Yesterday's Weapons Forums

....after the Saratoga's '72' 'Nam cruise-the next cruise wa in '74' to the Mediterranean....the Ruski's dogged us all over(and us them )....a couple of shots I took of a couple of their ships(a pain since they are all slides and I have to project and then shoot-it loses a lotta detail in the process,so these are just a few of over 700 that I took)
.....here's a shot I took with a telephoto lens while flying past a Kresta I cruiser....we had to maintain a 1000' bubble from them-or they could fire at us if they wanted(that rule was often ignored by both sides)....there were only 4 of these built...I dont recall the name of this one after all these years....but all 4 were scrapped in the early to mid 90's.....note the funny lookin' shaped thing on the aft deck...that is what was known as the Hormone Class helicopter-a weird chopper that had dual counter rotating props....on one occasion it ended up coming right over our flight deck taking photos of us...the flight deck officer was signaling him to come in and land.....and he actually got within 20' of doing so,then he rotated sideways looked straight at us,shook his head "nyet",and waved goodbye and flew back to the kresta......I've got shots of that too-but they are prints....may have to dig them out of the big box and copt....its a neat set of photos...



...this next one is just one of the many cargo ships that seemed to be everywhere we went.....lookin' at that hammer and sickle just always gave me a weird feelin'...

.....when I first got in,my rating was called a Photo Intelligence Specialist(PT)....a little before I got out they changed the title to Intelligence Specialist (hence the "spook" above my squadron patch on my moniker on the left)....we worked in the Intelligence Center next to CIC...had to have just about the highest security clearance around....job consisted of everything from analyzing all photo and sensor info,briefing crews on targets,etc....running the Intel Center TV station that broadcast secure briefings to pilots in their Ready Rooms(the more secret stuff hadda be done in the Intel Center)helping plan all missions -bombing and otherwise...supplying aircrews with all the info and materials needed.....moral boosting(made mybusa's thread look like kindergarden )....SIOP planning in case Ruski's started crap-load up the Nuc's and go-we briefed them on their targets for that...just about anything you can think of related to giving our aircrews what they needed to fight the bad guys... ...I was lucky enough to be sent to Aircrewman training so I was allowed to fly right seat in A-6's..(ejection seat.Hi alt chamber,Dilbert Dunker,water survival...stuff like that)...all I hadda worry about was the radio and the radar...and take photos for intel purposes.....I wasnt flying all the time,but once in a while i'd get sent up....lotsa Helo time just buzzin' around with the belt around my waist and feet dangling out the door .....aint NO ROLLERCOASTER that equals a catapult launch off a flight deck baby... ....just waaaaay too much to type,but i'm glad I took the photos I did WHEN I did-like the ones you did......history......gone now
....now if somebody would buy me a nice image scanner-and one of them special hi-res scanners that do slides-I'd be happy to post shots that' d make yo say "shazaam!!!!"

....due to my 2 finger typing and hittin' the wrong keys I hadda edit the above post so much I said screw it and put this one here.....I just wanted to add that back then it was a blast,but I wanted out when my time was done-specially since it was draft lottery......but now in my advancing senility-I kinda miss it sometime.....

We always had o stop off in Spain to pick up our "spook" riders. We took the photos & maintenanced the equipment while they locked themselves in the radio shack and said they were doing analysis.... We knew what thy were really doing in there......


This is the kind of stuff we would 'chase'





The cold war was so much fun.....

great photos

..."pick up the spooks in Spain".... ....that would'nt happened to have been in Rota,would it??? ........that looks like an Alpha Class......not sure-back in 'my time' they had the older classes so I'm not up on the "newer" ones...

hey pete , that mowhawk is one ugly airplane , but i bet she was good at what she did - tell us about that one will ya ?

interesting , i have little to know perpective here ,

but a B29 was twice the length/twice the height/twice the width and had four engines - some made it in on two and a few saved their crews with one , no ejection seats in those - tail gunner had to crawl out the tube to get to the bombbays to bail out ,

i think that was bad duty

yes , indeed - and ill not be going to graceland any time soon , but i think the few miles down #10 to anoka is quite doable soon

Mario,

Yes it was in Rota

And yes it is an Alpha. But we even used to tail the old Echo class Diesels that they sold to Quadafi ...... sounded like a trash can rolling down a hill

.....ah-HA...!!!....thought so.....I've got slides of you fellas docked there from many moons ago...

Justa waitin on your types