The Fighting Augies
My Dad in the Vietnam War
By Maximillian Sterling
Written by Dan Rush
Dedicated to U.S. Navy aircraft 503 Buno 155890
"Thanks for taking care of my dad, Luffy."
Writers notes: for a PDF or file complete with pictures email dananvy85
The aircraft carrier used in this fan fiction never existed. The USS Columbia would have
been one of the next generation of post World War II aircraft carriers called the United States class which would have dwarfed the previously built monster Midway class carriers which entered U.S. Naval service between 1945 and 1947. The USS United States was in production at the ship building facility in Newport News in 1948 when the U.S. Government made the choice to radically reduce the size of the U.S. Navy in the mistaken belief that the atomic bomb had rendered the need for navy and marine forces obsolete. The cancellation of the United States class of aircraft carriers led to what became known as the Admiral's Revolt against the new Department of Defense and its' civilian head Louis Johnson in 1949. The United States Navy was drastically cut and its' aircraft carrier strength grossly depleted buy June 25th 1950 when the Communist army of North Korea invaded the Republic of South Korea, a conflict in which the Navy proved the indispensable need of the aircraft carrier in the age of atomic weapons.
At the end of the Korean War, the building plans of the old USS United States were pulled from storage and used as a basis for the first modern super aircraft carriers of the US Navy, the Forrestal class, with the lead ship commissioned in 1955.
This fan fic changes that time line, supposing that the United States class carriers were built. USS United States, USS Columbia and USS Abraham Lincoln. It is USS Columbia that sees combat action during the Vietnam War of the 1960's.
Forewords
I grew up a military brat in a military family to begin with so flying came natural. I probably flew a glider right out of my mother at birth wearing a Snoopy sock hood with goggles. A stuffed Snoopy doll wearing his trademark World War I flying helmet and scarf was the first toy I remember having as a child. I grew up with exciting stories of my Grandfather's exploits flying with Mark Mitchner in "Pepsi Cola" Florida when planes were just rickety balsa wood and wire frames with a cheep car wheel and wooden planks for rudder controls. My grandfather would follow Admiral Mitchner through the Pacific campaigns in World War leader a squadron of Dauntless dive bombers on a long range strike against the Japanese during the Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot of 1943. Gramps was lucky to make it back to his ship on what was a gutsy gamble by Admiral Mitchner. Lucky in that my dad got a letter from my grandmother saying he'd just become a father.
My dad, Kevin Edward Sterling, was born on August 17, 1943 in Bremerton, Washington where the USS Bennington, Gramp's ship, was based out of during the War. After the war ended, Dad and mom followed Gramps all over the place. Eventually they settled in Honolulu, Hawaii when Gramps got command of an aircraft carrier, the USS Philippine Sea, which by 1950 was the only carrier operating anywhere in the Western Pacific. For Navy families in the late 1940's, times were pretty tough money wise. The so called "peace dividend" of the atomic bomb supposedly made navies obsolete so what was the purpose of giving the Navy any more money?...except no one told the North Koreans that. Gramp's ship was in the Philippines at Subic Bay when General Douglas MacArthur sent Gramps a radio message...
"Where are you? I need you. Get your ass up here to Korea quick!"
Gramps steamed his task force at high speed and within twelve hours the Phillipine Sea was bombing the North Koreans. MacArthur liked my Grandfather and likewise, they "clicked" as goes the vernacular. Gramp's swift response and steady aircraft support slowed the North Koreans enough for General MacArthur to surprise them at the port of Inchon and by the fall of 1950 certain victory was in sight. Then the Communist Chinese jumped into the fight and Gramps was in almost constant deployments from that time on until the cease fire in 1953.
My father got to see General MacArthur in person with Gramps before the General left Japan in 1951 after he had been relieved of his Command by President Harry Truman. Dad was nine years old and told me that MacArthur towered over him. The General bent down, shook dad's hand and said to Gramps..."The boy's going to be another navy pilot like you. Probably just as crazy too." I wonder what gave General MacArthur the hint? The ball cap dad was wearing or his mouth? My dad gave MacArthur a smug smirk and said "So what's so special about you? Are you an Army cook or something?" Dad often told me that's what he said to the General.
No doubt Dad was going to be a navy pilot, which I think comes with the requirement of at least one felony or act of rapacious debauchery before you can get accepted to Navy Flight School. At 17 he met my mother, Cynthia Preston, daughter of a very well known Linebacker for the Chicago Bears in 1960 when Dad was going to college preparatory School on the West side in Chicago, Illinois.
Should I make it obvious that my Dad was a lousy Catholic? Did I also mention that my Dad absolutely did not take no for an answer? That's how my older brother Keith Sterling came about. Mom fell for Dad, Dad fell for mom, football father said no and Dad said "I don't care." They married in secret because well...the secret wasn't going to remain secret for long.
Gramps was absolutely furious about it but he played blocker to appease the Bear's very enraged star player. And when Mister Preston he found out that his daughter was marrying a man with a good looking future and a naval pedigree about a mile long. My brother Keith was welcomed into the world with Navy bells and cheer leader pom poms in 1961.
