CONFESSIONS OF AN EARLY SADER RAIDER AS RECALLED BY THEN LTJG JOHN (CRASH) IVIIOTTEL OF VF-154

LTJG John Miottel on VF-154's flight-line at NAS Moffett Field in December 1957 after becoming the first Fleet pilot to complete carquals in the F8U-1. (John Miottel)

When VF-154 received the first F8U-1 in June 1957 I had a total of about 600 hours, approximately half in props (SNJs and T-28s). My only car¬rier landings had been my six trap qualification in the SNJ aboard the USS Saipan in October 1955. During this exercise I remember watching in amazement as one of my classmates, attempting a deck launch, tootled up to the island, turned hard to starboard and taxied into the Gulf of Mexico. As I recall, his subsequent taxiing was conducted in relative safety and se¬renity as the driver of a NYC cab. The rest of us smiled knowingly and went blithely on, confident that nothing like that would ever happen to us.

"Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled to be assigned to a jet fighter squadron.

Tom Wolf's depiction in his book The Right Stuff of the attitude, spirit and elitism of this cadre of char¬acters is just about the most perceptive and accurate I've ever read.

"VF-154 was flying the North American FJ-3 Fury at this juncture.

It was a great little aircraft, quick and agile with the somewhat less than re¬liable J65 engine which was subject to intermittent unexplained seizures at embarrassing moments.

"It would be a gross understate¬ment to say that we in VF-154 were pretty happy when we got the word about transitioning to the F8U-1 Cru¬sader.

In fact, use of the word 'tran¬sition' was somewhat deceptive.

The F-8 was no 'small step' for most of us, it was a major evolutionary leap; a new world in terms of complexity, handling variables, overall operational capability and flight dynamics.

For ex-ample, two of these technological "advances" were:
A. the so-called 'J.C.' maneuver which evolved out of the tendency of the aircraft to porpoise when it touched down. Once this phenome¬non commenced, it rapidly became increasingly violent as the pilot in¬voked his savior (hence the 'J. C.') and tried to compensate.

In this situation one was always a bit overanxious and thereby automatically out of sync.

The solution was simply to undialate, relax and stop trying to fly out of it.
B. Was a performance glitch that manifested itself as a sort of sinking dip or lapse in power before the after¬burner cut in --- a real gut grabber in high speed low-level flight, especially when inverted (come on COME ON!!).

"I'll never forget watching one of our guys with about 10 F-8 hours un¬der his belt try to "lower the boom" at Fallon on a nice hot day.

He came screaming along the runway at about 75 feet.
When abeam the tower he hit the burner --- it was as if straight and level flight no longer existed --- the power sucked out from under him, he compensated with backstick --- the burner hit, he pushed forward, etc.
He looked like a supersonic kangaroo as he went out of sight.
He survived, but there were some telltale chips in his hard hat --- or, was it that one could just discern several unusual bulges in the canopy where he'd made contact? Whichever, he was fairly pensive for a day or two.

Overall impression:
SNJ: Little Deuce Coupe FJ-3: Austin Healy
F8U-1: Formula One
"When it came time for carrier qualifications, I guess one could say that at least most of us hadn't devel¬oped too many bad habits around the ship since our only prior exposure was our six measly SNJ traps sometime in the dim past.
But there was no prob lem because we had a hot-shot Marine F-8 driver along as an observ¬er - some jar-head named Glenn.
"As it turned out, I ended up in a contest with our Ops officer for the first operational squadron pilot to qualify (which certainly meant first on the West Coast and probably in the entire fleet).
We both had five traps but Ops had the rank and was using it.
Thus, he had arranged to have the next shot and I was pretty downcast until good old Major Glenn found found some¬thing just wrong enough with my superior officer's aircraft to delay his launch.
I could swear I caught a glimpse of that famous John Glenn grin and a quick wink as I rolled onto the cat that day.
My Hero! "We lost two pilots during car-quals. They had been good buddies and experienced pilots, but both were kind of nervous about carrier work. On 19 November 1957, LTJG C. O. Th¬ompson --- after many attempts --¬ ¬and never getting near enough to blow the dust off the wires --- I'm sure breathed a sigh of relief as he was bingoed back to Moffett from the Han¬cock which was just outside Monterey Bay.

