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Call the ball!

Waring Hills Nov 07, 2008

“Call the ball,” is the traditional welcome of the LSO (Landing Signal Officer) to an arriving pilot attempting to land aboard a very small, pitching deck at sea. Welcome to the first blog onboard the USS YORKTOWN (CV-10) at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum <https://www.patriotspoint.org/>. I promise your landings here at this blog will not include any scary night time landings, but we’ll certainly have stories about those in future posts.

I’m Butch Hills, retired E-2C naval flight officer, private pilot and historian. I now help to bring CV-10 to life as she continues to serve her nation, first as a warship (1943-1970) and today as a museum and classroom at Mount Pleasant, SC (1975-present).

Every month I meet fascinating folks onboard visiting the second of our nation’s Essex class aircraft carriers and will be posting their visits and pictures/videos in the future. Just last week we had a B-25 pilot onboard who was at Clark Airfield in the Phillippines December 1941 when the Japanese attack took place. Also we’ll cover the stories of individual Americans (why do they come here?) and the plethora of Boy and Girl Scouts who actually camp onboard.

I also hope to hear from you, any and all questions…We have a ready deck for you here at Patriots Point onboard the YORKTOWN…

Welcome aboard,

Butch

Next Post »

CV-10 from the Patriots Point Marina

7 thoughts on “Call the ball!

  1. Carroll Gamble says:

    Cmdr Hills, this is my kind of blog. You know a lot of my history that began at Lackland AFB, Texas as an Airman Basic in April, 1958 and ended when I retired from Civilan Employment at McClellan AFB, Ca in November, 1990. I was a member of the 93rd Field Maintenance Squadron supporting the B-52 and KC 135 aircraft for the Strategic Air Command. We were descendants of the 93rd Bombardment Wing who flew the infamous Black Thurday Raid against the Polesti Oil Fields in Rumania in 1944. One of the costliest raids of WW 2. Carroll

  2. Congrats Cousin! No doubt “Call The Ball” will be a hit!

  3. Ann says:

    Awesome job! I know you got your inspiration from my blog… : )

  4. Betsy says:

    You definitely hooked the three wire! Great job! I love the reminder of the sacrifices made in the past and continuing to be made that we might live free the the greatest country in the world!

  5. Hey “FLYBOY”! You’re cleared to land on my airfield ANYTIME!!! This blog is a GREAT new way for all of us here at Patriots Point to keep the world reminded of the costs for their freedom.
    Let me know how I can help!!!

  6. Hank Siegfried says:

    As a fellow Naval Aviator, I know that the most important contribution to a successful mission is “good communications among the crew”. This blog should help in that regard. On a personal note, I would appreciate prior notification of impending Yorktown visits by any persons, who might be of interest, especially WWII veterans.
    Will be glad to assist in any productive manner to the success of getting out info. Hank

  7. ETCM John Deeets USN Ret says:

    you know you are getting old when all the ships you sereved on have been retired

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