"THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI" - Low Fuel Carrier Landing

Returning from a photo recon mission, the first jet to land fails to catch a wire and is stopped by the barrier netting, which is damaged. Without this barrier netting, the parked aircraft on the forward deck are at risk of damage if the second jet overshoots its' available landing area.

To prevent this, the deck crew places "Tilly" (the mobile crane/lift) at the end of the available landing area as a last barrier between the incoming jet and the forward parked aircraft. The second jet is low on fuel and must either land or ditch in the ocean.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• carrier
• landing
• F9F
• Panther
• William
• Holden
• Toko
• Ri
• Korean
• war
• Navy
• aircraft

[swennsyever9]

remember so clearly 1st time i saw this great movie. i was just a kid maybe 10..the ending....holden rooney holiman...i couldnt believe that scene. i didnt want to believe that scene.

then the denouement: cag's xchng w/ the admiral: "he was your boy but he was my boy too." fmarch & charles mcgraw...just a great acting scene.

& mickey rooney deserved an oscar if anybody ever did -- wonder if he was even nominated.

absolutely a great movie

[tradercris]

Good film, very good book.

FYI the speech at the end where the one commander lauds the lost pilot Brubaker **sorry spoiler** "where do we find such men..." President Ronald Reagan once referenced that scene and monolog as if it was a real life event.

[likepatsandGTOs]

Man those times were brutal...early jets with slow throttle recovery, no angled flight decks oh and the 45 degree water if you ditched. Brave guys indeed - in Frederic March's soliloquy at the end "Where do we get such men?!"

[ae62ea]

I believe, what wmichswingers is alluding to is that with an angled deck, the pilot doesn't have to face the hind-ends of parked aircraft, heavy equipment, picnic tables and other stuff that might otherwise inconveniently be found in his landing area and roll-out path... But yeah, on a 2nd go-around he'd hafta fly a mighty tight pattern ;) The USS Oriskany actually got an angled deck- about 3 years later.

[ElPresidente101]

Not for this one smartypants, on LOW FUEL, there is no other option. It says low fuel landing in the title. Otherwise, he wouldve hit the deck and throttled out.

[wmichswingers]

the angled deck developed by the British prevented this situation-- the pilot simply opened his throttle and went around again

[eviltman]

I actually said "yeah!" when the hook caught him. otherwise he was a goner.

[whitewolfoftctown]

THis was the best carrier movie in history

[Auggie56]

Notice you can hear the canopy retract motors over the jet engine.

[blindandwatching]

That film is still good.