....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'...
...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 
....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
, but i bet she was good at what she did - tell us about that one will ya ?
