The Tailhook cruise

Before i start this adventure i'd like to say a big thank you to Flyaway for giving us a decent screenshot size once more . It's very good of him and now we can all enjoy detailed shots once more.


So without further ado lets begin !

DAY 1
The Big E sits at her berth just about ready to depart, all stores have been loaded and the crew go about their duties in readiness for the moment they will leave their homes and loved ones for 6 months or more.

Soon the tugs have pulled her out into the bay and she leaves San Diego slowly heading for the open sea ready to recieve her most important cargo.....the aircraft!
The first to depart NAS Miramar is the SH-60 Seahawk, she sits engines running, ready for clearance

clearance recieved she slowly lifts into the sky

beginning her journey out to the Enterprise












The massive ship comes into view, but she won't land yet her work has already begun, she will hold just off the carrier acting as rescue just in case of any mishaps on aircraft recovery




Last edited by Welshflyer on Thu Jul 08, 2010 9:02 am, edited 2 times in total

At NAS Lemoore the A-6 Intruder squadron ready to depart for the carrier

Engines started and systems checked they begin the long taxi to the runway







Onto the runway, a quick last check....

....and she departs....

...and climbs away










The Big E passes under the nose as we set up for landing






Making sure we're ready, making sure we're lining up correctly making sure that we're sure..







Steady...steady..



Slam it down and hope we catch a wire..


..we do, so fold the wings and taxi forward.



Shut em down and watch the show


Last edited by Welshflyer on Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:37 am, edited 1 time in total

Meanwhile, at Miramar the F-14 squadron gets underway as the pilots climb in..

..close the canopies..

..start engines and taxi out



Set up on the runway and depart...







..they head out over the ocean..





..and go through the same tension as the A-6 squadron over that first landing of the cruise..



..turning onto final..

..they get the first look at the carrier..


..looking good










Taxi to park

Shut down engines and systems and go and find our bunks

We need to rest, the skipper wants night quals carried out as soon as possible.

With all todays aircraft on board the SH-60 can come home to roost.









The first of many missions sitting on station for the Seahawk.

Thanks for taking the time to view.

Night quals, always a scary time and this the first of the cruise is no different..
I don't like the colour of that sky as we carry out our checks it looks...creepy

Directed onto the cat our stomach contents turn to water..

..then, bang 0 to 200mph in seconds..





..and we climb out and raise the gear..



..and establish ourselves into the pattern for landing..









..gear down,hook down, everything ready..hopefully..

..oohh that looks small

keep it like that...

...and catch a wire





Don't get out lads, you've got another two of these to do tonight yet.

FANTASTIC, Welsh ... you have surpassed your usual standards!



Best regards ... Art

This is a great set! Nicely done welsh

Ditto!
It's great to see you Art


My problem now is to tear myself away from these incredible shots... I'm missing 'The Wire' on TV

...who cares, this is even better

Thanks WF for the time and effort - brilliant once again

Thanks very much gents , and great to hear from you again Art. There's a long way to go on this cruise yet .

nice shots...what im learning on some forums is that the photos dont mean much (not to mean yours arent good)....i just mean its the stories we tell with them that matter the most...

you have done it well welshflyer. I like the actual photo of the Big E! I rarely see anyone flying the a-6 intruder anymore....and flying it well!!

i love the night shots, gives the shots a nice effect...well done!!

i hate to ask like a newb but where did you find the a-6 intruder? or the f-14?

have a nice day!!

Thank you darrenvox it's very kind of you ! I do like to try and tell a story with my shots.

Last edited by Welshflyer on Sat Jul 24, 2010 1:18 am, edited 1 time in total

DAY3
We're not alone on our cruise our battle group consists of quite a few ships out in a screen around us. As we approach Panama for our transit through the canal, the USS Boxer launches one of her helos for a recon of the area before we pass through.



Slowly she departs on her mission

Grinding out the long hours of boredom..

..untill approaching Panama, hello look who's waitng to transit now is'nt that a coincidence

..i'm sure the boss knows it's here but we'd better let him know anyway

With that little bit of intel passed we carry out our primary mission, recon the entrance to the Panama Canal..

