• Vigi Vid

Here's a real short clip from an 18mm movie I took from the LSO platform of a North American RA-5C 'Vigilante' landing on the USS Constellation (CVA-64) circa 1973.



For those who have never had the privilege of seeing it from the other perspective, here's the view from an F-14 (not my video).




The F-14 was so new we didn't have any with us in 1973, and now they're all gone—retired already. [Update June 2015 - Yeah and so's the Prowler now, too.]

My kids think it hilarious that my name is on the side of an A-6 in at the San Diego Aerospace Museum, "you're so old you're in a museum." Yeah, well when I die, stuff me and put me in the cockpit. I'll be happy.

• Traps and Plugs

Here are a few vids of traps and plugs taken from 16mm movies I shot aboard the USS Constellation (CVA-64) sometime during 1973, someplace in the vicinity of Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam.

The aircraft landing are a Grumman A-6 and E-2, followed by a Douglas A-3 (waaaaay off centerline on rollout), and a Grumman EA-6B from my squadron.



Here's a quick shot of an RA-5C 'Vigilante' landing taken from the LSO platform.



Notice how the music (from Victory at Sea) seems to be synced to the action? It's not. What you're experiencing is something called a psychoacoustic effect. Your brain--basically a pattern matching gland--tries to make things make sense, fit together, and this is an example of how it can create a connection when none exists. Kinda like seeing faces in clouds or the virgin (sic) Mary in a peanut butter sandwich.

Yet another reason to pay attention to what the bumper sticker says: Don't Believe Everything You Think.

Here is a short clip taken by Ding, about the same time, of Rivit getting some dry plugs. (After a 54 day line period and 9 months deployed it was the most titillation we'd had in a long time.)



That scary close encounter at the beginning was camera zoom, not pilot oops.