Richard Milligan was the Producer/Director of Flight Deck, and was my uncle. His Grumman team also managed the wing-mounted photography in Top Gun. I have a photo with Tom and him together... His team also filmed arial footage of Flight of the Intruder (one of my favorite war movies, and books). My uncle's team were experts, because their duty was to sell the Tomcat and all other Grumman A/C to the Pentagon. As a kid, we'd watch flight deck operation films in my uncle's living room, which were never shown on TV or in any movies, was so cool. He was also the illustrator of the tomcat badge! I have one that is in Farsi. Some of you may know why.
I went through Top Gun in 1988. My former CO of VF-31 Rick “Wigs” Ludwig became the CO of Top Gun at the end of 1986. The movie was still in the box office. He was a beast of a Fighter Pilot. He flew every variant of the F-4 Phantom during Vietnam that the Navy had before we transitioned to the Tomcat.
Was on the flight deck from 69 to 86, tied to the hip with tailhooks particularly the A-7 kind. IWT, troubleshooter, slot checker, final checker, tire qual nit cart qual. Flight deck went thru many changes, F4, F14, FA18 and the changes in and on the flight deck to operate each even took my first duty station into the dry dock to elevate from an F4 to a F14 fighter wing. Tore the old girl up from top mast to propeller shafts, shake down and work up to cruise status,1972.
What Dept/Div? I was Air/V-2/Bow Cats ‘94-‘96. Last half was in ALRE Maintenance with Lt. Eppard/Chief Parente. USS America was a good ship but always haze gray and underway.
The ready room briefs like they said start a couple hours before a sortie. Then you sign for the aircraft in maintenance control. Then off to the aircraft, for inspection and embarking the cockpit. It’s a long day no matter what time it is before launch and recovery. It was always nice to hit the Wardroom after recovery on mom.
I had this video. On VHS. To my first four years of being carrier side my early abh days until I started going to squadrons and work day six is at 14 and then f-18s in the 2000s great video
Most Informative & enjoyable Video about( Fight Deck )operations which showed superior Technology capability of USA ,Highly training of Crews , Pilots & navigators , their Excellent disciplines & their serious Responsibilities in their duties ..If it was in 1988 ....what about 2022 of More Higher Progressing levels ? allot thanks (Mike Guardia ) for sharing
3:31 An F-14 Alpha minus EFTs, a rarity, and made a significant difference in aero. That's the cleanest Tomcat you'll ever see flying. Just has the glove mounted hardpoints as all Tomcats wore, but they are empty with a clean center tunnel area. Same clean glove config. on a 1976 Tomcat was good for over Mach 2.25 with 4 AIM-7 semi-recessed in the tunnel. 4 AIM-54 in the tunnel and 2 on the gloves allowed for a Mach 1.8 max. 6000 pounds of Phoenix and 2000 pounds of Phoenix launch rails. Your not going to run too long in Zone 5 without tanks for very long. Notice the airbrake is extended along with the hook, after the bolter is called airbrake is relaxing and engines to military power. Not an afterburner flame to be seen. That was a VERY light Tomcat.
When I got into VF-31 in 1986 the cross bleed start was a new NATOPS change. It was a beautiful thing to have the huffer hose pulled after one engine started.
Carrier flight ops are catagorized in 3 cases. Case 1,2,3… Case 1 is a bright sunny day. Case 2 is overcast with limited visibility. Case 3 is any foul weather and all night sorties.
My old VF-31 squadron mate was the CO of VF-41 Dan “Vegas” Cannan.. He was a great Fighter Pilot, and an excellent Officer. Retired as a 0-6 Navy Captain.
Kudos to the Chinese for the fast and high tech advancement in aircraft carrier production and basic operations (regardless of the fact that they stole our technology, but that is our problem, I'm sure we wouldn't have any moral brakes if we found ourselves in the situation where we can swipe their tech), but if, god forbid, we get into a shooting war with China and there's a carrier on carrier engagement, all the technology in the world combined with the high tech weapon systems, wouldn't give them a fighting chance against an American carrier strike group. Decades of carrier operations and the real war experience can't be stolen from some hard drive in Pentagon or Lockheed Martin...
