Naval Aviation News - Dec 1992

8/6/2019 Naval Aviation News - Dec 1992

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FlagshIp Publica lion of Naval .Avla,Uon

Oldest U.S. Navy Periodical, Volume 75, No.1, November-December 1992

Ha,ppy75thBirthday,

NANews .......•• 12

Enlisted Avi:aUon Series

Air Traftlc Controller . 14

.Remotely Piloted VehiclesPro,ve Their Worth

Outlaw IHunter

TACAMO Herks Retired •.•.•.••. 22

Naval A'v!iation in WW II:Naval. Avl.atlon in Opera.tion Torch

FlIgl1t Lln;e .. • .

Grampaw ~ettlbone

Airscoop ." ..

Naval Alrc'raf1: F8C/02C Hel/dlvel'

People--Planes-Places ...•

Profes·slonalAeading ....

ANA Btmonthly Phot'o Competition

Flight .Bag .

1

2

4

18

• 30

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33

34

CovEI'lS - Front: Art Direotor Charles C,Cooney rendered this striking Diamond An·

niversarylogo 10commemorate Naval

AViation News ,.75 years of publlca.tion In

December. Back: Three VFA-136 FA-T8C

Hometslly ln echelon (photo by Cdr. John

Leenhouts).

16

20

24

35

RAdm. Riley D. Mixson

Dlr8cllJr. AlrWaif(:lr8

Published by Ihe Naval HI$lorlc:~1center

underthe ~usplces ol lhe Chle ' of Naval OperatlollS

Or. Dilill'lC.Allafd

C I .e c t or QI " 'av o I HI slory

Cdr.Sllipheo, 1 ' 1 • . Silv&io-

Dlreeial, No.val/'\Vla!lon History <lnd Publication Division

SlaH

lCIl ',r. RI~hard FLBl.lfge$sSamly Russell

Charles C. Cooney

Joan A. Frasher

JOCS·B. A.Comlerd

JOI(SW} erl~S. seal!

EditorManagmg EdHo'

Af1Dir~~or

As&o~ ia le Ed it o r

As s o da 'te E iliiol

Asslstt lrllE'dllor

As;sociatas

H iI fOld A.nd~If""s

T ec hn ic al A dv is or

Cdr. Pelc. Mersky. USNR

Boo k Re -. .r ew Editor

C'apl R. Rausa" USNR (Rei.)

Conl l ', bu llng Fdi lor

Publlcatlol'1 Policy:

Naval Allialfon News COMide~ for publleaHon UtlSOIICHl' !drnanuser lnts photo eSSllys, ar twork , Md g en e~ al n ew s a bo u tain;r< lfl . ,oq~anTzaliol15,history, . ;Jndiorhuman endeavorswhlc l1am the cor ,e01Nava'l Aviaircn. All rnlil lary ~",nlllb~lofS- SilDUld lot·w8n ;l ar ti ~ Ies 'i!IQO u tllelr com h1IIndesen II 'al ler Inte roal sectltityr ev iew an 'd I hepe( fT l!SS io~ 01 the commandll'1gottiter.

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By RAdm. Riley D.Mixson

Dlreel.ot, .Atr Warfare

ava Air: Pro·ecting ower

There me a lot of changes talkingplace IIIthe world ... and m ost o f

them have impacted the military inane

way or another. As we face.the post-cold war era. the totallmplemenlation

of Goldwater-Nichols, and the f iscalrealit ies of t he f ut ur e, w e have a 1 0 1 0 1

cllElllenges on our plate. To face Ihe re-quiremenl lssue head-on, OPNAV hasrecently reorganized to streamline the

a ss es sment p ro ce ss by whichdads ons are made In the a tlo c aton ofscare resources. Emphasis is on war -f are a re as vice co rnmu rn ty sponsor -

shlp. My title ha s changed t o D ir ec to f ,Air Warfare (NBB) , working for VAdm.

Owens (N8, formerly OP-08). Whilew e still have lhe care and feeding of

naval a ir craf t and their assoclatedweapons, we In N8S have an addition-al responslbility- assessing and

prioliUzing joint strike and power

projection requirements. Welre usingthe f lee t, th rough the Type Com-mander organization, to h elp us In Ih e

a ss es smen t p ro ce ss .I belle v e I ha l currant operat ional ex·

pe rt is e is extremely important as weneck down to the essen ti al war f lgh ti ng

requhements. Using that expertise [ 1 ' 1

conjunction wlth the efforts of m y su-perb slaff, the Mar ine Av la1 ion staff,and Naval Air Systems Command, weare buying smarter (and joint) i stretch-ing the inventory, enhanc ing mu ltl-m is -slon capabili ties, and rrecklng downand integra ti ng programs and forcesacross the board. One theme in N8S isat the f()refront of our deeisicn

process. That theme Is power projec-tion.n is important to remember Ihal

during ih e past 3 0 yea rs w e were in-volved in Vietnam, Gtenada, Panama.Lebanon, E arn es t W ill esco rt ope ra -uo ns in the Persian Gulf, Libya, Desert

Shield/Desert Storm, Provide Comfort,

and now SQuthern Walch over Iraqand P ro v id e P rom is e o 'H Yugoslavia.With the exception of the Cuban Mis-

sile Crisis, not once did my generationof Naval Aviators experience a dlrsctlace-off against the Soviets. In other

words, the kinds ollhreats that wehave foughlln the past, if i. ll lything,are proll fera ling, That's an importantpoinl because In atl of the conflicts we

have been engaged in since and In·eluding WWII, one capability ha sremained predominant and

preeminent, and thai is powerprojected tram 1he carrier battle group

to shore,

In Naval Aviation Ihat capability to

project power is our core competency.1 1 is that wh1ch separates us from the

other navies o f Ih e world,The. Navy's white paper entitled

"From the Sea" encapsulates the

Vision of our future Navy/Marine Corpsp owe r p ro le ctlo n ro le . IIemphasizes

the capab ility to p ro je ct power ashorew ith the em phasis o n littoral war fare.The application of oowe r rneansbombs, m l ss lle s , shells, bullets, andbayonets from the sea to shore. IImeans we need muln-rnlsston-capabreplatforms thai can perform strategic

strike missions. as w ell as battlefield in-terdiction and close ai r support for ourMarines and other ground forces,

while at the same time maintaining ai rsuperiority and se a control. Our mis-sion has become more complex and

requires th at w e sort, track, identifya nd , ]1 necessar y, a tt ack within some

very confined batt le spaces.As I s ee it, the focus for Naval Avia-

tion into the 21s1century tsto malniain

a capabili ty to project power within

ever lightening resources. The lour top

Naval Aviation priorities are f/A-18E/F.AX , CVN·76, and, for the Marine

Corps, an as yet unfunded newmedium lift oapabillty. To generate"cash flow", we are working hard withNava l A ir S ys tems Command throughVAdm. B ow es' H ealth at Naval Avia-lion (HONA) program to reduce un-

necessary expenditures and to extend

the service life o f Ihose aircraftlhat will"bridge tf.le gap" lnto the next centlJry.Th e 102nd Congress, like those pre-

vious. demoristrated its support for theNaval Aviation Plan and provided us

w i t n most of the F/A-laC/Ds we re-quested. $943 million lor development

of the F/A-188F, development fundsfor the AX, advanced p ro cu remen t fo rCVN-76, funds to r 20 CH/MH·53s, 12SH-60Bs. 9 SH-60Fs, and 7 HH-60Hs,

$755 million for V-22. funds to keep

th e A V·8B fle et m o de rn ize d, E -2 Cmodernization money and finally tunds

NAVAL A VIA TlON NEWS November-December 1992

10 accomplish the remanufacture ofthree EA-68 ADVCAP. Our weapons

prog rams ar e also on tra ck and funded.1remain an optimist with respect to

the future o f N av al Aviation. The as·sessment process Imentioned earlieris showIng the w a y to co ns erv e scarceresources While maintaining a te ch -nologically superior warfightingcapablltty. We In Washington, wor,king

with th e T yp e Commanders an d FleetCommanders-in-Chief, will buy you the

rIght aircraft and weapons systems to

get the job done right Your job In the

squadrons Is \0 traln 10 f ight and win.Keep your enthusiasm high, eontlnueto press, and ny safely. Rest assuredan o f us In the Navy a re e xtremelyproud of you and 'your centnbuficnstoour national securtty. You are whereth e rubber meets the road. You're thepoint of the spear. You are America'sheroes. Press on! •

An F.A.18C from the VFA·1J6

Kniglilthawks over the Pentagon In June

1992.



Holy Helosl

II began as a "fun day' working off~

shore w ' it h a special o ps team sta-

t ioned al Ihe nearby amphibious base,T he CH -4 6 Sea Knighl crew flew a fewpasses 01"limp (luck," g01e,veryone

quallfied In "fastrops," and carried th ecrew around the lield a coupl.e of timeson Ihe SPIE (Special Insert ion Extrac-

l ionjlig, All hands were sa ti sf ted w i thI"'e day's evolution and as the specialops personnel secured, Ih e n erodeparted. the field to , the hotplt back athome base.

While in the hetplt, the helo was

summoned lor Moth,ar mission be-

cause Ihe other helo experienced

rnaintenance p ro blem s. T he SeaKnight was thus assigned to fly over"water paradrcps Involving the sameg ,ro up w h IC h th ey h ad w o rk ed wUh ear-

I!er.

NOTAMS (!~otice to aj rmen) hadbeen issued to secure tne .DZ (drop

zona). Because of a delay caused byIh e civlllan lo w e r w h le l1 controlled th earea, lhe CH·46 arrived at Ihe basewith only an hour of fuel onboard. TI,ecre w w a sn 't o ve rly co nce rn ed be --cause the overwaler DZ was only five

minlltes away . The iumpmaSlef gave athorough brief andlhe rumpers loaded

onto Ihe Sea KnightW ith 40 m inutes o f fuel onboard, Ih e

h elo to ok ·o ff a .n d p ro ce ed ed to th e D Z.

- - - --. .

The J umpers were to leap out at 1,500feel after several passes over the

re co ve ry b oa ts to d ro p streamers andcheck the w i nd s. On th efirs t pass, an

H -5 3 S ea Stallion flew directly beneath

the CH-46. On Ih e second pass, the

orew successfully dropped windstreamers. The third pass w as un-eventful and the jumpers were given

the one-minute warning.

