Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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' Q---11--Q-Q-11:1-are-Le-fm-1-.1-A-1-r semi: .-L .- -1 -vs.:tem-vm-'ya-.-, 'a-rw-fn+f:i-gizaainbmiivmvfi . .'- ' ' T' '- if iw' 'G- - w l l f W 6 uafm . W. a E 5 T , ., . ,...7..-....-N.-L,..,.Y :wfff-.,,.,..., ..-1. if if l -,s 1 4, W lv he ea ! W Z 2 -A 'ma Air Department In her present mission under the training command, Lexington operates with approximate- ly seven types of fixed wing aircraft and two types of helicopters. She handles more landings and take-offs per month than any other carrier in the world. Her primary mission is conducting carrier qualifications for student and fleet pilots. The mission of the Air Department is to conduct launching and landing operations, including the control of airborne aircraft incident thereto, and to 'provide service and facilities for the care, maintenance, and servicing Qincluding fuelingj of aircraft. During a typical day of flight operations in the waters off Pensacola, CVS-16 might be called upon to operate with ten or twelve 'cflightsn of five or six planes each. The training command ashore states its weekly requirements, and then the Ops Department establishes the daily sched- ules. After the aircraft leave their fields ashore, Air Operations guides them in toward the car- rier and turns them over to the control of the Air Department, which supervises those planes in the traffic pattern and those actually on board. Rescue helicopters from Pensacola, which remain airborne near the ship during operations, are also controlled by this Department. Control of the aircraft is exercised through the Air officers in the tower, the Landing Signal Officer fa mem- ber of the squadron, rather than of ship's com- panyQ on the Flight Deck, and the many super- visory Air Department personnel on the flight deck and hangar deck, employing radio, light, and hand signals. Communications between the Air Officer and flight deck supervisory personnel is carried out principally by means of transistor- ized two-way radio headsets. Propeller planes in the training command rou- tinely make one pass over the carrier to 6' get the picturef, and then shoot two touch-and-go land- ings and six arrested landings during their flight. Jet trainers, because of fuel limitations, by-pass their 'clook-see pass, merely making a pair of 98 utouch-and-goes and four arrested landings Cthree for F9F's in Corpus Christij. Prop air- craft, after their arrested landings, taxi down the flight deck and take off, while the jets must be catapulted into the air. Landings are made every 30-45 seconds at Pensacola, so the flight deck crews must be extremely alert to maintain Hdeck clearn and still concentrate upon safety pre- cauuons. Air Department functions are carried out by five separate divisions with a total of approxi- 250 officers and men. An observer viewing flight operations for the first time might be confused by the color coded jerseys and helmets worn by these personnel, actually, the colors indicate the type of work performed by the wearer, thereby facilitating speed and safety of operation. All officers and plane directors wear yellow colors. This distinguishes them as overall super- visors of various groups of men andf or functions. V-1 division, wearing blue, handles all aircraft on the flight deck. These men move, planes about the deck to the catapults, and to and from the three elevators which operate between the flight deck and the hangar deck below. A small group of V-1 personnel, wearing red, must be ready at all times to respond instantly to a crash or fire on the flight deck. In the rare event of an accident, instantaneous reactions of thecrew gets the pilot out of his plane and clears the deck for the next aircraft on the way in. The Hangar Deck Division, V-3, also wearing blue colors, handles the aircraft on the hangar deck and on the elevators when at hangar deck level. These personnel must also be ready to 'ac- tuate fire fighting equipment installed on, the hangar deck. V-2 personnel, in green, control the twin cata- ' Lexington's landing path z's seen here horn the shzpis' rescue helicopter about to take station on the starboard quarter, just before Air Ops.

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