..and a little beyond





Before finally making the turn home

With the Boxer finally in sight we begin preparations to recover



Coming alongside..

..and gently easing her in




Another one down


Meanwhile...

..aboard the Enterprise the skipper wants a more detailed look at the Admiral Kuznetzov and an appropriate aircraft is readied for the task.
The crew climb aboard and start checking the systems



Everything checks out so time to extend the wings..

..start the engines..

..and taxi to the cat

A final check..

..and salute, then..launch

The E2 Hawkeye claws her way skyward



And makes for Panama



Now the cameras and listening devices and other secret stuff begin







Job done it's time for home



It's a bit hazy again today

Slightly left of centre

But catch one anyway



Fold em and park it

I can hear the techies running to us now

Another day down on the cruise , thanks for looking.

Welsh ... you are truly amazing, and an inspiration to us all. Thank you for sharing your wonderful talent with us.



Best regards ... Art

Excellent, excellent - I love the idea of visiting the Panama Canal and spying Medvedev's private lil yacht in the process...

This must be the prettiest Hawkeye I've seen - great wing unfolding, start-up and taxi sequence - the whole lot is mind boggling

thanks welsh...ill take a look at those for the future

Hi Welsh, your tour is fantastic. Just now to the A-6 at Lemoore... great shot! And "... and climbs away" beautiful. And many more very nice shots on that flight. Sweet landing btw. Dang... you have me wanting to fly the A-6 now and I have no idea where it is in my que governed by my compulsive disorder.

The F-14 shots just leave me speechless. Except I do have a question. Does the software really have a wire that the tail hook grabs and does it stop the aircraft? That has to be fun.

And now that I'm into the night quals takeoff... another question. Catapult? I think it must work because there is no way you could do a normal takeoff in that distance. Wow... 0 to 200 in seconds!

Beautiful chopper at the start of day 3. I have to agree with other comments, I just read... you've outdone yourself yet again! The canal scenery is spectacular - I should stop looking at forums and get back and fly to some of these places again! Except the treats here are too good to miss.

I really love that shot with the E-2 climbing out with the carry way down below!

I have to agree with effieveda.... truly amazing... and with Tailhook... excellent, excellent! A great treat once again to follow another Welshflyer adventure and story!

Thank you all for your very kind replies , i don't know how i'm going to keep this interesting for the whole cruise but i'll do my best.
Spider the Tailhook does indeed bring the aircraft to a sudden stop and the Cat throws you off the deck , there are numerous little gadgets out there for doing this like putting launch and trap zones into the FS9 CFG, but the easiest by far is rcbco-20.zip at Avsim, flightsim or simviation that you can add to the panel of any aircraft that has a tailhook and includes the sounds of launch and trap

As the Enterprise cruises through the Gulf of Mexico, at Kingsville NAS in Texas a budding Naval Aviator prepares for a training flight. He and his instructor prepare the aircraft ready for takeoff.

Canopy closed they switch on the lights and start the engine...

...and taxi down the flightline



On the runway you can clearly see the training carrier markings that our trainee has landed on many times

Clearance gained, they depart for the flight out to the training carrier





As they near their goal the instructor sprang a little surprise

"Take a look to port son, that's the USS Enterprise and the skipper has granted you permission to do a touch and go, now everyone knows there's a rookie coming and they'll all be on deck watching, so ...no pressure"

Now bathed in sweat our future Maverick begins his approach and landing drills.....

...as the stern of the huge ship looms large...

..steady..steady...

...and perfect.....

..now, POWER...

...and climb for home

Back at Kingsville the approach is a little hazy..





..but our student does'nt care he's buzzing



Mission finished, he heads for the head to change his underwear.
Thanks for viewing.

Absolutely magnificent, as usual. After seeing these, I had to change my underwear too! Thanks again Welsh.

Best regards ... Art

I absolutely love the FCLP markings at NAS Kingsville THANKS for presenting this to us! The boys at MAIW really have their act together. I might try and put cables on those markings with Rich Hogen's arrcab26.zip

May I ask, do you run the MAIW .exe installers straight through to FS9 or do you install into a Temp. folder?