Unfortunately his respite was tragically brief since neither he nor his aircraft were ever seen again. My first roommate Lew Jesse hit the ramp in January 1958, while the Hancock was conducting carquals 400 miles west of Los Angeles.

The Hancock deployed in Febru¬ary of 1958 with the remaining pilots all just barely carrier qualified. Need¬less to say it was to be interesting and eventful cruise.

"All in all my squadron's experi¬ences would seem unbelievable if one hadn't been there. Unfortunately there were a sufficient number of incidents to cause VF-154 to suffer the loss of 45% of its pilots including 5 pilots ands crew member killed, and as best I can recall 14 struck aircraft, a full squadron complement were struck; all in less than 2 years.

"On 5 March 1958,1 had flown as escort for an F9F-8P reconnaissance flight and returned to the vicinity of the ship about 0900 and entered the dog pattern to await recovery. On my first pass I called 2500 lbs. at the 180 po¬sition and received a wave off on approaching the ramp.

As I entered the downwind leg for the second time the ship instructed all aircraft in the landing pattern to clean up and dog. noticed that two or three other F8Us were dogging. Then two F9F-8Ps were recovered due to low fuel states. The five F8Us were cleared to enter the landing pattern and on the down¬wind leg the tower informed all aircraft that the #4 and #5 arresting cables had been removed leaving only wires 1, 2, and 3.
I was directly behind #411 in the pattern and saw him receive a bolter or a wave off.
As I came aboard I felt that I had a steady glide path and good speed control. However, I re¬ceived a bolter and added power for the wave off. As I did so the LSO called and asked me to recycle my hook as it was cocked to one side.

I recycled the hook twice but still had a warning light in the up position. On the next approach I felt I had touched down among the three remaining wires, however, I received no arrest¬ment. On the next pass I was still behind #411 and when I was between the 180 and 90 position I noticed that 411 had received a bolter and as the aircraft neared the end of the angled deck a thick stream of whitish vapor tinged with yellowish brown was streaming from the port wing.
The air¬craft seemed to be well under control and commenced a climb as the pilot, LTJG C.F. Ramsey (my second roommate), transmitted: "Tower this is 411, I have a utility hydraulic failure, I'm going up.and eject.'After a interval of perhaps 5-10 seconds the ship transmitted: "Negative 411 Bail out!, Bail out now!' I was just about abeam the island and I caught sight of the aircraft in an extremely steep dive about two miles ahead of the ship at about 500 to 600 feet, still streaming smoke or vapor.
I did not see the pilot leave the aircraft and it was assumed he was killed on impact. The ship or¬dered the remaining aircraft to clean up and head for the beach. I called the ship, and said negative as I reported my fuel state as 1500 lbs. They rog¬ered and said to stay in the pattern and try to land as soon as the other aircraft were given a steer.
"The two F-8 pilots who were bin¬goed to the beach in Oahu flew into the island's worst storm in 50 years. LTJG Carl "Holy Roller" Koen found himself at critically low-state some¬where above the clouds climbing to eject when he happened to look down and see a hole in the overcast --¬there, through the hole, he spied the runway at Barbers Point. Needless to say he rolled over and made an expe¬ditious descent.
Being of strongly religious persuasion, Koen did not even stop to sign the yellow sheet af-ter landing, but proceeded directly to
"The other VF-154 pilot, LTJG Paul 'Foggy' Hamilton, also found himself above the clouds somewhere north of Oahu with only fumes and condensation left to fly on. Somehow he finally raised MCAS Kaneohe.

