Fire, Fire, Fire on the Flight Deck Aft; This Is Not a Drill
An Inconceivable Story of Brave Men Battling Raging Fires and High-Order Explosions to Save Their Shipmates and the World’s First Super Aircraft Carrier
by
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IT ALL BEGAN IN AN INSTANT. At 1051:21 A flaming five-inch-diameter, eighty-pound, nearly seven foot-long solid-fueled Zuni rocket streaks across the flight deck at chest height.
At 1051:30, Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Burgess is ordered by Lieutenant Commander Bloedorn to call “Fire on the flight deck aft” over the shipboard 1MC announcing system. Lieutenant Commander Bloedorn tells Burgess what to say, and despite the terror in his dark brown eyes, Burgess repeats Bloedorn’s order word for word. Burgess announces, “Fire, fire, fire on the flight deck aft. Man all firefighting stations on the double.” Then Burgess rings the fire alarm bell at least six times over the 1MC and then announces again, “Fire on the flight deck aft.” Lieutenant Commander Bloedorn can see terror in the eyes of the young man from Macon, Georgia.
At 1052:55 In one minute and thirty-four seconds after the Zuni rocket launched, the first AN-M65A1 one-thousand-pound bomb explodes high order between aircraft #405 and aircraft #416.
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About the Book
In March of 1967, Ken Killmeyer became a crew member of USS Forrestal CVA-59, the first of the super aircraft carriers. In 1995, Ken was offered the position of historian of the USS Forrestal Association. During his time as a historian, Ken began collecting personal experience narratives of crew members who were aboard along with him during the worst naval disaster to befall a ship since World War II. Ken has combined those stories with USS Forrestal’s deck logs and the official investigation report into the cause of the Forrestal fire and has given the reader an undeniable window into this devastating event. Ken takes the reader on a journey like none other, from high above the busy flight deck on the navigation bridge down to deep within Forrestal’s hull in the hot, steamy engine rooms. The reader will hear from the crew in their own words what they experienced before, during, and after this most tragic day in the lives of USS Forrestal’s Westpac 1967 crew. Further interest in USS Forrestal can be obtained using the following source: —USS Forrestal Association Inc., www.USS-Forrestal.com —Facebook.com, USS Forrestal CVA-59, CV-59, and AVT-59 —Facebook.com, USS Forrestal CV-59 —Facebook.com USS Forrestal AVT-59 Decommission —Facebook.com USS Forrestal Crew Members
About the Author
Ken Killmeyer, a native of the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now lives in Northern Virginia. Ken is the proud father of one daughter and two sons and is the grandfather of three wonderful grandchildren. Twenty-two years ago, Ken began a journey to write the story of the Forrestal fire. All aboard that day vividly remember what they experienced. Here in this book, Ken has joined their shared experiences into one story. Ken takes the reader along with his fellow crew members as they first experience a surprising accidental rocket launch, then billowing smoke, and then all-consuming fire. And then the first one-thousand-pound bomb explodes high-order. Men were burned, injured, and kill in this most tragic event. You will be with these brave men in real time as they risk life and limb to rescue their shipmates, battle the raging flames, and save their ship.