The "Flying Laughters"

Imagine for a moment that you are a Navy aviator flying off of a carrier just off the coast of Vietnam, and as each day goes by you sit in the briefing room with 30 fellow pilots, and that you know one will probably not make it back to the carrier. You just hope that today is not the day you don't make it back. What follows is a story about one of those pilots, and how it all turned out for him.

 

 

John Laughter was born into a family of aviators in Horse Shoe, North Carolina, a small agricultural area along the French Broad River. Very little of John Laughter's early life is known; however, we do know that his father served in World War II with the 101st Airborne unit, and on the second day of the Normandy Invasion, his father was severly wounded which ended his military career. The wound his father suffered required even a steel pin to be placed in his leg. Despite that, his father wanted to learn to fly, and after 4 hours of flight instruction he soloed, and he soon earned his Private Pilot license. His mother, who had a fear of flying, overcame her concerns and also became a licensed pilot, the second female pilot in western North Carolina. Thus the name the "Flying Laughters."

 

 

It also turned out the John Laughter's uncle gave flying lessons to young pilots during WW II, using a Stearman biplane. He became an airline pilot, and soon took his nephew John Laughter for his first flight in a Temco Globe airplane. John Laughter fell in love with flying, deciding then and there he wanted to become a fighter pilot, and then an airline pilot. John remembered going to the airport with his family when he was only 10 years old, and sitting in the cockpit of a Stearman. As life would have it, in 1985 John Laughter purchased that very same Stearman biplane.

 

 

A photograph of a 1948 Temco Swift GC-1B aircraft similar to the one John Laughter flew in.

 

A photograph of the instrument panel of a Tempco Globe Swift airplane.

 

 

Upon graduation from high school John attended college at East Carolina College, North Carolina, and in his third year of college he received an opportunity to fulfill his dream of becoming a fighter pilot. Navy recruiters came to the campus and offered John an opportunity to take a flight in a T-34 Beechcraft Mentor training aircraft. Of course John said 'Yep, this is for me." He signed up to join the U.S. Navy, and arrived at Pensacola in December of 1964. 

 

A photograph of a T-34 Beechcraft Mentour in flight, similiar to the one John Laughter took a ride in.

 

Specifications of the Beechcraft 45 Mentor:

The Beechcraft Model 45 Mentor (T-34) was a single-engine two-seat trainer aircraft built by Beech Aircraft Corporation between 1953 and 1959.

• Crew: 2;
• Length: 28 feet, 8 inches;
• Wingspan: 33 feet, 4 inches;
• Height: 9 feet, 7 inches;
• Powerplant: Continental O-470-13 225 horsepower piston powered engine;
• Speed: 246 mph;
• Service ceiling: 25,000 feet;
• Range: 690 miles;
• Empty weight: 2,960 pounds;
• Maximum takeoff weight: 4,300 pounds.

 

 

John still had his youthful rebellious nature, and figured the U.S. Navy would have an airplane waiting for him when he got to Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. He soon found out that wasn't the way things worked, and quickly realized that everything his father had taught him made sense. His father was a disciplined man, and that helped John through his primary training. John attended pre-flight school at Pensacola, and then attended flight school at Saufley Field. As he progressed through his training learning basic aerobatics he kept wondering whether he would fly piston or jet aircraft. 

 

 

Luckily, John was chosen to fly jets and headed to Meridian, Mississippi to master flying the North American T-2 Buckeye. 

 

 

John Laughter in his flying suit at basic jet training in Meridian, Mississippi.

 

 

A framed print of the North American T-2 Buckeye U.S. Navy jet trainer like the one John Laughter learned his skills.

 

Specifications of the North American T-2 Buckeye:

• Crew: 2;
• Length: 38 feet 8 inches;
• Wingspan: 38 feet 2 inches;
• Height: 14 feet 10 inches;
• Propulsion: 2 General Electic J85-GE-4 turbojet engines 2,950 lbf each;
• Speed: 535 mph;
• Service ceiling: 45,200 feet;
• Range: 1,70 miles;
• Empty weight: 8,115 pounds;
• Maximum takeoff weight: 13,179 pounds.

 

 

John soloed in the T-34, but after becoming proficient in the T-2 he returned to Pensacola for gunnery school and carrier qualification. Carrier takeoffs and landings were mastered off the USS Lexington, which was stationed out in the Gulf of Mexico (now the Gulf of America.) John remarked that his first carrier catapult shot was breathtaking, but perfect. The carrier landing went fine because of all the training the Navy had given him.

 

 

Next, he was off to Chase Field in Beeville, Texas, where he trained on the F-9 Cougar and the F-11 Grumman Tiger. For the most part all training went well - except for one flight. Flying an F-11 Grumman and coming off of the gunnery range the 'low oil pressure' light came on. He immediately rolled off and headed to Corpus Christi while calling in the emergency. On approach he let the gear down and the airplane starts falling out of the sky. He had to shut down the engine on final approach and make a dead-stick landing after sucking the gear back up. He made it ok. All of his experience and training now came into play.

 

 

Vietnam War

 

 

Laughter was then assigned to VF-124 squadron at Miramar Air Station near San Diego, CA, where he mastered the Chance-Vought F-8 Crusader supersonic Navy fighter. During this time he also married his sweetheart, Ms. Carole Bowden. After winning her heart he then reported to the Sundowners of VF-111, and by April of 1967 set sail for the Western Pacific  aboard the USS Oriskany at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin, just off the coast of North Vietnam.

