An Aircraft Carrier Flight Deck Looks Like A Ballet. Navy Men Working As A Team. Beautiful to Watch 

The yellow shirt with the beard brought back memories. After I left the Ticonderoga in 1969 I was assigned as an instructor at a school on Lowry Air Force base in Denver, and I grew a beard (beards in the Navy had to be full, neatly trimmed and well groomed). Sometimes I would be challenged by some old Air Force type who would demand to know "Since when has the Navy allowed beards?" My reply was usually "Since 1776."

Tomcat is such a beautiful aircraft! It's what a fighter should look like.

Most wholeheartedly agree that the Tomcat is the sexiest aircraft ever. Most folks don't realize how big it is. A Hornet looks like aVolkswagon parked next to a tank.

Good to see all you Airedales checking in! I was Ship's Company, Engineering, a "fresh air snipe/ IC man, 1970-1975, USS Oriskany CVA 34 "The O Boat"; last of the Essex Class. Yankee & Dixie Stations. "Tonkin Gulf Mobile International Airport." Man, I sure miss that old gal & Crew! Dad joined USN n 1923 at 16 (lied about his age), his first job was shoveling coal into the boilers. Retired as Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate with 18 yrs Active Duty Service 4 months before Pearl was hit. Next day, Dec.8, 1941, rejoined. They told him "We know you got your pilot's License, we need pilots, you're going to Pensacola, and you're not a Chief any more, you're a Lt., Sir." Flew TBF, Dauntless, something about a 26 Marauder flying straight down the center of Manila Bay taking photos at 50 ft. altitude. He said they didn't shoot at them with anything but small arms because the Bay was full of Nip ships loaded with ammo, fuel. But had to come up at the end of the Bay because of the mountains & "The Zeros tore the hell out of us then, shot up our hydraulics, wobble pump was working but no fluid so I had to steer with the engines. Put her down on an abandoned overgrown airstrip, saved the crew except for my Co-Pilot. Those bullets that hit him were meant for me. You're named after him, son." They had to pull him off the instrument panel & controls, took more than an hour. 7 broken vertebrae, stick shoved into his gut. Had a stomach 1/3 normal size after they finished cutting out the ruined bits. I can't remember which carrier or battle but his was hit in the bridge by a kamikaze, took out all the command officers; he was senior ranking officer aboard so had to get all personnel transferred to another ship. Got every last man off. She sank in 2 hours. Navy Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, 3 Purple Hearts. Made Lt. Commander. Lt. Commander Earl L. Miller Died 0600 HRS., 07 December, 1977. The best damn father I could have ever wished for.

I sure miss working the flight deck. I was 19 years old the first time up there as a Plane Captain on F-14s. After 2 West Pacs, Rim Pac, and lots of work ups, I sure miss it.

and the beautiful, controlled, easily recognized narration of Wil Lyman..thank you David for such epic content..

Amazing to watch these lads going about their duty like its nothing. It reminds me of organised chaos done in a totally professional way. From A UK brit I totally respect the armed forces of the USA. Our brothers in arms.

The F-8 is the sexiest Navy jet fighter ever!

I AM IN AWE OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVE THIS COUNTRY THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE .

The ultimate in teamwork. High risk work yet highly reliable. I cannot get enough of this! Go NAVY!!

From a guy that never served......I much appreciate every single one of you

It amazes me how young these people are. American's greatest... So cool.

Thanks and, life up top can become much more busy than this video shows. To be there is an experience I'll never forget. USS KITTY HAWK CVA-63 1971-73. All my respect.

If this is a clip from the documentary I think it is, there is a really funny scene when one of the old flight deck crew is going over hand signals with the new guys. He goes through several motions describing their meaning, and then he says "And if you see me do THIS" ....where he covers one fist with the palm of the other hand and rapidly pulls it away...."that means get your head out of your ass, cause you are about to be blown off the deck!" Love those old 80's era documentaries. They were so very well done.

Made a Med cruise on the Big John in the mid '80's. This bring back some memories for sure. Also made cruises on the Constellation, Ranger and Eisenhower, and spent time on the Kitty Hawk and Enterprise, and six months on the Midway.

Worked on Intrepid, Entetprise, and America flight decks. Rain, shine, pitching deck. Bombs, rockets and napalm all around.

There Not 22 year old kids, There 22 year old men. Kids play games, These are America's finest trained.

The F4 Phantom not only looked Bad Ass it was a Bad Ass. 1964 to 1967 I was aboard the Saratoga CVA-60. What a time we had on the flight deck.

