Guppy Pilot

It was a crystal clear morning. It had rained overnight and there were puddles about the field. No appreciable wind. July 22, 1954. We preflighted with great care. The LSO and more than half the cadets had sailed with the Monterey and had slept aboard the night before. They would qualify in the planes we landed aboard after we were completed. We had to do 6 in a row. Do 5 and get a wave off, you start counting again, even if it’s your buddies’ fault for being slow out of the wires on deck. Team work and discipline. If you get low on fuel and can’t get aboard they’ll send you back to the beach and you’ll qualify another day and there will be one less airplane for the guys waiting on the ship for it. Land it in the water and you get a “down.” We looked at the schedule board and saw we were the second group. We flew out over the Gulf and found the ship. First big worry passed. We entered the Dog circle and throttled back in fuel conserving power settings. A glance down shows 5 planes in the pattern doing their landings. We hear the LSO chatter. In short order they are completed and we are called, “Tiger Flight, your signal is Charlie!” One of us leads on down and we are in right echelon by the ship on the starboard side. We “kiss off” and bank away to port at 30 second intervals up wind hitting the gear handle as we do, dropping the hook, and as we roll level downwind, deploy full flaps. At the 180 we go to full low pitch and are right on our airspeed with the nose high and call, “One thirty three, one eighty, wheels down, flaps down, hook down, all down!” “Keep her comin’, 133,” from the LSO. He’s still working the plane ahead. Now the plane ahead has trapped and I’m coming up on the ninety. The LSO gives me a Roger followed by Fast. I correct and get the Roger back. The guy behind me calls and is answered. I’m almost there. How big it looks, but how very short! I’ve held it nicely and there’s the signal, CUT! Chop power, dip the nose and flare. Arrested landing. The plane rolls back and the brown shirts run under me to raise the hook manually. Yellow shirt out there is giving me BRAKES. I brake. One finger turn up. The power comes on. Two fingers. Full power. Launch ‘em! I’ve retrimmed and now I’m rolling under full power past the island and out over the bow. “Hey, this is Great!” We all do 6. Just like the briefing. The first group was no waveoffs too. Soon we are down in the ready room and debriefed. The LSO tells us all that we were not perfect, but we’ll do. He lets us know that future LSOs we meet will have a lot of work to get us proficient. He is pleased as hell with us, and we are cock a hoop. The carrier captain sends us a message of congratulation which is read to us at lunch in the wardroom—cold meat sandwiches and lemonade. We have the afternoon on the 0-6 level to watch the other cadets qualify, and that evening after the ship is berthed at Mainside again, a bus ride back to Barin and a sound sleep in barracks. I had 172 hours in my logbook.