7 minute read
Radio Check
From CDR Ed Berry, USN (Ret.)
I was right out of Grad School with an MS in Logistics when Goldwater / Nichols Act came out. I was in the Pentagon with all the ships that start with “T” or “A” under my purview in Plans and Policy. The Joint Staff wanted to start the TPFID process and stand up the Joint Transportation Command (JTC). The Army and the Air Force were dead set against it and the Navy was all for it. It would allow us to use computers at MSC, something we were prevented from buying or even investigating by Congress. At the decision brief, the J-5 went round the table, Air Force no, Army no, Navy and USMC yes. The main point of rejection among the other services was cost. They didn’t realize that the cost would be minimal. I told them they could get a translator program for less than 5K, they changed their minds and the JTC came into being.
From Ray Colman
Good morning from Philadelphia… Birthplace of Vertical Lift!
BLUF: CRM and ORM combined was a Transformational advancement in safety not only in training but operational employment.
As a young “nugget” H2P co-pilot with a late 1990s HMM conducting afloat pre-deployment training, the loss of two of our squadron mates and a AH-1W Cobra was a rude awakening to the “unforgiving” nature of Naval Aviation. I vividly remember that night, and I recall the briefing, CRM and ORM culture during that time period. Would the crew have survived with 21st Century crew coordination techniques, flight briefing minutiae, and risk analysis/mitigation ownership? That’s a question that will never be answered but we can make some assumptions. The Marine Corps defines assumptions as supposition of the operational environment that is assumed to be true, in the absence of positive proof, essential for the continuation of planning. Officers are by their nature Planners. Thus, as Captain Fisher USN, former Commodore TRAWING-5 liked to say, “As Naval Aviators we must have a Questioning Attitude.” The emergence and acceptance of CRM and ORM provided and / or contributed not only to the desired attitudes and behaviors deemed necessary for Navy, Marine and Coast Guard Aircrews but it demanded the development of skills to increase overall squadron, group, wing and enterprise safety. A byproduct of this was not simply a reaffirmation of the importance of the wonderful organization known as the Naval Safety Center. Instead, it also resulted in renewed vigor and focus on the vertical lift capability within the U.S. Naval Service and specifically the following: synthetic and flight training devices, improved planning techniques and tools, better overall training, optimized and improved maintenance training/procedures and practices, improved operational planning and scheduling, cross-cultural coordination within communities and services, and ultimately procurement of modern aircraft.
From CAPT Brian Buzzell, USN (Ret.)
The SH-60B was the first Fleet aircraft to be equipped with GPS. Although there were very few GPS satellites in 1984-85 where they were available, it revolutionized navigation and therefore, ASW operations. In fact, I received a message from a West Coast squadron stating that it was routine for the CO of the ship with LAMPS dets embarked, to ask the Det to position the aircraft on deck and turn on the GPS, so the ship could get a precise fix of its location. At the time I was OP-03H and the “Duty Aviator” in the Surface Warfare world.
From Ted “Alex P” Kaehler, PMP
I am an HSL alumni. I started in HSL-45 in 1986 and retired out of CNAF in 2006 as the Training and Readiness Officer. I just went to the HSL-45 35th Reunion at NHA. It has been a while since I rubbed shoulders with fellow rotary wing community members.
During my flying career our systems and weapons were fairly static. The big changes for HSL/HSM – FLIR, Low Light TV, forward firing weapons, Romeo upgrade, etc came just after my time.
We did face a failed introduction of the Penguin Missile which was a DoD/Navy foreign sales drug deal whereby we bought a bunch of those weapons from Norway and then looked for a place to hang them. We were not the right platform and the weapon did not have the capability to adapt – although it looked good on paper, actual PK was too low with single missile carried - and not enough training rounds.
Currently, I support CPF for live training through their Range Complex Sustainment Programs – capability, design, and environmental compliance. The big issue facing training is Live Virtual and Constructive training and understanding the integration of manned, uninhabited, and autonomous systems. Should be a challenging future as we still don’t have good methodologies for measuring actual warfighting performance derived from all the effort we throw at training – short of a real shooting match. We can look around corners and guess but it is still largely just an activity based process. Do a lot and you must be ready. The next ASW fight will be a real learning adventure.
From Doug Hudson
Decades ago, every improvement to the SH-3D was met with enthusiasm and confidence. I was QA Test for HS-4 back in Lincoln's time . . .. one of the great rotorcraft of all time. It's STILL in use driving our President around! We had over 150,000 accident free hours piled up.
SH-3 #66 recovery aircraft for the Apollo missions
From Col. Howard Whitfield, USMC (Ret.) Executive Director of NHA from 2000 - 2014
I started my Marine Corps aviation career flying UH-34Ds. My squadron, HMM-361, was the second Marine Corps helicopter squadron in Vietnam in 1963.
Later, in 1968, I reluctantly transitioned to CH-46s. I say “reluctantly” because the tails were falling off. At that time, the H-46 had a rotor control called “hover aft” which the pilot could activate and it would cause the rotors to re-program. This acted like a speed brake and put stress on the fuselage at station 410 just in front of the mix box and engines where they were coming apart.
The CH-46s were pulled out of Vietnam and the “hover aft” control was disconnected and the fuselage was strengthened at station 410 which corrected the problem. The CH-46 went on to be one of the most successful helicopters in Marine Corps aviation history.
From CAPT Mike "Midds" Middleton, USN (Regt.)
CVS to “CV Concept” Transition:
At the time, most of us HS’ers questioned if the transition from the CVS to the “CV concept” in the early 1970s was in fact an advancement in technology, procedures or policy! The CV was always going to be Fighter/Attack centric, while the CVS was a platform totally dedicated to the Anti-Submarine Warfare mission. When a red flare was seen from the bridge of the USS Ticonderoga (CVS 14) in the South China Sea in the Summer of ‘72, it was evaluated as a signal from a Soviet Submarine in distress, not from the pencil flares of Mac Thomas and Andy Cain after an unscheduled water landing!
The early planning for the transition of USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) to one of the first CVs, was a challenge. It was anticipated that both of the eight A/C Black Knight and Eightballer squadrons would embark onboard. That never happened much to the delight of the HS-8ers. However, our first AX was gonna make the Hawk an ASW platform come hell or high water! Insertion of an impressive ASW Module, much better than Tico’s, was a great start. He even convinced CAG to put an MCJR transmitter in the drops of an A-7! Always went down off the cat! (Very suspicious). Early ASW exercises validated the Hawk’s buoy data link capability and the P-3 guys in the module were good analysis. Early indicators showed the infant “CV Concept” had a long way to go but the technology, procedures and policies were in place to allow the CV to grow into a viable war fighting platform.
