@@dr.argentina Major Buong was not part of the Viet Cong. He was southern Vietnamese. They were our allies. They were who we were trying to save from ‘communism.’
@@Ihat-b2j Chambers made Vice Admiral later in his career...I don't think he got into too much trouble. The Bird Dog plane is on display in a museum in Pensacola, FL. At the time he thought he was going to get court martialed.
Small question. Why he did not ordered to fly helicopters away to give the room for Cessna, then drop Cessna overboard and take helicopters back? He had 1 hour to do that. I'm not saying his decision was wrong, but maybe this could be better.
My dad was a navy rescue diver on helicopters. I remember as a kid asking him how they landed helicopters in rough weather. Seemed so simple once he explained it. A life saving device for sure.
I appreciate your longer videos :) nice to listen to while I clean up my room since I'm not really interested in war, but how materiel gets places in the military through transport and engineering is awesome.
I'm surprised you can just "listen" to these videos... while his narration is awesome, they're all very visually stunning as well. A bit of an addictive package really. 😁
@@deusvult6920 no, because war sucks. Why would I fill my head with murder and injustice when I could be learning about science and logistics. Just a personal choice.
That last story was insane and you told it very well. I think it would be a very interesting format for your channel, the telling of incredible stories like that.
You should read about taffy 3, it was a light carrier task force in WW2 that decided to fight battle ships (including the Yamato) where one ship on the Japanese side displaced more then the entire task force combined. The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those? is a very well done video on the battle.
@@mrsneakers0266 I was lowered from a helicopter. I was strapped in on the side of the chopper, facing a wide-open bay door. When the pilot saw my ship, it took a hard turn making me look straight down at the ocean hundreds of feet down.
Thanks for mentioning the Royal Canadian Navy's invention of the Bear Trap. What we lack in funding, we tried to make up for with ingenuity. I'm sorry to say that this situation has not improved in recent years. Those serving in the RCN today, at every rank, continue to do outstanding work.
that is an awesome story at the end where they portray that life is priceless. fair play to those sailors for ditching the helicopters to save the family
The frigate in very rough sea is the Latouche-Tréville (D646), a French F70 ASW frigate (class Georges Leygues) . The footage are from the film "Océans" by Jacques Perrin, a french actor and director . The Latouche-Tréville has been retired 2 days ago and leaved Brest, saluted by 21 canon shots .
The Bung lee story is much more interesting than just this.. The aircraft that he landed on the Midway, was kept and put at the "National Naval Museum" which it is still at today!
That Cessna landing story is still blowing my mind a bit. I am curious what kind of repercussions there would be today, if a Carrier commander ditched 5-10 SeaHawks off the side of the USS Ford in order to allow an unknown to land on the deck. Seems like that would be something of a career ender?
@@ghost_ship_supreme yeah i mean a cessna should be able to land on water safely with those big wings and low stall speed. Especially if the pilot is confident enough to land one on a foreign carrier.
@@nightwolf7231 yeah, true. I would in that case honestly not now what would be safer. Risking drowning directly or risking crashing on the deck and then drowning. It is cheaper to go for the first scenario lol
I was a Marine company commander during the evacuation of Saigon in April 1975. We were embarked on the LPD Denver. There was a continuous flow of South Vietnamese helicopters landing on our ship. As soon as the people were off, we pushed it overboard while the next helicopters was attempting to land. They were also ditching along side our ship. I lost count of the number of helicopters we pushed into the sea but we ended up with several thousand refugees on our ship alone. The Navy took them all to Subic Bay, The Philippines where we spent time setting up a refugee camp in an area known as the Upper MAU Camp. The scene looked like D-Day 1944 with ships as far as you could see from horizon to horizon. Russian recon planes were overflying us several times a day. It was an amazing operation.
So if you went there today would there just be a pile of helicopters covered in coral? I would love to see a sight like that Or did something else happen to them
Interesting. Did the RSD cams work? did Beam lock pins stick? New flags w springs?? How did you test the transition going from reel in to recovery tension /snatch load??? I was Navy civilian hardware design team lead, responsible for getting the RAST to work during system test at DAF, and OPEVAL tech expert. on board .good_sstuffatattnet.
Good to see a Dutch ship in this video, had the owner to be aboard a ship in a outside of SHOL landing, it was aborted but looked spectacular. I did feel a little sick, luckily sea sickness pills were readily available xD
Been there, done that...........it wasn't fun. Imagine landing 2 MH-53J's on the USS Missouri's helicopter pad that was designed accommodate only 1 H-3. There was no bear trap system and even if there was, we had to land on opposite corners to keep the rotor blades from hitting each other. One main landing gear of each helicopter was right next to the wire at the edge of the deck which meant, the tip tank was hanging out over the water. Me being the flying crew chief at that time, had to go out and place the wheel chocks and safety pins. The inboard side was easy enough but, I had to climb up onto the sponson (main fuel tank), then out onto the gull wing (holds the tip tank) and hanging my head over the side (seeing that the water was very far away) to insert the 12 inch long safety pin. On a later landing, one of the pilots (thankfully not on the helicopter I was assigned to) misjudged his landing and smacked the deck hard enough to blow the seals on all 3 landing gear struts, spilling hydraulic fluid all over the deck.
I hope the seas were calm that day. It's hard enough with a 60 that rides like a cadillac. Can't imagine trying to put 2 of those flying houses next to each other on a deck never even designed for it.
I’m happy to see this great Canadian contributions being recognize as it should! And there was a bunch of Royal Canadian Navy footage in this clip. It made me proud 🤓🫡🇨🇦⚓️
Mad skills of that Vietnamese pilot. Glad they made room for him and that life was more important to them though it did hurt to see those choppers being dumped into the sea lol
Such a Canadian solution to the problem. “Sir, we can’t land these helicopters on the ships due to rough seas!” “Here, just put this ol reliable bear trap on the deck and run a cable up to the helicopter! Should do the trick!”
