Show WELCOME ABOARD the philippine SEA second of three articles by albert W epperson who was a guest of the navy recent recently fy on a cruise in the pacific after a good nights sleep aboard this large carrier which was still docked at north island we ate a hearty breakfast and then thea 8 07 r r 77 ak 1 4 r opi Z T pow r moo I 1 the philippine sea as she appears underway in the pa diflo watched mooring nsF operations we ve were underway around for or a five day trip that was to be most enjoyable and informative at we took on fuel from the platte and then we turned to for our area ot of marten maneu vers reaching this area at 1000 we observed AA gunnery practices large laige tive in chera and 45 MM AIM striking at targets from positions on the flight deck decka looking at the plan of the day we inquired about the notation general quarters which was listed during gunnery practice we found out that when the siren is sounded all personnel must remain in the quarters that they are then occupying we were informed of this in plenty of time so we were on hand to see the show it was my good fortune to be invited to see operations from inside a five inch gun turret thirteen ee men ope operate rate the two guns in the turret and eight men are just below supplying powder and projectiles jec tiles to the gun crew I 1 had always a been under the im that the brass casing containing the powder and the projectile were in one piece similar to a rifle shell this is not the case the case containing the powder has a cork tip to hold in the explosive it is placed in the gurt gun next to the firing device and the projectile Is placed in the gun jut ahead ot of it you should see those abos boys boy operate the powder and projectiles ate aie tran berred to tile turret by smil small vieva tors and ac wh man has ith his own lob in the aji filing ing one in inin in places the pow dir di r in the gun the next puts in the projectile and another fired ire it it II ill all ilone done in ili a mattei ol of ec on h s and is a sight to iee ice A real jolting tile the turrets are eldru conically controlled coni con rolled in aiming ut at the he target and it 11 tile the concesion concu conc hion of 0 the filing ill ins that bo bothena bot hend therod me so much is it 11 v w is tile the jerking jerkan of the turret burx et in ili it 11 motion bark and forth rth that fairly jarro my eye teeth I 1 also had a chance to i lutt the target through a telescope in the turret while firing coming through this experience with a continued to pago page 8 philippine SEAS continued from page 1 black eyes eye from the bouncing I 1 got the target in this case was a radio controlled airplane which did roll roil overs dives and dips at the hands of 0 another pilot in a neaily plane other targets were towed by planes so that john ropers gunnery crew could have their training the big show but the main show we had come to see was the carrier lanill landings 1 and takeoffs take offs of jet and propeller type planes this was the great greatest estl show we have ever seen a thrill a minute with our lists hats off 1 to the young men of uncle sams samal navy air corps and those who direct the operations the ope operation tation we observed was the training of young pilots who had never before landed or taken off the deck of a carrier their previous pi evious training had been solely on land so it was thrilling to see them operate on a practical basis basist defore before flight operations begin the hello copter Is launched from the flight deck and two destroyers take their positions one on the port side left and the other tra trailing 1 I 1 at some distance and sl slightly 1 1 y to starboard stai stat board the destroyer on port side aide serves as a guide to tho the pilots tor for making their turn prior to landing the helio hello copter acts in a rescue capacity as do the destroyers st the planes stored on the hanger deck one deck below the flight deck are transferred to the flight cideck deck by huge hydraulic elevators I 1 their wings are up prior to the warm up and those making flights are placed aft on the flight deck preparatory to the take off ot this thi deck is i feet in length find and planes flying ott off start at the center ot of the deck two huge catapults are located on the forward portion of the deck for laun launching chi of this type to be continued |