Back in the fifties, jets came aboard the carrier with help from the LSO.  Landing Signal Officer.  With a deck pitching up and down, side to side, and rocking.  The pilot needed help with speed, attitude and altitude.  You didn’t want to land with a deck rising up at you.  You would end up dead.

The LSO had paddles in both hands to give signals to the pilot.  They were brightly colored.  He could tell the pilot everything they needed to know with the paddles.  Add speed, wave off--go around again, etc.  Now, they use a meatball--a light on deck.  But there is still an LSO on deck to grade the landing or take over in an emergency.

Ken said that the problem was getting the pilot to do what he was told to do.  In the air, it’s hard to trust the LSO when your gut is telling you to do something else.  It killed a few of them, actually more than a few.

I wish I had kept Ken’s paddles.  I kept his Mickey Mouse ears.  (Protection from the roar of the planes.)  But when you move every year, you throw stuff out.  And the paddles became a thing of the past.  Who knew every air affection-ado in the Navy and Marines would want paddles for their walls.  To remember “back when.”  The Marines had three LSO’s when Ken was waving.  I guess that is why they sent him to Pensacola to teach cadets how to follow signals and hook wire on the carrier.  That’s what he was doing when we got married.  It was cool to watch.