Off to "Dodge"

We had the honor of hosting RADM Tommy Brown on our flight to Diego Garcia.  We installed the special "VIP" package (mainly a special covering for crew station seats as far as I could see).

Andwe  were off.  Or maybe not.  We had a problem with the main gyro in the flight control system.  This item was listed as required for over water flights.  We orbited  overhead whilen we got the problem sorted out.  RADM Brown took the delay in stride, but we  were soon off.  The rest of the flight was uneventful.

Diego Garcia (or "Dodge") was a unique place in the 80's.  With the Soviets in Afghanistan, it was a focus of the Cold War at that time.  

While the weather was great on Dodge, the facilities were not.  Quarters were quonset hut bunkrooms with semi-open air bathroom facilies in the outside.  The Officer's club was pretty good though.  I expect permanent residents spent a lot of time in it, there not being a lot of other things to do.  The water was inviting, but inadvisable due to the density of predatory sea creatures about,  Fishing was excellent, however.

We were there to conduct ocean surveillance missions over the Indian Ocean.  These are flown at low altitude (perhaps 500').  We identified surface ship contacts by flying alongside.  Ships were classified and if possible iidentified.

For the Tactical Coordinator/ Mission Commander  (myself), this was generally an straightforward though perhaps lengthy  operation.  I sat on the equipment bay behind the pilot (see photo) as we made our approach, with clipboard and recognition sheet.  Crewmembers were briefed about what specific characteristics they should note.  For example, the radioman might be directed to note the stack configuration, the aft observer masts and kingposts, etc.  One rule was that the co-pilot had no other duty than to keep us from flying into the water.  I recorded the data on the ship after we passed, then on the next one.  Repeat 50 or 60 times.

Surface traffic could be quite dense in the Indian Ocean, so the radar operator and navigator could be quite busy providing headings to the next contact.  The data from our flights were entered into a maritime database and combined with other sources and continuously updated.  The Navy likes to know where everything is on the coeans.