Dad got into Naval Flight School and Officer Candidate School in 1961 and graduated fifth in his class in 1964 as a Lieutenant Junior Grade when trouble in Vietnam started to boil into a shooting war. He transferred from "Pepsi Cola" Florida to advanced flight school in Corpus Christy Texas where he got his choice of what he wanted to fly as far as Navy aircraft. I guess like Father, like Son, since Gramps flew Navy bombers in the Pacific War; Dad wanted to fly a navy bomber so he chose the "Luffy" or "Little Ugly Fat Fucker"" as most pilots called the newest plane to come into the fleet at that time...the Grumman A-6 Intruder.
It was at Corpus that Dad ran into his Bombardier Navigator, his "'B/N" as the right side seat pilot or officer in the Intruder was known. Corpus was where fighter pilots and their Weapons Systems Officers "RIO" (Ree-oh) as well as A-6 pilots and B/N's were put together as a "mated pair" for their first one or two tours of duty. It was considered important to crew performance and mission success that two-crew aircraft like the F-4 Phantom and A-6 Intruder have offciers who could perform well as team mates. My Commanding Officer of Vermillian Squadron on the SDF-1 "Rick Hunter" told me how his own father and Commander Roy Fokker's father became a mated F-4 Crew in Vietnam. Commander Hunter's dad insulted Commander Fokker's dad's bright blonde hair by calling him "Tweety Bird" in a classroom...
Both men promptly destroyed sed classroom in an all out brawl. It didn't help Mister Fokker's cause of not being called "Tweety" as a call sign. The name stuck to him like glue. Commander Roy Fokker often warns Rick that if he dares to say that nickname about Roy? He won't find a tool deep enough to extract the flight boot from his ass.
On the other hand, my Dad was forgiving on his future B/N Ensign Andrew "Andy" Mercado from Yuma Mesa Arizona. They're relationship started...well...raunchy and intoxicated. At a stag party celebrating the impending wedding of a Corpus classmate, Dad in his state of inebriation began to do...cartoon characters having sex. Yes...Yogi Bear, Snaggle puss, Grape Ape...you see where this is going? Then Dad gets too...Augie Daddy the dog...having sex with some French poodle or something and he feigns Augie Daddy getting a cramp in his leg.
So in jumps Andy Mercado as...you guessed it...Daddy's puppy son "Augie Doggie" and I wish someone recorded it because the description does it no justice. Dad tried to do it when I was old enough but without Andy it falls flat. Well Dad and Andy clicked which is how they got their call signs "Augie Daddy" (Dad) and "Augie Doggie" (Andy). They performed well during their evaluation process so they were paired up as a crew and sent on to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington State to the Fleet Replenishment Air Group or "RAG" outfit for the Pacific A-6 Intruder squadrons. VA-128 "The Golden Intruders" in the spring of 1966.
Compared to the Veritech; the Grumman A-6 Intruder is a "squirt". From all appearances it is a squat, fat, butt ugly aircraft no pilot could use as points to get sex with a girl, I mean come on...what was more popullar in TOP GUN? Tom Cruise (who's manhood was questionable) or that beast of a Navy fighter plane the F-14 Tomcat? Tom Cruise alone "Yuk" now Tom Cruise with an F-14? Sex for sale. A pilot with an A-6 Intruder? Do you really need a birth control pill?
Yet Dad liked to say he didn't pick the A-6 to pick up women, he picked it to kill people. You should remember that my Dad like most of his generation grew up with the Soviet Red Scare on the brains. Communists were everywhere...behind a tree, in your freezer, in your tooth paste, in your underwear and my Dad's generation was brought up with the belief that they were the defenders of mom, apple pie, Mickey Mouse and church on Sundays; hence how his whole generation ended up in a country most didn't know existed and many couldn't find on a map.
Vietnam.
Commander Hunter and Commander Fokkers Dad's both flew in Vietnam from the USS Midway out of Japan in the later part of the war. My Dad and Andy Mercado completed their A-6 Training in the spring of 1967 and were assigned to the Bremerton based carrier USS Columbia with Attack Squadron Six known as the "Black Rams" and they got aboard a month before the Columbia sailed for the South China Sea and the ever growing mess of the Vietnam War. This book is the story of that six month deployment between August of 1967 and April 1968.
It's not hard to figure out when I was conceived? August of 1967, my birthday is May 19, 1968...obviously dad wanted to make double sure the family name lived on if God for bid something terrible happened.
Much of what's in this book comes from what I got from Dad; like his personal war diary he kept through the deployments; he made two combat deployments aboard the Columbia with VA-6. There's letters he wrote to my mom and other articles and things I could find in the family storage unit. Other parts of the book are written from a book Dad got as a gift from another A-6 Pilot named Rick "Slick" Morgan. He had some stuff about Dad in it and it has quite an extensive history on the A-6 Intruder so I used much of it as filler.
The A-6 Intruder is an old beast of a plane unlike our Veritech fighters with all the high tech gear and amazing technology. The Intruder after all could not "Morph" into a battleloid and run its' ass out of trouble in downtown Hanoi. It's an old fashioned "stick and wire" combat jet built to fly into heavily defended enemy targets and rain bombs on their heads. Ask any Veritech pilot to even consider that kind of a mission and they'll think you're smoking crack. But that's what my Gramps did in World War II, when all you have is paper maps, a compass and your eyeballs, guts and foolishness was sort of a required specialty. The Intruder was only a step up from those days twenty years later so having guts and some foolishness was still a requirement.
