CUT THE WINGS OFF THE AIRPLANES??? (20)

The real title of this one should be: "If you want to find out the truth, just say, show me." The catchy title is just to get your attention.

Background: Fact #1. The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is a place that is extremely corrosive to metals. First, the salt spray leaves a film of salt on the aircraft, and if you've seen cars rusted out from salt, you know what that means. But even worse is the "stack gas" that rolls out of the ship's smoke stacks depositing ash and particles of sulfuric acid on the salt-damp airplanes. Worse still is the fact that airplane skin is aluminum and the screws attaching it are steel. Why is that bad? Because if you put steel and aluminum together in an electrolyte (salt water), you have created a battery that just loves to create galvanic corrosion, real nightmare for aircraft maintenance.

Fact #2. One of the Navy's corrosion-combating items was a special oil that would actually get down under the water and salt and protect the metal. It was called "Water Displacing Oil, Mil. L-V800 - sort of a "heavy duty" WD-40. (I'll never forget it!) But, obviously, it had to be applied to do the job.

Fact #3. The Navy's system of maintenance in those years was broken down into specific periods such as daily, weekly, monthly, and by flight hours. The required tasks were listed on what we called "cards." There were "Daily Cards," "Monthly Cards," etc. The idea was that the boss could hand a card to a maintenance person, and he would go to the assigned aircraft and carry out the actions listed on the card.

In 1962 I left my seagoing Fighter Squadron, VF-143, and moved over to shore duty as an instructor at the training squadron - VF-121. A couple of years later, 1964, I had become Maintenance Officer. I was in charge of about 60 airplanes and 600 men. Part of my job was to train the maintenance men for the ten seagoing squadrons. I watched the squadrons with interest to see how well my trainees did their jobs. I was greatly disappointed when my old squadron, VF-143, returned

from an 8 month cruise to Vietnam and their airplanes were found to be badly corroded. In fact, the large hinge pins for the folding sections of their wings could not be withdrawn. They had to be CUT OUT. Wow! Major bad. I looked at the maintenance requirements for this hinge and found that it was listed on the "Weekly Cards" to be treated with the V800 oil. Had they done it? Was it a failure of the oil to do its job, or was it a failure of the sailors to apply the oil? Well, there was a huge flap over the problem, and I tucked it away in my little brain for future reference.

Now, jump ahead to six months later. The airplanes had all been overhauled and returned to VF-143. the training cycle was nearing an end, and the squadron was preparing to leave for another 8-month stint in Vietnam. In every case, as part of the preparations for a "cruise" an "Operational Readiness Inspection" is held. Now, guess who was designated to go out aboard the carrier (off the California Coast) and conduct the "Maintenance" portion of the inspection? right - Me.

Consider! This is the squadron that had neglected maintenance so badley that the wings had been cut off their airplanes! Did they learn their lesson? Would I find that they were carefully carrying out the maintenance requirements necessary to prevent a recurrence? More to the point - how could I find out?

First, I looked at several of the airplanes. I pushed a calling card down into the wing fold. It came out clean - no oil. I went to the "Line Shack," the space where the crew that services the planes hung out and asked to see their "Weekly" cards. they said: "We don't keep those, the Quality Control Division has them." So, I went to the QC space and asked the same question. Guess what? their answer was: "We don't keep those; the Line Division has them.

That's right, folks! It was Deja Vue all over again. Two major points: First, if I had asked someone in the squadron if they were carrying out the requirement on the Daily, Weekly, Monthly, etc. cards, the answer would have been, "Of course!" A simple "Show me" gets to the bottom of it every time. Second, even BIG lessons learned don't stay learned.

The unbelievable irony in this story is that the Commanding Officer of VF-143 was one "Doc" Townsend. So what? Well, some three years earlier, my squadron was about to head home from a long cruise in the Western Pacific. One of the final hoops to jump through was an aircraft "Corrosion" inspection by Commander Fleet Air Japan while we were in port at Yokosuka for a couple days on our way home. I was the Maintenance Officer because I had been the Asst. MO and my boss had died when he "hit the ramp" while attempting a night landing. So suddenly, I was responsible for the state of corrosion on our 12 F3H aircraft.

And, who was the inspecting officer who came to look at my airplanes? Are you ready? That's right right, it was "Doc" Townsend - then a Lieutenant commander. It's a small, small world!!