I have to say that your comment is a little hypocritical, the United States has obtained some very high tech information and hardware from many countries, I say obtained because the United States 🇺🇸 would never steal from anyone else, but remember that we, the British, have given a lot of help and resources to the USA, we taught the U.S Navy and Marine Corp how to land the F4U Corsair on a carrier with crashing into the sea or worse the ship, we invented the “angled deck” approach to carrier operations and design and we gave the USA our first jet engine (the Whittle) so they could catch up with the technology, the USA would not have had the capability to put a man on the moon without Werner Von Braun, and others, that somehow ended up in the USA from Germany at the end of WWII, and that is to name just a few of the technologies that the United States obtained. I do agree that the United States Navy would, at the moment, send a Chinese battle group scurrying home minus a few ships, but that might not always be the case, the Chinese are catching up with the American military technologies and equipment very quickly, and yes a lot of it was obtained by nefarious activities, and they will eventually have the same issues that the USA will have to face, the question of financing the whole thing, America has a huge debt ceiling that is getting harder to service and if budget cuts are necessary then it will almost certainly have a huge effect on the military, China will (sooner rather than later) face the debt problem as well, the Chinese don’t bother about where the money comes from they just do whatever they want and print more money to cover the costs, and that is an unsustainable way to run an economy.
Allan - As a retired carrier ”birdfarmer” who has lived in Britain for more than two decades married to a Brit, I fully agree. We are always late getting stuck in 1916, 1941) but we learn fast when we do. One final thought, if you had John Paul Jones on your side YOU WOULD HAVE WON! @@allandavis8201
I’ve been in many east coast F-14 Squadrons, starting at my training squadron VF-101 at NAS Oceana. My home for many years when not deployed. She was a great airplane, and Dick Cheney is behind retiring everything Grumman. Criminal VP, terrible Sec Def under Reagan.
Made the I/O cruise onboard USS Forrestal in 1988, Vf-11 powerplants supervisor nx, 108 days straight in North Arabian sea before we did the ditch and hit Naples. Hey Joe's and cold beer at last.
As much as I sometimes felt (through experience) that the United States 🇺🇸 military were overly confident and sometimes aggressive you really do have to admire them, and in my opinion the U.S Navy are the tip of a very sharp spear, and compared to our new aircraft carriers we have a lot of new capabilities to learn and old lessons to remember, I am so glad that we in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 are prominent allies with the USA, not just from a military standpoint but from a socioeconomic and political perspective, yes we have our little spats but nothing to worry about, our tiny island nation are still (just about) able to punch above our weight, we might not have the quantity of service personnel that the United States 🇺🇸 has but we make up for that in quality. In my families history we have had a serving military member from 1914-2017 and the only time we were (officially) not fighting alongside our American comrades was during the Vietnam war, but unfortunately we don’t have any other members of the family that have shown any interest in serving, but never say never. It never ceases to amaze me how skilfully and apparently easily carrier pilots make takeoff and landing look, especially landing, I don’t think it is easy but that’s how it appears to be. The deck crews are very very skilled in their craft, it isn’t just a job it is a performance in itself, like being on stage where “fluffing their lines” is not just embarrassing it could have dire consequences for the rest of the crew and aircrew’s, I am sure there are accidents and injuries due to human error but I would think that, like most militaries, they analyse the events, learn lessons and put systems in place to ensure, or at least minimise, that the same situation never arises again.
A lot of guys would grow the "deployment" 'stache. My squadron would hold a contest for the "cheesiest" 'stache. Sad to say, I was the reigning champ...
There whas a time when i was young in the early 90s that some channels like Discovery or National Geographic would air docus like this. Nowadays its a bunch of crap!
Hi the additiin letter msil safety sciences the usrotc sbd shioos tye bayside snd titkes the us cistons snd nck tye snd mismi fl area ssfety nesr sone science and slert alsrms
Of course these beautifull tools of spreading democracy caused more wars and general suffering than any other thing and as we can see they are being hard at work again. When your skin is not the game then it must be about money.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Richard Milligan was the Producer/Director of Flight Deck, and was my uncle. His Grumman team also managed the wing-mounted photography in Top Gun. I have a photo with Tom and him together... His team also filmed arial footage of Flight of the Intruder (one of my favorite war movies, and books). My uncle's team were experts, because their duty was to sell the Tomcat and all other Grumman A/C to the Pentagon. As a kid, we'd watch flight deck operation films in my uncle's living room, which were never shown on TV or in any movies, was so cool. He was also the illustrator of the tomcat badge! I have one that is in Farsi. Some of you may know why.
