I chucked the kneeboard and stuffed the card of the day in my leg pocket for reference only. Relied heavily on situational awareness and what the base number was. Of course the S-3 had 3 others to tap for info. We would always play " where is mother". Westpac had terrible data link and we were always EMCON. We chopped to the Med during the Libya raid in "86 and every thing worked.
Seriously what we had in the 80s was light years ahead of when my dad was in A-4s in the 60s and what you guys have available today is Buck Rogers. You can get a better nav on an Ipad app.
I was in your Dad's era (in fact I knew him slightly in Lemoore, I was in VA-146). Looking back now, yes our Nav equipment was
meager, radar
primitive...etc, BUT we didn't know that, it was top o' the line back then. When we got our first shiny new A4D-2/2Ns, went from Lo Freq radio ranges (dit dah, dah dit, etc) to Tacan, wow...bearing & distance...auto pilot...we couldn't believe it!
Today's "Buck Rogers" will have the next generation wondering, how did they ever manage? And so it goes..ad infinitum.
BTW, I remember yor Dad's CO IN VA-164, CDR Fred Meyers. Before he got to 164, he had the most enviable duty tour a Scooter driver could dream of; an exchange Pilot with a New Zealand AF A-4 Squadron @ RNZAFB Ohakea, colored me jealous!
BzB