I went to the navy base on Victoria Island when I was a kid i was amazed at how simple it was and laughed when some kid asked which hunter decided this was a good idea
I was in the Navy for 10 years. The helo @0:21 is the SH2G sea sprite. One on the aircraft I worked on. I was on 2 frigates and can tell you from personal experience that landing can get pretty hairy even in calm seas. This is the first time I've ever heard of something called a "bear trap". Didn't have them. We had 2 guys (one of which was me) run out and chain them down as fast as possible.
We had a guy injured in a snow storm around Svalbard. The helicopter hovered over over our ship. And then picked up casper. He is still alive. Thank you to all rescuers.
I spent 2yrs on a carrier then 3yrs on an FF. Watching our helo land on the FF in rough seas and weather was something. Makes carrier landings appear easy.
@@shapurzamani6127 many companies, especially for military equipment. Various parts made by different companies, then assembled elsewhere so no one company has the information on how to make, build, and assemble a secret equipment
I served on the USS Cushing (DD-985) in the 80s and we had the bear claw system installed. I worked in engineering so I never got to actually see it in operation, so thanks for posting this! 👍👍
Another fascinating and very informative video. Although I've heard the story of the Vietnamese pilot before, even as a Brit the action of the US Midway's captain brought tears to my eyes. That's what you call looking after your friends.
@@iain3482 The number brought out is only relevant to those of the number brought out. It is those left behind who suffer the consequences. Then let's talk about the military equipment left behind for the enjoyment of those who wish to do us harm. Maybe two more weeks should have been spent evacuating everyone, ya think?
Me seeing you using the NH90 in this video makes me smile. I just finished school and I am now waiting for the job application for NH90 pilot to open up again which will be at the end of 2022. Keep up the great content!
Worked with a PO1 who was on the trials for the bear trap. Told me stories of them getting called out whenever seas were rough to trial landings. Another guy I worked with told me about a scary situation during one of the landings where he was hooking up the anti static cable and the ship bucked and his head got wrapped up in the cable, only thing saved him was his helmet.
Very informative video. I was never deployed on a small ship in the US Navy. I was on the USS Carl Vinson CVN-70. On a standard fixed wing carrier, our helicopters did not have any specific system for landing. They just landed on the deck, and were then tied down by the deck crew. The advantage of a carrier is that they pitch, and roll slower, and fewer degrees than the small ships. There was one time when I was aboard ship that a helicopter, an SH3 Sea King, suffered rotor damage, and loss of collective control after the rotor ingested the rescue cable. Surprisingly the cable broke rather than shearing the rotor off the aircraft. The pilot was able to descend, and hover over the deck using throttle, I presume, but did not have the ability to land due to the fact that the engines respond too slowly to power input to allow a safe landing. After hovering for a very long time, while a plan was devised, deck crew rigged a block and tackle to the deck, and then a crewman was sent up on the deck crane to attach the cable to the belly hook on the helicopter, and a pair of aircraft tugs were used to pull the helicopter down to the deck where it was then tied to the deck in the normal manner. I am sure that the flight crew had to change their skivvies afterwards. I can not imagine the skill, and concentration they exhibited hovering that damaged aircraft so precisely for what I believe was well over an hour. I doubt that any of this was in an emergency procedures book. It t feels like the sort of thing that a Chief Petty Officer would come up with. I am glad that I was there to witness this incident, and it's safe conclusion. It is gratifying to know that even in a procedure centric institution such as the US military, there is still room given to let human ingenuity and quick thinking solve the problem.
There is a line in every NATOPS, where it says something along the lines of, "this publication is not meant to preclude sound judgement." There are situations so preposterous that we cannot possibly hope to catalogue exactly what to do in every single one. That is incumbent upon the culture and attitude fostered within an organization to make decisive, thinking individuals instead of drones. It is my hope that every pilot is ingrained with the attitude of breaking a couple of rules, destroying equipment, and living, rather than saying "ah well that's not what NATOPS says" while flying into the ground. Fight to the last second. Never accept defeat. Thank you for your story. As an H60 pilot, this really hit a chord for me.
Flying the original Corsair that would roll you to death if you weren't careful on landing, the fact that if you miss and you don't have the thrust, you're going in the water, arrestor wire snaps, and heli pilots having to deal with the ground coming up to meet them quite literally due to the ocean. Honestly, it's insane that we've conquered the water and put aircraft in it.
Such a heart warming story at the end. I'm glad the captain of the carrier saw through the monetary value of those helicopters and ordered them to be pushed overboard to allow the family in their cessna to be saved. Military hardware can be replaced. A whole family cannot. Good job Captain!
Amazing skill and bravery, hats off to these brave men and women who never know when or how things will go from one day to the next , but they are always ready and normally trained , if not trained they improvise !. Very skilled valuable people, much respect and untold amounts of credit, I could not imagine being on a vessel during some of these scenes let alone trying to land a helio on one !. Impressive stuff!. Even with the newer technology still very impressive !.
One afternoon I had the watch in CIC while we had the helo up doing ASW ops. The pilot requested we set flight quarters early. When I asked why he replied he had a "bladder over pressure light". The helo comms were piped onto the bridge and the Officer of the Deck only heard "over pressure light" and set emergency flight quarters before I could speak to him. The Supply Officer was the Landing Signals Officer and happened to be in ship's refrigerated stores. He had to race up 4 decks. He was not happy with the OOD when he found out why.
Excellent coverage.. The thought of actually being lock-tethered to a ship that is rocking and rolling gives me a bit of a shiver if not done properly..
I was aware Canadians used the bear trap and invented it. But this is the first time I've actually fully seen one. It's actually a bit more complex than I thought
I flew from Haiti to GITMO on one of these hellos. My heart was stopping and these guys saved my life. BZ sailors, you guys rock!! And they threw $55 million worth of helos away for 1 family. The VBA won't even pay our guys $500 a month after they injured themselves serving our great nation!
The Canadian navy has never had an accident with the bear trap that caused a helicopter crash. In the 50s, the only ships that could safely handle helicopters were cruisers and aircraft carriers, The Canadian navy wanted to fly off of frigates.