T he p llo t tumed onto a flnal ap-proach course and lowered the ramp,

All was In order: winds were good,

Jumpers were .standing by, and 1Mre co ve ry b oa ts w e re o n s ta tio n. Th eco un tdo w n w a s u nde r way. Five, four,

th re e, tw o ..Suddenly, the p ilo t o rdered . ."Abor tth e jump! Abortl"He had sig l' lted an H ·2 Se8sprlte

d1rectly belo~ the Sea Knig.hl. Th e CH·

46 pil'ot began the turn tor yet anotherpass but th e H-2, unintentionally.tu rn ed w ith th e Sea Knight, matching

the track of the CH·46 for two morepasses.

Recog:n iz ln g h is low fu el status, l~eSea Knight pilot blngoed for more fuel,After a quic k - refueling, the aircraftretumed to the DZ bu t the recovery

boats had secured for 1Mday The

mission was scrubbed .Gramps thanks He·55 L t . Grady

Banister far this submssian.

~Grampaw Pettiboriesays:

NOTAMS will never make thebest .sener list. But they could be

Ihe most Im,portanl thing a NavalA:vialor ever reads - after NATOPS(Naval AIr Training and OperatingProcedures Standa.rdizatlon).The Sea Knight plla·1 believed thai

nelttler the Sea StaUlo,n nor the

Seasprite _ who surely didn't readthe NOTAMS·_ flew under his

.alrcraft on purpose ..They likely

didn't even know the CH-46 was,

above them.

The mere thought of aparaehuttst descending helplessly

Into the rotor blades of a hellcQpte:r

- a catastrcphe for both theIndIvidual and the helo - Is Indeed

harri'fylng.Lesson: Read a.nd heed those

NOTAMS!

N AVAL .4 VIA TJO N NEWS November·Dec.elTlber 1992



:Formation Folly

A p.airof F A-l 8e Hbrners were on a

simulated alr-to-ground ordnance

delivery rm sston designed to practiceu tiliz atio n o f the AN/ASQ-173 strike

camera. Established Inthe overwater

working a re a, the wingman - or"camera" aircrafl- s et his barometricautopllo: hold lunction for 23,200 leel

a nd a dv ise d le ad that he w as ready 10

tall'e pictures, Maintaining 22,900 feet,lead m anuevered aft o f, and under,

th e wingman a nd w ll1 fe r na ne uv en nq ,

dirl::mled the- wingman 10startand slOp!he picture sequence. lead held a con-stant altitude Ihr0ughou! this pass and

cleared 10 the left front of the wingman.

The wingman t rans rn lt tad , "Le t's Iryagain, a little closer: lead moved aft,iTlrunlainmg 22,900 feet The wfngmanradioed Lhathe was setting his

barometric hold funotion for 23,150

feet lor this second pass. This trans-rnlssron was 110t acknowledged by

lead

Lead then assumed position aft andbelow the camera aircraft, with step-

down of 20 feel, and directed Ihe pic.

lure sequence 1 0 b egin, L ea d's c en te r-

line was al:19118dwith the left engine ofthe w ingm an Lead m aneuvered so

that he was looking aft over his righl

shol..llder.'a! tMe second plane andjudged that the w m qrnan's radome

w as close to his (lead's) right verticallail, (The wingmal"1 IflSI saw lead when

he moved aft 10 exeoute the second

run.)N eK t.lea d trie d to clear aw ay 'rom

the camera plane. The HomeJs 001-

tided , In short order, th e wingman

heard an auditory lone, the master

caulion Hgh1came on, and his FA-1S's

v"ero cily vecto r dropped off. H e fell the

n-058 tailing and applied left stick but

gol no res po nse . T here was a loud

n osse, a rush of air, and b uffe \. le ade xpe rie nc ed airfra me b tJffe \ similar te

Jetwash as he moved from under thecamera a ir craf t.

Lead rnanuevared to jOin on the des-

cending wingman who recovered hrsHomel a t 9 ,0 00 fe·el. The wingman'scanopy, raceme. and radar antenna

were goOne;atoll9 With Ihe pilot's hel-

met and o l<ygen mask . H e w as being

sprayed by asticl<yfluid emanating

from above an d below t he ins tr umentpanel. H e headed for home base, H e

was unable to read Instruments except

v---... __

in short bursts after wiping Ih e glass

clear of fluid,Other caution lights Illu minate d a nd

subsequently Ihe lett engine faJled.

The willgman motioned lead \0 stayclear and a m om ent la ter, Ihe airfield

insight, Ille wingman's HomeI ' beganto , lishtall. He trlad emergency ge ar e x-tension after the normal system failedtolune-lion. At actuanon the pilot was

blasted by air aM hydraulic fluid fromthe cookpit r loor area..

Uncontroltable, the HDme t w as nowat 180 knots and 800 feet. WIIl'11he leftw i ng> down 30 degrees and Ihe ocean

belo w him , Ihe wlngmanejeoled. Th estation s ea rch a nd rescue helo was onthe scen.e quickly a nd r ec ov ere d th epilot, who was Injured but survived.lead l anded unevent fu lly .

~ Grampaw Pettibone says:"\';

Gal dang' lt l These fellas - bothseasoned IHg,ht leaders - shouldagone back to basics. Basic alrwork,tllat is, A seemingly simple

formation hop turned Into .3 midair,nlghtma:re.

NAVAL A WAT/ON NEWS November-December 1992

(

(I

~

They briefed the Ilight alright, but

investigEilors said they left. OU.!"eond w et 01 the alr-tc-alrpicture-taking sequence, the

number of sequences planned,

variations In alrcratlseparaUon,geographic location of maneuvers,directive commentary during

rnaouevers, formatlon leadchanges, responsibility to maintalncenter assigned a.ltitudes, and

elosest point of a,pptoC!lch in

fo,rmation."

Lead put hl.mselfln a tough spotfor the picture taking. He dldn'l

have f.amiliar cues to help orlen1 hisposition, manueverlng as he did. He

misjudged his distance fromnumber two and the Hornetssmacked Into each other,

One endorser 01 the mishap

report wrote, "TwoeJCper lenced

avlators ran into each other while

flyIng the simplest formation IIIghl,"

An InsufficIent briefing and

questionable basic air work turned"simple," Into "complex" and cost

the Inventory one fighter bomber.



!Nava l A ir Extends Security and Helping Hand

In a recenl two-monthperiod, the Navy arid Marine

Carps, spearheaded by thelr

Naval Av ia tio n e lemen ts ,res ponded to three internation-

a l c ris es a bro ad and threenatura! disasters at home, ex -tenc!lng security tobeleaguered citlz·ens in war-torn countries and a helplngh and to American co m-munities devastated bys'o rm s. T in e e ve nts o f thatperiod displayed many timeso ve r th e re sp on siv en es s 0 1 fo r-ward-deployed naval farcesa nd th e lIexibllity o f n av al to r-cas to meet national needs.

.Provide PromiseOn July 2.4, 1992. Sara.foga

(CV-60) became theiirst U.S.

aircraft carrier ev er to conductsustained f li gh t ope ra ti ons inth e Adriatlc Sea, sent there in

response to the strife In theformer Yugoslavian republic of

Bosnia-Herzegovina.

(Saratoga' once agaIndemonstrated the ability of th eaircraft carrier 10 operate ITl

confined sees. a capabi li tystripped of skeptlcs by opera-nons of Saratoga an d other

carriers in the Red Se a andPersian Gulf during OperationOeser! Storm,)

An AmphlblolJs Ready

Group c en te red o n Iw a J im a(lPH-2j, w ith M arin e Med iumHelicopter Squadron 365

(Reinforced) emba rk ed , a ls olook station in the Adriatic.ready t o suppo rt U N ~reliefef·forts to the beSieged Bosnlan

c ap lta l o f S ara je vo . O n SElP -tem ber 4. tw o CH -53E andtwo AH-l W helicopters from

two J ima , ru::;hed to th e s ce neof an Italian Air Force G.222

transport dOWned b y a su rface -to-air rn tssue . .The helicopters

drew fire from the gro,und but

were undamaged,

Navy P-3C patrol aircraftd ep lo ye d to NAS Sigonella,Sicily, are also busIly engaged

In Operation M<3r i time Mon i to r ,

the e rfo rc em en t o f Uni.tedNa-t ions sanctions agal'nsl

Yugoslavia.

4

VFA-195's A03 Parish and AOAN'Kulbe whee l Sidewinder missiles across Il'Ie flight deck et lnde-

pendente (eV-52) prior to loading them abOard an FA·',BC Hornel prepar-Ingla ny miSSions over IrIn slJpp·ortofOpera!lon Soulhern Walch.

Sou th em WatchTwenty Navy aircraft from

Carrier Air Wing iCVW) 5aboard Independence (CV-62)

In the Persian Gulf were th efirstcoantlon aircraft on station

over Iraq on AUQlust27 as

Operation SOuthem Watchbegan, Announced by Presi-

dent George Bush on August26, Southern Watch is the an-

forcem snt o f a ban on Iraqiwarplanes and helicoptersfro m U yin gso uth o llhe 3 2ndparallel and attacking Shnte

Moslem ethnie groups in themarshes of southern Iraq•.AnyIraqi alrcraIt caught airbornewould be shot down.

In addition to planes from In-

dependence, Marrne Corps

AV-S6 Harrlerslrom Tarawa

(lHA·1) a lso suppo rted the

operatlon. Independence was

later r·elieved, in the Persian

Gulf by Hanger leV-S1), wilhCVW-2 emba rk e d.

Prov ide Re lie fOn September 16, 1992,

P re sid en t B us h d is pa lch ed tlWTs . rawa Amphibious Ready

Group to the eoast of Somalia

as part of Operat ion Provide

Rener , a rne lf ina t iona l efforllorelieve the massive starvaton

ongoing in the anarchy of thecountry. The Marine !- lardersan d helicopters o f Ma lin e

Medium Helicopter Squadron161 (R.einforced) stood ready

offshore to protect retie.! teams

and transport aircraft bringingin a contingent of Pakistani

I'leace·~.eepirlg troops. 10

MOgad is hu , H i e cap it al city.

Hurricane AndrewNaval Aviation units were

ca .ile d In to ac tio n to h.elpre lie ve th e s uff erin g o fhundreds of thousands of

A rnertcans In the wake of H Ur-

ricane Andrew , the most

cosily natural disaster ever toslnke the United States,

After Andrew hi! the

southern tip of Florida onAIJ·gUSI24, 181le llng Homes-tead AFB, military units were

soon hScwlly InvOlved in th erelief operat ions. Navy shipswith supp li es . and repair

capabilities steamed from

Eas1Coasl ports lor FloridaFour CH-460 helicopters

from Helicopter Combat SI

p ort S quadro n 8 operatedfrom Ponce (lPO-15) and svarna (AFS·2). NAS

Jacksonvlne, Fla.-based

reserve Helicopter Antisub-

marine Squadron 75dispatched' two SH-3H he li-copters to assist in Ihe

rebUilding effort.Fighter Squadron 102, N

Oceana, Va" used its F-14ATomcats equipped with theTactical Aerial Reconnais-sance Pod System te

photograph the damaged

a reas o flh e Bahamas andsouthern Florida. Thephotographs were delivered

local off ic ials to assess thetent 01 damage.