Hamilton's contact was a Marine cor¬poral who had the presence of mind to crank-up a portable GCA unit which hadn't been used in 3 years. He pro¬ceeded to talk Hamilton in to a landing downwind (Paul later swore that he could see the duty-shark off the far end of the runway thrashing around in anticipation). Being somewhat more temporal by nature, Hamilton repaired forthwith to the '0' club which was opened for him by the base com¬mander. At which the MAG-13 skipper presented him with a 'green card' in¬strument rating. This, of course, was somewhat of a joke since the prime NAV gear in the F-8 at the time were OMNI and TACAN --- the problem be¬ing that no one west of San Diego seemed to have a fully operational and reliable TACAN station.

"After a steer was given to the departing aircraft, 1 made two more passes. I was positive that the landing had been among the remaining wires since I could feel the wheels roiling over them, however, I received no en¬gagement. After waving off from the second attempt the LSO called the tower and said 'Tower, we're never going to trap 404 with that canted hook.' After a short pause they told me that they were going to rig the barri¬cade. When I was finally cleared, I entered the glide path with less than 500 lbs. I was extremely careful in monitoring my line up and airspeed and in keeping the meatball centered. As I got within 100 to 200 yards of the ramp the mirror was obscured from view by the barricade. This caused me to become low and power was added.
I knew that I would be low over the ramp but I felt the best and only thing to do was to go ahead and intercept the glide path immediately prior to en¬gaging the barricade. As I approached the barricade I held it steady and kept flying as I had been instructed and the LSO called what I believed to be "cut" and I came off on the power and "The forces of the arrestment seemed somewhat less than that of those usually received from the ar¬resting cables. Everything seemed fine when suddenly the aircraft veered to the left and I was on the port deck edge. The plane came to rest there for an instant then rolled about 60 de¬grees to port, where-upon I blew the canopy off since I felt there was a good chance of going over the side. Almost immediately the aircraft rolled on over and turned on its back as it fell.
I looked up and saw the wake of the ship and put my hand on the ditching handle. I braced for the im¬pact and as the water rushed into the cockpit I pulled the handle and was apparently thrown free.
"I tried to regain my senses and swim free of the screws, as I bobbed to the surface abeam of the LSO plat¬form. I had great trouble breathing because my oxygen mask would not function and I could not release the fittings that clamped it to my hard hat. I swam to a large rubber raft, inflated my flotation gear and pulled the mask down over my nose, got some air and tried to release it. Finially 1 slipped my hard hat and mask off over my head and lit a flare to let the ship know where I was. Shortly thereafter I was picked up by the helicopter. So ended my initial barricade test.
"Although apparently unscathed, I emerged from my experiences with every part of my body aching except three toe nails.
My subsequent recov¬ery took place on Oahu.
"The events of 5 March 1958 and my prior experience with the F8U-1, did make me reflect on the perfor¬mance and safety of the Crusader. As a dedicated young pilot and in my ca¬pacity as acting safety officer, I therefore, naturally thought it encum¬bent upon me to do some rigid testing of the aircraft's systems and perfor¬mance. Although for security reasons, most of this work was conducted se-cretly, I found it necessary to set up and execute one of my experiments at NAS Alsugi in May of 1958.
The idea was to verify the low level maneuvering characteristics of the aircraft in the event it was neces¬sary to employ them in barricade engagements, combat or other peril¬ous situations. In order to perform this lest, I took the runway, hit the burner, cranked the F-8 up to maximum ground speed short of blowing the tires, sucked up the gear, popped the wing down and executed a snappy 4 point roll passing the end of the run¬way at an undetermined altitude.
The only problem with this exercise arose from the fact that the Skipper of the base happened to choose that exact moment to pause in his morning stroll around his office and to look out of his window. Unfortunately, although 1 was safely airborne and completely under control, the aircraft had a slight ten¬dency to 'dish out' on the inverted portion of a roll. Thus, from the skip¬per's vantage point, an upside down F-8 had just disappeared below the tree line at the base perimeter. Of course, this apparent aberration was all part of my program. I had also se¬lected this opportunity to conduct some ground-breaking research in agronomy. Hence, I planned to closely observe the adjacent paddy fields which I knew to be at least 20 feet be¬low the elevation of the airfield. Furthermore, I believe that, as a result of this research effort, that year for the first time on record, the local populace was blessed with a bumper crop of fried rice.
"Meanwhile the base commander --- when he had sufficiently regained his power of speech --- took strong exception to my experiments, obvi¬ously not a man of scientific inclination (and undoubtedly a BLACK-SHOE). Fortunately, LT 'Easy Ed' Shiver had command of the Crusader Kamakazi detachment at this time and was suc¬cessful in keeping me out of the line of fire by knocking rings with the good captain. However, my acting squadron CO, LCDR Baldwin, simply didn't comprehend or appreciate the merits of my research either. He not only had the nerve to burden me with the only flight violation of my otherwise un¬blemished career, but also he had the temerity to tag me with the unseemly moniker, 'CRASH'.
"Shipmates will recall Shiver (A.K.A. 'Backhoe' or 'Mr. Chips') as an early pioneer in alternative arrestment techniques for the Crusader.

