Naval aviation

Cause I could, we could see the writing on the wall.

Like my career is over in Naval aviation.

That's very rigid timing.

You don't recover from getting benched for two years.

He and I first met in the late summer of 1917, when he was just out of Yale and, like the rest of us, was swept up into the systematized hysteria of the war.

In the blue-green uniform of the Naval Aviation, he came down to Pensacola, where the hotel orchestras played “I’m Sorry, Dear,” and we young officers danced with the girls.

Every one liked him, and though he ran with the drinkers and wasn’t an especially good pilot, even the instructors treated him with a certain respect.

He was always having long talks with them in his confident, logical voice, talks which ended by his getting himself, or more frequently another officer, out of some impending trouble.

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Welcome to the Naval Aviation Ready Room podcast, Legends and Leaders.

I'm Rear Admiral Kyle Kozed, President and CEO of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.

And I'd like to personally invite you to join us as we explore the stories, leadership, innovation, and experiences that have shaped Naval Aviation.

From legendary aviators and visionary leaders to the cutting-edge technology that keeps naval aviation at the forefront of global operations, we'll take you beyond the exhibits and into the ready room where history is made, lessons are learned, and inspiration takes flight.

Whether you're a naval aviation enthusiast, a history buff, or simply curious about leadership and service, pull up a chair and step into the ready room.

All right, welcome back to the Naval Aviation Ready Room podcast.

I'm Ryan Keyes, Captain, United States Navy Retired, and Director of Operations and Strategy at the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.

And then from there, I went to Naval Special Warfare Group 2, where we got to work sports medicine along with dive medicine and the rest of the human performance team.

And then I had Rear Admiral Brophy up into one of our spaces where he was able to see exactly what we do, and he got the itch to want to do that for naval aviation.

So I told him, "Sir, well, if you wanna do this, I could likely help you.

You just need to figure out how to get me on your staff." And I guess he said, "Challenge accepted," 'cause here I am on his staff.

And yeah, let's get into it.

You're a sports medicine physician.

How did you end up trying to change the way naval aviation approaches human performance?

That's a great question.

This event caused six aircraft and their crew to go missing.

The Coast Guard, Navy, and Naval Aviation personnel searched over 25,000 square miles of Atlantic and Gulf waters for five days but found nothing.

The Flight 19 tragedy resulted in the loss of 14 men, while 13 more were lost during the attempted rescue by PBM Mariner.

Many theories attempt to explain different phenomena, ranging from environmental factors and human mistakes to hexagonal clouds, methane hydrates, electronic fog, the lost city of Atlantis, and yes, even the paranormal.

They all knew each other in those days.

It was a tight-knit group of explorers charting the way into the future of naval aviation.

On November 18th, 1922, Commander Ken Whiting climbs into a Naval Aircraft Factory PT seaplane sitting on a carriage rigged to the ship's catapult with Langley anchored in the York River.

Nobody has ever been catapulted off an aircraft carrier anywhere in any navy.

They've done it off of a turret from a battleship, but not off of an aircraft carrier.

Kenneth Whiting was placed on the retired list on the 30th of June in 1940, and he never made admiral, which is astounding for everything that he did, and it was called a scandal by some.

He retired as a captain in 1940, but he was immediately retained on active duty because the Navy could not afford to lose him.

He was serving as General Inspector of Naval Aircraft for the Eastern Division in New York.

So I was nervous about the troops in Syria, for God's sakes, National Guard, boy, they've done a great job with a handful of, you know, company minus a Bradley fighting vehicles and a bunch of drones overhead.

And by the way, thank God for the U.S. Air Force and Naval Air, who will come in to a half dozen isolated troops.

I don't like U.S. forces being on the ground in tiny numbers.

Now, poor Iraq.

I'm Bill Hambot, the editor-in-chief of Proceedings at the Naval Institute, and it's great to have the Air Boss, uh, Vice Admiral Doug Verissimo, call sign V8.

He is the commander of Naval Air Forces, uh, which means, uh, he's in charge of naval aviation readiness, uh, all the squadrons in the Navy, all the F-18s, and Growlers, and P-8s, and everything, uh, plus all the aircraft carriers.

So it's a, it's a grand scope of responsibility.

He's a career naval aviator.

I get it.

Um, well, sir, aircraft carriers have been in the news, um, uh, front and center for the last, you know, really five, six months since Epic Fury kicked off.

Uh, so naval aviation out there on the front line doing a lot of great stuff, right?

That's right.