From: THFoster6@aol.com
Date: 12/7/2013 10:24:14 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: FOR ALL YOU AGING NAVAL AVIATORS
I don't
know who wrote this, but it does bring back some memories.
Travis Foster
For those who
have fought and died for it,
Freedom has a
taste that the protected will never know.
Nice little trip down memory lane. The author
remembers it well.
All you old aviators,
You guys ever think back to how it all began?
That first ride over the bridge to NAS Pensacola...
In the old days, Marine
Guards stood watch on the gate... crisp uniforms, polished white helmet liners
with yellow and red stripes on the side and the large golden Globe and Anchor
on the front... even to the uninitiated, you knew you were entering a new and
exciting phase of your young life.
After you received your temporary pass, you drive
through the Main Gate and are confronted with the gleaming Blue Angel F-9 or
F-11... depending on the year... and your heart started beating just a little
faster... and your mind immediately thought of the possibilities of your
future... maybe, just maybe... someday....
If you took the left fork in the road and drove
up the hill, past the golf course, toward the BOQ... and continued past it...
as you crested the top... off to your right was Captains Row... antebellum
homes over looking the parade field, football stadium, the beautiful Base
Chapel and eventually out to the bay.
On the left was Chevalier Field... home of
O&R or NARF as it was later called... and parked on the field, depending on
the year... would be gleaming, newly painted aircraft right out of re-work.
They could have been; F6F's, F-9's, SNB's, TV-2's, T-28's or later, even
A-4's... tucked way back to the left, were about a dozen or so, Cosmoline
coated old veterans... A Corsair, Bearcat, Tigercat, Panther, Banshee and
others... planes that would later provide the nucleus for our future museum
that was only just a dream at the time.
As you approached the Base Headquarters
building... if you went left again, you drove by a brick wall that predated the
Civil War... continuing around, it eventually turned back to the right and
approached the docks. If you were lucky, you might have had your first glimpse
of a real aircraft carrier (the first of many). It could have been called
Saipan or Antietam... or Lexington... all veterans of the last "Good
War". And again your mind reflected... maybe, just maybe... some
day...
Just past the carrier, the road took another
right turn and brought you along the sea wall and the old hangars on your left.
You didn't know it at the time, but this was the real birthplace
of Naval Aviation... where once old Curtiss Triads and other long
forgotten sea planes and float planes were launched and trained the first of
those to go before us; sharing the bay with old square-riggers still in
service.
As you continued west, on your right was the old
Training Command Headquarters... and a large number of brick buildings which
you would soon learn were barracks and training buildings... the altitude chamber
and the Navy Exchange. Just past the hangars on the left was the indoor
swimming pool where you were first introduced to the Dilbert Dunker and other
torture devices only known to Naval Aviators... past that was the Survival
School and their small animal collection, inside the building was a cutaway of
the old PBY.
Past that was the water
tower and obstacle course... if you took the road to your right, here you'd
find NAMI Headquarters... the National Cemetery and the Base Hospital, where
you'd sweat out your Indoc physical... take eye and hearing tests and
experience your first (and hopefully last) EEG... needles in the head and
strobe lights... who could ever forget it. Somewhere in here was also the
"Flight Equipment Shop"... where you'd receive your first flight
gear; your first leather jacket and be introduced to your first real
"smells" unique to Naval Aviation... I can close my eyes and still
remember the smell of my first flight jacket, flight suit, oxygen mask and
helmet... bet you can too.
If you had continued on
the main road, you'd go past the incredible Officers Club at Mustin Beach...
and then on your right you come upon an awesome sight; the old Fort
Barrancas... even more history than you expected in this short journey. Driving
up the hill, you see the light house... and eventually on your right, you see
Sherman Field.
This is where the action was... even back then
the Blue Angels had a hangar there... but there were also the planes you soon
hoped to fly. Depending on the generation, they were Panthers, Cougars,
Banshee's... T-28's, T-2's, two seat F-9's or TA-4's... whether you stayed
there or went to Meridian or Texas... this was most likely the place you came
back to for your first look at a carrier deck from a cockpit.
If you were like me... you probably parked near
the tower and Base Ops and watched the traffic pattern where all manner of
aircraft were landing and taking off... everything from T-34's to F-8's and
Phantoms... or they could have been SNJ's, T-28's, Panthers and Bearcats... if
it had been just a few years earlier. And here once again, your mind would
wander and you'd think... maybe, just maybe... someday...
Thinking back, our first experiences were so
unique from our other services... where newbies encountered cookie cutter
bases, that ranged from no-where Texas, to Oklahoma, to Mississippi or a
beautiful, but miserably hot Arizona. They all felt and looked the same, save
the local climate and topography... but ours was sooo different... Awesome,
beautiful, historical and almost overwhelming... and we all shared the same
experience. Damn we were lucky!
Shadow ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Full post disclaimer in left column. PCN Home Page is located at: http://pcn.homestead.com/home01.html
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