15 JAN 44
At 0550 on the morning of 15 January Navy Yard personnel were already hard at work and Princeton’s mast had been removed from the island’s superstructure.
Recall from the 1/11/44 log entry:
“Damage to this vessel as a result of the crash: IFF steering wheel antenna was completely demolished; YE homing antenna reflector, homing beacon reflector, and drive shaft bent, possibly broken; SC-2 radar suffered slight damage to antenna array; signal halyards, signal yardarm, and gaff with colors and commission pennant carried away; slight damage to upper sets of vertical fighting lights and truck light.”
In the photo below, imagine the aircraft impacting the the mast between the YE IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe) beacon and antenna, the SG (Microwave Surface Search Set) and the SC-2* (Long Wave Air Search) radar array.
Digression. I hesitate to speculate on the cause of the accident, but from looking at this photo, and especially considering the forward location of the island and superstructure on this class of carrier, I find it difficult to imagine, but not out of the question, that this could happen to an experienced pilot (Ens/LTjg/LT Eubank was a combat-experienced aviator and had been with the Air Group for a couple years). That said, I consider almost all the friends and shipmates I’ve lost to have been better than I ever was. I’ve also seen a variety of incredibly experienced pilots cheat death on more than a few occasions.
The moral of the story? There is little to no margin for error in aviation, and perhaps a bit less in Naval Aviation.
I can, however, imagine a scenario: LT Eubank overshoots his approach slightly, leaving him lined up right of centerline as he approaches the landing area. I can imagine the LSO giving him a waveoff signal, requiring immediate application of full power and maintenance of landing attitude. The TBF-1 was powered by a 14-cylinder radial piston engine that generated 1700 horsepower. The T-34C aircraft in which I learned to fly generated 550 horsepower. At full throttle, it took most of the strength in my right leg to push the right rudder pedal with enough force to counteract the torque it generated through the spinning of the prop shaft. Imagine that LT Eubank is a half-second late in applying that rudder force. He is immediately "behind the airplane” and needs to push even harder. There are instances where, no matter how hard he strains his right leg, the situation has become hopeless. He can pull power to reduce the torque, but now has windscreen full of superstructure over which he can’t climb. His TBF, already lined up right, drifts further right as he tries, unsuccessfully in this case, to avoid what in the literal blink of an eye, a situation that has become inevitable.
To reiterate, the above is complete speculation on my part and we will never know what actually happened. The only thing we know is that it was a tragedy for a man and his family. Today, we would convene and Aircraft Investigation Mishap Board that would complete, within a 30-day time limit, an exhaustive look into every possible aspect of the causes of the accident, the results of which would be published and disseminated to every squadron in the Navy as lessons to be learned.
Back then? Not so much. Again, there was a World War on and things to be done.
End of digression.
Concurrent with the superstructure repair effort, the Naval Ammunition Depot was restocking the ship’s ammunition magazines with…
82 Mk 123, 124 and 125 long delay fuzes
- a primary purpose of long delay fuzing is area denial. For example, drop several bombs with this type of fuzing on a runway or airport ramp area, a few with a 1 hour delay, maybe a few more with 2 and/or 6 and/or 12 hour delayed fuzing. After the first working party heads out to repair a runway and bombs start going off at seemingly random intervals, it’s going to put a damper on their “whistle-while-you-work” attitude. Which is the point.
During my early training in the A-6E Intruder at NAS Whidbey Island, WA, I remember sitting in a flourescent-white classroom being trained by a crusty Senior Chief Petty Officer. He explained delayed fuzing as only a salty old “Ordie” (Ordnanceman) could:
“So we’ve got this delayed fuzing capability. You set the delay. You deliver the weapon. Nothing happens. The commie gomers you dropped it on come out of hiding and start sniffing around with their commie gomer noses. They find the weapon and think <exaggerated scratching of head, imitates Russian accent> ‘Moost be dud. Stoopid Merikanski’ ... and then? ... BOOOOMMM! No more Rooskies!”
Is it wrong that this still makes me chuckle? I don’t think so. Slava Ukraini!
In addition to fuzes, the following bombs and primer detonators were onloaded:
225 Mk. 14 primer detonators
126 Mk 64 500 pound general purpose bombs
36 1000 pound general purpose bombs
236 100 pound fragmentation clusters
It seems that Safety and Arming wires and lanyards haven’t changed much. If it ain’t broke, it don’t need fixing.
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