Relief supplies lor Hurricane Andrew vlcllms arreloetled apoardVA-54 C-130Tat NAS Meml'lhis, TeM.

N AVAL AV IA nO N N EW S NO\lem!ber..Deeem,be, 1992:



Navy transport aircraft flewrelief supplies to southern

Florida as well, A C-98 fromFlae:! Logistics SupportSquadron (VA} 58 flew down74,000 items donated from

sailors an d their families sta-tioned at NAS Jacksonville,NAS Cecil Field., and NS

Mayport. A DC-9 from VR-60

and a C-t30T from VA-54 new

65,000 pounds of donated supplies from NAS Memphis,

Tenn. Twelve Marine CorpsKC-130 transports from

squadrons at MCAS CherryPoiht. N,C., were also as-

s ig ne d to th e rebuilding effort,In ~dd[tlon, many other

Naval Aviation units

t hr oughout th e country and

o ve rs ea s h os te d s to rmrefugees and gathered relief

supplies to send ' 0 the hur-ricane victims in Florida and

Loulslana: these units in -cluded NAS Alameda, Calif.;

NAS Pensacola, Fla., NASKey West, Fla : Tactical

Electronic Warfare Squadron

33; NS GUantanamo Bay,CUba; and Fleet Composlte

Squ ad ro n 1 0.

Typhoon OmarOvershadowed in the news

by HurricaneAndrew.Typhoon Oma r devastatedGuam on AuglJst 28, darnaq-

ing over 4,000 homes. Joinl

Task Force Marianas coor-

dinated tne relief efforts of allof the military services. Naval

Aviation units involved In . relief

e ff 0r ts inC luded NAS Agana,Helicopter Combat Suppo.rtSquadron 5, Fleel Logistics

Support Squadron 50, andFleet Air Reconnaissance

Squadrons 1 and 5.

Hurricane InikiAfter Hurricane Inlki hit fhe

Hawaiian Islands on septem-

be r11, Navy and Marit'1e

Corps aviation units sp,rang

Into action to aid the localpoputatlon, especially those

on the devastated Island 01Kauai. NAS Barbers Point andlts tenant commands provided

volUnteers and assisted local

residents. Bel/eall Wood (LHA-

3), stopping at Pearl Harbor

on Its way to lts new home

port of Sasebo, Japan, sailedto Kauai with troops and rehel

supplies.

Pacific Missile RangeFaCility, Barking S.ands, the

Navy's airstrip on Kaual. wason ly s li gh11ydamaged by Inlki,

and served as a hub of relief

flight operations. Navy and

Marine Corps aircraft flew In

supplies and personnel, A KC-

130 from Marine Aerial

Refueler Transport Squad ron352 brought In seven tons of

supplies a ll th e way fromNAWS Point Mugu, Calif .

v x - i NAS Patuxent River. Md"

is conducting operatIonal test-

Ing of the HH·60H str ike rescue

version 01 the Sikorsky

I Seshawk, VX.l Is evaluallng therecenlly ins.slted Enhanoed

Sell·Protectlon Equipment.

Which Includes a radar warning

receiver, a laser warningreceiver, a missile warning

detector, ac:ountermeesures

dispenser set, and a pair of

G.AU-17mlnlguns, Testing will

contlnue at NAWS China Lake,Calif ,; 'NAS Fallon, Nev.! MCAS

Cherry Point , N.C.; and aboard...srious naval ships.

New Naval Strategy

" ...Fromthe Sea'

The Secretary of the Navy

(SecNav), Chief of Naval

Operations (CND), and corn-mandant of the Marine Corps

signed a new Navy-MarineCorps strategy on Septemli>er28,1992.

"This document marks a

sea change In naval strategicthinking. IIdetails a new naval

philosophy for loday's world,"said Aoting SecNav Sean O'_

KeefeThe strategy, entitled

' ', .F rom the Sea " a nddeveloped In response to th echallenges 01loday, shifts tl1efocus from a global threat to a

focus on regional challengesand opportunities, an d con-centrates on warfare near land

and maneuver from sea.

''' .. , From the Sea' deffl1es a

combined vision for th e N av yand Marine Corps and out,

li ne s t he new direction of theNavy and Marine Corps team,

both acttvs and reserve, inproviding the nation with navalexpeditionary forces shaped

NAVAL AVIATION N E W S November-Dec:ember 1992

for jom! operations. an doperating forward from thesea," according to CNO Adm.

Frank B . K elso II.The principal elements of

Il'1enew direction of the naval

service are strategic cetor-

rence and defense, forward

presence. c,dsis response, and

reconstitution. The new

strategy is a fundamental shiftfrom open-ocean war fightingon the sea toward joint opera-tions from the sea, Changing

the naval forces to an ena-

bling te rce , th e s lr-a te gy w illallow the Navy and MarineCorps 10 respond to global

crises and provide the Init ia!capability for joint operanons

in conflict.

'Never has Ihe term 'Navy-Marine Corps team' had more

relevance. Our n ew stralegis

direction will result In naval tor-ces better tailored to respond1 0 the types of world crises.

that we anticipate facing in the21s1 century," said Gen, Carl

E. Mundy, Jr; Commandant of

the Marine Corps. ''We nownave a tailored force package

better structured to comp te -mentll"te components of a

loin! lorce. We are entering a

golden era for naval force

capabilities."

The naval service wil l con-tinue to ernphaslze nuclear

deterrence through th e use ofnuclear ballistic submarines,as well as the traditional naval

mission of sealift. Increased at-

tention 10 command, control,and surveillance; banle space

dominance; power projection;and fo rce sustainment is re oqu1rad to sucoessfully execute

this new strategy. Flexlbli li ty isatso a key factor - naval for-

ces will be tailoredcontinuously 1 0 antkipate an dsupport national needs."Eveo thouqh th e t imes are

uncertain and the threats areunpredictable. the oppor-

tunities are abundant. We

must capitalize on these op-

portunltles wnlle ensurIng that

our naval forces remain

capable," said Kelso.To ensure the successful Im-

plementatron of the new



Navy-Marine Corps strategy, aNaval Doctrine Com mand w ill

be es tab lts he o 1 0 a ev eto p

doctrine fo r 9: tf ,led lt ionary war -fare,

American legion,

VFW Suppo rtNava l A ir

The 3.T-m illiOn m em bers o f

th e American Legion and the

2.2 -m ilfio n m em bers o fVeterans 01 Foreign Wars cast

o f so lid vo te i'n s upport o f

N av al A via tio n d urin g their

recent 1992 convenffons, Rep-

resentatives of Ihe wor ldwide

organizations unanimously

adopted a re so lu tio n to shew

appreciation and recogniz:e

th e memb ers o r Naval Aviationf'O r: risk ing their lives dally o n

bshall o f A rnericass: being

ready and <;Insta:Lion aroundthe world to respond immedi-

ately 10 threats 10 o ur s ec ur it y

and w orld peace: and beingready 10 respond 10 globalcrises and serve as America'sfirst res po ns e to thre ats to our

national secUrltyinlerests.

WasPJ HelosConctu de D rug'Cps'

Amphibious assault ship

Wasp (LH D~I) and lis unusualassortment ctembarkedh elic op te rs c on clu de d a tw o -month drug interdictiOM

deployrnenllhis summer ,m ark ing the first such o pera-

tion fo r Wasp and the

successful marriage of the SH ·

60B helicopter to lhe tHD fo r

such operations.

Embarked on Wasp were

deta ohm enls fro m N ASMayport, Fla.-nased Helicop-

te r Antisubmarine Squadron

Light lHSL) 44, and Helicopter

Combat Support Squadrons

(HCs) 2 and 8. NAS Norfolk,

Va. The H SLA4 detachmentm arked the frrst 'lim e that three

SH -608s Lleployed as a s'lngle

detacRment. and Ih e f ir st SH-608 detachment to deployab oard an a mp hibio us ass-aultship. HCs 2 and 8 provided

tw o CH,53E and tw o CH-46D

6

helicopters Irespecllvely.The APS-124 radar aboard

th e SH·60Bs greatly extended

the search horlzon 0t Wasp.Durin g tlle o pe ra tio n, the HSL-44 detachment id en tifie d o ve r

45 0 su rtace contacts 1:0 12 3sorties a nd o ve r 4 00 flig ht

hours.Wasp helicopters a lso toiled

an attem pted, piracy of E ! U S.-

flagged vessel during the

deployment (see NAN ew s .

Sep-Ocl1992, p..4).

USMC Units JOin

CVWsTh e integration o f Ma rin e .

tactical jel squadrons into

Nav y ca rrie r a ir w ings (C VW sJ

as ordered by the Secretary o f

th e Navy ha s be gun wlth th e

recent assignmet"l! of tw oMar ine f igh te r attack

squadrons (VMFAs) 10 tw o

CVWsfor upcomIng deploy-

ments. .

VMFA-312,a Aight-attack

FA-laC squadron based at

MCAS Be?ufor t , S,C'I has

joined CVW·S assigned to

T h e o do re Ro os e v e lt (CVN-71), d lsp lac ir :lg AttackSquadron 65 . an A<6Es qu ,a dro n w h ic h h as b ee n tem-

porarily assigned ashore. Onth e West Goast, VMFA-314,an FA-18A squad ron based atMCAS E I T ar o, Calif, ha s

joined CVW- l 1 assi.gned 10

A bra ham L in co ln (OVN-72) .displacing Fighler Squadmn

114, an F·14Asquadron which

has also been temporarlly as-

signed ashore,

Plans lor Ih e f ut ur e call for

alhird Marina G orps FA-laCsquadron and an EA-S8

squad ron t o in tegn~ ,1einfo

Navy carrier ai r Wings.