What a Legend. 👍😉
AWESOME 🇺🇸
AMAZING story ! You have a cool Uncle Richard there Robert!
Dick Milligan?
Iran still uses tomcats,not many but they still fly and fight.
I was with vf114 aardvarks f4j phantoms 1969 to 1972, Yankee station, on uss kitty Hawk. This is an outstanding video. Nostalgia. Comraderie.
I was there scpo Davenport
Excellent. Grummans family here.
Many in my family worked there build F14 ,AE6 etc.
Dick Cheney attacked everything Grumman in the Navy.
In bed with Boeing and Lockheed Martin. 💰
@@foofghtr Iran still uses 1978 F14 ..Before revolution my friend worked in Iran building aircraft hangers fled just in time .
@@Nudnik1
My MO from VF-31 LCDR Guy Purser was on the delivery team to Iran.
He was a pissed off individual..
He was an F-14 RIO
@@foofghtr wow. We grew up in Calverton NY next door
This was my Christmas present when I was a kid. 26 years later still serving in the military it was certainly influential in my decision to join
I remember buying this excellent video on VHS way back when!
Thank You!🍺
The beginning of my career (86) to the end of it (2012) never seemed so greatly contrasted until I saw this. 😮
I started in 86 also, wish I lasted as long as you.
12 years, my father needed help to sell his business off.
Well done Connie Wing and Connie Crew. WHATTA VID! Max respect from your neighbors on Top Gun 61…
I went through Top Gun in 1988.
My former CO of VF-31 Rick “Wigs” Ludwig became the CO of Top Gun at the end of 1986.
The movie was still in the box office.
He was a beast of a Fighter Pilot.
He flew every variant of the F-4 Phantom during Vietnam that the Navy had before we transitioned to the Tomcat.
Was on the flight deck from 69 to 86, tied to the hip with tailhooks particularly the A-7 kind. IWT, troubleshooter, slot checker, final checker, tire qual nit cart qual. Flight deck went thru many changes, F4, F14, FA18 and the changes in and on the flight deck to operate each even took my first duty station into the dry dock to elevate from an F4 to a F14 fighter wing. Tore the old girl up from top mast to propeller shafts, shake down and work up to cruise status,1972.
IWT there’s an acronym that went away from Naval Aviation.
AT’s and AQ’s getting it done together. 👍🏻
Wow. Brings back a lot of memories of my cruise on CV-66 USS America for her final mission, '95-'96. Lots of good memories.
What Dept/Div? I was Air/V-2/Bow Cats ‘94-‘96. Last half was in ALRE Maintenance with Lt. Eppard/Chief Parente. USS America was a good ship but always haze gray and underway.
10:30 A pair of f-14As absolutely clean of external stores, wings back at 68º about to break left. Just beautiful.
The ready room briefs like they said start a couple hours before a sortie.
Then you sign for the aircraft in maintenance control.
Then off to the aircraft, for inspection and embarking the cockpit.
It’s a long day no matter what time it is before launch and recovery.
It was always nice to hit the Wardroom after recovery on mom.
These pilots are true professionals to not let their enormous balls impede their ability to land a plane on a carrier.
I had this video. On VHS. To my first four years of being carrier side my early abh days until I started going to squadrons and work day six is at 14 and then f-18s in the 2000s great video
Great video. Crews on these vessels must really be precise. I enjoy seeing these educational videos. Thank you for sharing.
Very professional personnel without any doubts.
5:50 - The days of grease pencils, sound-powered communications, and sweeping repeaters.
oh wow, I got this on VHS as a kid and just watched it until the tape wore out
Most Informative & enjoyable Video about( Fight Deck )operations which showed superior Technology capability of USA ,Highly training of Crews , Pilots & navigators , their Excellent disciplines & their serious Responsibilities in their duties ..If it was in 1988 ....what about 2022 of More Higher Progressing levels ? allot thanks (Mike Guardia ) for sharing
Fabuloso espectacular❤❤❤❤❤❤
VA-105 Gunslingers on USS Saratoga CV60 1972-75. VA'95 1979-81. USS AMERICA CV66. Then VA-115 1981-83 and VA-185 1987-89 on USS Midway, my favorite.
