191
DisasterMan
Coyle and I were not invited this time to be part of the inner
circle and eat dinner in the Flag mess.
Each carrier had two helicopters for plane-guard duty
who would be airborne during every launching or landing
fl ight operation to rescue pilots of airplanes which crashed
either while being launched or attempting to land. More of
our aircraft were being shot down by Chinese anti-aircraft fi re
than in the fi rst months of the Korean War. If one of our planes
was damaged the pilot would head for his carrier so that if he
had to crash on land he hopefully would be a few miles from
the Sea of Japan where one of our rescue helicopters could try
to land and pick him up before he was captured by Chinese
or North Korean troops. If the pilot were able to get his plane
over water, he would try to get within a couple of miles from
the carrier and then crash into the sea if he or the airplane
was not able to land safely aboard the carrier. Hopefully the
plane-guard helicopter would be able to pick the pilot up if
he had been able to get out of the sinking aircraft and infl ate
his life raft. Our task force was losing almost one aircraft a
day during the period from November 1950 to May 1951. The
Philippine Sea lost two air group commanders during these
months who were the lead aircraft in dangerous missions
but the third air group commander, Cdr. Ralph Weymouth
survived the war and became an Admiral.
When I asked if I could visit the Leyte (CV-32), the second
large carrier in the task force, the Admiral's chief of staff
agreed but pointed out that I could not go by helicopter
because of all the life-saving tasking for the helicopters. He
asked if I was agreeable to go by high-line as the Chaplains
did to visit different ships to conduct religious services. In
the high-line transfer, one ship sends a wire line to another
ship about 200 feet away which rigs a chair with a pulley
riding on the line. Then a group of a dozen sailors pulls a
rope attached to the chair so that the chair goes from one ship
to the other. If the weather is calm there are no problems, but
in rough seas the chair and occupant may get dunked. I was
lucky and had two successful high line transfers the fi rst