FA..18E/FContract Awardedto Macalr

The Department of Ihe

Navy awarded in July 1992

Ihe firsl insta llm ent o f a $3.97-billion contracllo MoDonnel1

Douglas to develop t he s in gle -

seat FA-18E and two-seat

FA-18F Horne t s tr ik e f igh te rs ,

the fallow-on aircraft for the

FA-1eCJD.Theccntract aw arded $97 .3-

million toward the design,development, manufacture,

and tesUng of live FA-leE and

tw o F'A-18F versions. An addi-

tional $754·milllorl contract to '

General Electric was placedfo r development of the F4 ,4·

GE-400 engine. which will

power th e new Horne l .

So Long,Yellow Gear

' 'YelloW gear," the fleet

name for altcratt support

equlpmem, wIl l soon be

another term cornslgneO 10Ihe

d us tb in o f h is l ory- Eventually.

all support equipm ent (B E) w ill

be painted white.In an articfe in the Sept,em-

bar-Octobsr 1992 ISSue of

Meoh , Gabrielle Gerliczydescribed the reason lor thela ndm ark c ha ng e. The yellow

paint used on BE contained

le ad . a nd c hromate s. n ow con-sidered a health risk. Th e

Nav al A ir Warfare CenterA'ircraft DiVision. Lak.ehurst.N.J., lound a nontoxlc paint

that minimized health risk an d

s til l p ro v ided protection fromcorrosion.

T he h i_ gh ly v is ib le w h ite

paret has been evaluated o

thr ee · Sh ips an d live bases.

is less e xp en sive th an yello

paint. does no! conflict w ith

I st in g f 1igh l· .I ln e co lo .f codes .

an d is considered as v is ib lemore v is ib le th an yell'Ow pa

under most conditions. The

switch to white lor existing

will occur during scheduled

overhaul or when more tha

50-percenl touch-up Is re-quired.

Old Sea StallionsPut to PastureThe Marine Corps finally

relired Ih e rast Offts CH-53A

versions of Ine SikorSky SeStallion heavy asaauttnelleorer after almost 2-8years ofservice, completing their teplseernent by the more

c ap able C H--5 -3D a nd CH-6On July 16, 1992, Marine

Heavy Hellccpter Squadron

(HMH) 462, th e la st s qu ad ro

10operate the CH-53A. newth e last two lr or n M C AS T ustin. Galli., 10 Ihe AerospaceMaintenance an d Regenera

Twelve st lngiers on Ihis Hornel- AnFA-1SC assigned 10VX-4.NAWS Poll'll Mugu, Calif .. dlsi:llays 'slr-to-alr weaponry consIstInof 10 AIM-120 AAMRAM missiles (umler wing, and on fl.lsel.!lge

tions) and Iwo wingtip-l11ounted AIM-9 Sidewinders.

N A VAL A VIA T lO N N EWS November-December 1992



lion Center, Davls-MonthenAFB. Anz HMH-462 is lran-

s itlo o in g to the CH-53E.First flown on October 14.

1964, the CH-5-3A replaced

the Sikorsky CH·37C in

Marine Corps use, andentered combat in Vietnam

dUfing the mid*1960s. becom-ing an essential pari atamphibious tactical airl ift for

\l1eCorps. Production totaled139 before the GH·53D sue-

ceeded il on Ihe production

line i/1lale 1968. The CH-53A

saw ront-llne service In S~X ac-tive HMH squadrons. as well

as three reserve squadrons

and two training units.

The Navy also operated a

smal l number o f CH 53As. Ineluding 15 adapted lorminesweeping and used by

Helicopter Mine Counter-

measures Squ.adron '2to

clear North Vietnamese

waters after the Vietnam War

during Operation Endsweep

Others were usee by Fleet

Composite Squadron 1 inHawaii, and two used by theNaval Air Development Cen·

ter, Warminster, Pa, for testw ork w ere desiqnated N CH ·53A,

VMAQ ..4Deactivated andReactivated

A September 12 ceremonyat NAS Whidbey Island,

Wash .. marked the deactlva-tion (offiCially September 30}of Marine Tactical Electronic

Warfare SQuadron (YMAQ) 4after over 11 years of service

The last .Ma rine CH -5 JAs, lik ethe one shown here lil ting

Marines In Vietnam 25 yearsago, have bean retired.

as a reserve squadron, and its

reactivation (officially Oelober

1) as an active squadron, U.

Col. Stephen K. Protzeller was

the last CO at the reserveVMAQ·4, handing over com-

mand 10U. Col. David P

RanA as the first CO of YMAQ-4 as an active squadron.

The VMAQ·4 SeahBwks

were activated at NAS Whid-

bfilY Island on May 21,1981,as the electronic warfare

squadron fo r the reserveFourth Marine Aircraft Wing.

Equipped with the EA·6A In-

truder, the squadronpartrolpated i' 1 many training

evolutions until 11was called to

acuve duly on March 11,

1991, following OperationDesert Stotm, ordered to tran-

sition to the EA"68 Prowler,

and deployed to MCAS

lwakunl, Japan, 10 relieve aVMAO·2 detachment. all

within a 90-day period.The SeBhawks ar e moving

to MCAS Cherry Point, N,C ..

10 jam VMAQs 1, 2, and 3

basedlhere an d will join their

deployment rotation cycle.

Also deactivated on Sep-

lember 12 were DetachmentsC of Marine Aircraft Group 46,

Marine Aviation Logistics

Squadron 46, and MatlneWing Support Squadron 471,

all o f w hich farm ed the head-quarters and support elements

lor VMAQ·4 at Whidbey Is-land.

Chase Field in 1971 as one ofsix training air wings set up

under the Chief o f Na va l AirTraining's slllgie-site 1rainlngconcept, The abundance of

training airspace near Chasa

Field provided ex.cellent tratn-ing for student aviators.

During its existence, CTW-3

"winged" Over 4,000 jet NavalAviators. With the impending

clo su re o f Chase Ftel('j and thereduced pilot training require-

ment of Ihe defense

drawdown. CTW-3 was

selected for dlsestablishment,leaving the burden 01strike syl-

labus training to CTW-1 atNAS Meridian. Miss .. andCTW-2 at NAS Kingsvil le,

Te~as.The wing's basic training

squadron, VT-26, was dlses-

tabllshed 1nMay (seeNANews, JL J!-A ug 9 2, p.6 ) asthe pilot training pipeline

slowed. The two advanced

training squadrons, Vis 24and 25, outlasted the wing,

shutting down, in September

(see below) as the last

aviators to be winged a1Chase Reid left for thetr f leet

squadrons.

VT·24

Training Squadron (VT) 24was disestablished on Septem-ber 18, 1992, at NAS Chase

Field, Beeville. Texas , a ft erover 32 years of service. Cdr.

Austin Abercrombie wasthelast CO l of the Bobcats.

Established at Chase Fieldon May 1, 1960, from Air Train-

ing Unit 203, VT·24 provided

advanced je t training to stu -den! Naval Aviators in Ihe

F9F-SB (AF-9J, I'atar TAF-9J)

and F9F-8T (TF-9J) Cougar.

In July 1972, the squadron

switched to the TA~4J

Skyhawk, which It operated forthe last 20 years The Bobcats

received the Meritorious Unit

Commendation in 1977 fo r set-ting an all-t[me advanced

tJ't1ining command record of64.000 mishap-flee hours,and received ma.ny othersafely awards. In add ilIon totraining Navy and MarineCorps pilots, VT-24 alsotrained pilots from other na-

tlons, including Singapore.

VT·25Training Squadron ( VT ) 25Was disestablished on Septem-

DisestablishedComTraWing-3Commander Training Air

Wing (CTW) 3 was dises-

tablished at NAS Chase Field,

Beeville, Texas, on Augus1 31,1992, after t 1 years of gar-vtca, Capt. K. E. Shean was CTW.3jets over NAS Chase Field. VTs 24 and 25 operated TA·4Js

tile last commander. and VT·26 new the T-2C.

CTW·3 was e sta blis he d a t

NAVAL A WAT/ON NEWS November-December 19927



bee 1B, 1992, al NAS ChaseField, Beavllre, Texas, atlerover 32 years of service, Cdr.

Glenn Pittman was the lastCO of the Cougars.

Este.brished on May 1,1960, from Air Training Unit213, the Cougars trained stu-

dellt Naval AviatorS in theF9F·aT (TF-9J) and F9F-8B(AF.gJ, latel TAF-9J) Cougar.

The TA~4J Skyhawk replaced

the Cougar in 1972 and was

used by the squadron 10 trainpilots lor the remaining 20years of VT·25's career. VT·25was the recipient of many

awards for excellence In train.

Ing and safety during thatl ime. In 1985. VT-25 was

awarded the Meritorious Unit

Commendation, and in 198B.Was re co gn l.le d fo r ama ss in g79,000 mishap-tree hours

over the previous six years.

VA-176

A September 16 ceremonymarked Ihe disestablishmenl(efta etive Octo ber :3 0) of At·tack Squadron (VA) \76 after

over 42 years o f service, Cdr,Lee A. Haw kes w as the lastCO of th e Thunderbolts.

Established on June 1,

1955, at NAS CeCil Field, Fla.,

with AO-6 (A-1H) Skyra iders ,

VA-176 moved to NAS Jack-sonville, Fla . • later that yea r,Joining Air Task Group 202

aboard Randolph (CVA-l51 lorits first deployment. which

took the squadron to theMediterranean during the1956 Suez Crisis. From 195'9

10 1965, the Thunde rbo l t smade si x deployments to the

Mediterranean and No rth A t-lantic with Carrier Air Group10 aboard Essex (CVA-9) andShangr i -La (CVA-38), inter-

spersed with patro ls o ff crisisspots In the Caribbean.

VA-176's on Iy Vietnam

deployment. In 1966 with Car-

rier Air Wing '(CYW) 10 aboard

Int repid (CVS-l1). provedeventful on September 9,

1966. when Ltjg. William Pat-ton shot down a North

Vietnamese MiG-'7 jet fighterwith his A-1 H - a f ea t p er-formed only once beforedurIng the war by a Skyra id~r .During 103 days on the line in

the Tonk in Gull, the Thunde r -bolts lost only one pilot andplane 1 0 enemy flre,During the squadron's fol-

lowing deployment, withCW>I-3 aboard Saratoga(CVA-60) in the Mediter~

ranean, VA-176 la un ched fo urSkyraiders in support 01 Uber-

ty (AGTR-5) when it was

attacked on June B , 1967, b V

Israeli a i rc raf t an d patrolboats, Atter return to Jackson-ville, VA-176 retired tts lastSkyra iders on Aprll 25, 1968,makmg Itthe Navy's last PIs-ton-angined, carrier-basedattack squadrbn and the lasl

attack squadron to operate the

A-' ·Spad" (edging OUIVA-25

by two weeks),

VA·1?6 A-6E Intruder.

a

VC-1 A-4E andTA-4J Skyhawks over Hawaii.