Gunslingers, I remember them on the Forrestal out of Cecil Field.
3:31 An F-14 Alpha minus EFTs, a rarity, and made a significant difference in aero. That's the cleanest Tomcat you'll ever see flying. Just has the glove mounted hardpoints as all Tomcats wore, but they are empty with a clean center tunnel area. Same clean glove config. on a 1976 Tomcat was good for over Mach 2.25 with 4 AIM-7 semi-recessed in the tunnel. 4 AIM-54 in the tunnel and 2 on the gloves allowed for a Mach 1.8 max. 6000 pounds of Phoenix and 2000 pounds of Phoenix launch rails. Your not going to run too long in Zone 5 without tanks for very long. Notice the airbrake is extended along with the hook, after the bolter is called airbrake is relaxing and engines to military power. Not an afterburner flame to be seen. That was a VERY light Tomcat.
When I got into VF-31 in 1986 the cross bleed start was a new NATOPS change.
It was a beautiful thing to have the huffer hose pulled after one engine started.
Carrier flight ops are catagorized in 3 cases.
Case 1,2,3…
Case 1 is a bright sunny day.
Case 2 is overcast with limited visibility.
Case 3 is any foul weather and all night sorties.
Night Check PC and PR with VF-41, Nimitz and TR. That's a Grumman Iron Works air group!
My old VF-31 squadron mate was the CO of VF-41 Dan “Vegas” Cannan..
He was a great Fighter Pilot, and an excellent Officer.
Retired as a 0-6 Navy Captain.
Thanks for sharing this content I appreciate knowing history.
A whole bunch of these details are current too, not just history…
Wish I could have gotten in back in 78. Wanted Carrier Duty bad.
Can anyone know the opening music ? Wanna download it
I came here because I heard Rodger Parsons is the narrator here. He’s the Pokémon narrator
1083,4 V-1 fly-3 blueshirt on My Connie flight deck hate and miss her❤❤❤❤
Thank You 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Nice content! Thank you Mike!
Kudos to the Chinese for the fast and high tech advancement in aircraft carrier production and basic operations (regardless of the fact that they stole our technology, but that is our problem, I'm sure we wouldn't have any moral brakes if we found ourselves in the situation where we can swipe their tech), but if, god forbid, we get into a shooting war with China and there's a carrier on carrier engagement, all the technology in the world combined with the high tech weapon systems, wouldn't give them a fighting chance against an American carrier strike group. Decades of carrier operations and the real war experience can't be stolen from some hard drive in Pentagon or Lockheed Martin...
The last sentence says it all. Well put, Mark.
I have to say that your comment is a little hypocritical, the United States has obtained some very high tech information and hardware from many countries, I say obtained because the United States 🇺🇸 would never steal from anyone else, but remember that we, the British, have given a lot of help and resources to the USA, we taught the U.S Navy and Marine Corp how to land the F4U Corsair on a carrier with crashing into the sea or worse the ship, we invented the “angled deck” approach to carrier operations and design and we gave the USA our first jet engine (the Whittle) so they could catch up with the technology, the USA would not have had the capability to put a man on the moon without Werner Von Braun, and others, that somehow ended up in the USA from Germany at the end of WWII, and that is to name just a few of the technologies that the United States obtained.
I do agree that the United States Navy would, at the moment, send a Chinese battle group scurrying home minus a few ships, but that might not always be the case, the Chinese are catching up with the American military technologies and equipment very quickly, and yes a lot of it was obtained by nefarious activities, and they will eventually have the same issues that the USA will have to face, the question of financing the whole thing, America has a huge debt ceiling that is getting harder to service and if budget cuts are necessary then it will almost certainly have a huge effect on the military, China will (sooner rather than later) face the debt problem as well, the Chinese don’t bother about where the money comes from they just do whatever they want and print more money to cover the costs, and that is an unsustainable way to run an economy.
Allan - As a retired carrier ”birdfarmer” who has lived in Britain for more than two decades married to a Brit, I fully agree. We are always late getting stuck in 1916, 1941) but we learn fast when we do. One final thought, if you had John Paul Jones on your side YOU WOULD HAVE WON! @@allandavis8201
I’ve been in many east coast F-14 Squadrons, starting at my training squadron VF-101 at NAS Oceana.
