The Time I Helped Bring A Terrorist To Justice

This is a great story and I don’t know why I haven’t told it yet!  In 1984 I was on The USS Saratoga on deployment to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.  I was in VS-30 and I was a flight deck troubleshooter and Quality Assurance Representative.  So this is a little known story that involved the FBI a terrorist and VS-30.  Commander Phil Voss was our XO, and Commander Sam Houston was our Skipper. Two things before the story gets interesting.  First a little about the S-3 Viking, and secondly explaining a “Clam-Shell”. (Click Phil Voss above for the same story from HIS perspective after reading this)

First of all, the S-3 Viking aircraft was very versatile and had a crew of four.  With a full fuel load it could easily stay airborne for over 5 hours.  It also had a pretty large interior section that housed most of the electronics for the aircraft. We called this space the tunnel.  It is somewhat hard to describe it, and I cannot find any pictures or drawings of it on the web.  Plenty of pictures of the crew stations, but not what is aft or behind those stations.  So this is the best I could do for a visual. (UPDATE 29 Feb 2020: I found a video that show the tunnel area of the Viking!)

A Little About The S-3 Viking

All of us Avionics Techs loved the tunnel area, especially when we had General Quarter’s drills.  The avionics equipment inside could heat up pretty well, so when you were working on the avionics systems you normally hooked up a large air conditioning cart to the aircraft.  During GQ’s we could easily fit 5 guys into the inside of the aircraft, then close up the entry hatch and just literally chill in the a/c, and because of the GQ, we would be “stuck” there until GQ was over.  Mostly we just napped after we did any legitimate work or repairs.  The tunnel was the primo spot, because you could actually lay down inside.  I took many “Battle Naps” in the tunnel.

What is a “Clam Shell”

A “clam-shell” is made with two Stokes Litters.  Stokes Litters are ubiquitous on board ship.  They are used as stretchers in case of emergency, or sometimes at Fleet Landing to control unruly, invincible, drunk sailors.  I have never seen a clam-shell used in a medical situation, only as a control device.  To create a clam-shell you lay down one Stokes Litter, then put the “patient” into it facing up and strapped securely in.  Then you turn another Stokes upside down and lay it on top of the Stokes containing the “patient” and strap it together with the first one.  This effectively creates a miniature jail cell. 

It was not uncommon to come back to Fleet Landing after a night of Liberty to find numerous drunk sailors clam-shelled and awaiting one of two things.  Either they sobered up enough to be let out, or they were transported that way to the ship.  It was sometimes hilarious and sometimes pathetic to see my shipmates in this situation.  Some were literally crying and begging to be let free.

Getting Back To The Story…The FBI a terrorist and VS 30

As Paul Harvey would say, “And now the rest of the story!” of the FBI a terrorist and VS 30.  One day, a few of us select personnel got called into the squadron Ready Room.  We were told that there were some “secret” personnel onboard and that they would be flying on our aircraft.  The Flight Deck was closed to all personnel except for us few selected individuals.  I was specifically briefed that once the “guest” aircrew were seated, I was to go into the aircraft and ensure that they were properly hooked up to the Internal Communications System and the radios.

We couldn’t go up to the flight deck until we were notified.  When we got the OK, we followed the crew up to the flight deck and to the aircraft.  When we got there, the aircraft was surrounded by ARMED Marines and some armed civilian folks.  We knew something VERY weird was going on, but nobody knew exactly, except for a very few senior officers.  The crew got into the aircraft and strapped in. Then I went in to make sure the two backseat guys got all buckled in and all the proper cables were attached.  I gave them some very basic instruction on which buttons to select on the communication panel and how it all worked.  

I’ve Never Seen THAT Before

As I looked back, I was very surprised to see an individual clam-shelled and laying in the tunnel!!  HOLY MOLY, that was totally unprecedented!!  If I had known who that guy was I would have spit on him or at least farted into the tunnel.  We completed the instructions, and the aircraft was buttoned up, then we successfully launched the bird.  We were asking ourselves what the heck just happened.  A single aircraft launched, with nobody allowed on the flight deck, and strange civilians around, PLUS armed Marines, was not your everyday occurrence on a carrier.  As a matter of fact it had never been done before.

We only learned what it was all about after we got home from our deployment.  The FBI had tricked a hijacker, Fawaz Younis, into coming out to a yacht in order to “party”.  They captured him, and then brought him to the USS Saratoga.  Once aboard, the terrorist was secured in a clam-shell.  He was then loaded into the tunnel of an S-3 Viking, and when they took off, the crew set a world record for an S-3 aircraft by flying it NON-STOP from the eastern Mediterranean Sea all the way to Washington DC – a 13-hour flight. 

The Air Force provided an inflight tanker aircraft to keep refueling the S-3 as it flew across the Atlantic.  They two guys I helped in the back of the S-3 were actually FBI agents.  The only person in the entire aircrew who was actually an aviator was the pilot, Commander Voss.  Fun times on the high seas!!!!!

Operation goldenrod