Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL) March 24, 2003
Truman crew feels reality as it joins action Fighter pilots have wealth of support
By Rachel Davis, Times-Union staff writer
ABOARD THE USS HARRY S. TRUMAN -- Before the fighter pilots climb into the cockpits of their Hornets and Tomcats, before they fly to where missions call, a handful of other aviators execute a quieter, less-famed liftoff from the flattop.
Jacksonville-based helicopter and Viking squadrons operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea aboard this carrier and the USS Theodore Roosevelt bookend the more noisy, attention-getting missions of the fighters.
They are the first to leave the carrier deck and the last to come home.
The HS-7 Dusty Dogs, flying the SH-60F Seahawk helicopter, lifted off last night a little more than a half-hour before the 'strike package' of fighters glided off the tip of the warship. The squadron's mission: plane guard and search and rescue.
'When they go in the water, we go and pick 'em up,' Lt. Cmdr. Mark 'Lumpy' McManus said. The 34-year-old piloted one of the helicopters for the Truman's first night of strikes.
The night was much of the same, McManus said, except for one alert call from a Coast Guard cutter operating in the area. The cutter spotted what seemed to be a fast-moving vessel headed in the direction of the carrier.
As McManus navigated his bird in the direction of the threat, the ship immediately went into a defensive mode, manning side guns off the fantail.
It was nothing. False alarm. An accidental blip on the cutter's radar, perhaps.
And the mission continued.
High above McManus' helicopter, the VS-22 Checkmates, flying the S-3B Viking, were positioning themselves to refuel jets en route to Iraq. The Viking's primary mission as a mid-air refueling tanker for the carrier's fighters requires an initial refuel just after launch and others as needed when the jets are on their trek home.
The Checkmates' missions the night of the Truman's first airstrikes lasted about two hours. There were two strike packages launched and dozens of fighter aircraft seeking fuel.
Lt. Cmdr. Wayne Cross has been flying the S-3 for 12 years and participated in his first combat mission Saturday.
'I guess you are just anxious to get out there and do it. After 14 years [in the Navy] you got to do something that makes a difference,' Cross said, relaxing in the Checkmates' ready room aboard the carrier.
As Cross recounted his flight, several pilots were scattered about watching news networks and carrying on. A large banner with St. Patrick's Day greetings hung on the side wall of the briefing room.
The strike mission Cross and McManus supported went as planned, the admiral of the Truman battle group said.
'These have been difficult missions and considerable distances have been flown . . .,' Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said. 'They have been precise in their attacks, and they've been successful to date with all aircraft having returned from their missions.'
The first night's targets were a headquarters building and airfield in the southwestern part of the country. For the past four days, surface ships from the Truman and Roosevelt battle groups have been conducting daily Tomahawk land-attack missile strikes.
Pilots with the carrier air wings have reported seeing some fire barraged from the ground, seemingly undirected. No aircraft from either battle group operating in the Mediterranean have been hit, Stufflebeem said.
Coalition hits can be seen from the cockpit.
'There is no activity of Iraqi aircraft, so what they see is a lot of each other moving back and forth to various targets,' Stufflebeem said.
The night wasn't incredible, intense and emotional solely for those wearing khaki-colored flight suits camouflaged the same as the desert over which they flew. Those who supported the strikes felt it, too.
'The flight deck takes a different tempo. People realize this is real,' McManus said.
During combat flight operations, everything is more serious, it seems, more real.
It's eat, sleep, fly, he said. Eat, sleep, fly.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Sean McGowan is a search and rescue swimmer for the squadron and flew with McManus that first night.
'It definitely hit me that this is the real deal,' he said. 'Now we're doing this for real, not some game or training.' Staff writer Rachel Davis can be reached at (904) 359-4614 or at racheldavis@jacksonville.com.
GRAPHIC: Photo: 05met_truman032303 05met_trum Don Burk/staff A helicopter from Jacksonville-based HS- 7 hovers near the USS Harry S. Truman as fighter jets prepare to launch from the flight deck. The helicopters go up first and land last. Photo: Airwing graphics32403.eps Source: Globalsecurity.org. Federation of American Scientists VS-22 Checkmates
Copyright © 2003, The Florida Times-Union
