Flying the F-35

[Ralph]

Hah, funny you mentioned that... I've been around so long I actually had a NAVCAD Preflight classmate Roland H., who requested, and got Airships, was winged as a "Poopy Bag" Pilot in 1958. I met him again at NAS Moffett in '59, where he was stationed in ZP-?, which was the last ZP Squadron left at that time. Spent an interesting evening learning about BlimpOps!

Seems like they ran their lengthy patrols on the flight deck much like the bridge of a ship at sea. Pilots stood rotating "watches" like an OOD, with a rudder helmsman for heading, engine order telegraph(s) for speed, and an elevator helmsman for altitude. Interesting operation, but not for me (I was an ENS flying the beautiful FJ-4 Fury at the time). Unfortunately for Rollie, his squadron stood down the next year, the end of the Navy LTA era!
View attachment 13801
Edit: Guessin' if they were still around today, we'd call them "Winged SWOs"?
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BzB

What did he transition to?

 

[BusyBee604]

What did he transition to?

He ended up in ASW, S-2s in a VS Sqdn @ NZY.
BzB

 

[mad dog]

He ended up in ASW, S-2s in a VS Sqdn @ NZY.
BzB

HA!

S-2 Trackers!

I've flown with a few dudes at Delta that flew Trackers...those dudes are salty dogs...good stories.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

He ended up in ASW, S-2s in a VS Sqdn @ NZY.
BzB

Did he get to wear both wings, or did his dirigible insignia grow another wing

 

[BusyBee604]

Did he get to wear both wings, or did his dirigible insignia grow another wing

I was told by a Ret. O-6 ex-airship driver, that the big airship NAs became authorized to wear the regular 'double wings'. just a couple of years prior to permanent airship retirement (1958ish)

It would be a real bummer if you got winged, then work to get platform qual, then are rewarded by GETTING ONE OF YOUR WINGS CLIPPED OFF..., ugh!

BzB.

 

[Flash]

Did he get to wear both wings, or did his dirigible insignia grow another wing

According to uniform regs in the Navy you are only allowed to wear one set of wings so if you have NFO and Aviator or NFO and Flight Surgeon wings you can only wear one, I am pretty sure you can wear more than one at the same time in the Marines though. This came up with a couple of folks I knew, our flight doc in Prowlers was an NFO and he could only wear one and I knew a few NFO to pilot transitions who wore just one as well. The rule was often ignored when wearing mess dress though .

 

[nittany03]

According to uniform regs in the Navy you are only allowed to wear one set of wings so if you have NFO and Aviator or NFO and Flight Surgeon wings you can only wear one, I am pretty sure you can wear more than one at the same time in the Marines though. This came up with a couple of folks I knew, our flight doc in Prowlers was an NFO and he could only wear one and I knew a few NFO to pilot transitions who wore just one as well. The rule was often ignored when wearing mess dress though .

This changed in 2009, right before I got rewinged. The "category" thing got canned. I wear NFO wings on top, pilot wings on pocket when rocking the penalty suit.

 

[Gatordev]

I wear NFO wings on top, pilot wings on pocket when rocking the penalty suit.

Is this a new uniform item? I'm not familiar.

(Don't hate the player).

 

[Flash]

This changed in 2009, right before I got rewinged. The "category" thing got canned. I wear NFO wings on top, pilot wings on pocket when rocking the penalty suit.

Glad they changed it, if you earned them you should be able to wear them.

 

[VMO4]

In retired Marine General James "Hoss" Cartwright's offical pic on wiki, he is wearing only aviator wings, his bio states he qualed as a NFO and did an F-4 tour, then winged as an aviator.

 

[wlawr005]

He's a Marine. Different rules. Never seen it in writing, but all the NFOs who've winged here in Meridian have worn both sets of wings. All the prior Aircrew wear both sets as well (including myself) but maybe that's different because it's technically an enlisted device, not a similar community.

 

[BusyBee604]

I had worn NA Wings above Silver Dolphins (Enlisted) my whole career after winging. It was quite rare back in '50-'60s, but is more common since. The present CO VFA-146, was a STA-21 and is similarly pinned.
BzB