Though the Intruder doesn't have a sexy look, it was a well built brute of a plane. Dad said the plane carried unbelievable amounts of ordinance and was still pretty nimble, especially when everything had been "punched" from the wings when you had to speed and escape out of trouble. Dad actually outran Russian built MIG fighters in it and on two occasions caused them to crash into the ground trying to catch him flying "Gnats ass" low at over 500 knots!
I wish I could have had the opportunity to fly the Intruder. Having to depend on raw guts and the close companionship you built with the guy sitting next to you instead of an electronic voice and all the laudable bells and whistles of modern aircraft was probably an exciting and challenging experience. I'm not sure however that I could have put up long with Rick Hunter in the same cockpit. I probably would have punched him out after the first thirty minutes. My wife would have probably nagged me into the side of a mountain.
Enjoy the read.
Sincerely and soon to be dead.
"Max" Sterling
The history of USS Columbia
The United State Naval Aircraft Carrier USS Columbia was laid down at Newport News Shipyard in Virginia on March 11, 1947 and launched July 4, 1948. She entered US Naval service on April 17, 1951 as the second of the three ship USS United States class, then the largest aircraft carriers built by the United states until the launch off USS Enterprise (CV-65) in 1959. The United States class were massive at over 1000 feet in length, dwarfing their previous sisters of the Midway CVB (Battle Heavy Carrier) class ships designed specifically for the never carried out invasion of Japan during World War II. The United States class was originally designed to be the US Navy's nuclear strike arm, carrying only three squadrons of the Neptune twin engine nuclear bomber.
Columbia's baptism of fire was in the Korean War when President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered an all out offensive to bomb both the Communist Chinese and the North Korean's to the peace table at Panmunjom in 1953. Columbia carried an air wing of 130 planes (F-4U Corsairs, AD-1 Skyraiders and F-9 Panthers) attacking targets across North Korea and Chinese airfields across the Manchurian boarder, the Columbia was significant in destroying Communist supplies to their forces in the South thus hastening the eventual armistice that brought a shaky peace over the Korean Peninsula.
Columbia was then based out of Bremerton, Washington from 1954 to 1956. In 1956 it was sent back to Newport News shipyard to go through the Fleet Re modernization and Maintenance Program (FRAMP) to bring it and it's two sister ships United States and Lincoln up to par with the Forrestal class aircraft carriers. The entire flight deck was redesigned. Catapult and arresting gear systems were modernized. An angled flight deck was added to the ship giving it the largest flight deck space of any carrier in service able to support fifty planes at any one time and a Forrestal class Island and command structure replaced the old tower behind the first starboard elevator. After a four year overhaul, the Columbia was back in service in June of 1960.
From 1960 to 1965 the Columbia made multiple deployments to the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean which were relative periods of peace save one incident in 1964 when North Korean MIG's shot down an American transport plane over disputed waters on the East coast of the Korean Peninsula. Columbia was sent to warn the North Koreans not to have further spurs of stupidity...which they did.
On September 3rd, 1964; three MIG 19's of the North Korean Peoples Air Force closed in at low level towards USS Columbia when they were set upon by two F-4 Phantoms flown by Lieutenant Commander Bill "Bunko" Wendling and Lieutenant Carl "Eager" Precise. The three MIG's engaged the Phantoms and were shot out of the sky. Then the North Koreans decided to fire a Silkworm anti-ship missile from a shore battery at "Haninpoe Rhe" which tumbled into the water five miles from the launching site. Columbia's battle group commander found it unnecessary to pursue taking out the offending launcher until the North Koreans tried again. Columbia launched an Alpha strike of A-4 Skyhawks and F-4 Phantoms and turned the missile site into scrap. The North Koreans finally decided not to press their luck.
By her first Vietnam combat deployment in 1966, Columbia carried a larger air wing than her other sisters which was "attack heavy" meaning she had more bombers than fighters. Her designation was CVAB (Heavy Attack Battle Carrier) with two AD-1 Squadrons, two A-6 Squadrons, Two A-4 Squadrons, Three F-4 Squadrons, One A-3D Squadron, one E-2C Squadron and one H-3 Squadron.
Columbia made four Vietnam combat deployments including the last mission to save South Vietnamese and American advisers as the North Vietnamese invaded the South in 1975. Columbia was the only aircraft carrier in a combat role; it's aircraft sent against North Vietnamese ground targets and troops to delay the final assault on the South Vietnamese capitol of Saigon.
With the end of Vietnam in 1975, the U.S. Military rapidly drew down to peace time levels. Columbia was the only one of the three United States class carriers to be put in reserve status. Both the USS United States and USS Lincoln were sold for scrap by 1980. The Columbia sat in mothballs until 1985 when materials were needed during the Unification War and she too was sent to the scrap heap for recycling.
History of VA-6 "The Black Rams"
VA-6 began in 1937 as Bombing Six (VB-6) equipped with the BT-1 Douglas Dauntless Dive bomber and was one of the most active and decorated combat squadrons in the Pacific War, experiencing its' baptism of fire on February 2, 1942 in the first US Navy offensive attack upon Japan since Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. Attached to the famous USS Enterprise (CV-6) Bombing Six attacked the Japanese airfields and shore installations of Kwajalein and Wotje atolls in the Marshall Islands chain then bombed the Japanese held US territory of Guam on the 24th of February 1942.
