Preparing to Recover Aircraft - Plane Guard is on station.

From the Webmaster: What Brad is talking about when he says "Plane Guard is on station" is the ship in the background behind the Kitty Hawk in the above picture. Whenever we launch or recover aircraft aboard the carrier, this ship is there.  One day in 1978 while I was stationed on the Kitty Hawk, we had a Russian ship following us right in the place where the Plane Guard ship was supposed to be. On the intercom came the words, " Prepare to Recover."  I knew that we were going turn into the wind and I would have some great shots.  I climbed up the ladder on the back of the tower up to the Crows Nest. Here you could see and hear all of the action. It was great! 

I was watching the Russian ship following us very steadily in this exact position. Looking toward of the Kitty Hawk, from the left came our Plane Guard ship. He was coming into position very fast and wasn't messing around. His course was going to take him directly into the side of the Russian ship. At the speed that he was traveling there was little chance of missing the Russian ship unless the Russians would move out of the way. 

That's exactly what happened. The Russian ship turned to his port and avoided being rammed and cut into half by our Guard ship.   A very exciting maneuver to watch.

As far as the actual function of the Plane Guard ship, I really don't know. If anyone knows the answer to this, please send me an email at the bottom of this page.

C. Jeff Dyrek   Click Here to See Russian Aircraft Models, Books, Movies and More.