The Thunderbo l t s enteredthe jet age at NAS Oceana,

Va . , Iransilioning to the A-SAIn t ruder during 1968-69, join-

ing CVW,6 for the remaining23 years of service, duringwhich it made 18 deployments

to tile Mediterranean, North At-lantle, an d Indian Ocean

aboard F ra nk lin D , R o os e ve lt(CVA·42), Amer ica (CV-56), In -

dependence (CV-62), andForrestal (CV-59).In 1969, the squadron's

aircraft were used to seedchemicals Into Hurricane Deb-bie. In 1970, VA-H6 became

the first f leel squadron to in-

clu de th e KA-6 D tanker in Itsinventory, an d acquired a fewA-6C verslons in 1971 untll

transitioning to the A-6E In

1975.VA-1 76 w as 01 1 scene

during many international

crises over the last twodecades, lncludlng flying close

air support mlsslons over

Grenada in October 1983

during Operation Urgen l Fury.

fo llo w ed In December by a

strike against Syrian posltlonsin Lebanon in retaliation for

hos tl le f ir e agaihst U .S . r ec on -naissance aircraft. The

squadron also flew support for

Operation E ar ne s t W ill (the1988 escort operations for 0 1 1

tankers In the Persian Gulf),

and on its last deployment In

j 991, for protection ot Kurdishrefugees fol)owing the Persian

Gu lf Wa r.

VC~1Reel Composite Squadron

(Ve) 1 was disestablished oSeptember 30, 199~, at NASBarbers Point, Hawaii, afterover 41 years o f service. Cd

Russell F. Plappert was thelast CO of the B l ue A liis .Established at Barbers

Point on July 20, 1951, as

Utili ty Squ?dron (VU) i, the

squadron adopted theheritage o f an earlier utilitysquadron (VJ-1). which hadserved Ihe fleet from 1925

untn 1949 and had seen ac-tion at Pearl Harbor during

WIN II. In 1957, VU-1 ab-

sorbed VU-3 Detachment Band Hellccpter UtilitySquadron Detachment 2. VU

1 was redesignated FleetComposite Squadron (VCl 1

on July 1, 1965. VC-1 estab-

lished a detachment alBarkIng Sands on the Island

Kaual on A pril 16 , 1975.Over its long existence, V

1 became an aviation

In stitu tion in Hawa ll, p ro vid ina wide variety of services to

Navy, Marine Corps. and

Hawaiian Air National Guard

unlts based In the islands, a10 the thousands 01ships thpassed by on their way to an

NAVAL AVIATION NEWS November-December 1992.



fro m th e western Pa0ific. VC·1's aircraft were flxtures,of

every AIMPAC exercise and

trained many allied ships aswell U,S. Na v y ships. The

squadron participated in In arecovery of the Apollo 11 lunarmission spacecraft in 1969,and canlributed much to the

economic development o f the

Hawaiian Islands witt)photographic support. From

19n unti11986. VC·lprovided transportation for

Commander in Chief, U,S.Pacific Fleet.

Se rv ices p ro v rded by thesquadronover the years in-dlud'ed ta rgeHow, rnlsslte and

crone launch cont ro l, a Ir bo rneIntercept controller traIning,radar calibration, torpedorecovery, gunfire spotting.

electronic wasfarethreatsunulation. search and rescue,

plane guard. verttcal onboarddelivery. aerial photography,

logistiC,S,aerial refueling. dis·similar aUcombat training.and executive t ransport

Typical ot compositesquadrons, VC·1 operatedmany aircraft types during its!if.e:TBM-3E/3U, JD·, ,tUB.

26J), F4U·4. F9F-5KO

(OF-9E), F9F-2!2P/5P!6D/·8IBB/SP/aT, F2H-2P, F6F-

5D/5K SNB-5P (RC·45J).HUP-2 (UH-25Bj, HUK-,. AD·

5 'A-1E), VA-I'E. FJ-3IJ/3D2(OF-1G), FJ,4, TV~2 (T-338),

TV-2D (OT-33B), FeU-' (F-BA), F ·BBJC /K . OF-B'.AlF,US--2C, A·4B/C!E. TA-4 J, DP -2,e. P-3A, UP~A. VP-3A.VC·118B. UH-34D!J, sH -MIG, UH-3A, and CH-53A,and a variely of target drones.

HSL-36

He l icop te r An ti submar ineSquadron light (H SL) 36 w asdisestablished at NS Mayport,Fla., on Seplember 30,1992,

after 17 years 01 service. Cd r.

Ronald Glbbs w as th e last COof the Lampl igh ters .

EstabliShed on September

26,1975, al NS Mayport with

the SH.2F $easprite halicop-ter, HSl-36 became the third

Atlantic Fleet Ughf A Ir bo rneMumpurpose System

squadron, 'Its rnlsslons In·

eluded an tis ubma rin e wa r fa re ,antishfp missile defense,

search and rescue, gunfirespottrng. medical evaouation,an d logistics.

The s qu ad ro n's fir st d eta ch -men! deployed in May 1976 10

the Indian Odea:n aboard

c e o o a e o r o (FF-l093), an dsoon the Lamplighlers had

detachments operaHng al lover the world. In 1980, HSL-36 became Ihe first squadronto d ep l,O y aboard th eSpruance-class des.troyers

and O l iv e r Ha za rd Perry·classlrigales.

HSL-36 deployed Its detach-

ments 1 0 worldWide hoi spots,

Including support fo rretaliatory strikes againsl

l ibya in 1986 and e sco rt o f o iltankers in the Persian Guli in

19 8'7 -8 8 ( dU fin g which one of

lis hellcoptersevaded a nos-

HSL-36 SH·2F Seasprlle ..

MAVAL AVIATION NEWS Novemller·Dece.mber 1992

lile surface-to-air missile).

During Opera.f1'ons Deser tSh ie l d -and De s e rt S to rm in

1990-91 • HS l-36 had severaldetachments deployed in SUp-

port 01the multinational

i nterd ic tl cn lo rce l!lal was en -lordng UN sanct ions ag 'a lns tIraq

VMA·1 33 A-4Fs In 1976.

Deactivated, ...VMA·133

A September 1:9ceremonya t N AS A lam ed a, Calli.,marked the deactivation (offI-

cially September 30) 01MarineA tt a~ k Squad ron (VMA) 133after 36 years of service. LI.

Co l. Danle l Oell'Osso w as lhe

last CO of the Dragons.

A ctiv ated at MCAS EI Toro,

Calif" -on May 1, 1943, as.

Marine Scout Bombin.g

Squadron (VMS B ) 133, the

squadron new i ts SSD Daunt-less dive-bombers on garrison

duty in the Hawallan,

Johnston, and Palmyra IS-lands lor nearly a year unlil

d ep lo yin g to th e S olom on Is-lands in .AugusI1944_

VM 88·133 flew missions insupport of (he Island- hopping

campaign lrom Bougalnville.

Emirau,and N'ew Guinea. ar -

ri\l.ing on Mindanao Island 10

the Phillppin.'BS in Apr il 1 945.The squadron provided close

air support for' Army troopsuntil Japanese resistance cot-

lapsed. VMSB·133 was

deactivated in the Phltippinesorr AlJguS11, 1945_

Reactivated as reserve

Marine Fighter Squadron(VMF) 133 alNAS Oakland,

Cali(, on April 15, 1958, lhesquadron moved In July 1961to NAS A la me da , C alif" whereit resided for over 30 years.

Trained with F2H-213!4 B ( 1 n -

snee jet lig.hte.rs. I he squad ronswached 10 th e A·4 Sk yhawkIn j 962 and wa s r ed .e sig na te d

VMA-133.

For the next 30 years. VMA-133 successively operated

severalattack versions of th eSk yhawk (A-4AJB/CJFIM) andtrained I n the TA,4F/J as wel l ,The squadron was never mobi-

lized for an emergency., but

participated in ma ny e xe rc ls esover the years,

VMA-331

A Seplembe~ 18 ceremonya t MCAS C ile rry Point, N.C.,marked the deaclivallon (ofll-clally September 30) 01Marine

Attack Squadron (VMA) 331after 4 3 yea rs o f serviee. Lt.Col. Richard G. Barr was thelast CO of the Bumblebees.

VMA-331 Was the first Marine

Corp s H am e r-s qu ad ro n e ve r10 be deactivated.Actlvated al MCAS Cheny

Point, N.C., on January 1,

1943, as Marine Scout Bomb-ing Squadron (VMS8 ) 3 31 ,Ih e squadron rnovsdits SBD

Dauntless dive-bombers to Ih e

9'



Elliicelslands 111No vember1943, flyi.ng pa tr ols t o p ro te c tfriendly shipping. VMSB-331

entered co r nbat ill Ma rc fl19 '44when it moved 10 Majuro in

ttle Marshall Islands and flewstrikes to keep Japanese tor-ces on Jaluitl1lloH n·eulraltzed.

The squadron was redesig-nated Marine Bomber-Fighl lngSquadron (VMBF) 133 in oe-

lober 1 944 whel") lts SeDsw ere replaced by F 4U

Cor -sairs. H ow e ve r, Ih e VMS Bdesignation returned inF eb ru ary 1 94 5 w h en th esquadron's COrsairs werereplaced by SB2C-4

Hal /d iVers , VMSB-331 con-

t inued attacks against

Japenese-held islands in theMarshall Islands until thewar's end. The squadron was

deactivated at NAS Mirama~jCalif .• on November 21. 1945.

The squad ron w.as reac-tivated o n Ap ril 23 , 19 52 , a t

M'CAS Miami, Fla., as VMA-331.ln"itlally e qu ip pe d w ith th eF6F·5 HeNes l , anGacqulrlngttie F4U·4 Corsair In 1963.

SWitching to th e AD·SSkyraider in 190.4. the

squadron made a two-monthcruise aboard Ticqnderoga in1955, and relocated to MCASEl To ro , Ca lir ., I n May 1958.making a year·long, deploy-me nt 1 0MCAS Iw a k un l,.Japan, a month later with AD-

S Skyraiders. VMA-331 moved

to MCAS B ea ufo rt, S .C ., in Oc-tober 1959 upon return fromJapan and entered the je t agewi th transition to the A4D-2 (A-4B) Skyhawk.

