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PATROL SQUADRON SIX VP-6
“The World Famous Blue Sharks” (1943-1993) PATRON SIX“
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Home ESP by Richard Charles Pickering

EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION (ESP)
by
Richard Charles Pickering

ESP
Extrasensory perception (ESP) involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. ESP is also sometimes referred to as a sixth sense. I have had nine ESP experiences during my 30 years in the U. S. Naval service. Eight of the experiences, had I not reacted with ESP, could have resulted in serious injury or death. In some of my ESP experiences the time between the sixth sense and the other senses kicking in is only seconds, but that time made the difference between serious injury or death.


Event 1 1952 Patrol Squadron Six
I was on a mission flying a P2V-3 Neptune to measure the distance between the land and the ice off the coast of Alaska in order to determine if the distance was sufficient to allow Navy ships passage. The mission went as scheduled until we had passed Point Barrow. At that time I received a radio call from the airport control tower at Point Barrow informing me that they had a sailor from a U S Navy ice breaker ship who had a ruptured peptic ulcer and was in critical condition and asked if I could pick him up and transport him to the hospital at Fairbanks, Alaska. I agreed, but the landing and takeoff were critical since the runway was only 3000 ft long and constructed of marston mats with a small cement pad at each end of the runway. I made a short field landing, touching down on the cement pad because the marston mats could not support the weight of my aircraft on touchdown. The landing was a success and we loaded the injured sailor on a stretcher, with a life support system attached, through the small hatch located on the underside of the rear of the aircraft. Little did I realize that the takeoff would be the most dangerous part of this event and result in the use of ESP to get us airborne. I then taxied to the end of the runway for take off. Due to the length of the runway it would be necessary to make a short field take off. I applied full power at the extreme end of the runway, released the brakes and held the aircraft on the runway until the very end. Never had I pulled the gear up while still on the runway. In this case I sensed that even though we were on the runway, we were airborne. I pulled the gear up while still on the runway and then nosed over, ever so slightly, in order to gain sufficient speed to climb. If I had left the gear down any longer and not pushed over slightly, the drag probably would have forced the aircraft into the water. Since I was so close to the water, the people at Point Barrow thought I had gone into the water and they launched the crash boat. The flight to Fairbanks was uneventful. We landed with the ambulance following us down the runway to a stop on the runway where we offloaded the sailor. The sailor lived.


Event 2 December 1952 Patrol Squadron Six



Snow was everywhere and it was very very cold at NAS Kodiak, Alaska. The snow plows were able to clear a path for my aircraft to taxi safely from point A to B. The path consisted of leaving the aircraft parking ramp at A via a short taxiway to the off-duty runway 18/36 then left on the duty runway to point B where I would turn the aircraft around for takeoff. All the other runways and taxiways were covered with snow. Taxi to point C was routine. At point C I sensed that something was wrong. Everything outside the aircraft looked normal for these weather conditions. I applied the brakes – no brakes. I applied the left brake – no left brake. I applied the right brake – no right brake. We were sliding on ice. If this was not corrected soon the aircraft would slide off the end of the runway into a ditch covered with snow. I needed a fix, quick. This aircraft is equipped with engines that can be reversed by changing the prop pitch. I reversed the port (left) engine slightly and advanced the starboard (right) engine slightly and the aircraft started to rotate to the port. While rotating, the aircraft continued to slide in the direction of the off-duty runway. Just before we reached the duty runway, I advanced the power on both engines forward and found ourselves sliding up the duty runway. I tried the brakes again, no luck. Now the task was to turn the aircraft around 180 degrees at the takeoff end of the duty runway and stop the sliding. Again, before reaching the end of the runway I reversed one engine and advance the other engine. We started to rotate while we slid up the runway. Luckily, this runway had a 2000 feet overrun up the incline of the 2000 ft Barometer Mountain. As it turned out, I timed it right and we had turned the 180 degrees slightly before reaching the end of the runway. I then added power forward on both engines to stop the backward sliding. A success, we were stopped in position for takeoff. Normally I would check the engines before takeoff to make sure they are functioning properly. In this case, I had to check the engines during the takeoff role because of the runway ice. If they did not check out properly I would have reversed the engines and stopped. In this case, all was well and I continued the takeoff for our assigned mission.
If I had not sensed that the runway conditions were different than reported prior to our taxi from Point A, there was the strong possibility that we would have ended up in the ditch at the end of the off-duty runway.


Event 3 1956 Patrol Squadron 22
My wife and I, along with two friends, were returning at night from Honolulu to NAS (Naval Air Station) Barbers Point. We were approaching a narrow bridge with fences on each side. We had limited forward visibility. The bridge was constructed over a creek about 40 feet below. Just short of the bridge on the right side there was room for one car to pull off the road just short of the bridge. Got the picture? Without warning of any sort I braked and pulled off the road just short of the bridge and the 40 foot drop off. My wife grabbed my arm, thinking I had lost control. Jack Redmond, in the back seat, grabbed her arm, stating that I knew what I was doing. It was a very dark night and no lights were visible. Then – headlights appeared, coming at us from across the bridge on the wrong side of the road. I hit the horn. The driver of the other car appeared to recover and his/her car swerved, just missing the fence on our side of the bridge. The car was pulling a boat trailer and had trouble fully recovering. The trailer hit the fence. At last sight, the driver appeared to be in control. Had I not sensed that something was wrong, we would have been involved in a head on collision. A CLOSE ONE!!!


