A aviation & planes forum. AviationBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » AviationBanter forum » rec.aviation newsgroups » Naval Aviation
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Capt. George C. Watkins



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old October 7th 05, 02:55 PM
Mike
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Capt. George C. Watkins

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...100602034.html

Capt. George C. Watkins; Navy Test Pilot

By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 7, 2005; B06

Capt. George C. Watkins, a record-setting Navy test pilot in the 1950s
who later served as a White House social aide to three presidents, died
of a heart attack Sept. 18 at a hospital in Lompoc, Calif., where he
lived. He was 84.

Capt. Watkins, who had no intention of becoming an aviator when he
entered the Navy during World War II, had a dashing career as a test
pilot, setting records for speed, altitude and number of landings on
aircraft carriers. Late in his military career, he was an adviser for
the World War II movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and flew a Japanese plane in
the 1970 film.

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1943, he planned to be a
shipboard naval officer, and he served in the Pacific during World War
II as a battery turret officer on the battleship Pennsylvania. But when
the Navy, finding itself short of pilots, issued a call for aviators,
Capt. Watkins quickly volunteered. He received his pilot's wings just
after the end of the war.

In 1950, he entered the Navy's test pilot school in Patuxent River,
where two of his classmates were future astronauts John Glenn and Alan
Shepard. Capt. Watkins served in the Korean War as a fighter pilot
before resuming his career as one of the leading test pilots of the
fearless and swashbuckling generation chronicled by Tom Wolfe in the
book "The Right Stuff." His fellow aviators called him "Gorgeous
George."

Capt. Watkins was the first Navy pilot to exceed both 60,000 and 70,000
feet in altitude. On a single day in 1956, he set a speed record of
1,220 mph and an unofficial altitude record of 73,500 feet. In April
1958, he piloted his Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger to two altitude
records in three days, topping out at 76,939 feet and returning the
record to American hands after an absence of 14 years.

When Glenn and Shepard were chosen for the new Mercury astronaut
program in 1959, Capt. Watkins was left behind because he was an inch
taller than the 5-foot-11 height limit. In 1961, according to Capt.
Watkins's wife, he was asked to command the Navy's precision flight
team, the Blue Angels, but his orders were canceled when the Cuban
Missile Crisis heated up.

For much of the 1960s, Capt. Watkins was stationed at the Pentagon in
the Strike Warfare Division. Among other duties, he was a social aide
at the White House under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson. He helped at White House functions, organized reception lines
and assisted in other preparations, including plans for Kennedy's
funeral in 1963.

In 1965, when Capt. Watkins became commanding officer of a supply ship
off the coast of Vietnam, he promptly ordered the helicopter supply
drops to be made at night, which soon became common Navy practice. He
later worked at the Navy's information office at the Pentagon and
resumed his duties in the White House under Johnson and President
Richard M. Nixon.

One of Capt. Watkins's more unusual military assignments came in 1969,
when he provided technical support for the making of "Tora! Tora!
Tora!," which reenacted the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He
led efforts to find Navy ships and vintage propeller planes for the
movie and recruited Navy pilots to fly the old aircraft. He appeared in
the film as a Japanese pilot landing a fighter (actually an American
plane refitted in Japanese colors) on an aircraft carrier.

During his 30-year career, Capt. Watkins had an unrivaled record of
aviation achievement. In 1962, he became the first Navy pilot to make
1,000 landings on aircraft carriers and eight years later, he was the
first to log 10,000 hours behind the controls of Navy aircraft.

By the time in retired in 1973, he had flown more than 200 aircraft
models, made 1,418 fixed-wing landings on 37 aircraft carriers and
accumulated more than 16,000 hours of flight time. He had to eject only
once, when his fighter plane skidded off the edge of a carrier's deck.
His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross and the
Meritorious Service Medal.

George Clinton Watkins was born March 10, 1921, in Alhambra, Calif.,
and grew up in nearby Pasadena. He attended a military prep school in
San Diego and the Citadel in South Carolina before entering the Naval
Academy. (He was a member of the class of 1944, but graduated a year
earlier in an accelerated wartime program.)

After his Navy career, he operated a landscaping company in Virginia
Beach and became drawn to the sport of gliding. In 1982, he returned to
Patuxent River to pursue his interest.

He lived in Arizona from 1985 to 1987 before moving to Santa Monica,
Calif., where he ran a school for glider pilots. In 1998, he moved to
the central California town of Lompoc, where he taught glider
aerobatics and flew his custom Fox glider in competitions, once taking
second in a national contest.

A heart condition grounded Capt. Watkins in 2003, after he had spent
more than 21,000 hours in the air on more than 26,000 flights.

Survivors include his wife of 26 years, Monica Watkins of Lompoc; and
two brothers, John Watkins of Pasadena and retired Navy Adm. James D.
Watkins of Annapolis, who was chief of naval operations from 1982 to
1986 and secretary of energy under President George H.W. Bush.

  #2  
Old October 7th 05, 08:09 PM
W. D. Allen Sr.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Gorgeous George was C.O. of VF-191 on our 1958-59 Bon Homme Richard WestPac
Cruise. The ship's C.O. was Captain David McCampbell, the Navy's top ace of
WWII. kills. My boss in VA-192 was LCDR Wes McDonald, a future four star
admiral! Quite a high powered ship and air group. (my only distinction on
that deployment was a rough seas FJ-4B flight deck barrier crash).

WDA

end

"Mike" wrote in message
oups.com...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...100602034.html

Capt. George C. Watkins; Navy Test Pilot

By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 7, 2005; B06

Capt. George C. Watkins, a record-setting Navy test pilot in the 1950s
who later served as a White House social aide to three presidents, died
of a heart attack Sept. 18 at a hospital in Lompoc, Calif., where he
lived. He was 84.

