Reply With QuoteNope..guys have all sorts of patches on their flight jackets. All kinds.
USN Aviation/USMC Patch Combination
I have a question for the vets. Would it be weird to see a CWU-45P flight jacket adorned with a VF-41/USN Weapons School patch AND a 4th MAW patch?
I collect flight jackets and was thinking of adding one that I saw, but I want to make sure this isn't some dumb "Maverick".
Nope..guys have all sorts of patches on their flight jackets. All kinds.
Ok thanks. I've heard that pilots would turn in their jackets(sans squadron patches and name plates) after discharge. The jackets would be recycled to other pilots who would add they're own patches. I had no idea these jackets were turned in and then redistributed.
I don't know what they do now-a-days but in my time 20+ years ago when a pilot got out they did turn in their flight gear. But not the Jacket and boots.. sometimes they kept the flight suit. Also back in the day many of the older aircrew had leather flight jackets.. they'd never give those up..never.Originally Posted by G-AWZT
I was an Aircrew survival Equipmentman for 9 of my 20 years of service.
Read about my former job..
Aircrew Survival Equipmentman (PR)
General Info: Aircrew Survival Equipmentman (PR) are responsible for keeping parachutes, life rafts, personal flight gear, and other aviation survival gear in proper working condition. These technicians may also volunteer to fly as Naval aircrew. Aircrew perform numerous in-flight duties and operate aircraft systems in turbojet, helicopter, or propeller aircraft. Aircrew earn additional pay for flying. In addition PR's may also volunteer for programs such as SEAL Team or EOD.
What They Do: The duties performed by PRs include: inspecting, maintaining and repairing survival equipment, flight gear and protective clothing (anti-gravity suits etc.); using, adjusting, maintaining and repairing sewing machines; inspecting and testing oxygen regulators, liquid oxygen converters and safety equipment; repairing, packing and rigging parachutes; equipping and packing life rafts; manufacturing various types of fabric work and webbing assemblies used in survival equipment.
Yeah the leather jackets are quite something. Don't have one yet in the collection.
Did you ever fly on the Whale?
I was not aircrew..I just worked on the gear.. I have flow in a C-2 Greyhound, An CH-3 Sea Stallion and a C-1 Trader (COD)..all as a passenger launched to or from a carrier. I have one arrested landing by the way and one cat shot.
How was the landing and cat shot?
I am not a Vet but I have flown third seat on A-3s many times as a flight Mech.....if you have any questions I be more than happy to help or find you the answer.
btw, I have seen pilots (Marine pilots too) hang on to their helmet bags decorated with their patches from service, you think they will give up their flight jackets?
I've seen more Air Force CWU jackets for sale than Navy, none for Marine Aviation. The leather jackets for the Navy that I've seen are well used the latest ones dating from the mid 1970s. I almost picked one up ten years ago that was going for nearly 400.00 but it was in great condition with patches, dating to the mid to late 1950s.
I can only imagine what is must've been like to see an A-3 land on a pitching deck.......in bad weather......at night.
The more beat up the jacket (especially the leather ones) the more the character.....new, say WWII style jackets, are over 700 greenbacks
It would be very scary.......when a Whale landed on a carrier the impact was felt everywhere on the ship, according the old timers I have worked with.I can only imagine what is must've been like to see an A-3 land on a pitching deck.......in bad weather......at night.
The more beat up the jacket (especially the leather ones) the more the character.....new, say WWII style jackets, are over 700 greenbacks
It would be very scary.......on a good day when a Whale landed on a carrier the impact was felt everywhere on the ship, according the old timers I have worked with. The catapult was not off the nose but a cable that attached to two hooks on each side of the forward fuselage that were extended mechanically by ground crew and later retracted by the action of the gear up position.I can only imagine what is must've been like to see an A-3 land on a pitching deck.......in bad weather......at night.
I'd have to say my most favorite Navy aircraft was the Vigilante. Simply elegant.
Yea, sweet jet.....and in those days pilots really earned their bacon.
The cat shot was nothing like I thought it would be. just a gentle thump at the end of the cat. The landing was kinda hairy. The pilot missed the wire the first time. By the way how do you miss the wire in a C-1 COD. And on the second go around she caught the wire. the arrested landing felt like your car if you hit the brakes really hard. The cat shot was aboard Nimitz in 1991.. the arrested landing was aboard America in 1981.
ENS. Brenda Robinson was the pilot on the America C-1 landing. this happened about a month after her first landing.
http://www.reference.com/browse/Uss+america
America operated locally in the Virginia Capes area into January 1981 and, during these operations on 14 January 1981, brought on board a Grumman C-1A "Trader" COD aircraft piloted by Ens. Brenda Robinson, USNR. Ens. Robinson became the first black female naval aviator to be carrier qualified. The ship later conducted carrier qualifications for CVW-11.
that's sailors telling sea stories. I was on the USS Hanco*k an WWII Essex class CV only displacing 33,000 tons in '74 & '75 when Whales landed there was no more noise or vibration than say an F-8 crusader. More than likely because of the tricycle landing gear. the A-3 would actually hop when it landed!when a Whale landed on a carrier the impact was felt everywhere on the ship, according the old timers I have worked with.
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