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Snake Eater Extraordinaire and good reserve buddy Jake made mention in a comment a few posts ago that I *seemed* to be taking more ship pics than airplane pics.  Well,  as that great old sage Whomever said, “You got’s to dance with the gal you end up with!”

Or something like that.

Specifically, Jake opined:

And I always found it curious you took a lot of SHIP(!) photos when you were a weekend warrior rather than hanging around NAS Norfolk (for E-2 or H-53 pics) or cruising down to MJB Oceana for Hornet or other AIRCRAFT(!) photos. Perhaps I missed those. ;-|  Deep down I think you really wanted to be a SWO.

Being assigned to a unit in Norfolk these last 3 years for reserve duty has simply provided more opportunities for ship pictures than anything else. The aviators don’t generally fly on weekends, so even if I were out closer to the Master Jet Base (Jake’s “MJB” acronym from above) at Oceana, there wouldn’t be anything worth looking at or taking pictures of – except Hornets, Hornets and more Hornets.  I guess I could get some pics of some Hornet C models, as well as some Hornet E and F models.  When they come out with an H, I, J and K model I could get some of those as well.  The Hornet M might make for a good picture, or the N, O, P and Q could make for some interesting images.  When the E-2-18E Hawk-Nut Airborne Early Warning model comes out; I guess I could get some at NAS Norfolk then.

Over at NOB, with those big gray things tied up to the piers, at least there is something called VARIETY.  Nightime, lights, morning, evening, in repose, whatever.  Those 90,000 tons of steel of an aircraft carrier at rest create their own visual dynamics by simply being.  The trick is to find a new or not-seen-often perspective, something that is *always* difficult when you remember what you are taking pictures of is something that half the world’s population have already taken a bazillion pictures of.

So, to reclaim (sort of) the mantle of Head F-14 Tomcat Blogger and to re-establish my bona fides in the Beasty Aerospace War Machine category, here’s Camelot 101 on cat 4.  The flight deck director has just called for the wings to be swung out into position for take off and you can see the RIO looking back to ensure all is clear when the wings are moving.  Anything the wings move, you look.  Too many wing tips ended up being crunched because the aircrew trusted some flight deck direction to move the wings.  At bottom right you can see one of the final checkers, almost lost in the steam, as he works his way around the aft part of the aircraft doing his checks (keep in mind the engines are running now, so a fair amount of exhaust is coming out of those big Pratt and Whitney TF-30 engines).

Steam from the catapults, green shirts waiting to hook up the aircraft to the catapult shuttle (they are by the nose of the aircraft), weight-board operator to the left by the open hatch, A-6 Intruders in the background, all on the deck of the now-retired CV-67, USS John F Kennedy – a veritable cornucopia of  naval aviation history in one shot!

This view is kind of unique, if I remember correctly.  I doubt if we were on cat 4 when I took this.  Catapult 4 had major restrictions on launching Tomcats.  Primarily was the jet blast deflector (JBD), which was a puny little thing and could not hold up to an afterburner plume.  Also, further behind the JBD were (typically) parked aircraft and the LSO platform, which was usually in the process of manning up for the upcoming recovery.  Having the afterburner exhaust from a Tomcat on cat 4 come wafting over you was not like Owl’s “gently spring zephyr”.  It was more like “CRAP! That is hot!”

Believe me – having stood behind those JBDs, even a hundred feet behind with a measly Hornet in afterburner (from the June Truman trip) is not fun (well….it IS fun, but in a different “fun” kind of way).

Launch ‘em, waist!