Stand by to launch aircraft. . .

Well, back aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42). It's the last day of a two-week in-port period, and a very fine in-port period it was. . .

The liberty boat's headed for Faliron Delta to pick up the last of the shore patrol teams. The shore patrol officer and the last few members of the in-port period's advance party (who coordinate with the host government agencies ashore) will fly back to the ship on the helo. Sometime after dark we'll weigh anchor and steam through the night to our operating area in the eastern Med.


One last look. The Acropolis rises from the center of Athens and the ruins of the Parthenon overlook the surrounding city. This is to be our last visit to Athens for this cruise, though the schedule could change at any time for any number of reasons. If the schedule holds, I'll probably never be back. My tour aboard ship will be up shortly after we arrive stateside. But I'll remember Athens. I described it to someone once after my first hot, dusty, summer visit as "El Paso with a beach". But I also felt that the people in Greece were by far the friendliest in the Med. Oh! And the best pizza I ever had was from a shop about 5 miles down the coast in Glyfada.


This is a view of the aft flight deck from a catwalk near the entrance to Pri-Fly, the lair of the Air Boss. Primary is on the aft end of the island about four levels above the flight deck. The island is on the starboard side amidships. The planes you see along the port deck edge are six F-4B Phantoms, from the VF-41 Black Aces and VF-84 Jolly Rogers, and four A-6A Intruders, from the VA-176 Thunderbolts. The two A-7E Corsair IIs taxiing forward are from the VA-15 Valions. Ignoring the two remaining A-7 tails, the two planes in the foreground are a visiting A-3 Skywarrior (commonly referred to as the whale) from VAQ-135 and another Intruder.

I should mention the missing players. Besides the squadrons represented in the pictures, we had a second squadron of A-7s, the VA-87 Golden Warriors; a detachment of RF-8 Crusaders from VFP-63, the Eyes of the Fleet; a det of E-1 Tracers from the VAW-121 Griffins; and a det of SH-3 Sea Kings from the HC-2 Fleet Angels. Besides the squadrons and detachments of embarked Air Wing Six, Roosevelt was manned by her Ship's Company, which included my unit, CATCC-42.


The aft flight deck was clobbered with parked and taxiing aircraft because, on the business end - the bow - the launch was in progress. Above is a VA-15 Corsair and below is a VA-176 Intruder, each of them launched in turn from the port steam catapult. This was early in the launch, as more Corsairs can be seen behind the antenna, still parked on the starboard cat.




This last shot shows one of the Angels maneuvering off the port bow during a lull in the action (between the last launch and the next recovery). Recoveries during daylight were typically handled under visual flight rules. After dark or in bad weather, CATCC (Carrier Air Traffic Control Center) got involved and brought the planes home using radar. During a cycle - between the launch and recovery - the aircraft were worked by CIC (Combat Information Center), an airborne platform (an E-1 or an AWACS), or a designated shore-based control center.