The film “Aircraft Accident Prevention- Ground Accidents” was produced during the early 1960s and shot primarily at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville in Florida. The Navy created the film in an attempt to control the kind of preventable accidents caused primarily by human error. Accidents were on the rise and with the sophisticated jet aircraft in use by then and with more in the pipeline, the effort to reduce accidents was absolutely necessary. The upshot for the viewer today is the variety of historical Navy aircraft appearing in the piece. The film, shot in black and white, was uploaded to YouTube by PeriscopeFilm.
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The film features the squadrons and aircraft of Carrier Air Wing ONE (CVW-1). At the time the film was produced, CVW-1 consisted of VF-14 Tophatters flying the McDonnell F3H Demon, VF-11 Red Rippers flying the Vought F-8E Crusader, VA-172 Blue Bolts and VA-12 Flying Ubangis both both equipped with the Douglas A-4C Skyhawk, VA-15 Valions flying the Douglas A-1H Skyraider, VAH-11 Checkertails flying the Douglas A-3B Skywarrior, a detachment from VAW-12 Bats flying the Grumman E-1B Tracer, a detachment from VFP-62 Fighting Photos flying the Vought RF-8A Crusader, and a detachment from HU-2 Fleet Angels flying the Kaman UH-2A Seasprite.
Also featured in the film are single-seat Grumman F9F-6 Cougars assigned to VF-101 Grim Reapers as well as twin-seat F9F-8T Cougars assigned to Fleet All Weather Training Unit Atlantic (FAWTULANT). Also appearing in the film are Lockheed TO-2/T-33B Shooting Star trainers from FAWTULANT, Douglas A-1E Skyraiders from Air Task Group 202 (ATG-202), McDonnell F2H-4 Banshees from VF-101, North American AJ-2P Savage reconnaissance platforms from VAP-62 Tigers, North American FJ-3 Furies from VF-173 Jesters, and Lockheed P-2 Neptune maritime patrol aircraft from VP-18 Flying Phantoms.