On June 4th and 5th of 1942 the Black Rams fought in the historic Battle of Midway under the Command of Commander Richard Best. The Black Rams dove upon and eventually destroyed two of Japan's four front line aircraft carriers and turned the tide of the Pacific War. Bombing Six then went on to fight in the Solomon Campaign at Guadalcanal, New London, New Brittany, Bougainvillea and Rendova until they were pulled from combat and sent back to the United States as a bomber training command in 1943 having been in constant combat in the most critical days of the Pacific War. VB-6 became VTB-6 and remained a training command as its Dauntless aircraft were replaced by the new Douglas Devastator in 1944.
Re-designated as VA-6, The Black Rams were put back into combat status and assigned to the soon to be commissioned USS Midway for the expected invasion of Japan in 1945 or 1946 which did not happen after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. VA-6 was then transferred to the newly commissioned Pacific Coast Naval attack command at Whidbey Island in Washington State.
The Black Rams switched out their Devastators for AD-1 Skyraiders in 1950 and were assigned to the USS Columbia in October of 1952. In 1953, they and USS Columbia participated in the surge of force ordered by President Eisenhower to bring both Communist China and North Korea to the peace table at Panmunjom. VA-6 and Columbia's other aircraft rampaged over the famous "Manchurian Death Strip" of the Yalu River region between North Korea and China attacking supply convoys, bridges and Chinese airfields which choked Communist forces into submission and forced the 1953 cease fire between North and South Korea.
The Black Rams transitioned from the AD-1 Skyraider to the Grumman A-6-A Intruder in 1965 and went with Columbia through four combat tours in Vietnam and Southeast Asia from 1966 to 1975. Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the Black Rams were one of the navy squadrons on the decommission list as the US military drew down to peacetime status, VA-6 was officially struck from the Naval aviation registry on February 2, 1977 and never re-commissioned.
Chapter One
Deployment day...August 9, 1967
NAS Whidbey Island, Washington State
Tradition holds that bands play and flags fly when fighting men put to sea. This is the framework of farewells. Yet the looks on the faces of wives, the children snuggling their heads into the stomachs of mom or wiping tears from their faces as they hold a favorite stuffed toy as if it somehow might replace the warm hug of a parent? The fear and trepidation on the face of wives...that is the true language of separation. My brother Keith was six years old when he sat on our Dad's shoulders as the base band struck up "Anchors Away" the navy fight song and the Black Ram's Commanding Officer, Commander Charlie Saffell, tried his best to ease the tension among the families of his officers who would fly their fifteen bombers and tankers into harms way over the Western horizon in Vietnam. For Dad and Andy Mescado, this was their first combat deployment.
How America ended up in a country which few people could pick out on an old world globe was through a bungling 50 year history of bad policies coupled with the "Red Scare" of world wide Communist expansion. The feeling was that if we dared to let South Vietnam fall like South Korea almost fell during the Korean War, the loss would fuel an unstoppable Communist juggernaut that would bulldoze through all of Southeast Asia, then Asia, then Europe and then the world. We had to fight in Vietnam to prove that we'd fight the Communist everywhere else. It sounded like an admirable concept to "defend freedom" but in actuality the situation in Vietnam was a continuation of a "fricked up fruit cocktail" which people seemed to forget that the Vietnamese had been a colonized and used people for centuries and they had reached the point where they were sick an tired of being everyone's "bitch".
Dad kept this one cartoon in his photo album he found in a Vietnamese made ant-war pamphlet that for me spelled out the whole rotten mess he and Andy were about to fly into. The cartoon shows two bull elephants locked in bitter tusk to tusk combat in a small room over a stupid peanut and two little married Vietnamese mice are whacking them with sticks trying to not to get killed by their stomping big feet and screaming in Vietnamese..."Both you idiots get out! We don't need your fricken help with our marital disputes!" The elephants were of course the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a common sentiment even among many South Vietnamese that the super powers were "using them like whores" to fight "their" war and then "shooting them in the head." Because the pimps got tired of them.
But that's getting too far ahead in the story. At the moment on the morning of the 9th of August; all that mattered was Dad trying to get Keith off his shoulders so he could "Mount up." Mom of course was all composure and flaming wreck. This being Dad's first time away from home for more than 30 days caused Mom stomach fits which I'm sure had a hand in my development. I still can't figure out how my hair ended up the shade it did, which I always blame on Dad's first deployment.
"Keith? Come off daddy's shoulders now? Mom said as she held her arms out. My brother clamped tight to Dad's flight gear.
"NO!" He screamed like mad. "NO! Don't go Daddy!"
Andy Mercado walked up and snatched Keith off Dad and he said it was like trying to hold a pissed off cat...
"Keith James Sterling!" Mom snapped at him. "You stop it right now!"
Keith used Andy for a jungle gym and clung to his flight suit as he held himself off the ground and pushing his sneakers into Andy's chest..."You better take care of my Daddy!"
"And who's going to take care of me?" Andy asked Keith. "Can I trust your Dad?"
Keith looked at Dad then back at Andy..."No."
Dad grabbed Keith and held him under his arm pits as he gave him a pouty face. "That wasn't a nice thing to say about your Dad young man. I'm counting on you to take care of Mommy till I come home. I can trust you can't I?"
"Duh?...I'm a Cub Scout ain't I?" Keith huffed. Dad put him down and rubbed a hand through his hair.
"Ok Scout. I'm holding you to your honor remember?" Dad said as he flashed the Boy Scout salute then turned to my Mom..."You alright? What a stupid question."
