I was in the flight ops the other day at our airfield. Among the many sqaudron patches was a coast guard aviation patch. On the patch was a set of Aviator wings, NFO wings and aircrew wings. What airframe in the coast guard has NFO's? Or are they Navy guys on loan?
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Coastie NFO
- Thread starter bobbybrock
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Nfo
Hudson,
Do you know if they are trained by the Anvy or Airfarce. I know that the Marine C-130 Navs are enlisted guys and tng seperate then the other guys. I was just curious as to i've never heard of a coastie NFO. The only aircraft I could imagine them on is the 130 or the fewE-2 that the Coast Guard uses.
Hudson,
Do you know if they are trained by the Anvy or Airfarce. I know that the Marine C-130 Navs are enlisted guys and tng seperate then the other guys. I was just curious as to i've never heard of a coastie NFO. The only aircraft I could imagine them on is the 130 or the fewE-2 that the Coast Guard uses.
The USCG has about 211 aircraft in service, none of which are E-2s. Additionally, there are no NFO positions in the Coast Guard. As far as the patch goes, my guess is whatever unit it was had a former FO from the USN or USMC who crossed over and still wore his wings and they decided to represent him as well.
Well that might be the logical assumption. Jut this was a just a fly coast guard sticker, not a sqaudron sticker. Just like the Fly Navy, Fly Army or Air Force bumber stickers you'd see. So it was pertaining to CG aviation in general.
I know that the coast guard never had E-2 in there inventory. But they have had a lot of nonstanderd aircraft . I believe they leased a few back in the mid 1990's.
I know that the coast guard never had E-2 in there inventory. But they have had a lot of nonstanderd aircraft . I believe they leased a few back in the mid 1990's.
I asked one of the Nav instructors back in flight school Coastie C-130's and who navigates them. They don't have rated Navs on board, just an enlisted aircrew bubba running the boxes (not sure exactly what they do). As for who flew in the back of those E-2's they had back in the early 90's, it would be interesting to know who ran the radar in the back. Incidentally, I think they had an accident with one of their E-2's.
They were looking for E-2 NFOs who had finished their intial tour to inter-service transfer to the Coast Guard but they had to take a bust from O-3 to O-2. Not sure how many they got. I do know a couple who did an exchange tour so the Coast Guard would have some experienced guys to act as squadron instructors.Flash said:
In the late 80s/early 90s, the CG had E-2s for chacing druggies. When the program started up, the CG recruited some Navy NFOs for inter-service transfers. I don't know what happened to those NFOs when the CG E-2 program shut down. There was an E-2 accident. They lost an entire crew. Basically, that's what ended the CG E-2 program. So, a CG patch with NFO Wings was accurate but, not any more.
Doesn't the CG have a P-3 airframe with an E-2 radar on top of it? Or is that Customs or DEA? I remember seeing that on the Discovery Channel a few years back.
tomcatsrule
Registered User
That's a Customs plane. They use P-3's with the APS-138 radar (which the E-2 has). The Coast Guard flies HC-130's with the same radar tacked on the top.
The Coast Guard flies HC-130's with the same radar tacked on the top.
The Coast Guard does not have any C-130's with the E-2 radar. However, there was one C-130 that was modified for that use to try and sell the idea to them and others interested in a C-130 AEW platform. I am not sure if it originally was a Coastie 130 but it was painted up in Coast Guard colors and was kept that way for a while but it is owned by the Navy and flown out of Pax River in Maryland to test some upgrades to the E-2 radar. I am not sure if it is still that way but the only operators of manned AEW platforms in the US are the USAF, Navy and Customs.
The Coast Guard does not have any C-130's with the E-2 radar. However, there was one C-130 that was modified for that use to try and sell the idea to them and others interested in a C-130 AEW platform. I am not sure if it originally was a Coastie 130 but it was painted up in Coast Guard colors and was kept that way for a while but it is owned by the Navy and flown out of Pax River in Maryland to test some upgrades to the E-2 radar. I am not sure if it is still that way but the only operators of manned AEW platforms in the US are the USAF, Navy and Customs.
Customs is the agency that owns the P-3s with radomes on top.
tomcatsrule
Registered User
Sorry, they DID have an HC-130H7 that was converted to an EC-130V, and used for 11 months. It had an APS-125 radar (a version similar to the APS-138 found on the E-2), and was taken out of service only because of budget cuts, when it was transferred back to the Air Force as an NC-130H. Read all about it HERE:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/ec-130v.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/ec-130v.htm
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