Jump to content

Looking for a primer on carrier flight deck personnel


Recommended Posts

Ive been messing with a carrier deck diorama (F-14 launch), and pretty much have their colored uniforms handled, but now I'm noticing that the cranials don't always match the shirt/tunic and often have different colored stickers on them (sometimes a rectangle alternation orange and green for example). 

 

Is their a publicly available primer or page from some Navreg book that explains all

of this?  Open source photos and the toms of reference materials I have don't really explain any of this. 

 

I'd like to do my best at getting it right.  

 

Thanks,

 

Chris

Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, Superheat said:

Thanks Tom, but what about some of the stickers and markings on the helmets?  Personalization or does each marking have a meaning.   

 

Ive been using this website for a bit but still looking to cover some of the finer details.  

 

Thanks,

Chris

Link to post
Share on other sites

Swimmer,

 

It depends on the time frame you are doing and CAG.

 

Back in the 80's the east coast CAG's/Squadron's were not very strict on their cranial markings, the west coast were so there will be a lot of variations.

 

The list in the link Superheat posted is not 100% accurate.

 

PM me your e-mail address and I'll send you the list from the official source (The CV NATOPs), which covers the past 20+ years. Anything further back I can tell you what is different from the CV NATOPs list.

 

To answer you're question about the stickers, some were personalization and some where official, just depends on the sticker.

 

An example of a personalized sticker, on the back of my cranial for the 85 and 87 cruise I had the AO rating symbol with the flaming bomb having an 8 Ball symbol.

Edited by GW8345
Link to post
Share on other sites

I was East coast (CVW-1/VF-33) in the mid 80s and yeah, cranial designs were very much an individual thing. The only thing we had to do was have some minimum area of white reflective tape. That amount escapes me. Also most cranials from that era would have a 2"x2" or so square of black velcro on the front, this was supposed to allow you to stick your strobe light on your head in the event you went into the water. Our squadron PRs made black velcro stars so we had stars instead of squares. I might have my old fleet back shells somewhere, if I can find them this weekend I'll try to post some pics.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The reflective tape area was 6x6 inches on the back and 3x6 inches on the front with a 2x2 inch piece of Velcro on the left side of the front.

 

When I was in VF-103 Sluggers our Velcro was the shape of an arrow.

Link to post
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, GW8345 said:

The reflective tape area was 6x6 inches on the back and 3x6 inches on the front with a 2x2 inch piece of Velcro on the left side of the front.

 

When I was in VF-103 Sluggers our Velcro was the shape of an arrow.

Thanks GW. 

 

If I don't do or add stupid stuff to the cranials; think I'll be safe?

Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, GW8345 said:

Yes

What time frame are you thinking?

 

 

Mostly late 80s to early 90s.  I do want to keep it somewhat neutral so I can drop an F-18F/F-35C down to even an F-4 and keep it somewhat authentic looking.   The JBL is from Skunkworks (total POS), so that limits things to Nimitz and beyond.  

 

Chris

Link to post
Share on other sites

If you want it kind of generic then yea, go with plain markings.

 

For the late 80's/early 90's the east coast CAG's were cracking down on cranial/float coat markings so you could put a black/white checkerboard on the troubleshooters/final checkers. For the yellow/green/blue shirts you could put a squadron zapper (sticker) on their cranial. For the Ordies (Red Shirts) put "CAG ARM" on the back of their float coats and cranial.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...