   Executive Officer of VA-66, lost in an operations accident in Mediterranean Sea. From Tom Wimberly, CAPT UNS Retired. At the time of his accident, I was a LT assigned to USS INTREPID (CVA-11) as Guided Missiles Division Officer. I was a regular bridge watchstander and was a qualified Officer of the Deck Underway. Looking in my INTREPID cruise book for the 1961-62 Med cruise, I find that on the Memorial page, I made the following note about Peddy's accident. "I was on watch on the bridge as OOD when he launched in an A-4 one night. I watched each airplane after launch. He didn't seem to climb. I put my binoculars on him. His lights disappeared. I went to Captain J. Lloyd Abbot, Jr. and said, "Captain, did you ever see that aircraft climb?" He didn't answer. I went to the right wing of the bridge and started looking at the water. Sure enough, we soon passed an area of disturbed water to the starboard of the ship's path. I knew it had been caused by his crash; the water was green. I had seen that sort of green disturbed water in previous years when I had seen airplanes crash into the water close aboard (an AJ Savage, an A3D, and an F4D). I went to the squawk box, called CIC and told them to mark our position, that I thought we had a plane in the water. I went to the Captain and told him of my observation and call to CIC. He called Air Ops and they soon confirmed they had no radio contact with Peddy." |