I was a chopper pilot in the French Navy. I served aboard Panther (the military version of the Dolphin) and Lynx. On French frigates you have a one squared meter grid included in the rear landing deck. With the chopper you have to drop a harpoon and it has to engage and lock in the holes of the grid (a bit like the docking system that was on top of the planned Russian LOK lunar lander from the Cold War Era). It has a winch in it. When it's engaged and locked, it draws you firmly till you touch the deck, and secures your machine for good. So basically, you hear the lock clicking, a beep in the cockpit, then you give a bit throttle up, and if you see the helo goes down instead of climbing, you know you've been caught and there's almost no risk of hitting the deck hard or bouncing because of the waves. It's a bit like the Canadian bear trap, but the grid is inside the deck and the whole process involves nobody from the deck crew. _edit_ I wrote my comment too early : it's almost like this system, @ 4:39
You didn't mention that the Lynx Aircraft, in addition to the Harpoon deck lock system, also has the ability to achieve negative pitch collective control, meaning that the rotors are able to push the Aircraft down on to the deck in certain rough weather situations. The ability to swivel the aircraft on the spot is very useful for both take offs and landings where the ship can't change course to suit wind across deck conditions, and when weapons are loaded and you don't want to point them straight at the hanger. Unfortunately it means the main wheels have to be manually moved to the fore and aft position before the aircraft can be moved on deck as only the nosewheel has the ability to move under hydraulic power. It's called Toeing-in or Toeing-out the wheels and it is done by using a long metal pole (known as a Toeing-out bar, not to be confused with a Towing bar, lol) with a right angle fitting at the end which slides in to the wheel's axle. There is a spring loaded pin that has to be pulled down in order for the wheels to move and it seats when the wheel is at the correct angle. The Aircraft also have manual and automatically controlled wheel locks on all four wheels. The pilot can release them in order to spin. The deck crew can also work them at the wheels when ranging the Aircraft on deck. I worked maintenance and flight deck operations on the Lynx Mk3, Mk3S and Mk8 variants in the Royal Navy during the 90's.
I’m confused by that last story. Why didn’t they just have the helicopters take-off and hover nearby for a moment then re-land after the Cessna did? If the note said he had an hour then that would seem to me to be more than enough time to get pilots (and even a splash of fuel if needed) into those birds for just a few minutes of flight.
I’d like to find out as well. There had to be a good reason like lack of pilots or fuel or maintenance issues as no one would willingly throw away their assets like that unless they seemed invaluable to human life.
That’s a very good question, and I don’t think I have the answer for sure. But I did come across this: “For 30 hours, American and South Vietnamese military helicopters converged nonstop on the Midway, many low on fuel and without radio communications with the ship.” Three points: First, I believe the UH-1 Hueys were the Vietnamese helicopters, not American, and were already low on fuel. Second, imagine, this was a very very long day (2 days actually). 30 hours of helicopters dropping off people. The crew must have all been exhausted and didn’t want to take any more risks by flying the helicopters. Third, when it comes to the time remaining, it is possible that from the moment they decided what to do, they didn’t have 1 hour left. Maybe they only had 30 minutes left. So pushing the helicopters off may have been the only feasible option. If you google Operation Frequent Wind, you can find more details online.
As a layman I imagine it would be a logistical nightmare trying to get preflight checks done and crew suited up in all that chaos. You can replace the helis but replacing crew is very difficult if something goes wrong. Would you rather spend 1000s of hours training new crew that will lack the real world experience these guys already have or would you rather just buy new heli's with your near infinite military budget.
The helicopters didn't belong to the ship, they were all from shore bases and mostly belonged to the South Vietnamese Army. There was nowhere below decks to store them as the carrier already had a full complement of it's own aircraft. They would have been ditched even if the Cessna hadn't turned up, in order for the Carrier to maintain operational readiness.
Gives me white knuckles watching those incredibly talented pilots pulling this off. Nerves of steel doing that,much respect,because that's just nuts watching that get done. And that bear trap is the coolest tech I've seen lately,didn't know how they stayed on the deck. Same with the other system,just amazing. All the tech being used is just,wow....
NAW ,, just engineering...some servo hydraulic feedback system, some electronics and relay controls, miniature mechanics, strength of materials in a corrosive salt atmosphere, human interfaces at the console...
I was in Kiel this week and there I saw one of the modern german subs cruising down the firth. That got me interested to learn more about these subs. Could you make s video covering them? The whole thing in general or anything special in more detail?
There's a very informative and well produced UA-cam series from a channel called "SmarterEveryDay" that has an 8 series show on nuclear submarines. From how they operate, generate oxygen, break the ice, produce fresh water etc. I can recommend it (besides this channel of course)
@@thoughtfox2409 I'm not sure William was only interested in the German subs? Perhaps I was wrong. But I don't see what would set them specifically apart from general submarine mechanics (besides size/type of fuel).
@@thoughtfox2409 While true, those videos go into the topic of submarining and the operations of the boats. Which should be general enough regardless of nuclear or diesel propulsion.
Great video! At 1:10 you show a Coast Guard H65 with talon installed. Looks like they are landing on a 378’ in the Bearing Sea. Note the phalanx on the fantail. Been there done that… back in the nineties.
I had a lot of questions, since I was a kid, seeing people dropping the helos off from the carrier. I was thinking that it was a movement of embarrassment, through the end of war. But now, all my questions took a very strong answer.
Omg a lovely story, maybe that separates American navy from others, doing something because it is the right thing to do. But I would love to think all serious navies would do the same
@@tanmaysingh267 Machines cost, people produce. Aside from the cost of a loss of life, the other cost is a loss of production - you would be losing everything those people would have produced if they die.
I’m surprised they couldn’t just have pilots take-off from the carrier, land the Cessna, then land the helicopters again. Props to the captain/crew for helping him any way that they could though.
We're speaking from hindsight. It was a real mess since helicopters were landing one after another and that 5 more UH-1 helicopters actually landed on deck while the Cessna was still circling the carrier. Freeing up the cluttered deck would have been vital anyways had there been more South Vietnamese planes trying to land.
