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METHOD:PUBLISH
UID:3f4e714e-3345-4e16-9532-3596791fb79d
X-WR-CALDESC:25 January 1987: An EA-3B Ranger 12 recon aircraft crashed fol
lowing an operational mission while attempting to make a night landing on
the USS Nimitz during blue water operations in the Mediterranean. The weig
ht of the EA-3B made it extremely difficult to land on an aircraft carrier
during the day. A night landing made it even more perilous. Returning fro
m what became its final mission\, the aircraft made several attempts to ca
tch the arresting gear but was unsuccessful. Running low on fuel\, attempt
s were made to refuel the EA-3B in air\, but they\, too\, failed. A barric
ade was rigged on the flight deck\, but the aircraft hit the barricade too
high and it slammed onto the flight deck\, skidded\, and fell into the se
a. The Ranger 12 sank with its seven crew aboard. The crewmen were:\n\n
LT Stephen H. Batchelder\n LCDR Ronald R. Callander\n AT2 Richard A
. Herzing\n LT Alan A. Levine\n CTI3 Patrick R. Price\n LT James
D. Richards\n CTI3 Craig H. Rudolf\n\nDespite this tragic loss\, the la
st of the Navy's Cold War fatalities in the aerial electronic reconnaissan
ce program\, the EA-3B remained in frontline service with VQ-1 and VQ-2 un
til October 1991\, serving with distinction in one last conflict\, Operati
ons Desert Shield and Desert Storm.\n\nThe NCM has the one remaining part
from Ranger 12 - the Indexer Box (BuNO144850). From the nose landing gear
door\, and used for night landings - the indexer box was used to provide
'Angle of Attack' readings to the landings signals officer. \n\nRead about
the EA-3B mission photos featured here in our Acqusitions Section. \n\nA Nav
y EA-3B Skywarrior was previously on display at National Vigilance Park (j
ust outside of the National Cryptologic Museum at Fort Meade\, MD). It was
dedicated to the memory of all U.S. Naval aircrews who perished while con
ducting secret reconnaissance missions around the world. Learn more about
the park at the link below. **** Please note Vigilance Park has been disma
ntled and the aircraft have been removed due to NSA's plans to build a new
visitor's center. The Park will be reconstructed when the new museum buil
dings are built. We apologize for any inconvenience.****
X-WR-RELCALID:b4b11ab5ed15b9eb622eff4d0dd96712
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
RDATE:20261101T020000
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DTSTART:20250309T020000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:f2c1fdba-a894-4af9-a15e-2bde3edde333
DTSTAMP:20260424T112032Z
DESCRIPTION:25 January 1987: An EA-3B Ranger 12 recon aircraft crashed foll
owing an operational mission while attempting to make a night landing on t
he USS Nimitz during blue water operations in the Mediterranean. The weigh
t of the EA-3B made it extremely difficult to land on an aircraft carrier
during the day. A night landing made it even more perilous. Returning from
what became its final mission\, the aircraft made several attempts to cat
ch the arresting gear but was unsuccessful. Running low on fuel\, attempts
were made to refuel the EA-3B in air\, but they\, too\, failed. A barrica
de was rigged on the flight deck\, but the aircraft hit the barricade too
high and it slammed onto the flight deck\, skidded\, and fell into the sea
. The Ranger 12 sank with its seven crew aboard. The crewmen were:\n\n
LT Stephen H. Batchelder\n LCDR Ronald R. Callander\n AT2 Richard A.
Herzing\n LT Alan A. Levine\n CTI3 Patrick R. Price\n LT James D
. Richards\n CTI3 Craig H. Rudolf\n\nDespite this tragic loss\, the las
t of the Navy's Cold War fatalities in the aerial electronic reconnaissanc
e program\, the EA-3B remained in frontline service with VQ-1 and VQ-2 unt
il October 1991\, serving with distinction in one last conflict\, Operatio
ns Desert Shield and Desert Storm.\n\nThe NCM has the one remaining part f
rom Ranger 12 - the Indexer Box (BuNO144850). From the nose landing gear
door\, and used for night landings - the indexer box was used to provide '
Angle of Attack' readings to the landings signals officer. \n\nRead about
the EA-3B mission photos featured here in our Acqusitions Section. \n\nA Navy
EA-3B Skywarrior was previously on display at National Vigilance Park (ju
st outside of the National Cryptologic Museum at Fort Meade\, MD). It was
dedicated to the memory of all U.S. Naval aircrews who perished while cond
ucting secret reconnaissance missions around the world. Learn more about t
he park at the link below. **** Please note Vigilance Park has been disman
tled and the aircraft have been removed due to NSA's plans to build a new
visitor's center. The Park will be reconstructed when the new museum build
ings are built. We apologize for any inconvenience.****
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260125T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260125T235900
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:1987: Navy EA-3B recon aircraft crashed in the Mediterranean Sea.
END:VEVENT
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