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Sorry SkidKid, I have to diagree with you on this one. Air Superiority is about freedom of action. Preventing air attack on ground troops is a byproduct of the fact that enemy does not have freedom of action. True air defense of the ground troops belongs to Patriot, Hawk and Stinger units...

I guess I need to clarify. The Tomcat was a great air-superiority platform, one of the best. Recent research has shown that the Iranians used their's to great effectiveness in the Iran-Iraq war. However, in USN service, it was a single purpose machine whose main efforts were to turn jet fuel...

Air superiority is only a means to an end. The AF has finally learned that and the F-22 is now the F/A-22 with the capability to drop bombs. The Tomcat was much more effective as a strike fighter than as a pure A-A machine. In USN service, the Tomcat has only 5 kills (4 Libyans and an Iraqi...

We stayed in the jet for about two minutes or so. After all, we always briefed that the safest place was in the jet. When the canopy filled with smoke, I pulled the canopy jettison and we climbed out. Brett refered to a firefighter I knocked off the jet. He was trying to disconnect the canopy...

My first Class A was a mid-air collision resulting in ejection. Two months down waiting for the FNAEB results. There was a jurisdictional issue since the pilot was an AF exchange guy. Second Class A was a ground mishap (no intent for flight since we were in tension when the tailpipe came...

NFO = No Future Outside But seriously, if you settle for NFO and want to be a pilot, you will be a terrible NFO and hate your life. Transitions are a pipe dream. Only about 10 people a year get picked up for one (1-2 per a community). The selling point for a career outside is the fact...

If that is the D Chang I am thinking of, he is now an O-5 and doing what I am currently doing where I am.

Should have had some Prowlers. VAQ-138 Yellowjackets use the old GT logo. First skipper was a GT grad, hence the name. Plus, we are louder than any Hornet. LOL.

One NFO I know wore the rubber gas mask glasses when flying. He said they were much more comfortable than jamming the earpieces of regular glasses between the helmet and his head. Personally, I could care less if you look cool when flying, I care that you can see the ball or the lead...

Now that the Intruder bubbas have hijacked this thread, I direct your attention to http://www.intruderassociation.org/therewewere.htm . The whole set of stories is a 2.9Mb download, but a lot of good tales.

The Intruder slogan at Hook '91 (yes, that Tailhook) was: A-6 Intruders, we stay up longer, go deeper, and deliver bigger loads. For some reason Pat Schroder didn't like it. As, for the 28 Mk-82 load, I only saw that once for my CO's last flight. Normal loads were centerline drop...

102 was the go bird, went down, 107 was the spare, went flying. Ops normal for the Tomcat. http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060924/NEWS/609240384/1050&template=currents

Of course, I remember doing CAS the old fashioned way. No sparklers, no talk-ons. 6 minute hack, 200' run, pop to 1600', roll, find the mark, in hot, pickle, off safe. Using this cockpit: Normal load was 12 Mk-82's but the Marines were known to do CAS with 28 Mk-82's per a jet.

The Marines prefer the term "Doughtnut of Misery". I attached mine for laughs.

Old saying: "Fighter pilots make movies, attack pilots make history." New saying: "Fighter pilots make movies, attack pilots make bad movies." But, back to the original post. There is a VCR tape out there (I wish I had a copy but don't, A4's probably does) called "Eagle's Greatest Hits"...

For those interested in the IA: - I am management. I work at the Brigade level. PowerPoint and email. - Food is great. - It is hotter than Hades. - I am with the Marines and that is the best part. They really take care of you. - For me, this is basically staff duty except you work every...

I got a P6 the other day. Price was right, S-4 folks gave it to me. Guess that is a benefit of being in Iraq.

Well, Harrier VIFF'ing worked well enough in the Falklands versus Argentian Mirages. As for the Raptor, I have a copy at home of one of the prototypes that got into thrust vectored PIO bouncing down the runway. Not pretty.

From "Sled Driver: The World's Fastest Jet" by Brian Shul:

A lot of squadrons (mostly pointed nose guys) get custom flight suits. Ones I have seen/know of: VF-213 Black Lions (blue) VF-114 Aardvarks used to have orange VFA-147 Argonauts (black) VFA-22 Red Cocks (red) Basically, they either make the SDO wear it or they all wear them one day of...

With the retirement of the Intruder, the Tomcat became the premier strike fighter in the Navy. They were held back but not getting the newest weapons as quickly as the Hornets but the LANTIRN pod was much better than the Hornet's pod. For dumb bombs, LGBs or JDAMs, the Tomcat could haul a bigger...

Air Force Academy dancer. Enjoy: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pm8Hyxkuln0

A lot of pilots have died trying to land during a bad emergency vice ejecting. When I taught in the RAG, I used to give guys in the simulator a scenario that required ejection. The lesson was that no airplane is worth your life.

Video was taken by misshipman so I doubt they had the back seat turned on. For the non-Prowler bubba's, the backseat displays are classified when turned on. Can't see it well enough to tell what they had up.

