On 9/8/04 1:16 PM, in article , "Mike
Kanze" wrote:

Woody,

I remember reading about this one, although not in the detail you shared.
IIRC, wasn't this the very last A-6 operational loss?

Owl's rant on target-towing: It's bad enough when humans are aiming the
guns. GMGSN Murphy - and his JMSDF equivalent - crews every battery. To
someone like me schooled in the quirks of radars and black boxes it's just
plain lunacy to send a manned aircraft past a hot CIWS. You KNOW the
radar's gonna go for the most significant return up there. From time to
time this won't be the TDU. In Rooster's case it was that big ol' flying
drumstick.

Good rant.

The way the pattern was designed, the CIWS wasn't SUPPOSED to be hot until
after the aircraft passed over the ship (perpendicular to the ship's
course). THEN and only then was the ship permitted to arm the gun and take
the targeting radar out of standby--at least that's the way I understood the
process.

Obviously, the knucklehead-sans on the Yuguuri (?) didn't totally understand
the process. We took revenge later by taking out one of their fishing
traulers with a sub.

The concept of the mission did make the hair stand up on the back of my neck
a bit, but I personally never had a bad experience with it, and I don't
remember of any other except for this one. These days, I think they use
contracted Lears to do the job. I've never seen a pod mounted on an S-3 or
a Hornet.

As an aside, I know that the CIWS was a really good shot. I never reeled a
target back in.


Or maybe this was just payback to the account of someone's WWII-era
ancestor.

Last I heard, Rooster was flying for United.

Hope Rooster has a secure alternative for his pension.

Owl sends.

Amen.

--Woody