 

 

A photograph of a Vought F-8 Crusader about to launch off of an aircraft carrier.

 

Specifications Chance-Vought F-8 Crusader:

• Crew:  1;
• Length: 54 feet, 6 inches;
• Wingspan: 35 feet, 2 inches;
• Height: 15 feet, 9 inches;
• Propulsion: Pratt & Whitney J57-:-20A 10700 / 18000 lbf;
• Speed: 1,120 mph;
• Service ceiling: 58,000 feet;
• Range 1,000 miles;
• Empty weight: 17, 836 pounds;
• Maximum takeoff weight: 34,044 pounds.

 

 

Upon arrival he met some pilots who had flown from the USS Oriskany from the year before who briefed him on their experiences, but it didn't help much as the new targets were Hanoi and the port of Haiphong. Laughter's job was to fly combat escort for flights of Douglas A-4 Skyhawks on 'Iron Hand' missions, some flak suppressiion missions with Zuni missles, and photo recon escort. 

 

 

A photograph of John Laughter in front of his Chance-Vought F-8E Crusader jet.

 

 

"Iron Hand" missions were to suppress North Vietnamese SAM (Surface to Air Missile sites) to safeguard American stirke aircraft from Soviet-supplied SA-2 systems. An A-4 Skyhawk would launch a Shrike missile at a SAM location. The missile would fly right down the radar's beam and destroy the site. Laughter and his fellow pilots would provide protection for the A-4 Skyhawks and escort them in to their targets. The F-8 Crusaders would actually draw the SAMs towards themselves and away from the strike force.

 

 

The North Vietnamese had 37mm, 57mm, 85mm and some 100mm guns in addition to the SAMs. One of their tactics was the create a 'cone" of anti-aircraft fire which U.S. planes were forced to manuever through. If they missed the target they would have to do it again another day and fly throught the 'cone' again.

 

 

A reconnaisance photogrpah over Hai Phong Harbor, North Vietnam

 

 

On his first tour Laughter found it tough as the A-4 Skyhawks took a pounding, and about 28 planes were either lost or damaged. They also used 'wet winging' to improve the survival rate when an aircraft was shot up and leaking fuel and lucky enought to get our over the gulf. There an aerial fuel tanker would hook up with you and keep pumping fuel into your aircraft so you could make it back to the carrier. Some of the holes were big enough to stick your head through them.

 

 

One of the pilots by the name of Stattin used his 8mm camera to film the missions. The other pilots called him 'Cecil B. DeStattin' after the famous film maker. On one of his missions he was filming some SAMs heading their way when he suddenly realized one was coming straight at him. He broke hard to avoid the missile, but the 400 pound warhead exploded and peppered his aircraft with shrapnel, resulting in some 100 holes in his aircraft.

 

 

When the F-8 Crusaders found themselves up against MiG fighters they earned the nickname 'Mig Master' and 'Last of the Gunfighters.' The Migs chose not to come up against the F-8 Crusaders very often because they would probably lose the encounter. The final tally was 19 MiGs lost to 3 F-8s lost. When the USS Oriskany went back to San Diego President Johnson called up a reserve F-8 squadron to take over the fighter planes. It didn't work out well; most of the reserve pilots were airline pilots who complained about everything, including their loss of pay. Then, the Navy discovered they couldn't land on a carrier at night. The Navy sent them home and gave the airplanes back to the squadron.

 

 

A photo of trapping aboard the USS Oriskany - nicknamed the Might O

 

 

At one point in time John was in test squadron VX-4 at Point Magu, California. There they used the Pacific Missile Range as their primary operating area. One day, while manuvering behind an F-4 during a simulated dogfight, his F-8 Crusader went out of control and rolled right. One of the connecting rods had broken, and even though he still had some control over the airplane which could only turn right. After 15 minutes of fighting the airplane he knew it was time to eject. 

 

 

He was over the desert, there were few houses, and he manuevered towards the mountains. John pulled the ejection handle, the rocket seat ejected him out of the aircraft, and soon his orange and white parachute opened above his head. He said it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Despite his careful planning and piloting of the F-8, it spun into a guy's backyard, but luckily no one was hurt. There was not one piece of the jet left you could pick up with your hand, and they found the Crusader's engine 28 feet into the ground!

 

 

John Laughter flew a total of 155 combat missions into North Vietnam, and his Crusader never received a hit, not even a scratch. If you wonder if Laughter was just lucky, or an outstanding pilot, consider the following: he received high marks at the very first Top Gun school, and helped develop new tactics to fight enemy MiG fighters. He then was transferred to the East Coast and flew McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs off the refubished USS Forrestal as a member of the legendary VF-11 'Red Ripper' squadron. He also served as a weapons training officer. 

 

 

After 8 and a half years of Navy flying John decided to fly for the airlines. He went to work with Northwest airlines, and retired in 2003 from the airline. In retrospect John said that Vietnam was a terrible war and it was terribly managed. A lot of good people were lost, and in the end gave it all away. 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this trip through some of the history of aviation. If you enjoyed the story, please share it with all of your friends. And, if you are new to this blog, sign up to receive your own weekly blog post here: Subscribe here!

 

Until next time, keep your eyes safe and focused on what's ahead of you, Hersch!