Dur.in.g th e 196"2Cuban Mis-sile Crisis, VMA-331 deployed

10 NS Roosevell Roads, P .R . .for usa In the event of hos-tilities. After trans ilion to the

10

A.4E, the squadron deployed

In JUlly 1964 1.0 the Mediter-ranean for nine monthsaboard For rests / (CVA~59) .and returned to RooseveltR.oads shortly thereafter

during the crisis in theDominican ReptJbllc. VMA~331 returned to the

Medite rra ne an In JlJly 19 70 aspart of Carr ier Air Wing 7aboard /ndepend~nce (eVA-6.2),

VMA·a31 Iransttloned to th eA·4M in 1971 and moved toMCAS Cherry Paint, N .C ., InA.ugust 1975, participating in VMA-a31 AV·BB Harriers aboard Nassau (LHA4) dUring opera-

th e u nlt rotation of squadrons lion Desert SI.orm.

to MCAS lwakunl during the

19805. The squadron Was

reduced to cadre status in J uly1984 and reactivated on 1l"""II"IIIi"I"TIO~

January 30, 1985, as the firsloperat ional squadronequipped w ith th e AV·,8B Har-

rier II.The squadron alsom ade th e flfst transatlantlcIl ight in tfle AV-8 6, a nd be-cam e th e "r5t AV-88 squadronto deploy to the westernPacific.

The Bumblebees also

made history ln January 1991by f ly ing th e fhst Harr ier com-bat sorties ever launcbed frcrn

a Navy ship. D.ap loyed aboa rdNassau (L H A-4 ) in th e PersianGulf during Operation Desertston», VMA-331 flew 243combat missions and droppedmore than l5S tons of

ordnance in support of U N

eoalli lontorces in Kuwait

lOSingonly one plane and pilot10 h05tl1e m·e.VMA-331 's final

year w as busy with e-xercisedetachments, including a

deployment aboard Nassauo ff N o rwa y .

NAVAL AVIATION NEWSNo"ember-December 1992



For the Record ...+ VA-155, one o f two A·BE

attack squadrons assigned toCVW-2 aboard Ranger COV-

6t).1sscheduled for

dlsestablrshment upon returnfrom Its currant Parslan Gulf

deployment, which Is also

Ranger's last cruise.

' * VMA(AW)-S33 wasreoe{iigniilteo VMFA{AW)·S33

on October 1, 1992., In con-junctllOn with its transition from

the A-6E Intruder to the FA·

180 Hornel. The squadron wIllbe the first ot three squadrons

at MCAB Che rry Poin t, N .C .,10 operate the two-seat Homet,

+ F<orresta l (AVT-59) arrived

at Philadelphia Naval

Shipyard on September 14.

1992. to commence a 14·

month, $157-mllllon complexovarnaut, which wil l Includework on her catapults,propeller shafts, and main fuel

pumps, tanks, and valves.

+ The Marine Corps is

spreading its night-attack .AV·

8B s among all o f its Harrier II

squadrons, eventually giving

each squadron a mixture of 6

day-attack and 14 night-attackversions, rather than equip-ping squadrons exolusively

wTth one version or the other.VMA,S13. MCAS Yuma, Ariz.,

is the last AV-8B squadron 1 0

in te gra te th e n ig ht-a tta ck v er-sion into its inventory,

NAVAL AVIATION NEWS November-December 1992

+ VQ-6, NAS Ceoil Field.

Fla_, received its flrsl ES-3Acarrier-based electronic recon-

nafssance aircraft on August

1 9, 19 92 . T he B l ac .k Ra v ens

will eventuality operate elgh'

ES-3As and deploy themaboard Atlantic Fleet carriers

In small detachments,

+ VQ-3 completed lts move\0 4ts new home base at

Tinker AF8, Okla .• in earlySeptember 1992, leaving NASBarbers Point. Hawaii, after 10years of residence there. VO.-

3's move is part of theconsolldation of the· Navy'sTAGAMO squadrons at one

site under Commander,Strategic Communications

W.ing 1.VQ-4. NAS PatuxentRiver, Md., wil l move 10 Tinker

In J an ua ry 1 99 3.

4- HC-1, NAS North Island,

Calif., transferred its last CH·

53E Super Stallion helicopters

by August 1992; al l Navy CH-53Es are now ooneentratad in

the Atlanlic and Mediter-

ranean. HC·1 now operatesonly verslons 0'[ lhe HI·3Sea

King.

+ The Navy successfully

launchedlhe first improvedversion ofthe McDonnell

Dou91as Standoff Land At-tack Missile (SLAM) in

August 1992 from a Naval Air

Warfare Center Weapons

D iv is io n FA-1 8D Hornet. Th ernisslle made a direct hit on asimulated high.value targello-

cated rn a clutteredenvironment.

Frances's new navallighLer, the

RafaJe M01. underwent an exten·

slve set of aircraft platform In-

lerface tests this past summerat NAWC AD Lakehurst. N.J.

The tests Included cata,pultlaunches, arrested landings,

and le t blast deflector tests,

+ No more Single-engine

"Huey" helicopters remain inU.S. naval servlce, NAWS

China Lake, Calif., recenUy

rstlrsd one UH-1E, one TH·

1 L, and two HH-1K versions,

and Naval Coastal SystemsCenter, Panama City, Fla., has

retired its one NUH·1E. All

"Hueys" remaining tn naval

service are twin-engine HH-

1Nand UH-1 N ve rs io ns ,

+ Now we're really outof fighters ... Two AF·8G

Crusaders, wlthdrawn years

ago from Navy use but main-taining ln inventory and used

in the X-3t program by .Rock·

wellinternationaj, have been

stricken from the Inventory.

BuNo 144617 was donated tothe Marine Corps Air-GroundMuseum, QUanliico, Va ., t romdisplay at MCAS Ej Taro.

Calif.: BuNo 145607 was trans-ferred to the Air Force Flight

Test Cenler Museum, Ed-

wards AFB. Calif.

+ UH·3H ts Ihe deslqnationapplied to former SH-3H Se a

King helicopters beingmodified as utility transports

with cargo hooks and a pas-

senger capacity of nine. The

first one, B'uNo 148052, is un-dergolng testing.



. . .NEWS



grown, and been haneel to a sharp

e dg e lik e Naval Aviation itselfthroughout 75 years of existence. With

the expansion of the field of

aeronautics, the newsletter evolved

Into the highly polished and refined

publication it is today. It has becomethe communication link with the men

and women of Naval Aviation.

Naval Aviation News is one of the

three oldest military periodicals - be-

hind Armor magazine, first published

in 18S8, and Field Artillery Journal, in, 911 - and it is the oldest Navy peri-

odical. The continuity of its editing and

style is due primarily 10 Its civilian

editors, bul tor technical accuracy, the

responsibility lies with its military

editors, most of whom have been

Naval Aviators.

In 1922, the publication acquired a

full-time editor, Joy Bright Uttle, whose

Immediate boss was a young

lieutenant named Arthur W. Radford

(Ialer Chairman ot the Joint Chiefs of

Staff), Since then. 14 more names

have appeared on NANews's mast-

head, including the current editor,

lieutenant Commander Richard R.

Burgess.

With the escalation of WW II. the

need arose for an aviation publication

that was easy to read and full of lntor-

rnation, The staff expanded 10include

experienced personnel in writing. edit-ing, and: graphic arts. Af1er the war, Ihe

usual budget problems occurred, but

NANews managed to survive as the

voice oi Naval Aviation,

During WW II, Grampaw Pettibone

had been introduced in Naval AViation

News as the old curmudgeon aviator

who chastised flyers for violations ofNaval Aviation safety. The character

was created by Lieutenant Com-mander Hubert Spencer (Seth)

Warner and drawn by lieutenant

Robert Osborn, who later became a

renowned artist. The first cartoons ap-peared in the BUAER News Letter,

January 15, 1943. Today, Osborn 5 1 1 1 1

i llustrates Grampaw Pettibone in

NANews. Though the writers of the

safety articles and Gramps' "voice"

have changed throughoullhe years,

Osborn's rendering 01the "sage of

NAVAL AVIATfON NEWS November-December 1992

1 V O.IIJallPowerill Hal l'" , JA ,viat fo • .!I!"'''I,I

safely" Is the mainstay with which the

magazine continues to be identified.

For 75 years, Naval Aviation News

has kept the f leet and Naval Aviationenthusiasts informed about the

people, events, policies, anctech-nelogical progress of Naval Aviation.

Our look has changed with 1 1 1 8 times,

but our mission has been constant: to

publish current and historical informa-

t ion which encourages pride and

professionalism, enhances safety. and

advances the goals and objectives 01

the Chief 01Naval Operations.

The first issue of Ih e Oa/lyAviationNews Bulletin concluded with this

item: "Recently the Naval Air Stat ion at

San Diego loaned a : number of Navy

pigeons to Ihe Army for use in connec-

tion with an extended search whichwas being made in lower California,

Mexico. for two lost Army aviators. All

of the birds bullwo homed in excellent

condition, bearing messages of impor-

tance."

Messages of importance continue to

fill the pages of Naval Aviation News ~

and wil l for years to come .•



Enlisted Aviation Series ---------

A-r

TrafficContr I·er

Story and Photos by J01(SW) Eric S. Seslt

Ourln.g a.lull In IIIght operallons, AC1 Ingrid SI.,nglleton kee,ps <Ineye on ground trafficmovil1g along, the runway.s at NASPatLJ)(enl River, Md,

The y ~ontr~.llhe. skies, NOllmmthe cockpits 01 Hornets or Tom-

cats, but from control towersthat grace the landscapes of naval air

stations around th e w o rld , a nd fro mradar s co pes burte d under th e flight

decks of aircraft carriers.They are 'the Air Traffic Ccntrollers

(AGs) . Their j ob , a cccr dlnq to TheB.lue Jackets' Manual, Is to "assist inthe essential safe, orderly, and speedy

lIow of air traffic by dlrec:!ing and con-

trolling aircraft .... "

In order to become MAC, a recruitmust make aquali"tying score on the

Armed Services Vocational AptitudeBattery exam, have 20/20 correctablevision, have goad depth perception,

n ot be cOjOr'blind, an d pa ss an a nnu alflight phySical.

According to AOCS(AW/SW) TomE. Housworth, the AG detailer In

Washington, D.C., the 1.llghtphysical IS

not 10 qualify the ACs for flights1atus."They haven't f lown sines the time of

the Na-vy~sblimps," Houswo rth s aid ."The physical Is necessary because of

Ihe medications that doctors can

prescnba. We don't warrt peopletalk-

in g to aircraft If they're taking somekind Df medication. The same type ofmedication that would down a pilot

Would down a cont ro l le r ."ACs must enllst lor five years. The

sea-shore rotation for all paygradas I S36 months atsea and 60 monthsashore.