Even 4 1957 Patrol Squadron 22
I was flying at 8000 feet in the clouds returning to the military airfield at Iwakuni, Japan. I made a routine radio report to Iwakuni Approach Control requesting approach clearance to the airfield. Iwakuni Approach Control responded with a clearance to turn left to a heading of 220 degrees and descend to 2000 feet. Ninety-nine pt. nine percent (99.9%) of the time I would accept this clearance. This time I immediately refused the clearance and requested clearance to remain at 8000 feet and continue on my current heading until reaching the airfield. The request was approved. Upon reaching the Iwakuni airfield, I was cleared to make a routine instrument approach and landing at the airfield. Following my landing, I went to the Iwakuni Approach Control office and learned that had I accepted the first clearance to turn left to a heading of 220 degrees and descend to 2000 feet, I would have crashed into a mountain. Approach Control had the wrong aircraft on their radar. CLOSE!!!!


Event 5 1957 Patrol Squadron 22
I was flying at 8000 ft 120 miles south of Vladivostok, Russia. We were in the clouds and visibility was zero. We were on a reconnaissance patrol collecting Russian electronic emissions and shipping data. The United States had a process for determining when Russian aircraft were launched to intercept us. If such an event were to occur, my radioman would be alerted by receiving a special code and we would depart the area. He received that code. I immediately pulled back the power to the engines, deployed CHAFF and started a high rate of descent. Shortly after that moment, my radar operator reported to me that he had radar contact of two aircraft behind us. At the same time, my ECM (Electronics Countermeasures) operator reported airborne fire control radar behind us. This report was followed immediately by a report that the aircraft behind us had fired two radar controlled rockets at us. The CHAFF (Radar Countermeasures) I deployed was an attempt to fool anything they might shoot at us. CHAFF is metallic or plastic particles designed to make the rocket think that the CHAFF is the target of the rockets. The combination of my descending rapidly and the CHAFF worked and the rockets missed. I leveled off at 50 feet above the water and decided it was time to go home. Whew!!!!!! Had I not sensed that the MIGS were in the immediate area with evil intent this would have turned out different.



MIG-17

Event 6 1957 Patrol Squadron 22
We were flying a night Submarine-on-the-Surface attack exercise. During this exercise we simulated a rocket attack using our search light located on the wing tip. This was a dark night, no moon, and therefore no horizon. It was standard tactics that the pilot flies the visual attack and the co-pilot monitors the flight instruments to ensure that the pilot does not fly below 100ft and maintains proper airspeed. I was on my final approach to the submarine with the search light lighting up the submarine. I sensed that something was wrong and immediately added full power and started a climb. At the time I added power and pulled back on the Yoke I checked my instruments and discovered that the radar altimeter was almost 0 feet. I glanced at the co-pilot and he was looking at the submarine and not monitoring the instruments. We were seconds from a crash landing on the ocean and serious injury, if not, death.


Event 7 1961 Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
I was driving the middle lane on a 6 lane highway and approaching an on-ramp. I observed a car traveling at high speed on the on-ramp that I sensed was out of control. I did not have sufficient space to stop before the entry of this car. I added full power to my car and was able to shoot through the space between the car to my left and the out-of-control car to my right.
The car entering the freeway crossed the lanes behind me and sideswiped the car that was to my left before I added power.
Had I not sensed that the car entering the highway was out of control, I am sure that I would have been in an accident with this car.

Event 8 1963 Bureau of Naval Personnel, Arlington, VA
At approximately 1:30 on the afternoon of November 22 1963 I was taking some documents to another office in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Arlington, VA. I was about half way to my destination when I had a strange feeling that something was terribly wrong. I turned around and returned to my office and asked my secretary and others in the office if anything had happened that I should know about. They said that “all was quiet”. Not satisfied, I went down the hall to another office and
asked if anything was wrong. They told me that President Kennedy had just been shot.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time in Dealey Plaza.


Event 9 1964 USS Essex
I was driving on a 4 lane freeway with a grass center section. I was in the high speed lane and I noticed two dogs up ahead in the grass center section hung-up. I sensed that the dogs would move on to the freeway. I immediately moved to the right shoulder where I stopped. The dogs then moved to the high speed lane causing the car that was ahead of me to swerve into the center section and the car next to him to swerve to the right. The right front door of the car in the center section came open and a large man sitting there came out the door. The car then reversed direction causing the man to move back into the car and the door closed. There was chaos on the highway. No one hit anything. If I had not stopped, we would have been right in the middle of the chaos. Another close one saved by ESP.


If you have had ESP experiences, let me know at:
paparich@comcast.net