Every time I see one of your videos I'm like "meh, I'm not really all that big into military exploits and war" and then halfway through I'm always like "damn, this is actually really cool." The engineering and problem solving that goes into these things is fascinating stuff. I've never regretted watching any of your videos. It's all great, keep it up. Of course once I go back to the main page, youtube's algorithm is like "HEY, I HEARD YOU LIKE GUNS N SHIT" and I have to spend the next month being inundated with 'suggested videos" featuring annoying tacticool gear advertisements, war exploits, and angry, belligerent southerners shooting ballistic gel models of Hillary Clinton while they give ridiculous, Gallagher-style speeches about self defense and constitutional rights.
The thumbnail image explains why Navy Aviators are considered to be the best! To say the odds are stacked against Naval Aircrew would be an understatement...
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Great vid
I got banned
Nice
Hello nwyt
I'm a big fan but I'm soviethammer in your server thank you for advertising nwyt server thank you
Major Buong’s story is pretty interesting to me. He had balls to try landing a Cessna on a carrier.
He was South Vietnamese, not North, so it was a friendly carrier.
@@cousin_x_caps7347 but Cesna have a hard time to land in 100 meter runway who move at 30 knots
@@dr.argentina Major Buong was not part of the Viet Cong. He was southern Vietnamese. They were our allies. They were who we were trying to save from ‘communism.’
This story made me cry
@@Pub2k4 oooh that's more understable... i think i should read stuff about that war
The fact that the Midway's Captain didn't hesitate at all to clear the deck for that Cessna speaks volumes about what mattered to him.
I’m curious if he got in trouble
@@Ihat-b2j
Chambers made Vice Admiral later in his career...I don't think he got into too much trouble.
The Bird Dog plane is on display in a museum in Pensacola, FL.
At the time he thought he was going to get court martialed.
@@Ihat-b2j he did, but later the charge was removed.
@@Warmaster_7 I’m glad he didn’t get in trouble. Thank you
Small question. Why he did not ordered to fly helicopters away to give the room for Cessna, then drop Cessna overboard and take helicopters back? He had 1 hour to do that. I'm not saying his decision was wrong, but maybe this could be better.
Pretty cool to hear about that USS Midway story. I have been on that ship since it is docked in San Diego and is setup as a aircraft carrier museum.
I'd have tossed a note back up to the pilot that said "Jump out, chopper expensive, you not"
Ugh I miss living is San Diego. The Midway has a very interesting history.
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My dad was a navy rescue diver on helicopters. I remember as a kid asking him how they landed helicopters in rough weather. Seemed so simple once he explained it. A life saving device for sure.
It’s funny how everyone remembers us as rescue divers😂. How long ago was he in?
@@Coffeybean117 I find that funny as well and hear it a lot. James, it's Aviation Rescue Swimmer
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I enjoyed the pause for effect after “S-HOL”
😅
@@NotWhatYouThink my favorite part too. The humor makes these better
haha same
I'm glad he put it up in words because with his accent it did not sound like S-HOL
exactly, me too hahaha
I appreciate your longer videos :) nice to listen to while I clean up my room since I'm not really interested in war, but how materiel gets places in the military through transport and engineering is awesome.
Exactly. Logistics rule.
I'm surprised you can just "listen" to these videos... while his narration is awesome, they're all very visually stunning as well. A bit of an addictive package really. 😁
War drives innovation. If you're interested in engineering and transport you should also be interested in war
@@deusvult6920 no, because war sucks. Why would I fill my head with murder and injustice when I could be learning about science and logistics. Just a personal choice.
That last story was insane and you told it very well. I think it would be a very interesting format for your channel, the telling of incredible stories like that.
that's that's good idea! 💡
@WhatsApp①②④⓪④⑥⑥⑧①⑦⑧ go away evil kind
MrBallen: military edition
@WhatsApp①②④⓪④⑥⑥⑧①⑦⑧ this is the dumbest scam i’ve ever seen. who would call a number in a youtube username lmao
You should read about taffy 3, it was a light carrier task force in WW2 that decided to fight battle ships (including the Yamato) where one ship on the Japanese side displaced more then the entire task force combined.
The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those? is a very well done video on the battle.
S-HOLE is the best mnemonic device in existence now and all thanks to you. 😁
@WhatsApp①②④⓪④⑥⑥⑧①⑦⑧ bro really failed to catfish nwyt
this is a topic I have wanted more insight on for a while, thank you Not What You Think team!
You got it!
Transporting to my ship, I was lowered by cable onto the moving vessel. It was quite a rush.
We’re you in a vehicle being transported or were you roped on
@@mrsneakers0266 I was lowered from a helicopter. I was strapped in on the side of the chopper, facing a wide-open bay door. When the pilot saw my ship, it took a hard turn making me look straight down at the ocean hundreds of feet down.
@@fearthehoneybadger which branch?
@@willy-yum5820 Navy.
@@fearthehoneybadger thank you for your service 🙏
Thanks for mentioning the Royal Canadian Navy's invention of the Bear Trap. What we lack in funding, we tried to make up for with ingenuity. I'm sorry to say that this situation has not improved in recent years. Those serving in the RCN today, at every rank, continue to do outstanding work.
that is an awesome story at the end where they portray that life is priceless. fair play to those sailors for ditching the helicopters to save the family
People say a lot of shit about America but I doubt any other mlitary would ditch 10M in equipment to save 7 people.
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True, true, but do you have any idea how many vehicles including aircraft we left behind in Afghanistan?
The frigate in very rough sea is the Latouche-Tréville (D646), a French F70 ASW frigate (class Georges Leygues) . The footage are from the film "Océans" by Jacques Perrin, a french actor and director . The Latouche-Tréville has been retired 2 days ago and leaved Brest, saluted by 21 canon shots .
Sans doute une des plus belle frégate de la Marine avec la classe Tourville
What a legend. Dropped 10 Million worth of helicopters to save 7 lives. Proably didnt even have to think about it.
