Originally Posted by
Bergerie1
Mog, Tell us more. That is a very interesting story - only 90 secs of fuel left on a dark and dirty night!!
The sortie was meant to be a “training” trip to complete my night deck qual and was supposed to be my first inky-poo landing. We were scrambled to cover the Tristram and Galahad after the first attack and witnessed the carnage from the overhead.
I was just approaching Bingo fuel when a further attack developed and the two of us got stuck into 4 Skyhawks at extremely (below 50’) low level. I splashed 2 with AIM9, one at V close range and one who evaded, then emptied my 30mm at a third without a gunsight (but managed 1 hit on the port flap) before pulling off. My #2 splashed him with a L and we both headed home without enough gas to get there.
luckily the ship headed towards us at max speed which allowed us to just make it back for a straight-in, glide approach from 90 miles, only touching the throttle for the first time at about 500’ as we cleared the cloud. Loads of braking stop, power and flare, followed by “expeditious” VL with the fuel low level lights flashing madly.
300 lbs remained on shut-down (200lbs/min in the hover) and pilots notes suggest up to 300 can be unuseable depending upon attitude (aircraft not pilot!).
Luckily they kept the bar open for us.
Mog
PS I am now very close friends with the fourth guy, who got back to Argentina being towed by a Herc, as fuel peed out the back of his Skyhawk as fast as it went in the front.