LTJG Lewis E. Jesse strikes the ramp of the Hancock in Jan-
uary 1958 during predeployment carquals 400 miles west of
Los Angeles.

The port main landing gear separates from the VF-154 F8U-1
as the aircraft continues down the deck on the two remaining
gear.

The Crusader continues down the angle on the nose wheel.
Near the end of the angle Jesse's F-8 touches back down on
the remaining main gear.

The F-8 leaves the angle and the canopy fires as Jesse heads
for the water and his death. Below, side view of 143773 show-
ing the wrinkles in the fuselage caused by the ramp strike, (all
photos via John Miottel)

The most dramatic example consisted of a procedure in which the landing Crusader carved trenches in the ship's teak decking from the fantail up to the area of the arresting gear. At this point the impact of the buried hook against the metal deck edge underlying the arresting cables generally caused separation of the hook shoe. This was accompanied by sudden deceleration sufficient to allow engagement of the number one wire with the remanant lip of the hook shank. The LSO and Ships carpenter finally combined forces to convince Shiver that this procedure --¬although effective --- was too costly, so he gave it up.
"On 20 June 1958, the culmina¬tion of my scientific exercises and thoughtful experimentation came to pass. The proof is the picture of 143796 (#407) sedately taxiing into the barricade. I'm sure, that upon so¬ber reflection, my ex CO ADM Baldwin would admit that if it were not for my efforts, this might never have happened.


"On 20 June, I was launched for a refresher landing period. After a cou¬ple of wave-offs and a couple of traps, I was approaching the ship in what seemed to be a good steady pass, on air speed and with good line up. As 1 touched down I felt the wheels going over the wires and was very surprised not to receive an engagement. I was informed that I had a cocked hook and was told to recycle it. After all attempts to straighten the hook failed, I was told to conserve fuel while the barricade was rigged. Since I had a previous barricade engagement and knew what to expect, I felt that rather than eject¬ing I could bring the aircraft aboard. At about 800 lbs. I started into a straight in approach and came on glide path slightly low, pretty far out. I corrected for the low and at this time the mirror was obscured by the port barricade stanchion, but the LSO was talking me down. When I saw the meatball again it was slightly high and I was slightly right of the center line from trying to look around the stanchion. I corrected for both conditions and felt in good shape over the ramp. The LSO called 'cut' as briefed. I unwittingly advanced the throttle slightly and tried to pull it around the horn and therefore going into the afterburner detent. I immedi¬ately realized what I was doing and pulled the throttle out of the afterburn¬er detent before ignition could take place and pulled it aft and around the horn into cutoff. The engagement felt very comfortable and not unlike a normal arrestment."