Probably noone on that shipped blinked twice when the command was made.
'They want us to break a bunch of hellis'
'Yea'
'Dope, let's push em off boys'
@@darkking_lp probably cathartic for the maintenance crews who have always wanted to break one in anger
wait until you hear about the USA punch during the Evacuation Of Saigon. Man they spend the 10M well.
im not sure, why they don't just fly that chopper for a moment until cessna land and then land back. Maybe that heli have failure?
That Cessna landing on aircraft carrier is an amazing story. Thanks for posting
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Much more interesting than expected, absolute stunning footage!
The Bung lee story is much more interesting than just this.. The aircraft that he landed on the Midway, was kept and put at the "National Naval Museum" which it is still at today!
That Cessna landing story is still blowing my mind a bit. I am curious what kind of repercussions there would be today, if a Carrier commander ditched 5-10 SeaHawks off the side of the USS Ford in order to allow an unknown to land on the deck. Seems like that would be something of a career ender?
And, what an gorgeus reason to end one.
They probably have a solution to this now? Like a mini runway. Either that or they’d direct them to the water now, lol
@@ghost_ship_supreme yeah i mean a cessna should be able to land on water safely with those big wings and low stall speed. Especially if the pilot is confident enough to land one on a foreign carrier.
@@cliffisfuckingawesome3508 the only dangerous variable is the children
@@nightwolf7231 yeah, true. I would in that case honestly not now what would be safer. Risking drowning directly or risking crashing on the deck and then drowning. It is cheaper to go for the first scenario lol
I was a Marine company commander during the evacuation of Saigon in April 1975. We were embarked on the LPD Denver. There was a continuous flow of South Vietnamese helicopters landing on our ship. As soon as the people were off, we pushed it overboard while the next helicopters was attempting to land. They were also ditching along side our ship. I lost count of the number of helicopters we pushed into the sea but we ended up with several thousand refugees on our ship alone. The Navy took them all to Subic Bay, The Philippines where we spent time setting up a refugee camp in an area known as the Upper MAU Camp.
The scene looked like D-Day 1944 with ships as far as you could see from horizon to horizon. Russian recon planes were overflying us several times a day.
It was an amazing operation.
So if you went there today would there just be a pile of helicopters covered in coral?
I would love to see a sight like that
Or did something else happen to them
My last job in the Navy before retiring in '99 was rebuilding worn out RAST systems for Navy Cruisers. Very interesting job!
Interesting. Did the RSD cams work? did Beam lock pins stick? New flags w springs?? How did you test the transition going from reel in to recovery tension /snatch load??? I was Navy civilian hardware design team lead, responsible for getting the RAST to work during system test at DAF, and OPEVAL tech expert. on board .good_sstuffatattnet.
Good to see a Dutch ship in this video, had the owner to be aboard a ship in a outside of SHOL landing, it was aborted but looked spectacular. I did feel a little sick, luckily sea sickness pills were readily available xD
Been there, done that...........it wasn't fun. Imagine landing 2 MH-53J's on the USS Missouri's helicopter pad that was designed accommodate only 1 H-3. There was no bear trap system and even if there was, we had to land on opposite corners to keep the rotor blades from hitting each other. One main landing gear of each helicopter was right next to the wire at the edge of the deck which meant, the tip tank was hanging out over the water. Me being the flying crew chief at that time, had to go out and place the wheel chocks and safety pins. The inboard side was easy enough but, I had to climb up onto the sponson (main fuel tank), then out onto the gull wing (holds the tip tank) and hanging my head over the side (seeing that the water was very far away) to insert the 12 inch long safety pin.
On a later landing, one of the pilots (thankfully not on the helicopter I was assigned to) misjudged his landing and smacked the deck hard enough to blow the seals on all 3 landing gear struts, spilling hydraulic fluid all over the deck.
Never heard of it called a bear trap, we called it RSD rapid securing device it went around the rast probe as soon as the tires were on deck
I hope the seas were calm that day. It's hard enough with a 60 that rides like a cadillac. Can't imagine trying to put 2 of those flying houses next to each other on a deck never even designed for it.
I’m happy to see this great Canadian contributions being recognize as it should! And there was a bunch of Royal Canadian Navy footage in this clip. It made me proud 🤓🫡🇨🇦⚓️
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Mad skills of that Vietnamese pilot. Glad they made room for him and that life was more important to them though it did hurt to see those choppers being dumped into the sea lol
Such a Canadian solution to the problem.
“Sir, we can’t land these helicopters on the ships due to rough seas!”
“Here, just put this ol reliable bear trap on the deck and run a cable up to the helicopter! Should do the trick!”
I went to the navy base on Victoria Island when I was a kid i was amazed at how simple it was and laughed when some kid asked which hunter decided this was a good idea
Ohh Yeah eh?
Go Canada!
Also, helicopters are just amazing!
Canadian helicopter pilots are the best in the world, peace from Down Under
@@xLGNDxII5COTT You're too kind. Aussi pilots are at the top of the list!
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I was in the Navy for 10 years. The helo @0:21 is the SH2G sea sprite. One on the aircraft I worked on. I was on 2 frigates and can tell you from personal experience that landing can get pretty hairy even in calm seas. This is the first time I've ever heard of something called a "bear trap". Didn't have them. We had 2 guys (one of which was me) run out and chain them down as fast as possible.
We had a guy injured in a snow storm around Svalbard. The helicopter hovered over over our ship. And then picked up casper. He is still alive. Thank you to all rescuers.
Canada never ceases to amaze me how proud I am. Canada rocks!
I spent 2yrs on a carrier then 3yrs on an FF. Watching our helo land on the FF in rough seas and weather was something. Makes carrier landings appear easy.
I worked for a engineering company that built Australian bear traps never got to see them operate always wondered how it actually looked on the ships
wait what kind of company never shows you what the final product actually looks like and function?
