hueys tried to land on many ships, not just carriers, and all needed to be pushed overboard.

http://usskirk.com/?page_id=56

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129484369

Found it

[video]https://youtu.be/Mn6Ry7ULZ3s[/video]

 

[tbm3fan]

A more in depth story. These passengers, who jumped out, were jumping out over the deck of the ship and sailors caught them.

[video]https://youtu.be/dHJm3Ptoo3o[/video]

 

[tbm3fan]

Hueys going over the side

[video]https://youtu.be/zWN6XGUAhZU[/video]

 

[patrick66]

Oops, you're 100% right!!! I saw Hornet and was thinking of the Hancock...absolutely correct!!! I'll go back up and correct that.

And I'm 100% fully aware that a BUNCH of choppers were shoved overboard, not just one. The pic of the one that seems to always get shown is one my brother is pushing off the deck.