In flight view of VF-154 F8U-1 143798 during the 1958 cruise. (via Ed Shiver)

5 MARCH 1958, LTJG JOHN (CRASH) MIOT
TEL'S FIRST BARRICADE EXPERIMENT.
VF-154 F81.1-1 143792 in the port catwalk edge just prior to rolling over the side. Below and right, 143792 hangs in the barricade straps with the cockpit submerged. The F-11 was cut loose and sank off the coast of Hawaii. (John Miottel)

143737 tries the "flying engage-ment" technique: still airborne as the tail hook catches the #1 wire until the wire plays out where upon the entire weight of the aircraft is put onto the nose gear which collapses. (John Miottel)

"Easy Ed" Shiver (man farthest from the camera) surveys damage to the deck which was the result of "squatting" on the tail hook. The second time he did this, the hook shoe was sheared about 90% off by the steel deck plate and he caught the #1 wire with his toenails. The ship's carpenters loved him so much that he was called "Mr. Chips". (Ed Shiver)

FINAL FLIGHT

1 August 1958: 1 can't believe that my F-8 flying days are just about over. It's a great day--CAVU all the way. The sea south of Okinawa is slick as blue ice. The starboard catapult has just launched "Easy Ed" Shiver, who's also on his last hop.
It's ail familiar routine as I roll to¬ward the port cat, but that anxious / exhilarated feeling keeps blipping my concentration. Just sta the procedure--it'll be a flawless flight.

A SUMMATION: Taxi up .... check up .... turn up .... salute ....

WHAMMO! Off and running fifty feet over the water. A smart clearing turn to port .... OOPS! I can't roll back straight and level. The stick hits dead center and stops. Try again: "Klunk!" Another sickening stop at center. OOPS! Pay attention! The nose has dipped .... sleep left bank and accel¬erating .... no bano, please. Okay, back slick and kick right rudder .... jerky yaw into wings level, nose up, attitude .... GOOD! Real time from launch .... about 3.5 seconds.


NOW! What the hell is going on with the stick? OPPS! Horrible th¬ought!: the wings are folded!! Jeezus, no way to see them! Is it possible those buggers have shot me off with my wings folded I A quick queasy grope down to the right side of the seat; WHEW! The wing fold lever is down and locked. Looks okay. So, gear up, wing down, cleaned up, ac¬celerating and climbing. So far so good: over 2,000 feet, safe ejection altitude. Everything else seems A-OK except no starboard aileron.


Let's see; no obvious wedges around the stick base. Maybe it's time to share this little private drama. Ed's ahead and above in a slow port turn, waiting and wondering when I'll join him. I do, and we consult a bit about the possibilities. I'm okay on visual check. No nasty little red flags sticking up from the wing folds. Still, something is drastically wrong. What La it? Triple check time. Whether I ease it over or slam it over, the stick is not going to cross the center line in the forseeable future. Now what?
Okay, no alternative but the igno¬minious call to Mother. We gotta tell the ship.


"Er .... um .... seems like we got a slight glitch here .... no, no, take it easy, nothing lethal." Long descriptive passage; response as expected. The whole nine yards.
"Affirmative, 1 tried that .... roger, tried that too .... Hi, skipper .... no, just fine except .... yeah, tried it .... Roj, that didn't work -- wait one, I'll try again Nope, didn't work this time either .... negative, all systems check." (Mental flash! Ed and I are scheduled to catch the COD flight from "Hannah" heading home tomorrow, and we just gotta be on it!)
"Tell you what, 1 got a good idea, why don't I just dump fuel, get down to a nice fat reserve, come back, and try to get it aboard? No hassle! Pri Fly doesn't like it, huh? Why not? Really, its a piece a cake, I'll do fine. Tell them I got a half stick and plenty of rudder ... & remember who there talking to -- we can always do another barricade! .... Okay, okay, I hear you; but .... Roger-bingo to the field at Naha, but .... Roger -- ten.-- mile straight -- in ap¬proach, Ed leads and lands first." OK Naha -- Clear the field, call out the emergency crew and the Padre, bat¬ten down the nurses: here comes Crash & Company!
Much later, Naha 0 Club: OPPS! Someone from base maintenance wants me.