"The reason lor the f ive-year shorerotation IS· that everywhere we 9:0 we·are required to qualify a t th at duty sta-non," Said Housworth, "Some otths

larger facilities have as many as 15operat ing positions and each one

could lai'lj3' three 10 s ix m onths toqualify In . Our goal isto have a personqualify in a ll o f th e o pe ra tin g positionsIn tw o to th re e ye ars a nd l.h en h av e as uf fic ie nt p ay ba ck p erio d so thai per-

son can train other controllers."AlthOLJ.g;Jhhe language and fun-

damentals of air traff ic contr ol a re thesam e e ve ryw h ere, ea ch air sta uo n isdifferent

"T he y a ll h av e d if fe re nt rUnway con-figurations, and dlfferentt types of [ets,

helicopters, and missions, so r n a sltua-lio n is .unique-everywhere you go-

thus, the nEiedto qualify at every newd.uty station," said Houswcrth.Thi's sometimes makes for !n lemsl·

Ing working ccnctuens. Often, a junior

person will be aupervlslnq a senior per-

14 NAVAL A'VIA.TION NEWS November-December 1992



son as is the case with AC2 Larry J.Heuser. Heuser has been in the Navyfor four and a half years and is a

Facility Watch Supervisor at NASPatuxent River. Md.

·When a fir st c la ss petty officer ar -r ives, he Of she has to go Ihrough the

quais just the same as everyone else,"said Heuser. "Since I've been here

longer, l'm already qualed and It's upto me 10 train Ihe person. However, In

milltary matters, t he f ir st class is incharge. Also, the senior person ha s arot of experience Indifferent situations,

so I make It a point to listen to his orha r input."

After recruit training. the ACs at -tend a 16-week A school at Naval AirTechnical Training Genter, Memphis,

Tenn. If an AC is assIgned duty on-board a carrier, he or she wil l attend a

six-week Carrier Ai r Traffic Control

Center (CATCC) course and earn the

6902 Navy Enlisted Classification(NEC) code. Other NECs Include the

6901 , whlch is awarded upon comple-

tion of nine weeks of Advanced Radar

Air Traffic Control School, an d

proposed for 1993 is the AmphibiousAir Tra ff ic Control Course. wh ich w illprovide the 6903 NEC.

Currently, there are approximately

3,000 men and women wearihg the

winged-microphones of Ihe A~rTraffic

Controller on their' uniform. or these,787 are women."Presenl~y, Forrestal [AVT·591 is the

only ship tile women can go on. Butwe do have several Type 3 billets.

which is overseas shore dUty thai

counts as sea duty for women and

men," said Housworth.

The dlfferenoe between shore dutyand sea duty for ACs is lik e n ig ht andday.

"Separation rules are reduced," said

Housworlh. "On shore, you have to

keep aircraft separated 1,000 feet verti-

cally and 3 miles longitudinally. In Ihe

carrier environment, you're allowed tc

go down to 800 feel vertioally and a

mile and three quarterslongltudlnalty,

Then throw in the pitching and roiling

deck. the rough seas, and a Dolte-ring

pilot. It's probably two to three times

more complex at sea than on shore:

AC2 Heuser looks forward to his up-coming sea tour. He will be attending

CATTC before Joining Carl Vinson

(CVN·70) in the near future,

'I'm really looking forward to going

to s ea and oontrolling aircraft: Heusersaid. "I consider that.a real challenge.

To me, It's the ultimate In air traffic con-

trot."Many ACs take their training to Ihe

civilian world where they can earn bigsalaries fo r their skills. The federal

government wil l hIre air traffic control-lers provided they have not reached

their 31st birthday. If they are over 31.they can only go into management

posit ions. There is a proposal before

Congress to allow the governmen1 to

hire ex-military controllers up to the

age of 45.

While the money Is out there In the

civilian world. many ACs choose to

make the military their career. Accord-

ing to ACC(AW} Kyle C. Rogers,Radar Chief at NAS Patuxent River.

the reason is simple.

''When you give a young person as

NAVAL A VIA TION NEWS Novem ber-December 1992

Tryi"g 10sollie a problem adjacent to

the PaMcent RIver airtleld, AC2 Larry

Heuser points out a possible ground

hazard to ACC(AW) Roc:hele A. Heus-

worth.

Checking 'hIs eqUipment lor the tatest

dala, ACAN Marti" Ham keeps pllots

posted on the current weather condl-lions.

much responsibili ty as we do, control-

ling muitlmlUfon dollar aircraft, they

receive a g1eal deal of Job satisfaction.

To many people. that's real important."said Rogers.Promotion lor ACs Is good up to the

E-6 level. Then. as In almost everyother Navy rating, it gels tough.

Latera l convers ions into th e rating areonly accepted at E-4 and below. ACs

have not been offered any exit

bonuses b ut th ey are eli9,ble for Selec-

tive Reenlistment Bonuses.Senior Chiei Housworth summed up

his feelings on the AC rating by ad-

d ing, "Air t ra ff ic con tr olle rs s ometimesget accused of having big egos. That

may be so. bull consider that a prereq-u ls lte f or e xc eu en ce ." •

15



VC-6 Oet 2 launches Pioneer RPV from N1ISSQuri(BB-63) during Its Desert Storm deployment

e oBy Vance Vasquez

Since the days o f the Civil Warwhen men w.ere sent aloft in bal-loons to spot enemy troop move-

ments q,nd cannon emplacements, theUnited St\3fes, as well as many other

nations, has se arch ed fo r a w ay tosa1ely get accurate and precise tntal-

Ilgence about t he chang ing conditions

on any Qfven bat tle fie ld , With a queslto Keep pilots and aircraft In one plece,lhe wartime role of the remotely con-

t ro lled ' v ehic le has evolved.

The U.S. Navy has been vllal lyinler-

ested in remotely piloted vehicles

(RPVs) s nee 19B3 When theSecretary ot th-e Navy authorized ac-

qulsltion of an Israeli Mastiff system.Israel was the first to manufacture a

Mastiff-type APV. which evolved into

what was to become the mainstay 01

the Navy/Manne Corps' modern-dayAPV program, rbe Pioneer, The

Pac;i"ficMissile Test Center (PMTC) ai

Point Mugu. Calli" becarrre lnvolvedwith its a cc ep ta nce a nd developmentsoon afterwards.After the Navy acquired the Israeli

system. th e U .S . Marine Corpsevaluated it aJ:]dproved that RPVs

equipped with reconnaissance sen-

sors could be operated in a maritime

environment. A second Novy recon-

16

iloted Vehiclesnaissanea RPV pmgram began in1984. BQM-74C target drones weremodified to carry nose-mounted

cameras, with a video' data llnk to

transmit video pictures to receiving sta-t ions. PMTC was designated the

technical support lead fo r the program,In August 1985, the center was desig-nated the lead fie ld a ctiv lly fo r testand evaluation of all unmanned aerial

vehicles (WWs) fo t the N avy.That year a ny-off competition be -

(ween 'thePioneer (AAI-MazJat) an dth e Mirach 20 (Pacific Aerosystem)

R PV systems was scheduled at ChinaLake, Callf ., with PMTC support. Due

to 8! 30·day response time requlrs-

men!, only the Pioneer RPV was

flown. A contract was awarded in

December 1985 to MI-Maztat for thePioneer, an d in 1986 the Navy un-

manned aer ial vehicle program officewas established.

As the Navy's UAV program grew,the Pacific Missile Tesl Center (PMTC

re ce ntty co ns olid ate d, fo rm in g p art 0 1the Naval Air War1are CenterWeapons Dlvlsion, NAWC WD) was

forma,t ly tasked to s up po rt n o t o-ntythePioneer's development effort but alsothe emerging Medium Range UAVand

the Tactical Air-Launched Decoyprograms. PMTC was respnnslblafor

the initial shipboard lnteqratlon trlalsaboard Iowa (8B-61), where five suc-

cessful 'shipboard nights wereconducted.

In April 1986, Ihe UAV Fleet ASSis-

tance and Support Team wasestablished by the Chief of Naval

Operations. The team was chartered

primarily to moni tor the Pioneercontractor's logistfcs and to validate

technical manuals. However, Its role

quickly expanded to include operating

an d malntarning PMTC's prototype

Pioneer system. N ovs rn b er o f thatyear marked the formal establishmentof the UAV program managemen1

team at PMTC.Testing to prove the Pioneer could

operate 1f 1Qoth shipboard and land-based environments was completed in

1988. A "baseline" o n th e Pioneer wasmade In which the concept of Pioneer-type vehicles was verified and

proeurernern e t (OUf updated systemswas approved. Test results fromPMTC heavily Influenced that procure-ment decision.

T he S ecre ta ry o f D efen se co n-solldatsc various military UAV

programs under a Joint Program Of-fice (JPO) In 1988, and the Navybecame the executive service for allUAV development and procurement,

The JPO established a UAV

masterplan, with four varieties of

UAVs 10 be developed - close range,short range, medium range, and

NA VAL A VIA nON NEWS Nevernber-Deeernber 1992



A E :! R ic h ar d C o "p o rl oo '

A Pioneer RPV Is recovered aboard Missouri (B8-63). ~ioneer RPV departs Wisconsin (BB-64) during OperalionDesert Storm.

rove Their Worthendurance.

T he c lo se ra nge co nce pt p ro vid es a200 -p ou nd UAV eQuip pe d p rima rilywith a miniatur ized Infrared sensor.C o ntr ac ts we re recently awarded to 10contractors to demons tr at e p ro to ty pe

close r< l! '1g .eeh io les and senso rs .T he sh ort ran ge U AV is In te nd ed to

r ep la ce th e Pionee r In land-basedo pe ra tio ns . Two s epara te c on tra cto rte ams f ea tu rin g th e McDon ne ll-Douglas/Developmental ScienceCorporation's S ky O w ! a nd th e IsraelA ir cr af t In dus tr ie s ' TRW Hunter arec om p etin g in a fly-off.

The prototype s ystems a re b ein gf lig ht te ste d a t F o rt H u ac hu ca , Artz.,after b ein g floWn In tests a t Ch in aL a.k e f or s ig na tu re mea su rements a nda t P oin t Mugu in th e m a ritim e ro le . By

the end afthe year, one of thep ro to typ e sys tem s w ill b e se le cte d 1 0go me produc ti on.