To have the privilege to work a flight deck now would be an honor, a great honor 👍🛩 go Airedale’s

I was an Aviation Ordnancemen from 97 to 2017 and the best most memorable deployment for me was on the 2000 cruise on the Stennis where I got to do Cag Arm Dearm with an airwing that had VF-211 Checkmates.

Forrestal CVA-59 got'em on and off like you change your drawers. From the flight deck down to the pits it was a thing of beauty. Stay safe all of the men and women who are serving our country. We love and thank you all.

Yes, flight-deck operations are indeed a beautiful thing to watch -- precise coordination among the pilots and all the deck personnel! But then it can't be any other way or accidents would occur!

I was stationed in the South Pacific (1970) and we had a squadron of 120 F-4C Phantom Jersey...... awesome aircraft to work on as a mechanic! 2018 sorry to see them go, now stationed at Davis Monthan collecting dust!

Great to see the Kennedy and those Tomcats. I was a crew member aboard USS Independence (Dec 1972-Aug 1975) and remember the first F-14 taken aboard for tests. At the time our fighters were F-4Js . Kennedy operated with us during the 73-74 Med Cruise.

God i miss it. Carl Vinson west Pac 96 and nimitz world cruise 97-98. What a great experience.

Carrier operations can be described in one word: INTENSE.

David, thank you for sharing this. I deployed aboard "Big John" with CVW-3 in HS-7 as a helicopter crew chief/rescue swimmer 1981-1985. The clip shows the VF-11 Red rippers and VF-31 Tomcatters as well as the VA-75 Sunday Punchers. You'll also note one of our H-3 Sea King helo's in the "trash" as the yellow-shirt is explaining the arresting wires. I don't recall a film crew aboard during deployment, however, this appears to be work-ups off the Va-capes probably late 1983 given the beards. USN d/c'd them in 1986 as I recall but squids still had them when I got out in 85. Cheers

I was on the Kennedy, from 79-83, I worked Flt Dk Ord, Weapons dept

Will never forget my time on the Ranger.

My dad worked on F18s and saw F14s he said he was supposed to be in the Air Force but getting to see the tomcats and hornets just made him like top gun more

The greatest Navy in the world!

A ballet where the dancers can die at any moment

Enjoyed my time on a carrier. USS Coral Sea, CV-43 from 77-80 as part of the Marine Detachment.

I loved working on the roof,= as airframes troubleshooter. We only used 1 back then, now at least 2. It was exhilarating until something went wrong like a A6 dumping fuel into the cat tracks and igniting under the plans fully armed with bombs, then it was a nightmare until the fire was out, once extinguished. Next aircraft... launch, no time for sigh of relief. Usually things went off without a hitch, they trained us well in Memphis and in the squadron.

Nice to see F-14 Tom Cat again.

Amazing, the aircraft tail's "ship designator" AC was the designator for my ship back in the 1960s, the USS Saratoga (CVA-60). It's cool to see it again.

I really don't need to be told what goes on on a flight deck. My first tour of duty was on the flight deck of the U S S Independence off the coast of Vietnam. Believe me, I definitely know what goes on on the flight deck. That being said, thanks for the memories.

I worked on this with you David. Brings back great memories of you and Francis Kenny (DP). Gosh so long ago but still vivid in memory.

I love the F-14 TOMCAT...POWERFUL FIGHTER JET....THE BEST...FOREVER...MR TOMCAT...F-14

I spent 11 months on a LHD. Baby Carrier for Helo/Harrier Jump Jets and I got the hookup and got flightdeck qualled as a Marine and got to watch flightdeck ops. Life on a LHD or Carrier sucked at the time but looking back now...sure was fun

America’s Veterans! The Best of the Best!!!

I was stationed on the Kennedy 1980-81 and worked in the radio shack, right under the flight deck.

Our military is the best in the world and every American should praise all of them for every one is our sons🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Been there. Seen that. Brings back memories.

Are these guys getting younger or am I getting older, damn impressive watching this.

I was there that day,,, on deck---- VAW-126.

I used to LOVE being on that FLIGHT DECK(GO NAVY)

This footage is great !

I'm a Kennedy Plank Owner and was on cat three for 9 months and then transferred to V-1 Crash and Salvage where I finished my 4 year enlistment. I noticed he said the average age on the flight deck is 22. It was 19 when I was on board. Wonder what the difference is?? Could it be that at the time period I was in (68-71) that more young men were joining because of the draft? I joined when I was 17 and I received my draft notice while in boot camp.I figured if I joined the Navy I would at least have a roof over my head at night, 3 meals a day and not be dodging bullets and bombs. I was assigned to the flight deck where our average day was 18-20 hours and some times longer in all types of weather (coldest was wind chill of -40 and below). I spent many days only getting to eat once, and was dodging missiles and bombs coming off planes while landing.

