TBT-Forty Years Ago! 1/15/75-1/21/75 The First Cruise of the F-14 Tomcat on the Big E Despite the tragic loss of an EA6B pilot and a Tomcat the next day, King Neptune will not be denied his due and us scurvy pollywogs were gathered together and herded to the flight deck on all fours. With all our clothes on inside out and backwards and our subpoenas clenched in our mouths we were a sorry looking lot. In order we went through the paddle line and got whipped by those fire hose wielding Shellbacks, blew out a dozen or so padeyes, subsequently locked in the stocks to confess our crimes, kissed the baby’s belly, saw the barber for our shampoo and the dentist too, along with King Neptune himself. Then the worst: The Garbage Chute. The foulest smelling mixture of God knows what…mixed with the ever increasing additions of our own puke. 100 or so feet of it. It seemed like a mile. At LEAST. Thank goodness we were one of the first groups to go through... After a quick dip in the pool the fire hoses were turned on us to get some of the filthiness off of us and most, if not ALL of us, chucked our clothes over the side rather than have the foul smell return to our berthing compartment. I returned up to the roof to get some pictures and by this time the stench from the chute was overwhelming. Your eyes actually watered anytime you were downwind of it. After the frivolities were over most of the ship returned to normal duty. Everybody but the Wolfpack and the Bounty Hunters: We were grounded until the factory reps got to us from Grumman and we were a long way away from Bethpage, NY. The theories as to the failures centered around 3 main areas of thought: 1. The engine was slinging a blade rupturing a fuel line. 2. A line is cracking spilling fuel onto a very hot engine. 3. At 600psi the fuel line is rupturing with the same result: Fire! Most of us are betting on #1 as that would explain the Thump-Bang. On their way are 2 Captains, 2 Commanders, and 5 Grumman factory reps from what we are told. We spend our time helping powerplants pull engines and we can expect the engine test stand located directly aft of our shop on the port side to be a VERY busy work center in the coming weeks. As we pass by Diego Garcia the helos are busy shuttling our mail to us and that is a welcome distraction from what are turning into some very long days and nights. The rumor mill lights up with the prospect that when we return to the States our A models will be replaced with B versions and we will next embark on the Nimitz. As of now we are still scheduled for our around the world cruise with stops in the Med. On the 21st the entire ship stood down for “holiday routine” and we joke that it really means holiday for the ship, routine for the airwing. With virtually all the engines removed, airframes spends a lot of time working on the diffuser ramps and engine cavities which we normally don’t have a lot of access to. I do spend some time watching the track meet up on the roof, catching some sun, and taking in the boxing smoker at night in the hanger deck.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:10:48 +0000
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