The pics and commentary are as usual top shelf

Thanks very much for the kind replies gents . Tailhook i run the installers straight into FS9, MAIW do really have some impressive stuff now .

As we approach Florida we take part in a mini exercise or basically a flyover to test defensive systems with the Royal Navy, who surprisingly have unscrapped the Ark Royal for this purpose .
So the Tomcats get geared up to fly CAP (Combat Air Patrol)



And soon are ready to go on the Cats



With a salute the shooter sends them on the way...

..and have no problems getting underway







That's the last we see of them today

With the CAP launched the strike aircraft get ready...

...and set up on the Cats..

..and are launched..







While that was going on the Ark had ideas of her own, she did'nt plan on being a sitting duck and launched her Harriers..



..and they climbed out to their strike positions

So as the A-6's descended to low level to strike the Ark



The Harriers turned for the Enterprise...

..so while the Intruders hit the Ark Royal...



..the Harriers flew straight down the deck of the Enterprise..





..both ships would have suffered major damage, but there was a sting in the tail, as one of the Harriers turned away he saw a golden opportunity...

..as the pilot looked up he could'nt believe his luck, there was a juicy A-6 on final, too good to miss

Switching to guns he indeed could'nt miss..

Unlucky old boy, you may have hit our carrier but you're dead, have a nice day



Exercise completed the Harriers turned for home







There will be a major post mortem about what happened to the F-14 CAP, the CAG is not a happy man.
Thanks for looking.

Ye gods and little fishes! I feel that if I comment on one screenie I'll have to comment on every single one, as they are all right up or down my alley... (can't remember which way it actually is ).
I will say though that I like the way you tend to expose the a/c from different angles on the deck prior to TO as you did with the F-14 at the top. Also, you do that most of the time but I never get tired of it, the frontal shots just after launch.
I am also thrilled that you've included the Harrier again in your 'war games'.

nice touch

Rating: 10 out of 5

I've completely run out of words of praise for your work on these pics and stories, so ... I will simply plagerize what Tailhook said. Your efforts are nothing short of stupendous! And Tailhook, when it comes to alleys, I believe the term is up yours.
Welch, keep 'em coming, puleeze!



Best regards ... Art

Thanks very much gents, it's going to be a long cruise and i'm sure you'll get fed up with seeing planes going on and off a carrier again....and again... etc

Thanks Art, most of the time I don't know the difference between up / down - left / right - black / white - right / wrong - war / peace - dictatorship / democracy - devil / the god... oops, better get back on topic

As the British task force moved down toward Cuba after the exercise a call was recieved from a US fleet oiler that had an injured crew member on board that needed evac to a hospital ASAP. The nearest ship in the area with a helo was HMS Monmouth and she duly despatched her Lynx.
The light was beginning to fade as she spooled up and lifted into the air...




..and passed the sleek lines of the ship...

..it was only a short flight to the oiler..



...and she soon came into view in the gloom..

..and the helo passed and turned for landing on deck..







...easing in slowly, careful not to hit any superstructure..



..before touching down and rapidly extrcating the casualty...

..and heading to the base at Guantanamo bay for treatment or to be flown back to the States..











The lynx then departed for her ship..

..and she appeared in the darkness..

..and she turned for home..





..mission complete and the crew member is expected to make a full recovery

As the Enterprise sailed up the East coast of the US toward Virginia, another squadron readied to join her to shore up the ageing Tomcats. The pilots readied their aircraft for the short flight...





..and taxied to the runway..

..cleared to go they lit the burners..

..and soared skyward..

..soon reaching the carrier just off shore..



..and turning to prep for landing...

...all dirtied up they set up for recovery..

..too far right but only a slight adjustment needed..



..before slamming down onto the deck...





.....There's a new kid in town

I want those night goggles you're wearing when flying the Lynx... Dude, I'd have problems finding this ship in bright daylight

By "new kid in town" I take it you're referring to the aircraft...

Besides taking great pics you ain't a bad pilot either

Welsh ... you've done it again. I'm at a loss for words. When are you going to write a tutorial for the rest of us poor schmucks? I'm startin' to get jealous! These are toooooo much.

Best regards ... Art