Pensacola, FL 1990-1992: AOCS, VT-10, VT-86 Whidbey Island, WA 1992-2001: VA-128 stud, VA-95, VAQ-129 stud, VAQ-138, VAQ-129 instructor Newport, RI 2001-2002: Naval War College Whidbey Island, WA 2002-2004: VAQ-129 refresher training, VAQ-138 DH Newport, RI 2004-2006: Navy Warfare...

She started out in EA-6A's with VAQ-35 in Key West and then went to ES-3A's with VQ-6. All I will say is that she was in my class at VT-10 and that an airbrush is a magical tool.

Well, VCNO is chatting about it: http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/search/autosuggest.jsp?docid=590247&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aviationnow.com%2Favnow%2Fnews%2Fchannel_aerospacedaily_story.jsp%3Fview%3Dstory%26id%3Dnews%2FWING02246.xml

Nobody is pleased per se but, "If you take the king's coin, then you do the king's bidding." What is frustrating for most people is that they are just getting notified. We got some heads up at my command. I found out about two weeks ago that I was probably going and I don't leave for another...

Hey don't forget these guys: Of course, that logo is gone now.

VX-4 + VX-5 = VX-9 They combined the squadrons. Some of the old tradions remained. And, that lost a good man his job back in April 2005. Old Vandy 1: New Vandy 1:

Read my post. Everyone gets the Advanced Convoy Training in Kuwait. It consists of live fire training and heavy weapons use. That way, if you are in a convoy that gets hit, you are an assett, not a liability. If you want to know what we are doing over there, PM me you SIPRNET address and I'll...

The total is 292 people. Enlisted, officer. Aviators, surface, subs. This is a task force in support of the Army (and that is all I'll say here). Everybody is gong to NMPS Norfolk for processing, FT Jackson for training and the aforementioned Convoy School for advanced training. This is just in...

Task Force Uninformed....a new cool uniform. One of the main selling points was that it would hide paints stains, WTF? Somehow, I don't think these will be in the system before I leave this month for my 365 day IA.

Pensacola - 1530 Saturday afternoon taking a slick EA-6B to Grumman for rework. - VFR cancel 10k' overhead. - Switch to tower, cleared #1 for the carrier break from 10k overhead. - Prowler NATOPS slick max speed - LBA (Limited By Airframe). I will not reveal the numbers to protect the...

They migrate all over the base but that is as far as they go. Nobody shooting at them here. They used to hang out on the lawn between the O'Club and the War College but the other day I saw them hanging out at the rotary. Then they moved back on base. At least we tend to slow down and let them...

Bought my car as a JG for $15k back in 1993. Been working on it ever since. Didn't always look this good:

Oh, and for the OP. I had a 2001 "Exploder". Transmission had to be replaced at about 75k miles.

That is why I have a Corvette (for the summer) and an Avalanche (for the snow). Of course, this summer I'll probably be in the sandbox,:icon_rage after I finally got the 'Vette painted and a new top installed. ON the plus side though, with that money I save, I can get one of these: 540 cubic...

No change in number of airwings. We had 10 airwings for 12 carriers before and now we will have 10 airwings for 11 carriers. Note the word "maintaining". As for the EA stuff, well, some of us can keep our mouths shut.

OK, here is some basic data for you on what the Navy/USMC currently flies and what you may be able to expect in the next 5-10 years or so. This is off the top of my head and only includes the big communities (so no flames on what I forget from my fellow AW compatriots). With this info, you can...

Brett, I have a copy of the CNO's P4 in my email chain. I'll send you a PM.

Also, I don't expect to see O-1's go IA unless you want to drive a truck. What Navy IA's provide is knowledge of Naval Operations to the respective Army staffs. What they are looking for is O-3/O-4 level officers with fleet experience, security clearances, and preferably some JMO PME...

Winter 2005 issue of "The Hook" has a great article by Rick Morgan entitled, Untangling the Mess, Naval Aviation Squadron Lineage Rick talks about the difference between Established/Disestablished, Commissioned/Decommissioned, Activated/Deactivated/Reactivated and Redesignation. For...

"Old time" is when the DI's where with you for all 14 weeks. My class managed to do something stupid around week 10 and lost all privileges, liberty etc and had to move into the "fishbowl" (rooms right next to the DI's office) for a week. You cannot convince me that the new syllabus will...

Here is another one (not as good as A4's but dear to my heart): 1. The LIZARD: Serves as a sentinel, ready to strike from anywhere, at anytime, to preserve freedom. 2. The BLUE SEA: Represents all oceans. 3. The SETTING SUN: Symbolizes the ability to operate day or night in any weather...

Fine, link is gone. Just use google.

How about the CINCPAC J7 web page? Information is freely available. I googled my way there.

Well, the predicted wussifying of OCS has begun. :banghead_ So much for "Naval Aviation, Marine Corp Trained". Seems like the last vestiges of AOCS are being killed off. RIP. Meat's prediction: The USMC will not move it's instructors to Newport and when OCS gets here, it will be back to...

RIMPAC '06, Cobra Gold, Northern Edge. All them are held every two years and have been for a long time. This is business as usual.

And, "203, Hornet Ball, 5.0" was already taken and "203, Super Hornet Ball, 5.0" is too long and potentially confusing for the guys setting arresting gear, etc. Hence "Rhino", big and gray and harkens back to the nickname for the F-4.