Mom tried to be stoic for Keith's well being but Dad could tell she was worried as hell. Keep in mind that this was an age before e-mail, texting, video messages, cell phones, chat rooms and 24 hour cable networks. Often letters between people on the ships and people at home came out of order and a long distance call from say Saigon? Oh shit and you thought monthly cell phone bills were bad now? In Dad's day...you really did live for long periods in black holes of uncertainty and getting a letter from home or from your husband and father was as precious a thing as gold.
She threw away her composure for a momentary collapse as she held on to him tightly. Dad looked at Andy with a smirk then tapped mom on the head...
"Sinny?" Dad said. "I can't fit you in the cockpit girl."
My mother looked at Andy..."You better keep him out of trouble."
"Damn Sin-cee...honestly?" Andy said as he pulled on my Dad's flight suit. "We're holding up progress Boss." And with one last kiss and a wave, Dad followed Andy to their Intruder where a plane captain stood waiting for them to walk up. The plane captain was a young enlisted man, usually an airman or a guy who had no assigned specialty and would be a plane captain until he got a specialty slot to fill (These guys were called "Non-Designated Seaman or No-Doze strikers)
The 19 year old plane captain was fresh from boot camp and aviation handlers school and passed a clip board to my Dad while Andy walked around the plane looking for anything to write up as a maintenance complaint (what you'd call a "Gripe")
The plane captain gave my dad a run down on his plane, at least he liked to call 503 his plane. Navy pilots attach themselves dearly to a plane once they flew and liked how it responded to their handling. Dad said 503 was awesome in that it had very few down times for maintenance, the electronics seemed to be of little trouble and the cockpit still had a fresh factory smell to it even after Andy cut some of the most abusive farts in history.
"You have full on the mains and wings sir. The belly spare is full and the other four are full storage "blivids" (A bliv-id was an external fuel tank converted to carry "luggage", a good way to get more stuff on board the ship for deployments) are full. Your fuel and parts weight is 26K (26,000 pounds) No issues to tell you."
Dad signed the sheet on the clipboard then walked over the Intruder himself, checking the tanks that hung from the weapons pylons to make sure they were snug fit to their carry racks. Andy had already done his look-over and climbed into his side of the cockpit to "set up house" as it were with the navigation equipment.
I'll tell you from experience that a one pilot cockpit of any military airplane can be overwhelming. Between keeping good orientation during flight, managing weapons, tracking threats and handling navigation; we're fortunate to have such an advanced technology like the Robotech system. Back in Dad's day, you had to have a two man system in jets designed for multiple purposes; especially the Intruder which was designed to fly in all weather conditions, at night and was able to deliver bombs within the inch of a fly on a tree. One man alone could not have done what the Intruder could do and yet handle all the threats and conditions you faced in Vietnam.
From what I've read, North Vietnam had defenses even the Zentradi would respect...If they didn't have the unfair advantage of millions of combat ships and didn't stand off in space out of range. Most pilots Dad flew with called North Vietnam a "steel porcupine" because everyone down there had something to shoot with...
"Even the kids had balls. They used sling shots."
No kidding. Dad was flying low on a mission and Andy saw a kid, he said probably about ten years old, shooting things from a home made "Y" sling right out of the Flintstones. Dad said he could respect such crazy courage.
The Intruder was designed with side by side instrument positions, pilot on the left and B/N on the right. Actually, a pretty good idea to split up responsibilities back then when you didn't have a lot of self-drive technology; the Pilot handled the flying and the B/N handled all the navigation and weapons responsibilities. Then there's the multiple eyes benefit against weapons like SAM's (Surface to Air Missiles) in which the North Vietnamese as Dad put it "Grew them like Broccoli stocks".
With two pairs of eyes, you had a better chance of seeing and avoiding incoming missiles than you did just as a lone pilot getting the shit scared out of you by the incoming warning sensor alarm blasting in your helmet. Most of Dad's assignments during that deployment was going after SAM sites and their radar stations; talk about purposely searching for a gun fight to get into.
As of that day when Dad and Andy left Whidbey Island, Andy was still single and the cockpit banter between them naturally went into family and all that while they were "Setting up house" and getting ready to leave...
"You do realize that in order to achieve higher rank? You MUST be a married officer?" Dad said to Andy as they went through the pre-start cockpit checks. Andy didn't hide his thoughts about their impending "in chop" to "Indian Country" Southeast Asia.
"I don't want to be in your shoes just yet." Andy said. "I know it's got to be tough as hell."
"Don't jinx us before we get there?" Dad replied. "They'll be fine. I asked Bob if his wife would be close to "Cin". Keep her busy, go out and do things together, be a leaning pole for support when she's upset. But trust me Andy, there is nothing like being married to give your whole life purpose."
"When I'm ready and I find the right girl Boss." Andy replied. "And don't you go trying to shack me up with one of them Asian girls? I've heard all kinds of horror stories."
"Vicious rumors." My Dad replied. "I'm sure not all the Asian girls turn out to be prostitutes. Besides, I don't spend time in the Red Light districts any way. The real fun is going out into the "Boonies" where your average horny stupid American doesn't go."
"May I remind you Boss that you've never been to those "Boonies" yourself?" Andy said as Dad looked down at his plane captain at the base of the boarding ladder...
"Time to open shop...GTC (Ground Turbine Compressor) is on...GTC start air pressure available."
