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Re: Flight Deck Accident during First West-Pac Cruise

Steve,
Those of us who worked in the Air Dept/ Air Wing took it for granted that everyone knew what the different colored jerseys meant, not realizing that others in other departments didn't have a clue. I'll try to give you an idea of the colors and the jobs:
Green...catapults & arresting gear; AC maintenance
Red... ordinance, Rep 8 (firefighting/rescue)
Blue...AC handlers; tractor drivers
Yellow...AC Directors, cat spotters, Air Dept Officers
Purple (we used to tell them it was lavender)...aviation fuel
Brown...plane captains
White/black checked...plane checkers
White (sometimes w/red cross...medical
I may have forgotten a few but these will give you the basics. Using colored jerseys was helpful but at night, especially a moonless one, the different colors were somewhat useless.
Your description and viewing of ops,probably from the island (what we called vultures row) was pretty accurate. During the 'Around the Horn Cruise' in '61, the ship entertained dignitaries from Brazil and at least one of the countries on the Pacific side, either Chile or Peru (maybe both). We would fly them out to the ship prior to arrival at their country and entertain them with air ops, an air show and ordnance/weapons demonstration. After the show, the ships PAO folks interviewed one of them and asked his opinion of what he had witnessed. He said (and I paraphrase), "It was like watching an insane asylum...but the inmates were colorfully attired and very well trained". Guess that says it all!
One incident that went unnoticed by the visitors that could have been tragic occurred during the launch preceding the air show. An A-3 (Whale) was spotted on Cat 2 (fwd port) and an F-8 Crusader on Cat 3 armed with a Sidewinder heat seeking missile. The planned launch sequence was 1,2,3,4. We couldn't launch from 3 or 4 until the A-3 was launched from Cat 2 because his port wing crossed over the launch line. Cat one launched and we (3 and 4) were waiting for Cat 2 to launch and we waited and waited. Finally the A-3 was declared 'Down' and the port wing was folded to clear the launch line. We immediately launched the F-8 from Cat 3. As soon as the AC started down the cat track, the Sidewinder dropped to the deck and took off like the missile that it was. It went forward of the ship until it disappeared. An obvious malfunction! Had the original launch sequence taken place...1,2,3,4, the A-3 would have been only a short distance in front of the ship when Cat 3 launched with the malfunctioning Sidewinder that would have seeked the engine exhaust and knocked the A-3 out of the sky. We dodged a bullet (missile)! Sometimes you're good... and sometimes you're lucky!