Warrenton native and retired Navy officer Charles I. "Chuck" Garrett Jr., 78, served his country on active duty from 1951 to 1971, a unique period of American history that included the Cold War and the Vietnam War.
A skilled naval aviator who spent much of his time training others in various aspects of flying and aerial combat, Garrett flew 11 different types of aircraft during his career, from propeller-driven trainers and fighters to jet fighters to carrier-borne tankers.
"And I have made two more take-offs than I have landings," he notes with a chuckle.
The early days of his career were marked by the transition from piston-engine propeller aircraft to the Navy's first jets. The straight-deck carriers of World War II were barely adequate for the heavier jets, offering new challenges involving catapults and strong landing barriers.
Later, with improved aircraft and larger, angled-deck carriers, the odds of a safe mission improved. These were exciting times that Garrett remembers fondly.
Born in 1929 at the old Physicians' Hospital on Waterloo Street, Warrenton, Garrett was the son of long-time The Fauquier Democrat pressman-production supervisor -photographer C. Irvin Garrett Sr. and his wife Virginia.
He graduated from the old Center District High School (present-day Warrenton Middle School), Class of 1946.
"I always knew I wanted to be a Naval aviator," he said during a recent interview. "I was Judge (and U.S. Rep.) Howard W. Smith's first alternate for an appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy that year, but the number-one guy took it."
He was accepted at the College of William and Mary, where he studied for one semester and summer school before transferring to the University of Virginia, which had a Naval ROTC program.
While at UVA, Garrett met Janie Tick, a Longwood College girl from Long Island whose brother was an engineering student at the University. What started as a blind date blossomed into true romance. Janie pinned Garrett's ensign bars on his uniform when he graduated and was commissioned in the Navy in June 1951. They were married the following December.
The adventure begins
Unfortunately, when Garrett was commissioned, there were no openings in the Naval Aviation program, so he spent the next year as a "Black Shoe," or surface fleet officer.
He was assigned to the USS Hawkins, a radar picket destroyer, as the ship's communications officer.
Finally, in September 1952, he was able to start flight training, learning on the SNJ-5 advanced trainer. He soloed on Oct. 15, 1952, and made his first carrier landing on the USS Monterey on May 28, 1953.
It was near the end of his training that he had his first unplanned exit from an aircraft.
Flying over the Texas flatlands in a F6F Hellcat, his engine failed. At first he planned to bring the plane in "dead stick," but he changed his mind when he saw the ground below crossed by deep drainage ditches. Bailing out was a better option, and he took it.
After completing advanced training, Garrett started jet transition training. He learned to fly the TV-1 jet (Navy version of the F-80 Shooting Star), and later the F2H-2 Banshee, a twin-engine jet.
He was then assigned to VF-74, a squadron headquartered at Quonset Point, R.I. When he arrived, the unit was flying F4U Corsairs, and since he had already transitioned to jets, he was expected to help train the others - and never got to fly the robust Corsair, something he still wishes he had done.
A narrow escape
On March 17, 1955, Lt. (jg)Garrett and his wingman, Ens. Edward Zabrowski took off from the USS Ticonderoga for a training flight over Cuba, near the Guantanamo Naval Base.
Flying at about 2,000 feet, Garrett noticed a rumbling in the rear of the plane.
"Then I heard my wingman call out, 'Chuck! You're on fire! Eject!,'" he recalled.
A hydraulic line in the fuselage had burst, spraying flammable liquid on the hot jet engine and causing the whole rear section of the Cougar to explode. "The tail and the right wing blew off," said Garrett.
As the cockpit and left wing spiraled down, Garrett struggled to pull down the ejection curtain above his helmet. But due to the violent oscillations and pull of gravity, he could not reach it. By using both arms, he managed to pull the curtain down and fire the ejection seat.
Once clear of the aircraft, he pulled the D-ring of his parachute; as he floated down, he could see the wreckage on the ground below him, which caused a fire that burned hundreds of acres of a sugar plantation.
About 15 miles from Guantanamo Naval Base, Garrett landed in a tree and was suspended just above the ground. He suffered a deep laceration to the back of his head, a cut ankle and other injuries commonly associated with ejecting from an aircraft. He recalled that the whites of both of his eyes were blood-red, a result of the G-forces he pulled as the plane went down.
A group of Cuban laborers found him, put him in a truck and gave him a shot of rum. They took the injured pilot to a clearing, where a helicopter picked him up.
Garrett spent several days in a hospital before he was released , and was given a brief leave to spend with his family, which was living in London Bridge, Va., at the time.
Due to his experience, the ejection system for Cougars was re-designed, with a second trigger added at the bottom of the seat.
'Special weapons'
Later, Garrett was assigned to VA-76, an attack squadron flying modified Cougars. They had an unusual mission that very few people know about, even today.
The pilots were trained in the use of "special weapons," which in short were tactical nuclear devices carried and dropped by Navy fighters.
The way in which the weapons were launched - or rather "tossed" - from the aircraft was critical to this mission. This involved difficult maneuvers during which the pilot would approach the target, pull up, and at a pre-set angle, the weapon would be electronically released.
The pilot would then roll out and apply full power to get as far from the blast as possible, and hopefully, return to his ship.
Garrett became quite good at delivering practice special weapons, earning the highest score in his squadron; but he is thankful that neither he nor any of the other pilots were ever called upon to deliver the real thing.
By September 1957, Garrett had been assigned to Naval Air Advanced Training. "I was the academics director, sort of the principal of the ground school," he recalled.
From 1965-67, Garrett served as an instructor at Jacksonville, Fla. with VA-45, teaching instrument flying in the TA-4F Skyhawk.
He also checked out in the F8U Crusader, a supersonic carrier-based fighter that was among his favorites. In November 1962, he became a member of SPACE, in recognition of his piloting an aircraft over 80,000 feet altitude. "That high up, you can see the curvature of the earth," he recalled.
Vietnam - and beyond
Garrett's final flying assignment was in 1969-1970, when he went to war flying KA3-Bs off Vietnam. The tanker version of the Skywarrior bomber, Garrett commanded a crew of three in the aircraft, which at the time was the largest plane to launch and land on an aircraft carrier.
Used to keep the Navy's Phantoms and Skyhawks airborne for extended periods, the tankers were necessary, but not well-loved. Because of their size, most carrier captains only wanted one, or at most two of the tankers - nicknamed "whales" - on their ships at a time.
As a result, the KA3-B crews often took turns landing and standing by at airbases like the one at DaNang between missions.
His 20 years in the Navy nearly completed, Garrett's final assignment before retiring was as assistant project officer for the F-14 simulator at the Naval Training Device Center in Orlando, Florida. He officially retired on June 30, 1971.
The Garretts stayed in Florida for awhile, but with limited employment opportunities and a son starting college and two younger children, they decided to return to Warrenton.
Chuck Garrett took a position with Fauquier National Bank, and later worked as a real estate broker with Myers & Hill, Realtors, and later Sentry Realty.
Finally retired again, Garrett is justly proud of his Navy service. He and Janie enjoy their time together in their home on the Springs Road, where they are often visited by their three children and eight grandchildren. And their memories.
"I've done other things in my life, but I'll always think of myself first as a Naval aviator," he remarked."
A wall downstairs is covered with awards and plaques bearing Garrett's squadron emblems and his service ribbons. Above his "Caterpillar Club" citation - given to aviators who successfully bail out of an aircraft - is the drogue chute that was deployed when he ejected from the burning Cougar.
Now, that's a real memento.
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