"...Naval aviation has little in common with that of land-based flight, such as the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which is a wholly land-based operation. The advantages of aviation in the maritime environment are obvious and distinct and naval aviators contend with a multitude of variables not experienced by their Air Force counterparts. Here Australian Navy Skyhawk pilot Keith Johnson explains why:
Many naval aviators are often asked, ‘Why join the navy to fly in preference to the Air Force?’ According to most, the primary reason was the challenge of operating from an aircraft carrier at sea. The three light fleet carriers to serve with the RAN all had one thing in common; their deck could move up and down many feet in as many seconds, offering a test of skill and professionalism not available in other forms of flying. A sea-going airfield presented other challenges too. The carrier could sail more than 2,000 miles in a week, with rapid changes in climatic conditions and introducing new terrain to test the pilot’s navigational skills. But the naval flyers’ greatest test was the launch of the aircraft with the aid of a catapult and landing on a tiny moving runway using the arrester wires. Before any attempt at carrier operations could even be envisaged, each pilot would be requested to make 100 simulated deck landings at NAS. This was normally followed by 20 carrier landings and a similar number of take offs before the more demanding task of night launches and landings."
"...Like all aircrew of the aircraft carrier era, Rogers completed his training with the RAAF and was awarded his wings. This milestone did not qualify Rogers to fly with the navy; further training had only just begun. Rogers explains that in the age of aircraft carriers gaining your ‘wings’ was only the beginning for naval aviators as the navy ‘take you back to Nowra and teach you to fly.’ Fellow pilot
Clive Mayo clarifies this statement:
You learn the basics with the Air Force and then the navy teaches you to use the airplane. When you get back to Albatross we will teach you how to use the airplane, not just to fly it, but how to use it and take it to its limits. Without ammunition the Royal Australian Air Force would be the world’s most expensive flying club.
Flight training, either fixed-wing or rotary, is a dangerous undertaking that few members of the FAA forget. Dowsing recalls his initial training being challenging on many levels with a high percentage of trainees lacking the essential component - determination:
It’s a highly demanding job, both in terms of the job and just getting there, the learning process. I’m using a pilot as the example because that’s the one I’m comfortable with, but anyone can learn to fly, a monkey can fly, it’s just whether you’ve got the time to teach him. With time comes expense. In my course more than 50 percent didn’t pass the course. I started with 11 navy guys and three of us actually finished, two of us are still in the navy. You’ve really got to want to do it, it will test you, to become a pilot is a damn hard course, physically, mentally and academically.
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Clive Mayo recalls his lucky escape and the unexpectedness of getting shot and wounded in flight:
It was May 21st 1970 and it was my American co-pilot Ted Muellers’ first flight in country. It was a combat assault in Ben Tranh and we were flying number three, in formation, and I said to Ted, I think you’d better take it because I think I’ve been hit. He just took the bloody aircraft off me, got on the radio and started screaming; ‘the AC’s been hit! The AC’s been hit!’ I said for Christ’s sake Ted, shut up! The Iroquois had quick release bolts on the pilots’ seats so that if someone got hurt the crew in the back could pull the pins out of the front seats and just throw the pilots’ seat back on its arse into the back of the aircraft so they could render first aid. I’d been hit by shrapnel all down my arm although I didn’t really feel anything, just looked down at my glove and there’s blood seeping through. The next thing I know I’m flat on my arse in the back of the aircraft and I’m bandaged from shoulder to fingers. I couldn’t fly and Ted’s in a panic and all over the place. I took the cyclic and he’s got the collective just to stay in formation and then I got the crew chief to take off most of the bandages so I could take control. When we eventually got back I had a good look at my arm, it was a bit of a mess with lots and lots of holes. It seems a couple of rounds have come into the aircraft, shattered and picked me up on the way past. There were holes in the instrument panel but nothing life threatening. I finished the day and then saw the medics at Bearcat.
The skills needed to operate and survive in Vietnam were many and Mayo recalls incidents where pilots demonstrated them all:
We did some awesome formation flying in Vietnam. We got blasé in formation; I mean in 1400 hours I was up there probably at least 1100 hours were in formation of 10. We got so blasé that we would fly with our wings overlapping the bloke next door. There were a few mid airs but no one was killed but a few airplanes got broken. The maintainers with whom we still have a very strong bond, used to say ‘for Christ sake you blokes, stop flying so bloody close you keep breaking these bloody things!’ You could bring an aircraft back full of bullet holes and they’d patch it up overnight and you could go out the next day and get some more and it was ‘can’t you blokes stop getting this ****, stop doing this ****!’ Sorry. There were some very good days but there were some very bad days.
On entering the mess at Nowra one night after returning from serving in 9 Squadron RAAF in Vietnam, John Brown was met with aggression:
When I first got back to Nowra I walked into the mess one night with my ribbons on and a commander, not an operational type, he was a supply commander, turned to me and said ‘take that **** off! It’s not a real war!’ The XO at the time was Norm Lee [FJ pilot extraordinaire] and I complained to him about it and he went and reamed this commander out and that fixed that. There was a lot of aggro.
https://www.faaaa.asn.au/wp-content/...use-We-Fly.pdf (2.2Mb)