Aircraft Carriers: Kitty Hawk and Constellation, CV63 and CV64

[darkormex]

clif, I have been on the Constellation, CV64 sometime between 1995 and 1996 when I was living in Korea. At the time, I was the American Chamber of Commerce representative in Pusan, Korea and would get invitations to tour via the American Consulate. I have several pictures of the visit. I was able to bring along the staff of the sales department at the hotel I worked in at the time on this tour. I am the tallest one of the bunch.

[darkormex]

Here is another picture taken on the flight deck in front of parked F-15s. I have a number of these photos and would be happy to post more if you are interested. I felt it was best to put them here rather than hijack the Pearl Harbor thread.

[clif]

I love looking at pictures of the Kitty Hawk!! How cool that you got to tour! In that first picture, if you look right above your head all the way up to that double row of windows ... I worked right in that corner on the bridge (the top row was the actual bridge, the second row was actually an area for the Task Force Command ... and was often not used at all) ... when I wasn't standing watch out on that roundish looking little deck right next to those windows.

[crazyquilter]

more pictures please

[clif]

are you sure that's the Kitty Hawk?? The number almost looks like 64 ... which would be the Constellation! Very similar ship in all respects ...

[darkormex]

clif, it is possible that I am wrong but I have a strong memory of it being the Kitty Hawk and I think I even have a brochure that we were given when we toured that had Kitty Hawk printed on it. Before I posted these pictures I looked for a number to verify and could not find it...where do you see it?

[darkormex]

clif, I see it now...and I think you are right, it was the Constellation, not the Kitty Hawk. I was lucky enough to have been able to tour a couple of different aircraft carriers that came into the port of Pusan and I may have confused the two. I can still post these pictures if you want me to.

[clif]

oh yes I spent a lot of time around the 'Connie' as well ... was the Kitty Hawk's sister ship!

[darkormex]

clif, the photo below I can verify was taken on board the Kitty Hawk as it was given to me, attached to the front of a thank you card with the inscription, "Thank you, Darrin for a wonderful day! Ray and Kay Turner, September 1994, Aboard the Kitty Hawk, Pusan, Korea". I had accompanied several members of the Chamber that day on a tour. The suit, tie, shirt combination I am wearing are truly cringe-worthy...I have grown up since then....

Also, I have created a thread specifically for pictures of the Constellation and the Kitty Hawk as we would have hijacked the "A Face Behind the Name" thread.

[clif]

The Kitty Hawk visited Pusan in 1984. I do not have fond memories of that port ... was bitter cold (was early March), had my wallet and some other items stolen, ate some bad food, ... all in all not one of my favorite port memories

I mostly erased that perception of S. Korea with another visit many years later ... spent about three weeks in Pohang on the east coast and a week in Seoul. Loved Seoul!!

[darkormex]

clif, here are the rest of the photos from the Constellation tour. I may or may not have more photos from the tour of the Kitty Hawk...I feel as if there are more but I think they are stashed in the trunk in our living room. At some point I will have to dig them out. For now I hope this gives you some opportunity to reminisce.

The other person's name is Willie but I forgot his last name...20 years ago after all. He was head of United Technologies in Korea at that time. They were making F-16s (I think) out in the Kimhae area, outside of Pusan.

[darkormex]

Dec 7, 2014 17:55:19 GMT -5 clif said:

The Kitty Hawk visited Pusan in 1984. I do not have fond memories of that port ... was bitter cold (was early March), had my wallet and some other items stolen, ate some bad food, ... all in all not one of my favorite port memories

I mostly erased that perception of S. Korea with another visit many years later ... spent about three weeks in Pohang on the east coast and a week in Seoul. Loved Seoul!!

I'll bet you ended up on Texas Street, didn't you?  If so, it was not a good area when I was there either.  Since I left in 1997 I understand that it has been cleaned up and cleaned out and much of it is gone.

[darkormex]

This is a photo of a group of ROK military getting ready to tour the ship.

[darkormex]

A longer view of the ship. The person on the ramp is Willie's wife...I don't remember now how they ended up with myself and our sales staff on this tour...it is also possible he is the one that invited us. As someone directly involved in the manufacture of aircraft for the military I am sure he would have gotten an invitation.

[darkormex]

[darkormex]

A long shot view taken as we were either arriving or leaving. I just remember it being a long walk....

[darkormex]

Another shot of all of us on the tour. Willie would have been taking the photo.

[Gordon Lee]

Dec 7, 2014 17:00:05 GMT -5 clif said:

are you sure that's the Kitty Hawk?? The number almost looks like 64 ... which would be the Constellation! Very similar ship in all respects ...

Dec 7, 2014 17:10:04 GMT -5 darkormex said:

clif, it is possible that I am wrong but I have a strong memory of it being the Kitty Hawk and I think I even have a brochure that we were given when we toured that had Kitty Hawk printed on it. Before I posted these pictures I looked for a number to verify and could not find it...where do you see it?

Dec 7, 2014 17:12:17 GMT -5 darkormex said:

clif, I see it now...and I think you are right, it was the Constellation, not the Kitty Hawk. I was lucky enough to have been able to tour a couple of different aircraft carriers that came into the port of Pusan and I may have confused the two. I can still post these pictures if you want me to.

Greetings Mr. clif and Mr. darkormex
.
Okay, I give up.  Where is the numeral "64"?  (I've been looking at postage stamps all day and my eyes are having a hard time getting to focus.)
.
Respectfully,

Gordon Lee

[darkormex]

Gordon Lee, in the first photo at the top of the thread, center-left, there are a group of what look like 6 square windows. clif will probably be better able to answer but there are what look like white, flourescent light tubes strung together around these windows. They create the outline of the number 6 which is easier to see and you can see the angle of the number 4 to the right of the 6.

[clif]

Dec 7, 2014 18:19:18 GMT -5 darkormex said:

Dec 7, 2014 17:55:19 GMT -5 clif said:

The Kitty Hawk visited Pusan in 1984. I do not have fond memories of that port ... was bitter cold (was early March), had my wallet and some other items stolen, ate some bad food, ... all in all not one of my favorite port memories

I mostly erased that perception of S. Korea with another visit many years later ... spent about three weeks in Pohang on the east coast and a week in Seoul. Loved Seoul!!

I'll bet you ended up on Texas Street, didn't you?  If so, it was not a good area when I was there either.  Since I left in 1997 I understand that it has been cleaned up and cleaned out and much of it is gone.

oh yes ... as a young man I didn't always do smart things ... I'd blame it on bad company and all ... we had a lot of fun in a lot of places. Pusan just wasn't one of them. Part of the issue was that we were required to wear our dress blues out on town. Navy dress blues (for enlisted men) had sixteen buttons on the front panel of the trousers. Drinking beer was an issue.