Dad gave the "PC" (Short for Plane Captain) the starting signal and pushed the cranking switch for the left engine. "Left engine coming up, Idle stability is good."
Andy spoke into his ICS (internal Communication System. The microphone was attached to the helmet or a part of the oxygen mask) "Oil pressure normal, Ram Air Turbine stowed position, Canopy rail on my side is clean."
Sharing procedures and doing checks and counter-checks between the crew was what made the Intruders so successful. Very few of them were lost to accidents compared to other planes of the time because there was that "instant" face to face feedback...though pilots and B/N's were often "system jealous" of their own stations and duties. Pilots didn't like being told how to fly and B/N's didn't like being told how to "bomb shop" but Dan and Andy had a good working relationship.
After fifteen minutes of start and checks, Dad unfolded his wings and called the Whidbey tower..."Whidney, Ram Six requesting taxi to holding?"
"Ram Six you are cleared strait taxi to hold short on runway "Six Zero" The tower replied. Dad took one more look across the parking apron to where he could see Mom and Keith and gave them a wave before he signaled the ground crew to pull his wheel chalks.
"They'll be ok Boss." Andy said as he shook my Dad on the shoulder.
Dad released his breaks, taxi'd 503 a shot distance then slammed the breaks to test them on roll out...
"Brakes work." Andy snorted.
Dad taxi'd the Intruder out of the parking apron, onto the taxiway and soon 503 rolled down the runway and took to the air over the field...
"Navigation set." Andy said to Dad. "Heading 270 for formation flight. Distance 60 miles. Time at 270 knots...10 minutes."
Dad chuckled. "You should shark people with your time calculations Andy. You'd make a paycheck in a week."
The radio cracked in Dad's head. "Daddy...it's Ram nine, are we forming on you or the X.O.?" (Squadron Executive Officer)
"The X.O. "Dart" ("Dart" was the call sign for Lieutenant Darcy Benton) "Where are you?"
"High at your twelve and about fifty feet behind and fifty above your tail." Darcy replied. "What's the formation?"
Dad replied. "X.O. Will pick it when he comes up. Probably a balanced parade of three tier depending on the landing order."
Andy shook Dad and pointed out his side of the canopy. "About right...everyone else is coming in low about a grand below us."
Dad clicked his radio..."Little ewe, six kid?"
The Executive Officer replied. "You call me a woman again smart ass."
"Sheesh X.O. Not enough coffee this morning?" Dad replied.
"Just bring Darcy with you and fall into the second tier formation Mister Sterling. You are number six in the rotation. We all have to qualify so you "touch and go" on the first approach and "trap" (Trap means to land on the carrier and catch the landing wire) on the second."
Landing on an aircraft carrier "the old fashioned way" is a challenge few pilots dare to do since we have all these risk free gadgets available that make senseless to do, yet I do it all the time in the Veritech when the opportunity presents itself. I go totally "dead stick" (all the electronics off) and do it like Dad did it in his day...by "touch and feel" because honestly when your coming in on a low and slow approach with a nose up "attack" profile that's flirting with stall speed? You can't see anything in front of you. That's why a guy as good and as quick on analytic calculations as Andy was so good to have when the weather was lousy and the landing strip you're trying to reach is a bobbing object which at first the size of stamp in your sight as you come in on the final approach only to appear rapidly as a growing monster rushing in to break your landing gear off!
Four three inch thick multi-stran inside multi-strans of steel cable stretch across the landing area of the carrier. These "pennants" as they are called are attached to four mechanical engines directly below the flight deck and are caught by the "tailhook" of the incoming plane as it practically crashes onto the ship. Catching the pennant, the plane drags the wire behind it as the engines apply tension to slowly bring the plane to a dead stop in 300 feet. A really good pilot will snag the number 3 wire (3rd from the bow of the ship) even in poor weather and that's why you value a guy like Andy Mercado and you don't mind him blurting out "Distance...Time..." while your listening to the Landing Signal Officer on the ship (The L.S.O.) telling you "High" "left" "Steady" and "On the ramp!"
"WHAM!"
The main wheels of 503 struck hard on the steel deck and Dad pulled hard and sharp on the control stick while throwing the throttle controls to the front stop of the engine power controler and watching the end of the ship, the "angle" of the flight deck vanish from under his left wing...
"Nice Ram 3!" Came the call from the L.S.O., would have been a nice 3 wire. Return to the holding pattern."
"Rodger." Dad replied to the L.S.O. As he flew 503 up to the "wagon wheel" of jets awaiting to be called down to the final track run for landing. Dad paired up in the wagon wheel with Lieutenant J.G. Paine Kennedy and his B/N Ensign Gary Simons. Paine had been in Dad's Corpus class and was assigned to Intruders because his aptitude scoring didn't qualify for fighters. That doesn't mean he wasn't smart...just means that his grading didn't cut it. It left him rather disappointed, a grudge feeling he needed to ditch quick because not liking your job could easily get you whacked...as in dead.
"How'd you do on the bolter Paine?" Dad asked.
"Lousy." Paine replied. "Probably would have skipped the four for sure. I could use more deck time, the trainer planes are so different than this."
"You'll get the hang of it "Came-a-lot"." Dad said. "Yeah the A-6 is a little heavier than the trainers but once you get used to the feel on the decent? It'll come easy and natural, trust me."
