What’s faster than a greased apple down a drainpipe? A greased pig, apparently.
In 1986, members of a U.S. Navy helicopter crew stationed aboard the USS America sought to bring a moment of levity to the conclusion of their six-month deployment to the Mediterranean.
With the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy poised to relieve the Kitty Hawk-class super carrier, aircrewman Brian Christoff and his fellow aviators hatched a plan.
“I was an Aircrewman/SAR Swimmer with HS-11 helo squadron,” Christoff wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post. “The fighter jet jocks got with us and came up with this slant, on an age-old tradition, of releasing a greased pig onto the deck of the relieving ship. Three pigs painted with red, white and blue food coloring and lathered in grease. The Kennedy never [saw] it coming!”
From sling bullets bearing tongue-in-cheek inscriptions of DEXAI (“Catch!” in Greek), to modern day Porta-John art drawn by an ever-imaginative lance corporal, military humor has spanned millennia. The “pig prank” was no exception.
In the video, three pigs can be seen being released from the helo onto the flight deck of the Kennedy, as bewildered sailors below eventually chase after the freed baconated trio.
With the helicopter departing after dropping its “artiodactyl payload,” the Kennedy can be heard radioing, “Appreciate it. We can return the favor when we see you next.”
It is unclear if the favor was ever returned.
*No animals were harmed in the making of this film.
Claire Barrett is the Strategic Operations Editor for Sightline Media and a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill and Michigan football.
