John DiLoreto, Captain, United States Navy, retired

Naval Career, Flight Training.
John DiLoreto, Captain, United States Navy, retired
About Me
About Me, Continued
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My Pets
Naval Career, Boot camp 1954-1955.
Naval Career, Flight Training.
Naval Career (continued)
Naval Career, VQ-1
Naval Career, Japan, Staff College and ETPS.
The Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland
VAQ-131 via VAQ-129, 1971

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Upon graduation from boot camp, I was ordered to Fire Control Technician, A School.  The school was near San Diego and I only moved a short distance.  While in A School I received orders to Naval Flight Training at Pensacola, Florida.  Other than the flight from boot camp to get my physical near Los Angeles, I had never been in an airplane.

Pre-Flight was quite rigorous.  Lots of physical training, marching and classroom work.  We had smokers while in pre-flight.  I boxed and won twice while in pre-flight.  If one boxed while in pre-flight you were given an overnight pass.  That meant that for one night you did not have to be in your bunk, in the barracks by 10:00 PM.  This was the main reason for my boxing in the smokers.

 

Upon completion of Pre-Flight, about twelve weeks, I was ordered to NAAS Whiting Field, Milton, Florida to begin primary flight training.  My flight instructor was first lieutenant, United States Marine Corps, Pete Kuntz.  Pete was a wonderful person in all respects.  I soloed in September 1955 after 21 flights in the SNJ (Air Force called it the T-6) Texan.  After soloing and completing precision and acrobatic stages, I was ordered to Saufley Field, close to Pensacola, for formation and night flying.  My formation instructor was Lieutenant “BZ” Bezore.  Another wonderful person who taught me formation flying.  BZ was not as mild mannered as was Pete Kuntz but then he had a harder and more dangerous job of teaching the art of flying wing tip to wing tip.  BZ and I met again on the U. S. S. Forrestal.  He was the officer in charge of the photo detachment of F-8 Crusaders. 

After Saufley Field, I was ordered to Barin Field near Foley, Alabama for carrier qualification, bombing and gunnery.  Barin Field was nicknamed “Bloody Barin” because of the high accident rate associated with training to land on an aircraft carrier.  To give you an idea of the difficulty encountered in flying the pattern, pattern altitude was 150 feet above the ground and airspeed just above stall at 68 knots.  On the day of my arrival at Barin, a student was killed in an accident and my new roommate had answered a request for a blood donor. 

 

Carrier qualification, bombing and gunnery went smoothly. 

 

Next was Forrest Sherman Field, Pensacola for navigation, instrument flying and more night flying.  All of the flying was in the SNJ, Texan.  For instrument flying, we were placed in the back seat of the SNJ with a hood over our heads to prevent our seeing the outside world.  We were then expected to navigate and fly the airplane with reference only to our instruments.  After Sherman Field I was ordered to Main side Pensacola for celestial navigation.  We were placed in small rooms, affectionately called broom closets, and expected to conduct celestial navigation problems. 

 

Celestial was the last step prior to advanced flight training and the double solo bar on my left breast.  Advanced training was conducted in Texas either at Kingsville, Beeville and Cabaniss Fields.  I was ordered to Kingsville, Texas.  A Naval Auxiliary Air Station in the middle of the enormous King Ranch.  My first flight in the T-28 was on 17 April 1956.  After the T-28, I flew my first jet, the TV-2.  The TV-2 was the navy version of the Air Force F-80, Shooting Star with a back seat for instrument practice.  The F9F-5 was next.  A true fighter aircraft, it had flown in Korea and was the airplane that was flown against the bridges in the movie “The Bridges At Toki-Ri.” 

 

The Blue Angels were also flying the F9F-5 in 1956.  The F9F-5 had no back seat so that the first flight and every flight in the F9 was a solo flight.  The first flight was also a section takeoff on the wing of my instructor.  The F9F-5 was flown with the canopy open on takeoff and landings as was the practice of all navy aircraft of that era.  This, of course, was because of the requirement to get out of the airplane if it went into the water while operating around the ship.  The reason I mention the open canopy is because opening the canopy on any airplane at 150 to 180 knots while preparing to land is always a thrill.  On 14 August I flew my last training flight. 