Capt. Watkins, who had no intention of becoming an aviator when he
entered the Navy during World War II, had a dashing career as a test
pilot, setting records for speed, altitude and number of landings on
aircraft carriers. Late in his military career, he was an adviser for
the World War II movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and flew a Japanese plane in
the 1970 film.

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1943, he planned to be a
shipboard naval officer, and he served in the Pacific during World War
II as a battery turret officer on the battleship Pennsylvania. But when
the Navy, finding itself short of pilots, issued a call for aviators,
Capt. Watkins quickly volunteered. He received his pilot's wings just
after the end of the war.

In 1950, he entered the Navy's test pilot school in Patuxent River,
where two of his classmates were future astronauts John Glenn and Alan
Shepard. Capt. Watkins served in the Korean War as a fighter pilot
before resuming his career as one of the leading test pilots of the
fearless and swashbuckling generation chronicled by Tom Wolfe in the
book "The Right Stuff." His fellow aviators called him "Gorgeous
George."

Capt. Watkins was the first Navy pilot to exceed both 60,000 and 70,000
feet in altitude. On a single day in 1956, he set a speed record of
1,220 mph and an unofficial altitude record of 73,500 feet. In April
1958, he piloted his Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger to two altitude
records in three days, topping out at 76,939 feet and returning the
record to American hands after an absence of 14 years.

When Glenn and Shepard were chosen for the new Mercury astronaut
program in 1959, Capt. Watkins was left behind because he was an inch
taller than the 5-foot-11 height limit. In 1961, according to Capt.
Watkins's wife, he was asked to command the Navy's precision flight
team, the Blue Angels, but his orders were canceled when the Cuban
Missile Crisis heated up.

For much of the 1960s, Capt. Watkins was stationed at the Pentagon in
the Strike Warfare Division. Among other duties, he was a social aide
at the White House under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson. He helped at White House functions, organized reception lines
and assisted in other preparations, including plans for Kennedy's
funeral in 1963.

In 1965, when Capt. Watkins became commanding officer of a supply ship
off the coast of Vietnam, he promptly ordered the helicopter supply
drops to be made at night, which soon became common Navy practice. He
later worked at the Navy's information office at the Pentagon and
resumed his duties in the White House under Johnson and President
Richard M. Nixon.

One of Capt. Watkins's more unusual military assignments came in 1969,
when he provided technical support for the making of "Tora! Tora!
Tora!," which reenacted the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He
led efforts to find Navy ships and vintage propeller planes for the
movie and recruited Navy pilots to fly the old aircraft. He appeared in
the film as a Japanese pilot landing a fighter (actually an American
plane refitted in Japanese colors) on an aircraft carrier.

During his 30-year career, Capt. Watkins had an unrivaled record of
aviation achievement. In 1962, he became the first Navy pilot to make
1,000 landings on aircraft carriers and eight years later, he was the
first to log 10,000 hours behind the controls of Navy aircraft.

By the time in retired in 1973, he had flown more than 200 aircraft
models, made 1,418 fixed-wing landings on 37 aircraft carriers and
accumulated more than 16,000 hours of flight time. He had to eject only
once, when his fighter plane skidded off the edge of a carrier's deck.
His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross and the
Meritorious Service Medal.

George Clinton Watkins was born March 10, 1921, in Alhambra, Calif.,
and grew up in nearby Pasadena. He attended a military prep school in
San Diego and the Citadel in South Carolina before entering the Naval
Academy. (He was a member of the class of 1944, but graduated a year
earlier in an accelerated wartime program.)

After his Navy career, he operated a landscaping company in Virginia
Beach and became drawn to the sport of gliding. In 1982, he returned to
Patuxent River to pursue his interest.

He lived in Arizona from 1985 to 1987 before moving to Santa Monica,
Calif., where he ran a school for glider pilots. In 1998, he moved to
the central California town of Lompoc, where he taught glider
aerobatics and flew his custom Fox glider in competitions, once taking
second in a national contest.

A heart condition grounded Capt. Watkins in 2003, after he had spent
more than 21,000 hours in the air on more than 26,000 flights.

Survivors include his wife of 26 years, Monica Watkins of Lompoc; and
two brothers, John Watkins of Pasadena and retired Navy Adm. James D.
Watkins of Annapolis, who was chief of naval operations from 1982 to
1986 and secretary of energy under President George H.W. Bush.



  #3  
Old October 7th 05, 09:36 PM
Gord Beaman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Mike" wrote:

snip of most impressive stuff


A heart condition grounded Capt. Watkins in 2003, after he had spent
more than 21,000 hours in the air on more than 26,000 flights.

Survivors include his wife of 26 years, Monica Watkins of Lompoc; and
two brothers, John Watkins of Pasadena and retired Navy Adm. James D.
Watkins of Annapolis, who was chief of naval operations from 1982 to
1986 and secretary of energy under President George H.W. Bush.


The description "The Right Stuff' sounds pretty sickly in this
case I feel...God! what a guy!...I have a puny 13,000 hours which
sounds pretty unimpressive when you consider it was all in long
range stuff, likely 8 hour+ flights average...gee...
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
American nazi pond scum, version two bushite kills bushite Naval Aviation 0 December 21st 04 10:46 PM
Hey! What fun!! Let's let them kill ourselves!!! [email protected] Naval Aviation 2 December 17th 04 09:45 PM
"W" in 1971 (or 1972) [email protected] Naval Aviation 0 October 18th 04 05:11 AM
George W. Bush Abortion Scandal that should have been Psalm 110 Military Aviation 0 August 12th 04 09:40 AM
capt. Maurizio Pogiali- Italian Air Force peter25 Piloting 0 November 25th 03 09:40 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:15 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 AviationBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.