@@shapurzamani6127 many companies, especially for military equipment. Various parts made by different companies, then assembled elsewhere so no one company has the information on how to make, build, and assemble a secret equipment
I served on the USS Cushing (DD-985) in the 80s and we had the bear claw system installed. I worked in engineering so I never got to actually see it in operation, so thanks for posting this! 👍👍
The bear claw is a Canadian invention too! Pretty slick piece of kit
@@Rmmmmmmmmmmk But the USN enhanced and modernized it.
Another fascinating and very informative video. Although I've heard the story of the Vietnamese pilot before, even as a Brit the action of the US Midway's captain brought tears to my eyes. That's what you call looking after your friends.
A shame the US chose not to look after friends in Afghanistan.
@@glennrishton5679 well I think this was focused on a one-on-one, personal level rather than official policy.
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@@glennrishton5679 apart from spending 2 weeks evacuating 82,000 people from Kabul airport, facing suicide attacks against US troops, you mean.
@@iain3482 The number brought out is only relevant to those of the number brought out. It is those left behind who suffer the consequences. Then let's talk about the military equipment left behind for the enjoyment of those who wish to do us harm. Maybe two more weeks should have been spent evacuating everyone, ya think?
Me seeing you using the NH90 in this video makes me smile. I just finished school and I am now waiting for the job application for NH90 pilot to open up again which will be at the end of 2022. Keep up the great content!
Worked with a PO1 who was on the trials for the bear trap. Told me stories of them getting called out whenever seas were rough to trial landings. Another guy I worked with told me about a scary situation during one of the landings where he was hooking up the anti static cable and the ship bucked and his head got wrapped up in the cable, only thing saved him was his helmet.
Was that the Canadian trials or the USN RAST trials out of Jacksonville of FFG
1:34 you have no idea how happy I am to hear you mention us.
Very informative video. I was never deployed on a small ship in the US Navy. I was on the USS Carl Vinson CVN-70. On a standard fixed wing carrier, our helicopters did not have any specific system for landing. They just landed on the deck, and were then tied down by the deck crew. The advantage of a carrier is that they pitch, and roll slower, and fewer degrees than the small ships.
There was one time when I was aboard ship that a helicopter, an SH3 Sea King, suffered rotor damage, and loss of collective control after the rotor ingested the rescue cable. Surprisingly the cable broke rather than shearing the rotor off the aircraft. The pilot was able to descend, and hover over the deck using throttle, I presume, but did not have the ability to land due to the fact that the engines respond too slowly to power input to allow a safe landing. After hovering for a very long time, while a plan was devised, deck crew rigged a block and tackle to the deck, and then a crewman was sent up on the deck crane to attach the cable to the belly hook on the helicopter, and a pair of aircraft tugs were used to pull the helicopter down to the deck where it was then tied to the deck in the normal manner. I am sure that the flight crew had to change their skivvies afterwards. I can not imagine the skill, and concentration they exhibited hovering that damaged aircraft so precisely for what I believe was well over an hour.
I doubt that any of this was in an emergency procedures book. It t feels like the sort of thing that a Chief Petty Officer would come up with. I am glad that I was there to witness this incident, and it's safe conclusion. It is gratifying to know that even in a procedure centric institution such as the US military, there is still room given to let human ingenuity and quick thinking solve the problem.
There is a line in every NATOPS, where it says something along the lines of, "this publication is not meant to preclude sound judgement." There are situations so preposterous that we cannot possibly hope to catalogue exactly what to do in every single one. That is incumbent upon the culture and attitude fostered within an organization to make decisive, thinking individuals instead of drones. It is my hope that every pilot is ingrained with the attitude of breaking a couple of rules, destroying equipment, and living, rather than saying "ah well that's not what NATOPS says" while flying into the ground. Fight to the last second. Never accept defeat. Thank you for your story. As an H60 pilot, this really hit a chord for me.
Probably the best channel on UA-cam.
I swear, Navy helicopter pilots got to have the hugest fucking balls.
Flying the original Corsair that would roll you to death if you weren't careful on landing, the fact that if you miss and you don't have the thrust, you're going in the water, arrestor wire snaps, and heli pilots having to deal with the ground coming up to meet them quite literally due to the ocean. Honestly, it's insane that we've conquered the water and put aircraft in it.
Genuinely mind-blown by this, wow. Great video, this is historical content I thought I’d never be exposed to, thanks.
Amazing to learn about yet another Canadian innovation!
I concur
It was a ver y good, basic system. USN modernized it and installed it on many small ships. the real system is below decks. and LSO station
ships, storms, helicopters and drama (landing). UA-cam if you're paying attention, that's how you hook me every time. What a vid, good job!
I was actuality wondering what that circular mesh was for on the flight deck of warships, thanks for educating me
Such a heart warming story at the end. I'm glad the captain of the carrier saw through the monetary value of those helicopters and ordered them to be pushed overboard to allow the family in their cessna to be saved. Military hardware can be replaced. A whole family cannot. Good job Captain!
Amazing skill and bravery, hats off to these brave men and women who never know when or how things will go from one day to the next , but they are always ready and normally trained , if not trained they improvise !. Very skilled valuable people, much respect and untold amounts of credit, I could not imagine being on a vessel during some of these scenes let alone trying to land a helio on one !. Impressive stuff!. Even with the newer technology still very impressive !.
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Damn this is an excellent video. It's not only informative, but there's tons of uncommon video clips in it too.
Thanks for your efforts man.
One afternoon I had the watch in CIC while we had the helo up doing ASW ops. The pilot requested we set flight quarters early. When I asked why he replied he had a "bladder over pressure light". The helo comms were piped onto the bridge and the Officer of the Deck only heard "over pressure light" and set emergency flight quarters before I could speak to him. The Supply Officer was the Landing Signals Officer and happened to be in ship's refrigerated stores. He had to race up 4 decks. He was not happy with the OOD when he found out why.
Excellent coverage.. The thought of actually being lock-tethered to a ship that is rocking and rolling gives me a bit of a shiver if not done properly..