 

I was designated a Naval Aviator and commissioned an ensign in the United States Naval Reserve on 16 August 1956 at Corpus Christi, Texas.

Upon completion of flight training I was ordered back to NAAS Whiting Field as an instructor in the T-28.

 

Of the pilots in this picture, I know the following to have been killed.  Chuck "Mumbles" Schoonover was killed in a RA-5C Vigilante in 1966 and Bruce Graham was killed in a A3 midair at Sanford NAS on 17 November 1961.
 

During the Med cruise I had requested orders to the navy five term college program.  This was a navy program that had been established to allow former naval aviation cadets who had become regular naval officers the opportunity to complete their college education.  The main stipulation was that the officer must be able to complete his college education in five terms or semesters or less.  Summer terms counted.  I was selected to attend the University of Kansas although I had requested the University of Miami and the University of Hawaii.

 

During the drive from sunny Florida to Kansas it was so cold that the fuel line in my Karmann Ghia froze.  The drain in the Lawrence, Kansas motel bathroom also froze. 

 

In January of 1963 I enrolled at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.  Lawrence is a small town about thirty miles west of Kansas City, Missouri.  I graduated two years later having been given a one term extension.  I majored in mathematics with a minor in physics.  Although it may sound crazy, I really loved the study of mathematics.

 

One incident that I should confess to is the flight on which I ran out of fuel and landed in a farmer’s field.  I was flying from Lawrence, Kansas to Boulder, Colorado.  Our summer class year had ended and our professor, a retired military officer requested a flight to his home in Boulder.  The Olathe Naval Air Station had loaned the Naval Reserve Officer Training Center (NROTC) a T-34 to give orientation flights to NROTC midshipmen.  I was given permission to fly from Lawrence to Boulder and away we went.  I ran out of gas at about the ninety percent point of the flight.  After realizing that I was out of fuel, I started my landing approach to a highway but it was obvious that I would not make the highway so I selected a farmer’s field that looked smooth. 

 

At the last minute I decided to put my landing gear down and with my flaps already down I made a smooth landing on the farmer’s freshly plowed field.  I had declared a Mayday but no one had answered.  After coming to a stop, I realized that there was no damage to the T-34.  I also realized that there was a chance that I could get away with this with little or no damage to my career.  No one came to greet us so we started walking to the farmer’s house.  A woman came to meet us.  She stated that there were planes landing in the fields all the time and she thought nothing of seeing us land.  I explained that I needed some fuel.  She put two milk pails in her trunk and took us to a Phillips 66 gas station.  I filled the cans with eight gallons each of regular gas and went back to the T-34.

 

On the way back to the airplane, I requested that we ask a highway patrol officer to stop traffic on the highway so I could takeoff without any vehicle traffic to interfere with me.  The police officer was nice and he asked me if I wanted him to report the incident.  I stated that I would make the report when I arrived home.  After fueling the airplane, I started the engine and attempted to taxi to the field boundary and the highway.  The airplane would not move on the soft ground.

 

The farmwoman stated that she could tow me with her tractor.  She attached the tractor to the nose wheel and started to tow.  I was afraid the professor would succumb to the heat so I placed him on the horizontal stabilizer and away we went.  She towed the plane to the highway, I started the engine and took off.

 

At Boulder I asked for an inspection of the landing gear.  They were normal.  When I returned the airplane to Olathe I mentioned that I had landed at a farmer’s airport and requested another landing gear inspection.  It was normal.  I still have the receipt for the fuel.  I choose not to request reimbursement from the Navy.

 

Upon graduation I was ordered to VX-5, Detachment Alfa which was located at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It should be noted that the day I arrived the 784 day record of non-stop days of sunshine was broken.

While in Sanford, Florida I had made friends with Stan Balsley.  He was a lieutenant as was I.  While at the University of Kansas, I learned that Stan had been in an aircraft accident.  While attempting to take-off from Kirtland Air Force Base, Stan had allowed the AD-5 Skyraider (Spad) to torque roll on take-off.  The aircraft came back down, on or near the runway and burst into flames.  Stan was burned quite badly while egressing the airplane.  He had two other passengers who were also injured although not as severely as Stan.