A few weeks ago I got a phone call from a fellow named Tim Hampton, a historian with the USS Hornet Aircraft Carrier Museum in Alameda, CA. 

For those who don't know, during World war Two the U.S.A. launched 16  B-25 Army Air Force bombers off the Hornet near Japan in 1942 not too long after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Doolittle raid, as it became known, was led by Lt.Col. Jimmy Doolittle. It was a success in that we were able to bomb Japan and bring the war home to them. They were shocked that we could retaliate so quickly and bomb their homeland. It changed the Japanese mentality about our capabilities. Lt.Col. Doolittle got a Medal of Honor and a double promotion to Brigadier General for his leadership of the mission. 

 

USS Hornet as it sits at Pier 3 in Alameda, the same pier 

where the original Doolittle Raid departed. 

Here is a link to the museum itself:  

https://uss-hornet.org/visit-hornet/exhibits

Photos by George Retelas

Here is a link to that mission on Youtube:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=youtube+doolittle+raid+on+japan&atb=v314-1&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtEhFhF-KfY4

That particular ship was sunk by the Japs later in the war, but another carrier was under construction, so the powers that be named the new ship Hornet. The Japanese called it the "Ghost Ship" because they knew the had sunk it, but it seemingly reappeared soon after.

Historian Tim Hampton and his filmmaker, George Retelas, have been doing an exhaustive search of the archives in MD and DC to find every member they can who crewed aboard the Hornet and are doing extensive oral interviews. One day in the MD archives, someone who remains unknown, said to them, "Hey I know of a guy who flew helicopters off the Hornet," and told them my name. Tim found me online, phoned me to ask if they could interview me. He knew by then that I had not actually flown off that carrier, but an H-34 helicopter on board the Hornet is from my squadron in Vietnam, and my log book shows that I flew that one 3-4 times in Vietnam. (BuNo. 150553 for those who care about such things.)

Years ago my daughter did a short film for me  about my rescue of an U S Air Force pilot in Laos while I flew H-34s for Air America. This particular H-34 is featured in that short documentary. See Youtube: "The Rescue of Raven 1-1"

Yesterday, 11/3/2023, we rendezvoused at the Hornet. I brought along one of my best grammar and high school buddies, Gary S. and we met up with Tim and George at the ship. Here is a picture of that H-34 helicopter from near the rear of it:

Here are good buddy Gary and me in front of the H-34. YZ-63.

See our squadron logo, the Lucky Red Lion on the nose art...and on my shirt and on my hat.

(It's on my tee shirt, too!)

I got to climb up into the cockpit and claim the helicopter as my own. Tim directed and George filmed.  I will post the finished version of the interview online soonest. 

George filming me in the cockpit. (Usually the pilot sits on the right side, 

but for this filming, the lighting was better to film with me sitting in the left seat.)

Me sitting inside the H-34 with a pilot's helmet on my leg, and a copy of the 

official flight manual for an H-34, known as a NATOPS book.

After about an hour of filming, we were done, so Gary and I wandered all around the ship, looking at all the displays. (I was working on becoming a docent on the ship in 2008 when we decided to move to Idaho, so I know my way around the ship a bit.)

I kissed the old beastie on the nose.

We wandered around the flight deck and the hangar dec. We saw about a dozen different aircraft in the hangar deck. Up front near the forward elevator I spotted a T-28 like the ones I flew in flight school. 

I walked around it  but it was being repainted ghost white, with no ID numbers visible.

It will soon have a shiny new paint job with bright orange wingtips and tail tip, as they were in the  Naval Air Training Command near Pensacola in 1965. I wondered:  Had I ever flown this one?

We adjourned to a TIKI bar in Alameda for our "After Action" 

debriefing and had fancy drinks with tropical flowers in them.

Tim and George affixed a sticker from my squadron on the overhead beam of our booth in the TIKI bar.

While were were talking, I happened to ask Tim if he knew where I might determine the BuNo of the white T-28 Gary and I saw. He noodled with his phone for a few seconds and provided me with that number. I just happen to have in my phone a screenshot of the list I  made a few months ago of every 

T-28 I have ever flown. We compared numbers, and LO!  I had flow that very T-28 at North Whiting Field in 1965. (Details upcoming.) The two historians sat up straight, their eyes brightened with an amazed look on their faces! In all their research over several years, they had never encountered anyone who had flown TWO of the aircraft on the Hornet. I became their hero right there on the spot.

Tim is a former Marine Corps Corporal, so we hit it off on that level, too. His Grand Uncle flew off the Hornet during WW 2 and was lost at sea while returning from a strike in 1945.  George's Grandfather and Tim's Grand Uncle were friends having served at Guadalcanal in the same squadron, so these two fellow have a close family connection to the ship.

That is all...

until next year when we plan to do another interview about my flying that T-28 in Florida.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn't plug my books:

and...