Carrier operations west of the Philippines in 1985. After Air Wing 5 participated in a Cope Thunder mock air combat exercise in the Philippines, two of us Air Force exercise planners were invited to spend three days on the Midway.
I'd served aboard her with CO Admiral Mixson from 1985-88, I was a Boiler Tech for "B" division BT3 (#4 Baker Fire- room). The Midway has shown me the other side of this beautiful planet Earth. From her homeport of Yokosuka, Japan to other exotic liberty port-of-call of the South Pacific , like Hong Kong, Subic Bay Philippines, Pattaya Beach Thailand, Sydney & Perth Australia and Busan S. Korea. Thank you USS Midway & The USN for all the memories.
I was there also! Skipper Mixson was the best. I was Sailor of the Day one day at sea and got to meet with Capt. Mixson on the bridge for about 30 minutes, stood next to him during flight ops. The skipper gladly answered all my questions and also took a real interest in me and my up to that point pretty mundane life of a 19 year old E-3!
Elvin I am wondering if you knew a Brian Sundlin he worked in the Boiler room as well during that time. If so do you have any stories of him he was my uncle and passed away a few years ago. I miss hearing his stories
Been down Boiler space to Fire watch Japanese yard birds.( They lit fires constantly ..😊) So that last ladder down to the Boiler deck , 20 ' ?.... I'm carrying a C0 2 extinguisher down , A Boiler Tech watches me ; " Youre hassling ....that much with one bottle ?"
Its an amazing ship, and open to the public 7 days a week here in San Diego. I've been 3 times now. You can stay as long as they are open and walk around. Great video collection! Thank you!
Great to see this old footage from Midway Magic! Was stationed on her 82-84 in the radio shack. Saw her a few years ago in San Diego. Nice to see she was preserved and anyone can tour it.
Thank you for posting this. Was onboard for this. If I remember it was just before the 85 day jaunt to the Indian Ocean and my last cruise on the old girl. Miss her terribly.
I did the IO on Midway as a Russian Linguist (TAD from Misawa) and went through the shellback initiation out of Mombasa. I was so covered in grease that I threw every stitch of clothing over the side and walked naked down the flight deck and down into berthing for a shower. A whole tube of Prell did not get that shit outa my hair. The Vert Reps were a beautifully coordinated dance of CH-47s. So smooth and efficient. Experts at work in the air and on the flight deck. Steak and lobster every Sunday at sea. At mid rats you could have all the leftover lobster you could eat with a coffee cup of melted butter. Shot skeet from the round down during the XO's Sunday At Sea.
I left her in 1984. My last cruise was 111 days with no land fall. I was a ships company AO, but spent most of my time in the weapons elevator and conveyor shop. Great vid man, thx.
I remember that deployment! You and I can both say we drank beer on the Midway! I would do it again in a heartbeat. Best memories of my life are tied to this ship.
That was the Triple Stick Indian Ocean Cruise, I was there also. After that 111 days in '84 our '85 Indian Ocean Cruise was a cake walk...only out 80 some days.
THANKS!!! For putting this out. AD2(AW) Pete, PPTS for VA-115, 82-87. I was on the deck, (somewhere) when this was shot. This video brought back ALL the experiences, sights and smells from that time, (even the F4...incident 1984) in my life. Thanks and dam* you...
I found the video today. I served on the midway for 26 month with VAQ-136 the EA6B squadron. I was on board this ship when this video was shot, VERY cool.
The USS Midway was and is a unique ship. As a carrier it was different even with her sister ships. Why they made her angle deck so wide and only Midway’s that way was and still a mystery to me. Her hull was small in proportion to it and at times on very rough seas, it felt like being on a giant raft as I was viewing everything from high up on the island. Face it, The USS Midway was a weird looking aircraft carrier, but because of that we felt she was more special to us. Unlike today’s carriers, they all look alike. When you saw the Midway from miles away you knew it was the Midway. This is what I feel when I visit her in San Diego. Anyone else who served on her feel the same way?
Ha ha.....mega tons of concrete had to be poured in the Starboard bilge to balance the Angle deck ( Midway steamed with 04° list to port. ) It's Flightdeck was most square feet .... of any carrier afloat .
Apparently, from what I've read, the deck configuration that resulted from the 1966-70 rebuild of Midway was because the Navy at the time was preparing for the F-111B (eventually cancelled), which required a lengthy arresting cable runout due to the aircraft's size and weight. However, to accommodate the longer landing area, this meant that the No. 2 catapult would be inoperable during aircraft recovery. To remedy this issue, the angle of the angled deck was therefore increased to 13.5 degrees in order to clear No. 2 catapult.
Midway’s modernization was triple the expected cost, to over $200 million. The JFK, as the last oil burner, cost $293 million brand new at the same time. The cost overrun meant FDR wouldn’t be renovated and was in poor condition, decommissioned in 1977, and the Coral Sea was updated to take the FA-18, then decommissioned after Iraq 1. Today, Ford cost $12 billion, and Enterprise, JFK #2, Doris Miller won’t cost that much less as follow on ships. Mid-life and reactor refueling of a Nimitz would take like 3 years and $3 billion. Serious cheese money.
