| Bush to USS Lincoln: 'I Have the Balls' | |||
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| Netlore Archive: Did President Bush radio the message 'I have the balls' to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln just before the jet transporting him touched down on May 1, 2003? | |||
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Email example contributed by Gordon O., 21 May 2003:
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Subject: Bush and the Carrier Landing.... The following was forwarded to me from one of my old Navy buddies who got it from an aviator friend on the carrier Abraham Lincoln. The email below explains briefly the procedure of a plane approaching a carrier for landing. The pilot is asked by the air controller to "call the ball". For those not familiar with naval aviation lingo. There is a visual aid used on carriers to let pilots know if they are on the proper glide slope to land on the deck. The part that moves up and down depending on how you're doing on the glide slope looks like a ball or "meat ball". The fact that you have a visual on the approach aid dictates a call to the controller on the ship. The President's recent approach to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln resulted in the following: In this case the standard response from the pilot of plane carrying the President would have been "Lincoln, Navy One, 12,500 lbs, Roger Ball" meaning I have the ball in sight and am on glide path (for a safe landing -- the weight is given for setting the correct braking tension of the arresting gear cables). The President's recent approach to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln resulted in the following: "Navy One" was on final approach for trap aboard CVN ABRAHAM LINCOLN... the President, making the radio call, said: "Lincoln, Navy One, 12,500 lbs, I have the balls" His call brought down the house in wild cheers. |
Email example contributed by Robert L., 4 June 2003:
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Subject: Calling the Ball - President Bush From one of my Navy buds. For those not familiar with naval aviation lingo. There is a visual aid used on carriers to let pilots know if they are on the proper glide slope to land on the deck. The part that moves up and down depending on how you're doing on the glide slope looks like a ball or "meat ball." The fact that you have a visual on the approach aid dictates a call to the controller on the ship. The President's (George W. Bush) recent approach to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln resulted in the following: "Navy One" was on final approach for trap aboard CVN ABRAHAM LINCOLN... the President making the radio call said, "Lincoln, Navy One, 12,500 lbs, I have the balls," which brought down the house in wild cheers." |
Comments: It was an indelible media moment and clearly intended as such: President G.W. Bush's May 1, 2003 arrival on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the co-pilot's seat of a Navy S-3B Viking jet. He was there to deliver a televised speech announcing the end of major combat operations in Iraq and praising the accomplishments of U.S. fighting forces.
However, contrary to the email tale above, he did not transmit the words "I have the balls" to the carrier's crew just before landing.
Bush did attempt to "call the ball," interestingly enough, but the transmission wasn't heard by anyone outside the aircraft, according to a Navy source who spoke with the pilot, because the president hit the wrong switch before speaking.
His actual words were straightforward and by the book: "Navy One, Viking ball, seven point oh."
It's easy to see why some folks, particularly that segment of Americans who admire Bush's cocksure "cowboy" image, would find the alternative version of events charming, but it's clearly apocryphal. Its first appearance online was in a May 13 posting on Neal Boortz's Website, appropriately entitled "Urban Legend?"
Further reading:
Bush Lands Aboard USS Abraham Lincoln
Fox News, 2 May 2003Commander in Chief Lands on USS Lincoln
CNN, 2 May 2003
Last updated: 07/04/03
