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A water-level view of the Apollo 17 Command Module (CM) "America" floating in the Pacific Ocean following splashdown and prior to recovery. The prime recovery ship, the USS Ticonderoga, is in the background. When this picture was taken, the three-man crew of astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmitt, had already been picked up by helicopter and flown to the deck of the recovery ship. The spacecraft was later hoisted aboard the USS Ticonderoga. A United States Navy UDT swimmer stands on the flotation collar. Apollo 17 splashdown occurred at 2:24:59 p.m. (EST), Dec. 19, 1972, about 350 nautical miles southeast of Samoa.

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Credit: NASA
Image Number: S72-56147
Date: December 19, 1972

The Apollo 17 Command Module (CM) "America", with astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmitt aboard, nears splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean to successfully concludes the final lunar landing mission in NASA's Apollo program. This overhead view was taken from a recovery aircraft seconds before the spacecraft hit the water. The splashdown occurred at 304:31:59 ground elapsed time, 2:24:59 p.m. (EST) December 19, 1972, at coordinates of 166 degrees 8 minutes west longitude and 27 degrees 53 minutes south latitude, about 350 nautical miles southeast of Samoa. The splashdown was only .8 miles from the target point. Later, the three crewmen were picked up by a helicopter from the prime recovery ship, USS Ticonderoga.

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Credit: NASA
Image Number: S72-55834
Date: December 19, 1972

NAS Oceana (KNTU) -- Apollo Soucek Field
Virginia Beach, VA
September 20-21, 2024 Airshow

USS TICONDEROGA during the assembly of modules 1, 2 and 3. The superstructure will be added later, good view of the sonar dome and window. Nov or Dec of 1980

Portsmouth 28 September 1985

The then brand-new guided-missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga was berthed at Portsmouth for a couple of weeks in late September 1985, in between participating in two major NATO exercises: Ocean Safari 85 and BaltOps 85.

USS Iowa BB-61 being turned for docking on Ingalls East bank in Jan of 1983. In lower foreground is west bank facilities of Ingalls with USS Ticonderoga CG-47 in berth 1 and at far-right edge is USS Caron DD-970 on the launch pontoon during overhaul. Ingalls PR photo or Official US Navy Photo

“The Skylab 2 Command Module, with astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., Joseph P. Kerwin and Paul J. Weitz still inside, is hoisted aboard the prime recovery ship, USS Ticonderoga, following successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean about 835 miles southwest of San Diego, California. The crewmen had just completed a 28-day stay with the Skylab 1 space station in Earth orbit conducting numerous medical, scientific and technological experiments. Note the inflated bags and the floatation collar on the spacecraft.”

Above taken from the caption for another photograph from the recovery operation, linked to below.

Unlike the splashdown of the final manned Skylab mission, this one was televised. The number of total views pretty much sums up the marginalization & forgotten nature of Skylab, then and of course, now...a whopping 1.4K views in 9 years. Sad:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YII3fQig1A
Credit: lunarmodule5/YouTube

Despite Bill Pogue’s statements at the following link, to me, it'll always be Skylab 1, not Skylab 2.

www.collectspace.com/resources/naming_spacecraft.html
Credit: collectSPACE website

Guided Missile Cruiser and the lead ship of the 27-ship Ticonderoga-class, featuring the Aegis combat system.

Built 1983 Ingalls, Pascagoula, USA
9,800t displ.
Stored 2004
Scrapped 2020

Atlantic Fleet Sales Postcard in collection

CV-14 puis CVA-14 et enfin CVS-14.

Image from the Roy Gjertson Collection----Please tag these photos so information can be recorded.---Note: This material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.)--Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum

From a 35mm slide. Undated mound. Photographer unknown.

The F8F Bearcat came as a result of two US Navy requirements: a fighter that could outclimb anything else in the world, and yet still be able to operate from the short flight decks of escort carriers. This was no easy task, but Grumman's design team felt it could carry it out. Working from the F6F Hellcat as a model, the new design would use the same engine and basic layout, but with a much shorter and lighter fuselage. This came at the price of range, which reduced the Bearcat to a point-defense interceptor. By the time the first XF8F-1 prototype was ready to fly in August 1944, a fast, high altitude interceptor was exactly what the US Navy needed to intercept Japanese kamikazes. As a result, a huge order was placed for Bearcats, in anticipation of the invasion of Japan.

It was not to be. When World War II ended in September 1945, the first F8F-1s were just reaching the fleet. The order was drastically reduced, but though the Navy also retired most of its escort carrier fleet, the Bearcat still found a home on larger carriers. Despite its high speed, the Bearcat was easy to fly and stable on the controls, and just as Grumman advertised, nothing could touch it in a climb. It replaced the Hellcat in service and supplemented the Corsair.

Though the F8F was a great fighter, by 1949 the Navy was looking for jet fighters. The Bearcat was gradually retired--too late to fight in World War II and too early to fight in Korea. It would see combat, however, with French Aeronavale pilots in the Indochina War. The survivors were passed to the South Vietnamese Air Force, though all were retired by the time the next round in Vietnam began in 1963.

Though most Bearcats were scrapped, quite a few survived as air racers, and modified Bearcats dominated the Reno Air Races for almost three decades. Of 1285 produced, 21 are known to survive today, many flyable.

It took me awhile to track down this Bearcat--mainly because, technically, it's not a Bearcat. There were two "civilian" F8Fs built by Grumman as flight demonstrators. These retained the company designation of G-58 Gulfhawk rather than the Navy designation of F8F Bearcat. The only G-58A was sold to the Gulf Oil Company and flown by former Marine aviator Major Alford Williams to show off the Bearcat's capabilities. Unfortunately, the G-58A was badly damaged in a landing accident in 1949, and the wreckage was bought by Ed Maloney in Chino, California--Maloney was beginning to assemble what would become Planes of Fame. Only the fuselage was salvageable, but eventually Planes of Fame was able to acquire other parts and completely restore the G-58A as a flyable F8F-2.

I was a bit surprised to find that this Bearcat doesn't belong to Warhawk, but to Planes of Fame; I visited Planes of Fame back in May. This was one I missed down there (it wasn't at Chino at the time), so it ended up being a pleasant surprise. It is painted in late 1940s-era overall midnight blue and carries the V tailcode of the USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Both Gulfhawks still exist; I can now say that I've seen both of them.

Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum
USS Yorktown (CV-10) Aircraft Carrier

Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum
USS Yorktown (CV-10) Aircraft Carrier

Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum
USS Yorktown (CV-10) Aircraft Carrier

Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum
USS Yorktown (CV-10) Aircraft Carrier

Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum
USS Yorktown (CV-10) Aircraft Carrier