"TP the three wire !" ... I was on that cruise. The Magic was my first ship and my first cat and trap on a C-2. In the Pac I served as a Russian Linguist aboard USS Midway CV-41(2x), USS Reeves CG-24, USS OldenDorf DD-978 (2x), USS Vincennes CG-49, USS Arkansas CGN-41, and USS Francis Hammond FF-1067.
served on Midway 1969 to 1972 e2 blue shirt, made AZ 3 and hangar deck control ask me not to go below and work my rate. put me in charge of hangar deck a/c elevators. The Navy had a problem with awol sailors and bodies were few. as carrier sailors know fast flight ops depend on the no. 1 elevator being ready to help clear the flight deck like the ejection chamber on a gun. due to pilots low on fuel or hurt. the elev. had 3charge setting, 1,2,3 mim. I caught a captain mast for using the 2 min charge. (as per the maint chief inst). 5 min before mast the chief takes my place and tell the captain that if he wants a 1 min charge the elv. will brake and we will have to go to Hawaii to repair it. not with midway in Vietnam, we finished our tour and we only ran the 1 min charge when necessary. still riding you Midway. So glad you are still here.
I had just transferred off the ship in April before this cruise. OI Division, 83 - 85 with T.P. Larrea and the Fifty Mile Range Rings. OS1, AIC in CIC. John Legrand. Bill Rich. Al Carden. Ed Sugrue. A fine warship. I still remember the 111 days straight underway in 1984.
I was on the ship at this time, GMG Seaman James T. Miller( Ted ). I worked in the armory. Loved those steal beaches, also hiding in the magazines with my shipmates reading dirty mags was fun lol. Got Captain Masted in the hangar for fighting. Can't remember the captains name but he had the bluest of eyes and was terrifying. Because of the Midway I have the life I have now living in Japan. Thank you Midway you will always have a place in my heart.
@@richsimon7838 I got Captain Masted for fighting on board. He had very blue eyes ( never will forget them ) and was salty as hell. During Mast he screamed at my haircut, I was young and stupid he was correct. 3 months half salary, head cleaning and lost some liberty. But that was fair , he was the Skipper.
lol, the airedales got the glory , us snipes did all the turn and burning, was MM 3#1 engine group, but it took all of us as a team to make her great, 71/74 my time
"If the snipes don't groove, the ship don't move!" Loved how we had to slam that throttle when Cat launched, then recover. M-Division, 1 generator WCS, then 1 Engine WCS May 85-July 87; MM1(SW)
Onboard Hotel 41 with VA-93 IWT shop 82-85. Had a lot of good friends there. Hard to believe both her and the Big E (VA-94, 87-91) are decommissioned now, Guess that's a sign...ahh...my wayward youth.
I had 6 weeks TEMAC duty in Jan.-Feb of 1983. Being a staff medical professional this was a treat. I got to land on it being in a C130 and amazed with the landing, smoother then any commercial. We landed it was 30 sec. for it to get to the superstructure, wings raised and dropping the rear ramp and being told to exit NOW! A great memory for my Navy career though admittedly I did not have to live on it for months.
I remember R & R from the Midway back in 1972 -1973 visiting Olongapo. We called it “the PO. I felt like Olongapo and Subic City were the Sodom & Gomorrah of the Pacific. I remember that stream of water we crossed into town. The odor from it after crossing that bridge left me floating, as I recall experiencing it the first time I was there. The sailors called it the Sh*t River and as running stream of sewage, that name seemed to fit. Our guys would toss coins into it and watch the young Filipino boys dive in off of skiffs for them. This was my first experience with real abject poverty. That experience left me kind of stunned. I got used to it latter after several R & R’s but never forgot it.
This was early 1985 (Jan-Apr) because VAW-115 is still flying E-2B aircraft...they transitioned to E-2C's in May of that year. I wish you would've shown the E-2 cat shot. "Life on the Midway" - didnt get any better than this.
could someone post a video of Midway sailing in the monsoon season of 1971 oh her beauty can never be appreciated until you see her battleship kneel handling her aircraft carrier flight deck. Ocean so turbulent the flight deck is at sea level. at nite on the no. elevator I could look down as the ocean parted and see stars.
I worked in CATTC ' 76........lts a fearsome sight , to watch Aviation Bosn Mate crawl beneath each aircraft....wind hurling....Plane Captain (?)....stands communicating to pilot , with hand signals... The PLATT..( Closed circuit TV..).l had to watch... I stood behind a glass panel , inches from Air Ops Officer. ( Who was also Ship Basketball coach ) He was replaced by Commander Cryway ( Sp ) Who could play the Accordion. Some might know of Cryway ( Sp )..he was Previously Commander of Champion F4 Group ( Won Awards )
I was on Hotel 41 1982-84, VAW-115 PR shop. Good memories: adventures on a scale most Filipinos like me couldn't comprehend (that's because most Filipinos could only comprehend the dollars they earned). Bad memories: racism, American arrogance, Filipino servility. Still, it was one of the best times in my life. And to my fellow Filipinos in the US Navy: Hwag na tayong magplastikan. Sinasabi ko lang ang totoo.
I was there 80 to 84. She was old and beat up a bit but she flew circles around every other carrier in the navy. Anyone remember the collision off Singapore? The name "Midway Magic" was well earned.
Yes, my dad was an Electronic technician, on board. I had just woke up, and my mom was kinda freaking out. This reminds me of being a kid and seeing my pops ship roll into the bay and lookiing at it through his binoculars, out my bedroom window. 6th floor gobon tower, yokosuka Japan....I miss walking the perimeter by the sea wall and having shore patrol chase us home....lol....
