AIRFRAME OCT 90 USS MIDWAY CV-41 ANDREWS AFB F-1E CH-113 LABRADOR CANADA FB-111A IAC USAFE RF-4C

USS MIDWAY CV-41 US NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIER IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC CVW-5 (VFA-151, VFA-192, VFA-19, VA-115, VA-185, VAQ-136, VAW-115, HS-12)

RAPID DEPLOYMENT ACE MOBILE FORCE AMF HELICOPTERS: BRITISH ARMY 24 AIRMOBILE BRIGADE

BOSCOMBE DOWN BATTLE OF BRITAIN 50^TH ANNIVERSARY AIRSHOW

HAZEL FLUTE: HARRIER CAMOUFLAGE

USAF FB-111A AARDVARKS MOVE TO PEASE AFB

ANDREWS AFB: 89^TH MAW, WASHINGTON DC F-4D PHANTOM II, UH-1N, C-137B, C-21A, C-12A, C-9C, C-22)

EIGHTEEN YEAR RESTORATION OF A WW2 GERMAN LUFTWAFFE MESSERSCHMITT Bf.109G-2

CANADA�S HEAVY-LIFT HELICOPTER CH-113 LABRADOR

BELGIAN AIR FORCE FAB No.8 SQUADRON & No.42 SQUADRON

USAF McD F-15E STRIKE EAGLE TFW

IRISH AIR CORPS IAC SILVER SWALLOWS FORMATION AEROBATIC DISPLAY TEAM � FOUGA MAGISTER

McD RF-4C PHOTO PHANTOM USAFE COLOURS

TUCANO PROPJET TRAINER

OPERATION GRANBY � THE RAF CONTRIBUTION TO OPERATION DESERT SHIELD / STORM (THE FIRST DESERT WAR)

EXCALIBUR VII � USAFE ANNUAL BOMB COMPETITION

RAF COLTISHALL JAGUARS DEPART FOR THE GULF WEARING PINK CAMOUFLAGE

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Additional Information from Internet Encyclopedia

USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, the lead ship of its class. Commissioned a week after the end of World War II, Midway was the largest ship in the world until 1955, as well as the first U.S. aircraft carrier too big to transit the Panama Canal. A revolutionary hull design, based on the planned Montana-class battleship, gave it better maneuverability than previous carriers. It operated for an unprecedented 47 years, during which time it saw action in the Vietnam War and served as the Persian Gulf flagship in 1991's Operation Desert Storm. Decommissioned in 1992, it is now a museum ship at the USS Midway Museum, in San Diego, California, and the only remaining U.S. aircraft carrier of the World War II era that is not an Essex-class aircraft carrier.

Midway was laid down 27 October 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Virginia; launched 20 March 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Bradford William Ripley, Jr.; and commissioned on 10 September 1945 (eight days after the Surrender of Japan) with Captain Joseph F. Bolger in command.

After shakedown in the Caribbean, Midway joined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet training schedule, with Norfolk as its homeport. From 20 February 1946, it was the flagship for Carrier Division 1. In March, it tested equipment and techniques for cold-weather operations in the North Atlantic. In September 1947, a captured German V-2 rocket was test-fired from the flight deck in Operation Sandy, the first large-rocket launch from a moving platform, and the only moving-platform launch for a V-2.

Midway cleared Norfolk 27 December 1954 for a world cruise, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope for Taiwan, where it joined the 7th Fleet for operations in the Western Pacific until 28 June 1955. During these operations, Midway pilots flew cover for the evacuation from the Quemoy-Matsu crisis from the Tachen Islands of 15,000 Chinese nationalist troops and 20,000 Chinese civilians, along with their livestock. On 28 June 1955, the ship sailed for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where Midway underwent an extensive modernization program (SCB-110, similar to SCB-125 for the Essex-class carriers). Midway received an enclosed hurricane bow, an aft deck-edge elevator, an angled flight deck, and steam catapults, returning to service on 30 September 1957

Home ported at Alameda, California, Midway began annual deployments with the 7th Fleet in 1958, and in the South China Sea during the Laotian Crisis of spring 1961. During the 1962 deployment, the ship's aircraft tested the air defense systems of Japan, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Midway again sailed for the Far East 6 March 1965, and from mid-April flew strikes against military and logistics installations in North and South Vietnam.

Returning to Alameda on 23 November, Midway entered San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard on 11 February 1966 for a massive modernization (SCB-101.66), which proved expensive and controversial. The flight deck was enlarged from 2.8 to 4 acres (11,300 to 16,200 square metres (122,000 to 174,000 sq ft)), and the angle of the flight deck landing area was increased to 13.5 degrees. The elevators were enlarged, moved, and given almost double the weight capacity. Midway also received new steam catapults, arresting gear, and a centralized air conditioning plant. Cost overruns raised the price of this program from $88 million to $202 million USD, and precluded a similar modernization planned for Franklin D. Roosevelt. After Midway was finally recommissioned on 31 January 1970, it was found that the modifications had hurt the ship's seakeeping capabilities and ability to conduct air operations in rough seas, which required further modifications to correct the problem.

 On 17 June 1965, aviators of Midway's Attack Carrier Wing 2, VF-21 downed the first two MiGs credited to U.S. forces in Southeast Asia. On 20 June 1965 pilots from VA-25, flying A-1H Skyraiders, scored a kill on the fifth MiG of the war, using their 20 mm (0.79 in) cannon. On 12 January 1973 a combat aircraft from Midway made the last air-to-air kill of the Vietnam War.

Midway returned to Vietnam and on 18 May 1971, after relieving Hancock on Yankee Station, began single carrier operations. Midway departed Yankee Station on 5 June, completing the vessel's final line period on 31 October 1971, and returned to the ship's homeport on 6 November 1971.

Midway, with embarked Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW 5), again departed Alameda for operations off Vietnam on 10 April 1972. On 11 May, aircraft from Midway, laid naval mines off North Vietnamese ports, including Thanh H�a, Đồng Hới, Vinh, Hon Gai, Quang Khe, and Cam Pha as well as other approaches to Haiphong.

Midway continued Vietnam operations during Operation Linebacker throughout the summer of 1972.

On 5 October 1973, Midway, with CVW 5, put into Yokosuka, Japan, marking the first forward-deployment of a complete carrier task group in a Japanese port, the result of an accord arrived at on 31 August 1972 between the U.S. and Japan. The move allowed sailors to live with their families when in port; more strategically, it allowed three carriers to stay in the Far East even as the economic situation demanded the reduction of carriers in the fleet.

Midway responded 19 April 1975 to the waters off South Vietnam when North Vietnam overran two-thirds of South Vietnam. Ten days later, Operation Frequent Wind was carried out by U.S. 7th Fleet forces. During this operation, Midway had offloaded fifty percent of the ship's regular combat air wing at NS Subic Bay  Philippines. The ship steamed to Thailand, whereupon eight CH-53 from 21st Special Operations Squadron and two HH-53 helicopters from 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron were loaded for the purpose of ferrying people from Saigon out to the fleet cruising in the South China Sea. Hundreds of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese were evacuated to waiting ships after the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese.  On 29 April 1975, South Vietnamese Air Force Major Buang-Ly loaded his wife and five children into a two-seat Cessna O-1 Bird Dog and took off from Con Son Island. After evading enemy ground fire Major Buang headed out to sea and landed on Midway.