[Jim Nunn]

I was stationed on the USS Intrepid during the last hassle in south East Asia. When we were on Yankee station off North Vietnam we would be flying 4 to 6 sorties per day and would go through a hell of lot of ordnance. We would usually go along side a munitions ship every 5 or so days and replenish our stores. A lot of the ordnance we used was leftovers from WWII and the bomb casings on the 500 and 1000 Ponders were thin and brittle. I saw several of them break open when they would hit the deck to hard. This was usually followed by the sound of gasps from every one and then the bomb would be rolled over the side.

I have read that one of the reasons the Forrestal went up so quickly was due the thin bomb casings.

On another occasion I was making sure that the railing wouldn’t fall off the ship and watching flight ops while we were launching A1H Spads. As the next Spad was revving up to 100% power just before launching the 1000 Lb daisy cutter dropped of the centerline of the aircraft. In one move 2 Green Shirts (catapult personal) ran towards the aircraft and grabbed the spinning fuse on the bomb. Then 8 or so red shirts (ordnance men) grabbed and man handled the bomb back on to the aircraft, rewired the hard points, reset the fuse. After a quick inspection the aircraft was launched. I doubt if these guys received anything more then a pat on the back it was all in a days work to them.

Jim Nunn