"Mike P." wrote:

It was all about finding the Soviet A/C and providing escort as it found the
CV. Taking pictures, that sort of thing. I have escorted many Badgers, Bears
and Mays and have often been joined by A-7s and A-6s...no big deal.

I may have misunderstood - correct me if I'm wrong - but are you saying the
escort aircraft would allow (or escort) the Soviet aircraft close to the
aircraft carrier so it could take pictures rather than escorting it away
from any ships? If so, why?

Take it in two steps, Mike.

but are you saying the escort aircraft would allow (or escort) the Soviet aircraft close to the
aircraft carrier so it could take pictures

Take the "(or escort)" close to the aircraft carrier implication
first.. No. Our aircraft merely stay close to the other
country's [it isn't just Soviets, when they were doing it, we'd
send up our aircraft if it was a Brit, Spanish, Japanese,
Moroccan, anyone's aircraft] while the other country's aircraft
was doing whatever it was doing.

rather than escorting it away from any ships?

Our aircraft have no legal right to deny the Soviet, or any other
country's aircraft from flying anywhere it desires to over the
ocean, except for such internationally negotiated "safe distance"
requirements vis-a-vis the aircraft flying close to the
ship/carrier involved.

Just out of curiosity Mike. How would *you* go about "escorting
it away from any ships", if a Soviet aircraft persisted in not
allowing you to escort it away from any ships. Would you use a
missile on it, or go the macho route and shoot it down with your
guns? Or would you flirt with a Fox 4 by playing Turkey with the
Bear chicken trying to "muscle" it away from the carrier?

Note that we benefited from this "free access for overflights",
too. One personably memorable case was that of VMA-231, a
squadron I joined just after its "test cruise" on the FDR to
determine if Harriers [AV-8As in this case] could fit into
big-deck carrier operations. A med cruise, the timing was right
for the FDR, including our Harriers, to observe the Kiev and its
Forgers upon its first venture into the Mediterranean. We [both
the FDRs Navy aircraft and VMA-231 itself] took a *lot* of
pictures of the Kiev and its operations.
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]