In '86 VF-14 & VF-32 were on the Kennedy. I was in VMA-533 at that time. Made Med cruises '86 -'87 & '88-'89. Work-ups started in '85 for the '86 cruise and I do not remember any red tailed F-14's on board.

Tomcat ? The Final Countdown is its best advocate show

i was stationed on the USS AMERICA CVA-66,and being on any aircraft carrier is a very dangerous to be on one. the AMERICA served 3 tours of duty in the south china sea, in the tonkin gulf. i'm a brave member of the gulf of tonkin yacht club.

f8-e crusader was the sexy navy fighter of all time

An extremely fine turned machine

The F-14 was....still is....the most sexy Navy fighter of all time....

I made 2 cruises on the JFK 1979-1982 with VAQ-138 I loved working on the flight deck as a trouble shooter

I got to do that on land only. Loved it.

Everything beautiful...WoW!!!...A nice lifestyle 👍...

I'll never forget working on the roof of SaraMaru! In short... exhilarating!

I love the Hornet and Super Hornet, but no Navy plane past or present is or was as sexy as the Tomcat.

The planes might have changed, but not the professionalism. Oriskany 1970 ,Ranger 72-73. I always loved the excitement of flight ops.

I love those old tom cats

Ahh Brings back fond memories

We didn't have the cat pressure to launch Tomcats on CVA 34 USS Oriskany, but that's the sexiest damn fighter ever. Period.

Miss this. ABE... Plank owner CVN72, time on IKE and AMERICA as well.

Navel aviators are the best in the world

Its called a FM setup I just remembered after 40 years of being aboard her !

A ballet for sure such precision 🇺🇸hi dave

Cool vid!.. Thanks👍🇳🇿

As far as I can tell that would be 83-84, Air Boss was Capt. Boston and the CAG was Capt. Mazak and they are both in that video.

Dang, look at all the black exhaust smoke belching out of those Tomcat's as they approach the carrier.

fantastic clip, thanks

What a Beast

Awesome video!

Worked the flight deck as an AE troubleshooter and final checker on 3 different carriers.

Oh yea.. Flight deck duty green shirt USS America. Catapult crew member first Vietnam cruise. Grew up quick.. Lots of close calls but came home in one piece... My hearing is shot but not just because of the flight deck. More likely because my wife yells at me all the time

Aircraft Carriers and F-14 Tomcats!? How did we get so lucky?!

Coolest jobs.

God bless y'all! We appreciate your services in Mount Vernon Georgia!

F-14 paintjobs are indicative of very early 1980s or very late 1970s, probably after VF-14's & VF-32's left.

JFK...AE worked in Buddy Stores... 92-93 Med Cruise

GREAT STUFF! 6/1/19

The only thing more impressive than flight ops on the ship is night flight ops on the ship. Thanks to all now serving, those who have, and those who will in the future. FLY NAVY!!!

1968-71 on JFK with VF-32. Worked AT shop, flight deck troubleshooter/final checker 1st cruise. AIMD 2nd cruise.

AO VF-32 1971 - 73, the 10 month cruise.

YOU ~ ROCK ! !

22? I was a 18 year old fly one blueshirt on CV-41 way back in 77

I spent 3 years on CVN 70 , I notice this is an old Film, since they still had beards like me !

wow, how times have changed today

Tomcat traps. The air boss: Bolter

Regarding average age, yup, I was 21& 22 when I served on the U.S.S. Enterprise from July 1976 to July 1978! One of the Greatest experiences of my life! Crash & Salvage, red shirt drove fire trucks, before that, yellow shirt plane director, before that, blue shirt who ran chocks & chains, very physical job. This was my second enlistment. My first enlistment started at 17 years of age, in August 1972. Was a Crashcrewman at N.A.S. Moffet Field in California, and then at N.A.S. Agana, Guam, February 1974 to August 27, 1975.

I was in from '90 to '94. These directors are using the older radio head sets. This video is most likely from the '80s

great vid !

VF-31,, memories

Hard to believe they can do it in day light, night? In heavy seas? No wonder not many countries have carriers!

Da fukk would I be wearing a Mini Boss Shirt!!

Beards? This must be pre 1985.

VFA-137 Kestrels

In which year was this filmed?. Awesome footage!

Top Gun... mid 80s Cold War.