The consequences for a naval aviator of landing on the wrong aircraft carrier

@DefAviation ES 7·08·2023 · 23:47 0

The US is a major naval power and its Navy has a sizeable fleet of large aircraft carriers, often deployed jointly.

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A well-known phenomenon among those of us who are very fond of aviation is what happens when a naval aviator makes the mistake of landing on a different aircraft carrier than the ship from which he took off. It has happened on a few occasions, and usually the plane of the pilot in question suffers the effects of the jokes it has received from the crew members, such as @JavierKD1537 showed today in an interesting Twitter thread. You can see below some of the images that he has published and others in which we see what happens when these mistakes occur: the plane of the pilot in question is covered in graffiti.

This Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat of VF-7A squadron upon its return to USS Leyte (CV-32) , in late 1947, after having returned to the wrong carrier. They even painted a drifting hammer and sickle on it.

Two Chance Vought F-4U Corsairs assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CV-37) landed by mistake on the USS Boxer (CV-21) in 1952, during the Korean War. The planes were covered in graffiti by the crew of the Boxer.

One of the two Corsairs in the previous photo. They even had white paint drift from the planes.

A photo in which we see some of the graffiti made on one of the Corsairs that landed by mistake on the USS Boxer.

A McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee of VF-34 Squadron, the 408th. It also got the wrong carrier after a mission. I have not been able to locate the date of the photo and the ship on which it was taken.

An F2H-2 Banshee (cn 125019) from squadron VF-62 "Gladiators", assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CV-43), landed by mistake on the USS Wasp (CV-18) during a deployment in the Mediterranean Sea on October 12, 1952. Among other graffiti, one reads: "Must be Air Force".

A Grumman F9F-5 Panther of VF-111 Squadron , 184, early 1953. It was assigned to USS Boxer (CVA-21) and landed on USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39).

Two other Grumman F9F-5 Panthers from VF-111 squadron (127191 and 127173) that landed by mistake on USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) on June 30, 1953. Between both aircraft suffered more than 80 graffiti, according to Mike's Research< /a>.