I have been told that that is me in the colour image above. I was a young and stupid 22 year old. Beachball was my Senior Pilot after 'Whacka' P. (much respect to both). I was on board for 3 cruises in 1980/81 and always got a cut (often 'blue water' cuts from the jet LSO's).
I recall a funny article, possibly in Approach magazine where the group of LSOs on a large US carrier kept passing around the pickle switch as a COD entered the pattern, but no one on the platform was sure how to a handle it. Maybe it was the C1, the COD derivative of the Tracker. It was titled 'Who's Gonna Cut the COD?'.
Last edited by Captain Dart; 29th Jul 2017 at 23:49.