"I want to shoot the bastard who gave me this fucked up call sign." Paine snorted. "Camelot"? I haven't got hair ass one with the Kennedy family, you know what Jim Riggert tried to do? He tried to pass me off as a Kennedy to some girl in a bar."
"Well you do cut a handsome Kennedy like figure." Dad snickered back. "They need to modify your seat so you can un-tuck those Godzilla legs of yours."
"Oh fuck you." Paine replied. Poor Paine was an unheard off 6 feet and two inches tall. Most Intruder pilots only averaged, like Dad, a very comfortable 5 foot seven to 5 foot nine. Even with pedal adjustments, poor Paine was in danger of having his circulation cut to his feet on long hour flights.
Andy called over to Gary Simons..."I have a speed/distance/time chart for landing Gary if you're interested?"
"Sure...shoot it over." Gary replied. Andy spoke and watched as Gary wrote the figures in his green note book. "What's the wager on this Andy?"
"Six pack at the next inport? San Diego?" Andy answered. "If you trap the number 3."
Gary flashed a thumb back just before Dad veered away to get into the landing circle above the ship..."Ram three you are number two in the wait...crosswinds at five and steady from the left, sea state remains nominal, you have a level deck."
Dad popped open his wing tip speed brakes, lowered his landing gear and dropped the flaps and slats with the tail-hook. From how he described the Intruder, it was an awesome low speed airplane with a very low stall speed between 100 and 113 Miles per hour depending on the weight it had at landing. A Veritech by design is a heavy machine with a very low tolerance for stalling which makes the Intruder a feather compared to a rock.
"Ram Three you are in the final...come cross leg to final at 3,000 feet...five miles." The Carrier ATC (Air Traffic Control) said on the radio. Dad started his final turn for line-up and the L.S.O. Called him..."Ram Three on final, call the ball?"
We don't use Landing Signal Officers anymore but back then they were a specialty pilots wanted in their service records. In Gramps days, L.S.O. used ping pong paddles to tell pilots what to do to get aboard. That went away in the 1950's with the Landing Signal lens or "Meatball" as the array of red, yellow and green lights was called that was set up just left of the carrier landing area. Both the ship and the plane was tethered together by a system nicknamed "Frezi-wig" which aided the pilot in "trapping"
"Frezi-wig" told the pilot if he was too high, right on target, or way too low of the target box which the plane had to pass through for an optimal number 3 wire. Too high and you miss the wires and end up bolting off the ship. Too low and you kiss the butt of the ship in a fireball. Landing a plane like this is worse stress than combat, my wife had to qualify "Dead deck" which means you land without any assistance gear with a guy who's probably at best a total novice in LSO experience. It took me only three tries...it took Mirya ten.
I'm glad she wasn't here when I wrote that.
"Ram three? Call the ball!" The LSO radio'd Dad.
"Rodger Ball." Dad replied. "Needles ten left and five top"
The "needles" are the initial signals that the plane catches from the "Frezi-wig" so to bring them into alignment, the LSO has to radio back Dad instructions to maintain or correct his attitude so that the systems agree with each other and they "pair up" so the plane has the exact information the pilot needs to land.
"Down two, Right three." The LSO called, telling dad to lower his altitude and "Jink" slightly right.
"Hold it! Three miles, 800..." The LSO told Dad to hold course and speed as he was three miles out at 800 feet off the deck. All this time, Andy's bouncing his attention between the speed, the altitude, the nose attitude and his speed/time chart...
"Up a little on power boss." Andy said. "On...on...left...on...on..."
Keep in mind that Dad can't see the carrier ahead of him because the Intruder's flying "nose high" in a controlled decent with a high "angle of attack" (Nose and aircraft set in a slow approach landing angle of ten to fifteen degrees)
"Doing good! Hold it!" The LSO called out..."Three...two...one...over the deck! On the ramp!"
The Intruder's main wheels contacted the deck with a violent shaking thump and quickly Dad threw the throttles to their forward stops in case he didn't snag the wire. The plane continued down the landing area until it came to a stop with a few feet to spare...
"Nice number three, Ram three...welcome aboard." The LSO said as Dad closed up the speed brakes, slats and flaps and threw up the wing-fold handle then scanned the flight deck for the aircraft handler to direct him off the landing area.
An aircraft carrier is a Chicago O'hare in minature. It's a loud, busy and chaotic ballet packed into nothing better than something the size of a closet with an ocean around it. Everyone on the flight deck has a reason to be there or they're stupid because it is the world's most dangerous job. The second most dangerous being an aircraft carrier at night.
We still use color codes for various flight deck jobs...Yellow shirts handle plane movement. Purple shirts manage fuel. Blue shirts tie down planes and handle the catapults and arresting gear. Green shirts perform aircraft maintenance. Brown shirts are enlisted guys who take pride in "owning" their various planes...so on and on.
Dad was directed to the bow by the yellow shirts and quickly secured to the deck by the blue shirts and his brown shirt plane captain popped the boarding ladders and quickly climbed up the pilot's side to do a quick secure of the ejection seats...
"Morning Mister Sterling." Airman Sandy Boyard said as he locked the seat safety switches then took Dad and Andy's flight bags. "Any problems?"
"None Sandy." Dad replied. "She's purring happy like always. Can you make sure the luggage blivids get emptied? The Port side one have gear for the line shack (The Plane Captain shop) and the tron guys (Aviation Electricians) The starboard ones have mine and Lieutenant Mercado's stuff."
