SwiftVets.com

[Airdale]

Hello all;

I flew as aircrew aboard the EA-3D Douglas Skywarrior as ECM operator 1966 - 1968. We flew missions out of Danang, the P.I. and, of course, off "the boat". Some of you may remember before 911 a collision with a Chinese aircraft and one of our birds being forced to land in China. That was a VQ-1 aircraft.

Being an 'airdale' and not ships company that meant I was on 4 carriers in 2 years. In no particular order they were the Enterprise, Forristal, Ranger and the '****** kitty'. Never was aboard any one boat longer than 8 days.

There's nothing quite like trying to 'grab the wire' at 150mph with a 10 knot side wind, then looking out the port and seeing nothing but a bunch of dungeree butts heading for the safety netting.

I just want to say special thanks to you guys going up those rivers and canals not knowing what was coming around the next bend of the river. My hats off to you. I don't think I could have done that and kept my sanity.

Thanks again;

D.Means
_________________
Donald L. Means
Atsugi, Danang & P.I.
VQ-1 1966 - 1968

[Dane]

I was VQ-4 and later tried to get into VQ-2. NO JOY. Fine with me; ustedes flew Sky-pigs off of the carrier the same as us when I was in S-3s. I must admit, though, that the EA-3 was one hell-of-a warbird.

[Dane]

I was VQ-4 and later tried to get into VQ-2. NO JOY. Fine with me; ustedes flew Sky-pigs off of the carrier the same as us when I was in S-3s. I must admit, though, that the EA-3 was one hell-of-a warbird.

[Airedale]

Hey Airdale !
Thought for a minute I was seeing double
I was with an S-3A Viking squadron and worked the roof.( early 80's )
A-3 were rare but still flying in the Med.
lol
Whenever they announced
" Whale in the break!
green deck,
land aircraft!

Boy,
we would ALL run for cover !
Those mini B-52's would grab a wire and bounce back into the friggen SKY !
AAAAAaaaaaaaaarrrgh !

Those were scarey birds.

Welcome fellow roof rat !

[Dane]

I was in VS-22 from 81 to 83. Did CAG-3 aboard KENNEDY during the Libya strikes, and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Aircrew. Lots of fun and adventures.

The Whales were already history as far as modern operations goes but in our memories they were up there with the F-4s and A-5s.

Dane

[Dane]

I was in VS-22 from 81 to 83. Did CAG-3 aboard KENNEDY during the Libya strikes, and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Aircrew. Lots of fun and adventures.

The Whales were already history as far as modern operations goes but in our memories they were up there with the F-4s and A-5s.

Dane

[Airedale]

So Dane,
You were with the VS-22 Clansman ?
Sea duty was with CAG 8 on Nimitz.
I was with the VS-24 Scouts
Shore based stationed down the hall at
Hangar 860 NAS Cecil

My 1st cruise,
Yep, Cag 8's VF 41's birds shot down the two Lybian jets in the Gulf of Sidra.
That was August of 1981 .
We were on liberty in Venice Italy when the terrorists killed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
We beat feet out of that port ! Damn the bad luck, Venice was a great liberty call.

My 2nd cruise,
We were relieved by the IKE CVN-69 . Not long after getting back those terrorist friends of Iran hit the Marines in Bierut.

If only Ronald Reagan would have opened a can of whoop ass back then....
but the cold war was still a consideration in all decisions.

[Dane]

No, it was VS-22 Checkmates, call-sign VIDAR. And, yeah, of course, we shared hangar space. If you were in 24, do you remember a Tom Suarez (AW1) ? Or, perhaps in 24 , it could have been a real geek sort of guy named Frank Hoben.

I landed on NIMITZ over there in the Med on a parts run and, of course, the Yellow Shirts plastered our bird with decals. So, 133 traps on KENNEDY and one on NIMITZ!!!

Man, maybe I have Alzheimer´s but I remember deploying in JAN of 82. When we got to the Med, Uncle Ronnie was still rattling his saber. We did something against Libya and then went on through the Canal. For example, the two diesel boats never left the pier - didn´t even start engines - although we did a symbolic strike. Two fighters came up and made a feint but turned back at 50 miles.

On the return trip, we were to pull in to Haifa but three hours prior, all aircraft were armed and all aircrew put on alert because Israel invaded Lebanon that morning. Man, we missed the best liberty port in the world!!
And I had already bought 25 KENNEDY ball-caps for liberty purposes!!

I suppose that I will dream about that cruise tonight!!

C Ya

Dane