I was aware Canadians used the bear trap and invented it. But this is the first time I've actually fully seen one. It's actually a bit more complex than I thought
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The complexity stuff is below decks with the hydraulic servo winch system which has to maintain a constant cable tension as helo and ship move around.
Is it just me or is this guy's voice extremely comforting and satisfying.
It’s just you 😜
Proud that my country(Canada) invented the beartrap
We all have those grizzly bears out in BC to thank!
@@NotWhatYouThink yeah man, they are nasty. Thanks for mentioning us, seeing our country mentioned feels really cool!
I flew from Haiti to GITMO on one of these hellos. My heart was stopping and these guys saved my life.
BZ sailors, you guys rock!!
And they threw $55 million worth of helos away for 1 family.
The VBA won't even pay our guys $500 a month after they injured themselves serving our great nation!
10 million,, watch it again!
This channel never ceases to amaze me. Amazing work 👏
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The Canadian navy has never had an accident with the bear trap that caused a helicopter crash. In the 50s, the only ships that could safely handle helicopters were cruisers and aircraft carriers, The Canadian navy wanted to fly off of frigates.
I was a chopper pilot in the French Navy. I served aboard Panther (the military version of the Dolphin) and Lynx.
On French frigates you have a one squared meter grid included in the rear landing deck. With the chopper you have to drop a harpoon and it has to engage and lock in the holes of the grid (a bit like the docking system that was on top of the planned Russian LOK lunar lander from the Cold War Era). It has a winch in it. When it's engaged and locked, it draws you firmly till you touch the deck, and secures your machine for good. So basically, you hear the lock clicking, a beep in the cockpit, then you give a bit throttle up, and if you see the helo goes down instead of climbing, you know you've been caught and there's almost no risk of hitting the deck hard or bouncing because of the waves. It's a bit like the Canadian bear trap, but the grid is inside the deck and the whole process involves nobody from the deck crew.
_edit_ I wrote my comment too early : it's almost like this system, @ 4:39
Harpoon system is good concept for recovery,,,.. but it does not secure helo for transit into hangar..
Major Buang’s story made me cry
Wow the "drop note" was incredible one. It shows how much human beings are willing to go the distance to save fellow human beings
I love your videos
Great video, loved the historical references
We had no bear-trap/harpoon in my frigate's deck. Our helo (SH2) just had good crews that knew how to operate in heavy weather in the North Atlantic.
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wow i cant believe how moved i am by seeing them dump hueys for humans, and the cesna landing on a carrier was literally the cherry on top
You didn't mention that the Lynx Aircraft, in addition to the Harpoon deck lock system, also has the ability to achieve negative pitch collective control, meaning that the rotors are able to push the Aircraft down on to the deck in certain rough weather situations.
The ability to swivel the aircraft on the spot is very useful for both take offs and landings where the ship can't change course to suit wind across deck conditions, and when weapons are loaded and you don't want to point them straight at the hanger. Unfortunately it means the main wheels have to be manually moved to the fore and aft position before the aircraft can be moved on deck as only the nosewheel has the ability to move under hydraulic power. It's called Toeing-in or Toeing-out the wheels and it is done by using a long metal pole (known as a Toeing-out bar, not to be confused with a Towing bar, lol) with a right angle fitting at the end which slides in to the wheel's axle. There is a spring loaded pin that has to be pulled down in order for the wheels to move and it seats when the wheel is at the correct angle.
The Aircraft also have manual and automatically controlled wheel locks on all four wheels. The pilot can release them in order to spin. The deck crew can also work them at the wheels when ranging the Aircraft on deck.
I worked maintenance and flight deck operations on the Lynx Mk3, Mk3S and Mk8 variants in the Royal Navy during the 90's.
thanks for detailed response, you obviously know more than we have researched. Some interesting tidbits you shared!
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@@farrukhahmad555 That's jolly nice for you...... why don't you run along and let the grown ups talk?
@@nickmaclachlan5178 will you Hire Me
Excellent video. Answered a lot of questions I've had about those helicopters landing on moving ships that I've seen.
I was on HMCS Vancouver and watched more than a few Seakings land on the flight deck during rough seas.
I dunno why the youtube algorithm recommends me this video, but it was fun and informative.
that last one was a tear jerker. Glad that major and his family made it out alive.
Best thing i saw in a while, great catch.
I’m confused by that last story. Why didn’t they just have the helicopters take-off and hover nearby for a moment then re-land after the Cessna did? If the note said he had an hour then that would seem to me to be more than enough time to get pilots (and even a splash of fuel if needed) into those birds for just a few minutes of flight.
I’d like to find out as well. There had to be a good reason like lack of pilots or fuel or maintenance issues as no one would willingly throw away their assets like that unless they seemed invaluable to human life.
That’s a very good question, and I don’t think I have the answer for sure. But I did come across this: “For 30 hours, American and South Vietnamese military helicopters converged nonstop on the Midway, many low on fuel and without radio communications with the ship.”
Three points: First, I believe the UH-1 Hueys were the Vietnamese helicopters, not American, and were already low on fuel.
Second, imagine, this was a very very long day (2 days actually). 30 hours of helicopters dropping off people. The crew must have all been exhausted and didn’t want to take any more risks by flying the helicopters.
Third, when it comes to the time remaining, it is possible that from the moment they decided what to do, they didn’t have 1 hour left. Maybe they only had 30 minutes left. So pushing the helicopters off may have been the only feasible option.
If you google Operation Frequent Wind, you can find more details online.
@@NotWhatYouThink AKA; 'not what you think!' ;)
As a layman I imagine it would be a logistical nightmare trying to get preflight checks done and crew suited up in all that chaos. You can replace the helis but replacing crew is very difficult if something goes wrong. Would you rather spend 1000s of hours training new crew that will lack the real world experience these guys already have or would you rather just buy new heli's with your near infinite military budget.
The helicopters didn't belong to the ship, they were all from shore bases and mostly belonged to the South Vietnamese Army. There was nowhere below decks to store them as the carrier already had a full complement of it's own aircraft. They would have been ditched even if the Cessna hadn't turned up, in order for the Carrier to maintain operational readiness.
