Two out of three for me. But more importantly...
Cool. I am jealous of the guys who got to fly so many different platforms over a career. I would also caveat that it is one thing to be fully mission capable in every mission a plane can perform and another to just get a quick cat 4 and fly just red air and SSC. If, say, a prowler pilot who just got 10 hours and a NATOPS check was on here discussing the finer points of, say auto vs. ccip dive bombing I would be skeptical.
I studied enough and paid enough attention that (with the exception of spelling "ordnance" correctly) I have an
informed opinion. If you don't know the difference between E-2 and AWACS capabilities, then I pray to God that you are not a strike lead, or a division lead for that matter...
I know about as much as any Hornet division lead bubba could and should know. I have worked with both enough to know I would prefer my own Navy bros any day of the week over the Air Force, regardless of conditions. I know better than to speak poorly of another man's woman or his ride.
Of course the Hornets went everywhere that the Tomcats went, there was 1,000,000,000,000 lbs of gas in the air.
Amen. Hallejulah. There was a veritable whore house of tankers. I had trouble choosing sometimes.
I'm tired of the Hornet mafia trying to convince everyone that that jet is the end-all be-all. I've been hearing it for 20 years and I'm not buying it.
Fair enough. Conversely, I have grown tired of hearing that "the hornet sux because x- plane can do this better." It probably can, but the hornet does 8 other things that that plane cannot do. I have heard how different platforms can exceed the hornet's capabilities in specific areas and I can't dispute that. Of course, that must be weighed against how many other areas the hornet outperforms.
Hornet (A-D...I don't know enough about the Rhino) is a great jet. It is pilot friendly, easy to fly, easy to get aboard, flexible, expandable, etc. It is also slow, short on gas, and has no bringback.
All true. The rhino has improved greatly on gas and bringback.