Before he was an EOD technician, my friend Brad was a Second Class Aviation Structural Mechanic (AMS2) in the Navy.  After completing his training in Tennessee, he was posted to a helicopter squadron flying the Boeing-Vertol CH-46D.  This squadron was based on Adak Island in the Aleutian string off the coast of Alaska.  After a two-year hardship tour at Adak, he was transferred to an A-6E Intruder attack squadron (VA-95) based at Whidbey Island, Washington.  Soon after he arrived at VA-95, the squadron deployed aboard USS CORAL SEA (CV-43).

 

The CORAL SEA was one of three large carriers of the MIDWAY-class.  The MIDWAY (CV-41), FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (CV-42), and CORAL SEA (CV-43) were delivered just at the end of World War 2.  The three sister ships were the largest carriers of their time before the commissioning of the supercarrier USS FORRESTAL (CV-59) nearly a decade later.

 

The flight deck of a carrier during flight operations has been likened to the three busiest American airports -- O'Hare (Chicago. IL), Reagan (formerly Washington National, Washington DC), and JFK (New York, NY) -- all in operation at the same time and in the same place in an area the size of a football field.  Anyone that works on the flight deck has to be qualified to work there and receives special pay to compensate them for the dangers faced there.  However, other members of the ship's company, not associated with flight operations, are sometimes blissfully unaware of such dangers.  And so it was today.

 

On this day, a McDonnell-Douglas F-4S "Phantom II" jet fighter had just completed an engine change.  The aircraft was towed over to the the starboard side aft elevator and tied down with its exhaust nozzles pointed outboard.  The intent was to do a full power engine run and afterburner test before the plane was returned to flight status.  Accordingly, the area around the aircraft was cordoned off with yellow "DANGER" tape.  Appropriate screens were positioned over the aircraft air intakes to prevent Foreign Object Damage (FOD) to the engines by debris sucked in by the jets.

 

Everyone on the hangar deck stopped work to watch the test.  The engines were fired-up and run to idle.  Everything was working fine.  The trottle was advanced to military power with no difficulty; both engines spooled-up and ran steadily.  The noise on the hanger deck (maintenace area below the flight deck) was deafening.  Even the loudest yell of alarm was drowned out by the roaring jet.  There were a lot of shouts of alarm when several of men saw a Filipino Second Class Storekeeper (SK2) emerge from below decks.  He walked in blissful ignorance towards the tail of the screaming fighter straining against its tiedown chains.  

 

About the time that the operator in the cockpit reached to advance the trottle to "Zone 5" or afterburner thrust, the SK2 lifted the yellow tape and proceeded behind the left wing and into fighter's exhaust stream.  About the time he reached exhaust plume of the port engine, the afterburner lit-off.  A look of surprise crossed the face of the startled SK2 as the invisible blast of the engine's afterburner picked him off is feet and shot him like a rag doll 90 feet off the side of the ship.  This was followed by a drop of about 40 feet to the water.

 

Horrified by the scene, many people were pointing and giving the "Cut!" sign to the operator in the Phantom's cockpit.  Both engines were shutting down as "Man Overboard, Starboard Side" was flashed over the ships 1MC announcing system.  The carrier's "alert" SH-3D "Sea King" rescue helicopter was dispatched, located the SK2 floundering about in the ocean, plucked him up, and returned him to the flight deck within 15 to 20 minutes after the mishap.

 

The SK2 was rushed to the carrier's Sick Bay where doctors checked him over.  He was unhurt, except for his swim.  However, that particular Storekeeper was never seen goin above the first platform deck (deck below the hanger deck) for the rest of the cruise.  Lesson learned?  Yes, sir!