Thanks!
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed the video :-)
And sorry for the very very late reply 😅
Damn that dude had ONE chance to save his family and bloodline
Gives me white knuckles watching those incredibly talented pilots pulling this off.
Nerves of steel doing that,much respect,because that's just nuts watching that get done.
And that bear trap is the coolest tech I've seen lately,didn't know how they stayed on the deck.
Same with the other system,just amazing.
All the tech being used is just,wow....
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NAW ,, just engineering...some servo hydraulic feedback system, some electronics and relay controls, miniature mechanics, strength of materials in a corrosive salt atmosphere, human interfaces at the console...
Never knew about that bit at the end, will have to do more research into the end of the vietnam war.
Surprisingly wholesome!. awesome vid
I was in Kiel this week and there I saw one of the modern german subs cruising down the firth. That got me interested to learn more about these subs. Could you make s video covering them? The whole thing in general or anything special in more detail?
There's a very informative and well produced UA-cam series from a channel called "SmarterEveryDay" that has an 8 series show on nuclear submarines. From how they operate, generate oxygen, break the ice, produce fresh water etc. I can recommend it (besides this channel of course)
@@davidhoortash7425 Germany dosn't operate any nuclear subs. The current german U-Boot-Class 212 A uses a Diesel-generator and a fuel cell to operate.
@@thoughtfox2409 I'm not sure William was only interested in the German subs? Perhaps I was wrong. But I don't see what would set them specifically apart from general submarine mechanics (besides size/type of fuel).
@@thoughtfox2409 While true, those videos go into the topic of submarining and the operations of the boats. Which should be general enough regardless of nuclear or diesel propulsion.
Great video!
At 1:10 you show a Coast Guard H65 with talon installed. Looks like they are landing on a 378’ in the Bearing Sea. Note the phalanx on the fantail. Been there done that… back in the nineties.
Vídeo excelente! O piloto vietnamita tem cunhão viu!? Pousar um Cesna num área tão pequena...
Parabéns pela coragem 👏🏻
holy shit thanks for including that bit at the end.... i had never heard that story about midway. Thats insane!
The captain is like I DON,T CARE HOW MUCH THAT CHOPPER COST I WANT THAT PLANE TO LAND PRONTO
Major buong was an amazing man
Im sure glad the captain helped pull something good out of that heartbreaking mess.
I had a lot of questions, since I was a kid, seeing people dropping the helos off from the carrier. I was thinking that it was a movement of embarrassment, through the end of war. But now, all my questions took a very strong answer.
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Pretty mind blown by the discarding of helicopters at the end, cool vid thanks!
8:45 That guy's ribcage is definitely not in one piece after that.
Man, I've been going through all the comments, and can't believe nobody else noticed or mentioned that.
That looked bad.
1:09-1:18
I love how that Phalanx is constantly staring right at that Eurocopter like "Buddy, make one wrong move and I'll saw you in half." XD
my dad was a navy lynx pilot for the dutch royal navy. they used a net and a hook. it was way more easy.
Interesting video, especially because of the narrator, a real person speaking.
Omg a lovely story, maybe that separates American navy from others, doing something because it is the right thing to do. But I would love to think all serious navies would do the same
Why not let the Cessna land on water and send a rescue mission
Wouldn't it would have saved millions in damage
Machines can be replaced, people cannot be.
@@177SCmaro machines cost, people are free (especially immigrants)
@@tanmaysingh267
Machines cost, people produce. Aside from the cost of a loss of life, the other cost is a loss of production - you would be losing everything those people would have produced if they die.
Another reason U.S Military deserves so much praise. They risk there life's training and they could actual die just training. God bless em
I’m surprised they couldn’t just have pilots take-off from the carrier, land the Cessna, then land the helicopters again. Props to the captain/crew for helping him any way that they could though.
We're speaking from hindsight. It was a real mess since helicopters were landing one after another and that 5 more UH-1 helicopters actually landed on deck while the Cessna was still circling the carrier. Freeing up the cluttered deck would have been vital anyways had there been more South Vietnamese planes trying to land.
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It's an American propaganda story. None of it actually happened
Very INTERESTING video! Awesome 👌
The guy at middle right in 8:45 almost fall off
He got hit by that horizontal fin
the casual humor with a pause after it is so good like s-hol
@WhatsApp①②④⓪④⑥⑥⑧①⑦⑧ nobody believes this shit
Every time I see one of your videos I'm like "meh, I'm not really all that big into military exploits and war" and then halfway through I'm always like "damn, this is actually really cool." The engineering and problem solving that goes into these things is fascinating stuff. I've never regretted watching any of your videos. It's all great, keep it up.
Of course once I go back to the main page, youtube's algorithm is like "HEY, I HEARD YOU LIKE GUNS N SHIT" and I have to spend the next month being inundated with 'suggested videos" featuring annoying tacticool gear advertisements, war exploits, and angry, belligerent southerners shooting ballistic gel models of Hillary Clinton while they give ridiculous, Gallagher-style speeches about self defense and constitutional rights.
that sounds a tad exaggerated
Same
Solid copy on the clean S-HOL. We'll be arriving shortly.
My mom said that its very hard to land it in rough seas very hard and she almost died that day
Was she the wife of Cessna pilot
@@tanmaysingh267 I don't really know she just told me about this story when I was 8
@WhatsApp①②④⓪④⑥⑥⑧①⑦⑧ And you account is 1week old and you have 70+ comments that are all the same
And so spammer/bot 😐
The thumbnail image explains why Navy Aviators are considered to be the best!
To say the odds are stacked against Naval Aircrew would be an understatement...
The cable trap seems like an unsuccessful attempt to hoist the ship and hold it for ransom.
We just can't do it captain, we don't have the power!
Wow… I learned several things from this video. Thank you.
You fucking Canadians are awesome! Much love from the US
Back at you, friend.
I'm a USN vet.. Never saw a bear trap and I was on an oiler that flew helos everyday in every condition for vert reps