"Come on, Ed, we got a COD to catch!" Not exactly. The maintenance chief's waiting there with a funny grin. "You Mr. Miottel?" he says. "Got a present for you." He drops a slightly mashed quarter-inch Phillips-head bolt into my palm. "You know, we spent the last six hours tearin' that airplane of yours apart: up on jacks, every hatch open, every ac¬cess panel off. Nothin', no joy, stick still frozen solid. So finally I send a guy up to sick bay for a dentist mirror. We get a flashlight and stick this mirror in¬to a three-inch slot midships, turn on the light, and bingo, there she is be¬tween the starboard aileron actuator push rod and the frame: this little jew¬el, wedged in tight as a tick. Had a hell of a time gettin' it out; probably been floatin' around in the fuselage since birth, just waitin' to get stuck there on that cat-shot today. Amazin', ain't it: million-to-one shot I'd call that .... har, har, har! Get it?"
"Thanks a lot, chief, but how about
it, are we gonna be ready to launch in the morning"

"Jeez, sorry sir; it'll take us a week to glue that bird back together."

"But, chief, we just gotta get back aboard! The squadron needs us. They're already short of pilots and air¬craft, we got this Lebanon thing breaking, and--,"

"Hey, no hassle, sir. We got an¬other plane for you!" Amazed silence. "Yeah, it's that bird that one of your guys busted the landing gear off of on the ship, then flew in to Kadena three or four months ago. A real mess, but Air Force O&R took care of it and she's fine now. Been through a com¬plete overhaul--new gear, new wing, new engine, the works. Just like new!"
HOT DAMN! This is U--what a fi¬nale! "Let's go catch a COD, Ed!l"

2 August 8:00 a.m.: Some quick fun and games saying bye-bye to our Okie pals, then back home to Hancock and that COD. Fabulous day .... there she is! I'm a bit heavy and don't want it to end just yet, so Ed goes on aboard. In due time, I request permission to lower the boom on Hancock. Okay, here goes: port side just above deck level .... KAROOMPAI Up, victory roll, ease over the top, down into the break, wham, barn, thank you ma'am, and aboard. Hook up & taxi forward--down the #1 elevator. As I park and unstrap, there's my plane captain grinning like a fool. Toss him the pa¬perwork, "she's all yours!"

Two hours later: Packing to go, I hear a polite knock at the stateroom door. "Mr. Miottel?" "Hi chief." "Hi, Mr. Miottel. Just thought you'd like to know-that aircraft you brought back from Naha? It can't fly." OOPS! "Whatcha talking about--what'd I do?" "No, no-you didn't do nothi'n. That plane just can't fly. Seems like Air Force O&R at Kadena, they got a little mixed up. On the engine change, they plugged in the wrong fuel control-must have been an old one off the shelf. Made for the F4D .... just won't work in an F8U. Well, we'll miss you. Good luck on the flight home!" Long reflec¬tive pause.... "Oh--I see--thanks, chief. So long." I close the door after him & return to my packing.
I think, it's just as well left now--to later and greater Sader Raiders.

20 JUNE 1958, LTJG JOHN
(CRASH) MIOTTEL'S SECOND
BARRICADE EXPERIMENT

VF-154 CARRIER OPERATIONS ABOARD THE USS HANCOCK, 29 APRIL 1958
VF-154 pilots man their aircraft in preparation for launch. F8U-1 143802 is in the foreground with 143805 behind it. Below,
143805 (#404) sits on the port catapult awaiting the launch order. Notice the location of the wing codes and the four round af
terburner coolling doors located on the upper rear fuselage. (John Miottel)