Local man served on Canada’s air craft carrier

Ron Phillips OSNA (right) with his first operational detachment (VS 880 crew) in November 1959, as a junior ASW and long range radio man. (Contributed Photo)

Robin Krafft, Post Contributor

At the age of 18, in August 1957 after the tobacco harvest was finished on his family farm, Ron Phillips and his cousin joined the navy.

He went to HMCS Prevost in London to join and was later sent by train to Cornwallis, NS. Stepping off the train, Phillips described what they were told in no uncertain terms by their commanding officers, many of whom were Second World War veterans, "Our job is to turn you into somebody fit to serve in her Majesty's navy!" Basic training, or boot camp, was a tough, disciplined 20 weeks, including both military and navy/seamanship training.

"You learned to rely on each other real quick," Phillips said. "You had to be fit, and if you weren't fit they were going to make you fit, but I was a farm boy, I was used to a lot of hard work and getting up and doing things."

He described the pace of that time, saying, "Everything was double time, you went everywhere at a dog trot, the only time we were allowed to walk was Sunday afternoon."

A young division officer suggested that he apply for air crew training, and after numerous assessments and medical clearance he was selected to start the course. Only half of his class got their wings.

He was the youngest of the air crew members, having just turned 20 before his first operational detachment in November 1959 as an Observer's Mate on the flight crew assigned to the HMCS Bonaventure.

"I was Shearwater Ship's Company, detached to the Bonaventure,” Phillips said. “When the squadron went to the ship, we became a member of the crew, but not the ship's crew."

The large air crew consisted of 36 pilots and 36 Observer's Mates, later called Naval Air Crewmen, and support crew.

Named after the bird sanctuary in the Gulf of St Lawrence, the light fleet aircraft carrier was the successor to the HMCS Magnificent. Work on the ship, originally the HMS Powerful, had stopped in 1945, resuming in 1952, with improvements such as an angled flight deck, removal of the crash barrier, and a steam catapult. "Bonnie" arrived in Halifax in 1957.

The aircraft onboard originally included McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee jet fighters, Grumman CS2F Tracker ASW aircraft and Sikorsky HO4S helicopters. At sea on exercises, the ship was escorted by destroyers and frigates to aide in their ability to perform as a hunter-killer group.

By 1958, the HMCS Bonaventure was able "to conduct around-the-clock sustained operations, keeping four Trackers and two H04's in the air at all times, saturating an area of 200 square-nautical-miles with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft." (sevenyearproject.com) During the Cold War, the whole North Atlantic was covered by NATO aircraft carriers, long range patrol aircraft and listening devices. A key area for Soviet submarine activity, it was an exercise in deterrence.

The CS2F Trackers seated pilot and co-pilot in the front and two observer's mates in the back.

"We ran all the anti-submarine equipment and communicated with Morse code, in the dark, in this little narrow seat with a red light shining on your knee and a pad, listening to Morse and writing,” Phillips recounted. “This was before satellites, and once we flew out of line-of-sight, that was the only way to communicate, especially when we were flying close to the water."

The other observer's mate had to keep their eyes glued to the radar screen for anything that wasn't supposed to be there.

"You had to be a good multitasker," Phillips explained. "You had to listen to the pilot and the co-pilot, and every communication could be in code, so you had to get your code book out and decode."

Their typical eight-hour duty included a five-hour flight, wearing an uncomfortable watertight exposure suit that was meant to protect them if they ended up in the water.

"As a NATO member, our job was to make sure that the USSR knew that we knew where they were," Phillips said. "They had to come up to get a real navigational fix so we would try to prevent them from getting into position. They were doing exercises too."

He added that they spent a lot of time monitoring Russian fishing fleets, with their trawlers and processing boats, because they were often used as a cover for submarines.

A hundred Grumman CS2F's were built by deHavilland Aircraft in Downsview, designed to be a carrier-born aircraft and to hunt and kill submarines.

"They were good, tough," Phillips said, "made for being slammed onto an aircraft carrier’s deck and designed for low level flights, just high enough for radar to function."

They flew in any weather. Take-off and landing on the aircraft carrier could be quite challenging.

A steam catapult launch was used to get the planes into the air, going from 0 to 90 mph in about 90 feet. A sling was hooked to the front, and a delicate steel weight was attached to the tail to keep it down, designed to withstand so much pressure and then break away.

"The CS2F was capable of taking off from the deck without the catapult if the wind was right, but the jets needed the catapult to launch,” Phillips said.

Preparing for landing, "We came in hot, fast, hard in case we had to try again," Phillips said, "and when the ship bounced up and down it wasn't bad, but if it corkscrewed, the runway could move several feet either way as you were trying to land."

The Trackers were equipped with a tail hook that would be lowered to snag one of several wires on the runway before the wheels slammed down.

Phillips spoke with admiration about the incredible flying skills of the pilots, but he also talked about the aircraft handlers, responsible for positioning, launching and recovering aircraft.

“Those were the guys I had the most respect for,” he said. “There was howling wind, propellers, they’re rolling around the flight deck… It was all choreographed disaster, that’s what it looked like until you realized what they were doing.”

Everyone on the flight deck wore different coloured skull caps so that they were identifiable, He described the crash crew as, “Two or three guys in bunker suits and fireproof suits with hoses and fire suppression stuff. You were always glad to see those guys on deck.”

Phillips referred to his flight log, showing that on Nov. 25, 1959, over the North Sea, they had been unable to land despite making five passes. The weather had closed in on them with crosswinds, rough seas and a low ceiling.

"We came out of the clouds, and we were right over the ship," he explained. They flew to Scotland and stayed for the night, catching the ship the next day.

Phillips left the Navy in September 1962, having flown a total of 1,097 hours in the backseat of a CS2F. He was married and acknowledged that "it's tough life for married people." He took over running the family farm and later got into agricultural real estate appraising work.

CS2F #1577 is located in the Warplane Heritage Museum at Hamilton airport and is presently being restored to flying condition.

“My logbook indicates that I flew in that aircraft six times,” Phillips said.

Phillips described the danger and fatalities that occurred, pointing out the inherent risks involved in service, under any circumstance. Remembrance should include all those who served, as well as those who faced combat. Even during training exercises, accidents can occur, and the diligent training required for readiness to respond involves multiple hazards.

"We lost 14 pilots and aircrew in the five years that I served," Phillips said. "I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time."