My home for many years when not deployed.
She was a great airplane, and Dick Cheney is behind retiring everything Grumman.
Criminal VP, terrible Sec Def under Reagan.
Made the I/O cruise onboard USS Forrestal in 1988, Vf-11 powerplants supervisor nx, 108 days straight in North Arabian sea before we did the ditch and hit Naples. Hey Joe's and cold beer at last.
I was on Enterprise 1988, VS21 SENSO. Thank you for relieving us on station. We thought you would never arrive after the fire.
I was in vf31! Got out of the navy the same day the squadron left Oceana for that cruise.
The peak of cold war flight ops
USS KITTY HAWK , 76-80, V2 DIV, Catapults.
As much as I sometimes felt (through experience) that the United States 🇺🇸 military were overly confident and sometimes aggressive you really do have to admire them, and in my opinion the U.S Navy are the tip of a very sharp spear, and compared to our new aircraft carriers we have a lot of new capabilities to learn and old lessons to remember, I am so glad that we in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 are prominent allies with the USA, not just from a military standpoint but from a socioeconomic and political perspective, yes we have our little spats but nothing to worry about, our tiny island nation are still (just about) able to punch above our weight, we might not have the quantity of service personnel that the United States 🇺🇸 has but we make up for that in quality. In my families history we have had a serving military member from 1914-2017 and the only time we were (officially) not fighting alongside our American comrades was during the Vietnam war, but unfortunately we don’t have any other members of the family that have shown any interest in serving, but never say never.
It never ceases to amaze me how skilfully and apparently easily carrier pilots make takeoff and landing look, especially landing, I don’t think it is easy but that’s how it appears to be. The deck crews are very very skilled in their craft, it isn’t just a job it is a performance in itself, like being on stage where “fluffing their lines” is not just embarrassing it could have dire consequences for the rest of the crew and aircrew’s, I am sure there are accidents and injuries due to human error but I would think that, like most militaries, they analyse the events, learn lessons and put systems in place to ensure, or at least minimise, that the same situation never arises again.
Fine of the day ❤ fly NAVY
USS Coral Sea, CV-43 v2 div 1976-80
Sweet
narrated by the pokemon narrator before he was the pokemon narrator
Awesome stuff👍... to be a fighter pilot do you have to have a moustache and a man's jaw? and 3 balls! ?
No…but it HELPS! 😀
A lot of guys would grow the "deployment" 'stache. My squadron would hold a contest for the "cheesiest" 'stache. Sad to say, I was the reigning champ...
33:00
LT Eddie Vedder, VF-10 Pearl Jammers.
Deary me! Plenty of bots in the comments section! Oh well, it all helps with the algorithm I guess?!
Lawz yes...don't know why I keep getting these bot comments. Oh well, I guess even spambots enjoy a good video ¿que no?
My Navy days the 80s, best times for aircraft and the Navy. No woke crap we have now.
Hi good to see
USS KITTY HAWK AND USS SARATOGA ABH 2
Go V1.
@@michaelmappin4425 AB's..... "THE FEW...THE PROUD......THE AB's" The HAWK and SARA..... Now may those ladies rest in pieces!
What a waste of good hull numbers, the Forrestal and Hawk Classes. I sorely miss them all…which is why I am in the audience here! @@robshef718
Saratoga was my sister ship at Mayport CV-60.
I was on the Forrestal at the time in VF-31 Tomcatters.
Thank you for your service shipmate.
@@foofghtr Thank You as well.... A few Good men at Sea!
Hi
Flagged Vessel
The real story behind “Top Gun” and “Supercarrier”.
very good documentary. We don't get this these days. Just random tatt on TV........ big shame.
There whas a time when i was young in the early 90s that some channels like Discovery or National Geographic would air docus like this. Nowadays its a bunch of crap!
yeah i posted the same comment above...... annoys me!
21:55
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Of course these beautifull tools of spreading democracy caused more wars and general suffering than any other thing and as we can see they are being hard at work again. When your skin is not the game then it must be about money.
These carriers are now the biggest sitting ducks in the navy ! They are a ridiculously expensive liability!