BZ LOTHAR
From today's Times
Matthew Collins is Royal Navy’s man on board US aircraft carrier John C. Stennis
Among the American Hornet fighter pilots in 14 Squadron’s briefing room, an English accent betrays the presence of Royal Navy exchange pilot Lieutenant Matthew Collins, 27, from Bury St Edmunds, call sign “Lothar”.
The cachet of being the first British pilot to fly aboard a US aircraft carrier comes with a price in the form of a little light ribbing. “Lothar”, it transpires, is an acronym for Loser of The American Revolution. “Making fun of each other is pretty much all we’ve got,” said Mr Collins with a smile. “Don’t worry, I give it all back.”
He has been flying with the squadron for two years, in a programme that will be crucial to Britain’s own future aircraft carriers. When the first of two British Queen Elizabeth class carriers is launched in 2016, the Royal Navy will relearn skills that have atrophied since the last of the Harrier jump jets flew from the scrapped carrier HMS Ark Royal in 2010. Dozens more pilots and crew will follow Lieutenant Collins to provide the seed corn for the new capability.
“You have to do it flawlessly, day in, day out and the American Navy are the most experienced in the world at this,” he said. “They say the lessons learnt for doing carrier operations, are written in blood. On TV you don’t get a sense of how controlled, how on their game, everyone has to be.”
There have been incidents. An aircraft exploded on the deck of USS John C. Stennis last year, although no one was injured. In the USS Forrestal fire during the Vietnam War, 130 sailors died when an aircraft on deck launched a missile by accident.
Landing aircraft is the greatest challenge. In rough conditions, pilots must judge their approach perfectly — aiming for a two foot by two foot vertical window, which translates into 20 feet of deck where the principal arrester wire is stretched.
Miss the four wires, as happens regularly, and the pilot must perform a “bolter”, throwing open his afterburner to take off again as the deck disappears from under him. Misjudge that move and a watery grave awaits.