Lexington (CVA 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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llyirn An aircraft carrier is the brown shoe navy. Aircraft are the center of everyone's attention. We have our own weather station so we know when it is safe to fly. Our speed and direction while operating is determined by aircraft-getting wind across the deck, steering into the wind to launch planes, out of the wind to operate the helos. And everywhere is the noise and heat of iet blast. Our purpose in being and our primary offense and defense is aircraft. Flying the planes and keeping them operationally ready is the iob ofthe Air Group, a separate organization attached to LEXINGTON for the deployment. Direct ship support to the Air Group comes mainly through the ship's Air Department which has cognizance over the hangar deck and flight deck and aircraft s the -it-Q-at Irrit- air cag l4 dets: v-T catapults vf 141 2 arresting gear vmf 323 3 hangar deck va 144 4 fuel va 745 -6 maintenance va T46 vah 4 vfp 63 vaw 71 vaw 73 hui fueling station . Militarily, the Air Group is balanced to carry out a number of roles. Light attack missions are carried out by the FJ and AD. The giant, twin engine A3D is a maior weapons system designed for heavy attack. The all-weather F3H and the supersonic F8U act as fighters. Supporting functions are carried out by F8U photo aerial reconnaisance planes and WF and AD-5Q for airborne early warning. Helicoptors provide plane guard, and search and rescue capability. Each day more than T00 sorties are scheduled. The attack planes simulate strike missions against theoretical targets. Training also often centers on navigation hops or on ordnace delivery techniques. The fighters practice their CAP lCombat Air Patroll mission. CAP is LEXINGTON'S first line of defense as it attempts to intercept in- coming enemy strikes. During his time in the air the fighter pilot practices tactics. Often the two types of aircraft will engage in a friendly war with the returning attack planes acting as the enemy and the CAP running intercepts on them. The Air Department aids in this process by getting the plane in the air, recovering it, fueling it, and getting it back in the air. The department also provides many key maintenance facilities and mechaincs. Flight operations-launch and land, launch and land-is a tremendous drama enacted T4 or more hours a day by carriers at sea. Serving as players are some 200 men on the flight deck and hangar deck, each with a specific role. Forward on the flight deck one group operates and maintains the catapults, aft, another group worries over the equally complex arresting gear system. Blue-shirted plane pushers and phone talkers and yellow-shirted tractor driver muscle the planes around. Fueling is handled by another group in red-shirts. The hangar deck pushing and pulling crews account for 70 more men. The biggest problem for the Air Department is space. The flight deck and hangar deck look huge when empty but the aircraft fill them up in a hurry. Anyone walking across the hangar deck at night has probably tripped on a tie-down or banged his head on a wing. The second biggest problem is fatigue. When we operate aircraft from 0800 to 2200 it means these men go to their stations at 0630 to spot aircraft, light off the cats and get ready for the first launch. With the last plane on deck an additional hour and a half of work is necessary before securing-each plane has to be moved to its designated space and securely tied down. This makes for a long day. .QQ . catching the bridle after a launch is often a dan- gerous, risky, wet proposi- tion.

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in pon' or cn' sea the suppiy deporimenf helps LEXINGTON siay ready and fully- sfocked.

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ens laniz crash and salvage officer on the flight cleclc ihe planes are spoifecl for launch by the sweai of men's brows and faithful, powerful diesel fracfors.