Strange tradition of launching shoes from an aircraft carrier.

One of the strangest traditions of the Navy is to launch a pair of shoes off the deck of an aircraft carrier. This is done when the ship’s “shooter” is retiring. However the tradition has an interesting beginning that dates back to the 1970’s..
The pictures are from USS Coral Sea (CV-43) taken in 70s.

The following story comes directly from Bruce Harris:

At the time, the mid ’70s, there existed in the Navy a tradition that all aviators wore brown shoes while wearing any uniform other than Dress Blues, Mess Dress, or Dress Whites. Aviators were known as the “Brown Shoe Navy”, while everyone else was referred to as the “Black Shoe Navy”.
“That was pretty cool to us aviators. We liked the fact that we could be a little different, and it was a tradition that went back to the early days of Naval Aviation.”


“That was pretty cool to us aviators. We liked the fact that we could be a little different, and it was a tradition that went back to the early days of Naval Aviation.”
“Sadly, we had at the time, a rather goofy guy that was the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations…the big kahuna).”
“This bozo  decided that all Naval officers should be dressed alike, so he sent out a message to the fleet that as of a certain date, brown shoes were no longer authorized for wear by the aviation community.”



As you can imagine, no one in the aviation community was happy with this, in fact we were all really sad.
“My squadron, and our whole Air-wing, happened to be deployed at sea on the USS Coral Sea as the infamous day that we would loose our beloved brown shoes.”
So as not to go gently into that great good night, a plan was conceived and carried out.


“At a predetermined time, all of the aviators on board the boat met on the flight deck alongside the forward port catapult. There, we all removed our wonderful brown shoes and reverently placed them in one of two “cruise boxes” (a metal foot locker type box about four feet long by two feet wide by two feet high).”


“Words expressing the ending of our wonderful tradition were solemnly spoken by CAG (Commander Air Group). We were all brought to attention as Taps was playing over the 1 MC system (a PA system used on the flight deck that was loud enough to be heard over the noise created when aircraft were being launched and recovered). 
In other words, it’s REALLY FREAKING LOUD.”

Photo above is of Gary A. Scoffield. He was the commanding officer of Attack Squadron (VA) 22 between 28 July 1973 and 8 November 1974. The unit, nicknamed the “Fighting Redcocks” and equipped with A-7E Corsair IIs, was part of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 15 and deployed aboard USS Coral Sea (CVA-43).

“We all saluted and both cats were fired simultaneously, and the two cruise boxes with our beloved brown shoes, which had been lovingly placed inside, accelerated down the steaming catapult tracks, to some hyper velocity, and left the boat for their impact with the ocean about 3/4 of a mile in front of us.”

“What a sight! Although we were saddened by the passing of a very dear tradition, we all felt that we had given it, and our shoes, a fitting farewell!”

Photo comes from the modern day Nimitz-class carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). The meaning may have changed but the tradition of shooting off the shoes lives on.