F/A-18 dragging banner?

[invertedflyer]

I was driving past Miramar today and noticed two F/A-18s in formation. One of them was towing some kind of banner that had a single star on it. I've seen something similar in a video but am still unsure of what this is. Is it some kind of display regarding a change of command?

 

[MIDNJAC]

Back in the old days they used to tow aerial gunnery target banners, but I'd be surprised if this were the case now.....

 

[Squid]

nope, not used as gunnery to my knowledge...

 

[Schnugg]

In F-14s the Tomcat pulled the banner for A/A Gunnery and was called the "Tractor," sometimes an A-4 pulled it for us.

Tow patterns: squirrel cage or circular that we flew.

I would not be surprised if it was an A/A banner tow. Did it drop it near the end of 24L?

Squid, you're in VMFAT-101, have you done guns yet?

 

[ftrooper]

It is a an aerial gunnery banner. Still used occasionally in the fleet squadrons to shoot 20mm, at least the Marine ones.

 

[ftrooper]

Also, unless it's changed recently, the RAG only shoots the gun A/G

 

[invertedflyer]

In F-14s the Tomcat pulled the banner for A/A Gunnery and was called the "Tractor," sometimes an A-4 pulled it for us.

Tow patterns: squirrel cage or circular that we flew.

I would not be surprised if it was an A/A banner tow. Did it drop it near the end of 24L?

Squid, you're in VMFAT-101, have you done guns yet?

Yes, he did drop it at the end of the runway. It looked like the below picture except the star was red.

 

[Catmando]

Yes, he did drop it at the end of the runway. It looked like the below picture except the star was red.

We used to use the TDU-32 banner, but ours had a similar red (not orange as shown) border, but with a meatball and not a star:

Link

 

[invertedflyer]

It could have been that very banner. They were moving at around 250 knots... and I was on the road near the east gate so I didn't have the best view of it.

 

[jarhead]

It is a an aerial gunnery banner. Still used occasionally in the fleet squadrons to shoot 20mm, at least the Marine ones.

concur

 

[HeyJoe]

Also, unless it's changed recently, the RAG only shoots the gun A/G

Unless someone on the ground calls for strafing in theatre......

 

[nittany03]

Unless someone on the ground calls for strafing in theatre......

Methinks he meant "The RAG does not shoot air-to-air" instead of "The fleet does not shoot air-to-ground . . ."

Or is my Internet humor detector busted?:icon_tong

 

[A4sForever]

We used to use the TDU-32 banner, but ours had a similar red (not orange as shown) border, but with a meatball and not a star:

Link

That IS the traditional air-to-air gunnery banner ... a red dot/meatball, not a star.

Anyone have any pix of the gunnery pattern??? Pensacola or Texas ... ??? T-2 or TA-4???

 

[Schnugg]

I know we used to use painted bullets and then lay the banner out next to the hangar post-flight...and count the hits by color.

Remember calling the banner...as in clock position to determine best direction for the tractor and pattern?

I got some old pics I've been digging through from the 80s. I got to start scanning them in. An F-14 pilot shot the A-4 in the wing once as it towed the tractor.

I've been in the tractor...and watching a guy get real sucked and seeing smoke from the gun always made me cringe.

 

[Catmando]

Back in the day, towing a banner was dangerous duty. There was an F-8 driver that shot up two different tractor A-4's in the gunnery pattern.

The first he actually shot down and the A-4 pilot ejected safely. Then some time later, he shot another A-4 tractor. This time the guy made it back to Miramar. Later some jokers painted two A-4's on the side of the F-8 driver's aircraft. The F-8 pilot never got booted, but there was bad blood against him for years after that by the A-4 drivers.