Ah, I keep forgetting the old Cold War has been over for so long. I also forget many today do not realize the serious games we played – the Russian Bears and Navy fighters.
Basically, it was a game of hide-and-seek. The aircraft carrier (mine, the USS Midway, and USS Enterprise) would try to cross the Pacific, undetected. The Soviets would try to find us, and then over-fly us with one or more Bears.
It was a big deal. We used many things like EMCON to sneak across. They used subs and tattle-tales, etc. The Bears usually – eventually found us, but not always. When they did find the carrier, it was important to intercept them with fighters, PRIOR to them becoming "in-range" for their cruise-missile du jour.
It was also important to get a picture of the Bear, the carrier, complete with fighter escort to prove the Bear did not over-fly the carrier, undetected or unescorted.
We stood Alert-Five's armed, on the cat. Everybody hoped they would be on alert when the Bears finally showed up and get launched for the intercept. Both sides seemed to enjoy, and gain good intelligence. Usually, the Soviet crews were friendly, and used to wave and hold up signs. One even held up a Playboy centerfold.
However, sometimes they would get nasty. We had one Bear at a very low altitude, while our F-4's were flying close escort, set up a shallow decent – hoping the distracted F-4 pilot would fly into the water. Another dipped his wing into our F-4 at low level almost forcing him into the water.
On any given TransPac, the Russian Bears would come to visit once or twice, whether we were going over or coming home. It gave some excitement for an otherwise dull, no-flight ops TransPac.