"Yes Sir." Boyard replied. "I'll see it's done once we're in final spot."
"Good man." Dad replied as he and Andy walked off to "the island" (The command structure of the ship on the flight deck) where Lieutenant Commander Marvin Long, The Squadron Operations Officer stood by one of the entry doors...
"Opening brief at 7pm." Marvin said as he handed Dad and Andy their billeting assignments and other important information.
"Thanks Marvin." Dad said as he and Andy went inside and were soon walking through the passageways of the massive ship where activity to get settled in among the officers, chiefs and enlisted men was as chaos looking as the flight deck. Dad came across a sailor, a "non-dez striker seaman or airman" trying to make sense of the ship map he had in his hands...
"Hey ship mate? You're in the wrong place." Dad said to the Sailor. "Blue tile areas are officer's country."
"Sorry Sir." The man replied. "I'm trying to get here?"
Dad looked at the map and smirked. "Sheesh...someone should tell "In-doc" to teach proper seamanship. Come here Sailor." Dad took the sailor over to a "bulls eye", a painted yellow square on a wall or "bulkhead" that denotes with letters and numbers the location of any compartment aboard a warship...
"So right now Sailor, we are on the 3rd deck above the hanger deck which is main deck (The 03 on the Bullseye) This is the outermost passage on the port side (the number 6 after the 03) We're at frame 086 which is the forward or front bulkhead of this passage at that doorway down the passageway (086 after the number 6) and this is a passageway or "P" so the full number is 03-6-086-P. Now...you're looking for 3-0-100-L. Tell me what that means?"
The Sailor replied..."Third deck under the hanger deck, center of the ship, frame 100 is the most forward bulkhead and it's a living space?"
Dad bopped the Sailor on the shoulder. "You gain wisdom my son."
The Sailor excused himself as Andy smiled. Dad turned to him..."And this is why you need to be married Andy. It comes in handy with very junior Sailors."
"I would just assume follow the example of our Master Chief and kick the kid down to his bunk." Andy replied as they walked to the officer's berthing office and got their room keys...
"They have me with John Mackie." Dad said. "Ugh...Hank Williams."
"I'm with Marty Millar." Andy said as they walked to their rooms. "Sandy...efficient as always." Andy said as he saw his bags already in front of his door.
"Should recommend him for advancement." Dad replied. "He's already Petty Officer material."
"I'll drop it in Marty's ear since he's PC DIVO" (Division Officer) Andy replied as he unlocked his door. "I'll be up in the ready room in about an hour."
Dad replied. "I'll be visiting the Air frames Shop to show face. Later."
Even today with two crew or more aircraft, we don't put any of the crews from the same plane in the same berthing room for emotional reasons. Back in Dad's day you didn't allow attachments to become "tight"; even between Dad and Andy there was some aloof space between them because...well God forbid one of them dies in the cockpit on a mission. Having to spend even a minute in a room you shared with your flight mate who died in front of you would be too much, so at least when you came "home" someone familiar would be there for you to spill the guts too. Dad wasn't into John Mackie's country boy pursona but he respected him as a fellow pilot. Plus...unlike Dad..."Mack" had already done two combat tours in Vietnam with VA-75 "The Sunday Punchers" so he was good tidbits to nibble on about the "in country" experience.
The "staterooms" in officer's country now are no different than they were on the Columbia during Vietnam. They're small cabins just big enough for a double bunk bed, two clothing lockers and a single writing cabinet and the adjoining bathroom is worse than an airline bathroom. Our showers however always worked right, Dad's showers were at the whim of water supply and ship's systems...often boiling hot or ice fricken cold. You took quick and dip showers holding the cheep nozzle at arms length ridiculous angles in a stall not wider by an inch than your fat butt. Warships are not Princess Cruise Liners.
Dad and most of the officers had another unpleasant event...aircraft launches. The catapults on the bow went right over officer's country and they were loud when they were activated; the "cat shuttle" screaming over the cabin as it raced down to the end of the bow and slammed into the water-break tunnel at the end with a heavy thump! After a few nights of cussing and snarling, the body eventually tuned out the disturbance.
And so began Dad's "Far East adventure...embark aboard a ship crammed with 5,000 men to fly to interesting places to drop bombs to kill people in a war that to many...was hard to understand.
ATTACKRON SIX (VA-6)
Officers and flight crews
Vietnam Deployment 1967-1968
Commanding Officer
CDR Charles Saffell
Executive Officer
LTCDR Oliver Goodale
Pilots and B/N's
LT Kevin Sterling / LTJG Andrew Mescado
LTJG John Mackie / ENS Ken Whitaker
LTCDR Marvin Long / LT Kenny Keyes
LT Nate Marsden / LT Terry Wise
Darcey Benton / Conner Baur
LTJG Paine Kennedy / ENS Gary Simons
LT John Casserotti / LT Garrett Burgess
LT Reese Boyer / ENS Bill Lyons
LTJG Jaiden Roach /ENS Justin Smith
Delvin Gravett / Danny Doherty
LTCDR Anthony Casper / ENS Tony Mitchkulski
LCDR Robert Dybdhaul / LT Tony Gurrero
LT Andy Hoover / LTJG Rodney Haldi
LT Jim Riggert / LTJG Marty Millar