The m edium range U AV is capableof h ig h s ub so nic tf ig ht a nd is c ur re ntlyunde r deve lopmen t by the TR A Com -pany. W ith the N AWC WD heavilyin vo lv ed in th e tes t a nd e va I lla tio n o fthe system, the technical evaluationwill be fol lowed bya joint servicesope ra t iona l eva lua ti on.

E nd ura nce U AV s, in ten de d to b ecapable o f r econna is sa. nce m i ss io n sla stin g from o ne day to w eek s, areunde r s tudy,

The Pioneer ' s p rim a ry u se s a rer ec on na is sa nc e, b attle d amage a s-se ssme nts, a nd a rtille ry o r nava lg un fire a dju stme n ts . T he u nmann eda eria l v eh ic le tr an sm its a v id eo picture

to a g ro ul'1 d c on tro l s ta tio n w h ere a n in-

t ellig ence omes r d ir ec ts [a rge ll ng , ca ta ,b y ra dio , to g ro un d h ea dq ua rte rs a ridforward unlts.

The Pionee r is a ble to p ro v ide r ea l-tim e In te llig en ce th ro u gh itsgy ro -s tab il ized , h igh -reso l u110nta la vls lo n c am e ra o r a n a lte rn ate fo r-ward-lookinq i nf ra red sys tem fot da yo r n ig ht o pe ra tio ns. T he v id eo fro m th es en so r 1 sd ow n -lin k ed from th ePionee r to th e g ro un d sta tio n W he reIrs recorded en a Videa cassette ' re -corder.

In Operat ion De s e tt S to rm , th e

Pionee r provided real -t ime inte ll igencet o ba tt le fi el d commande rs I hr oug l1ou tth e ra st- pa ce e Pe rs ia n Gu ll Wa,r .

De ta chments o tF le et Compo siteS qu ad ro n (V C) 6 lau nch ed th ePioneers fro m 1w o battleship:.. Mls -sou r i (B8-63) and Wisconsin (B8·64).

A one-o f -a - k ind Pionee r a ir veh ic le ,e qu ip pe d w ith a ra dio -re la y p ac ka gew hich P oin t M ugu perso nnel w ere in-s trumen ta l in in le gra tin g, wa s u li!l2 edfo r th e first Um e du rin g the G ulf W ar,

Unl ike the Pionee r UAV , m a nn edrec onn ais sa nce a sse ts s uc h a s th e F -

14A TomoaJ wi th the Tactlcal Airborne

NAVAL AViATION NEWS Nov,emtler-December 1992

Re co nn ais sa nc e P od System havefilm cam eras w hich have to be do w nlo ad ed , p ro ce ss ed , a nd th en in te r-p re te d. T his d 'e la y p ro ve d to b e a

s ho rtc om in g in r ec o nn ais sa nc e o pe ra -tio ns d urin g th e G ulf Wa r.

Wh ile seve ra ! Pioneers re1urnedtrom c om b at m is sio ns w ith bullet-rid-

d le d w ing s. o nly o ne was confirmedlo st to e nem y fire. Its la st V id eo im -ages were 01 t ra ce- rs com ijn g up f romElI1emyantialrcratt posit ions.

T h e M lJ re 01 UAV se em s b rig ht w ithan eve r-g row ing market a nd e xpan d-in g e vo lu tio n. F utu re UAVs a ree nv is io ne d to be used to carry

e lec tron ic coun te rmeasu res , cHa ff d Is -censers, and chemical and bro iog ll :a !wa r fa re mon it or in g eqUipment, a s w e llas a bost 01other payloads . •

SpecIal thanks to LCdr. Richard Bergrenof VC-6 for assIstance with this arlicle.

Editor's note: The Navy, which has

long opeTaled drones a;j;tatgets;. made

use 01 them briefly In Vietnam. A VC·3

detachment deployed aboard Ranger

(CV-61) In October 1969 and conducted

some 30missions with Rvan 147SKFlrebee photoreconnalssance drones

launched from the carrier. The opeta·t ion, Bellry Express, enjoyed limited sue-

cess.

17



F8C/OzC HelldiverBy HaJAndrews

Ofve-bOmbIAg,caught the

public's attention in the early

19305 as the Navy developed carrier

aviation. Even Hollywood recognizedIhis. With the N'Eivy'scooperation, it

made tne 1931 movie, Dive~Bomber,

best described as the Top Gun of itsday. The airplane stars Were !=8C-4s -

lIke Top Gun's F-14s. two-seat

fighters, With the company's policy of

!1aming their airplanes, they were thefirst Curtlss Hel/dlVers.

As with many aircraft programs, aseries 0 events led to the Helldiver'sstarring role 1nDive-Bomber. And as

happens frequently. olher events

made this the highlight of the firstHelldiver's operational service.

Wrapped up in the story Were issues

of single vs, two-place fighters, multi-mission vs, single-mission tactica'

aircraft, and even airborne command

and control - rudimentary as It wasIhen,

The F8G desiqnatlon was first ap-

pJled under a , 927 contract for threeexperlrnenta! two-place carrier or

seaplaneflgh!er/bombers, based on

th e Army's Curnss Falcon ooserva-t~onlal1ack airplanes, When production

Falcons Were ordered instead as F8G-

' S and -3 s to meet an urgent Marine

Corps ~equirement, a comptetelynewdeslqn for a Pratt end Whitney Wasp-

powered, carrier-based, two-place

fighter/dive-bomber was substituted

tor the original XF8C-2.

Along with strengthened structure t.omeel the dive-bomber terminal dive

speed and pullout requirements carry-ing a 500-pounO bomb. the new

design emphaslzed compactness. The

biplane wl,ng configuration of Ihe Fal-

Con was continued: the swept-back

upper wing outer panels allowed the

center ssctlon t o be mounted furtherforward, providing better Visibili ty and

ceckplt access for the crew. The Lwo

forward·firing machine guns were in

I~e upper wing center section, f iring

just outside the propeller disc so thai

synchronlzlnq wasn't required. Con-

struction was typical mixed metal andwood, With fabric covering.

Completed and flown to NAS

Anaccs tla , D .C ., for demonstrationtests and trials in December 1928, the

XF8C-2 suffered the program's firstsetback. In the required terminal dive

and pullout. structural failure resultedin its destruction; forillnately, the

'8

. FSC-4

company's test pilot bailed out safe:ly.

The strengthened replaoement XF8C-

2 completed demons tra tio n a ndstarted trials five months later. It had a

~ACA (National Advisory Committeefor Aeronautics) cowlIng to lmprove

high-speed performance. Thisobstructed pilot forward visibili ty as

well as maintenance accessabtllty,

and trials Went on without lt. After amonth of trials, the XF8C-2 went back

to Curtiss for a number of improve-

men!s, including deleting the landinggear stub axles and (heir axle hookswhich were 10 have engaged the soon-

to-be-removed carrier deck ton-gitUdinal wires on landings,Planning for a productton version

continued at the Bureau of

Aeronautics, with many changes, in -clUding lnsl~lIation of brakes and a tailwheel, underwing racks for 100-pound

bombs, and deletion of the SOO-pound

b om b c arria ge , In J un e. as themodlfjed XFBC-2 resumed trials, aprototype XFBC-4 was ordered 10 8)1 '; -

pedite the production proqram.Production o f 18Navy and 9 Marine

F8C·4swas planned, the latter land

based without arresting hooks andemergency flotation bags, and with in-creased fuel capacity, With the prcduc-

Han price lower than expected, 9 more

Navy airplanes were added for a totalof 36, the 9 Marine airplanes as FBC-

56, and the contract signed soon after

the XFBC-4's,

Early delivery of the FBG-4s was

desired for VF-1 B to exptore two-seat

l ighter OPerational use and value. How-

ever, the changes in desiqn resulting

from the XF8C ..2 trials and otherplanned improvements delayed

delivery of both lha XFBC-4 and the

first production F8C-4 until April 193-0.

While the XF8G-4 underwent success-ful carrier type trials, the F8C-4 went

back to Curtiss for additional modifica-tions an d Improvements, to be incor-

porated in subsequent production

airplanes.In August, Initial F8C-4s were

delivered to VF·1 B to begin squadronIralning; the rest were delivered over

the next two months, The FBG·5s went

to va-7M at Quantico, va., also in

sectemeer-ocrober. Nlne additional

F8C~5s had meanwn ile b ee n orderedfor the Marines, the first of tnesegoing

NAVAL AVIATION NEWS 'November-December 1992



to Anacos1ia fo r trials In Sapternber

a nd a ll t'line g oin g IQ Quantico beforethe end of the year.Willie production was proceeding,

Cu rtis s t oo k Ihe injtlative to buil.d twoprototypes 01an improved Hel /d lver,

aimed at signlficantfy improved perfor-

mance using new Wright Cyclone 650-hp R-1820E engines, and

lncorporallng enclosed cockpit

canopies and a narrow but effectivedrag-reduclng ring cowl encircl ing the

engine wi1hout the penalties 01the

XF8C-2"s NACA cowling,With the interest of ASSistant

Secretary of the Navy for Air David In-

galls. Who n ad been a WW I Navypllp1, 1he first was equipped for his

use, without military equtprnenl,Tested a1Anaoostia as the XF8C- 71n

October, it was purchased and Hownby Ingalls on a Wesl Coast base lour

in November . The second militarymodel was tested a1 A naco stta inDecember as the XFBC-a, a carr ie r -based fighter/dive-bomber wtth consid-erably Increased performance

compared to the FBC-4s just enteringeperanonal service,

By this t ime, other program events

included Ihe dec is io n t o in co rpo ra tethe high-l ift and low-speed control fea-

tures o f the Curtiss Tanager that won

Ihe 1929 Guggenheim safety conteston two FaC.4S, and their fuselageswere retained for this conversion to

XF8C-6s. Forty-three more F8G-55were ordered for both the Marines and

assignment 10 Naval Reserve bases,

With their more general use, all of theFaC-55 were redeslqnated as 02G-l s.

In u nn clp an on o f upcoming 1931Fleet Exer(!;is8s in February, a new

concept of using the CycloneHelld/vers In a mili1ary command

sense emerged. and the XF8C·8 andtwo similar aircraft were acqulred as

02C-2s on an expedfted basis, the ad-ditional two being built using the

fuselages that were sel aside for the

X P8C -6s, to be replaced at a laterdate. The 02C·2s were flown to San

Diego in late January 1931 - one as-

signed to each of the tightersquadrons for use as radlo-equlpped

airborne command planes for eachcarrier's squadrons during the Reel

Exercises. Immediate results were ad-

verselyaffected by fuel tank leakage.

As deliveries of the 43 02C-1 s

began. the first going 10Anacostia for

trials in late March, CLlrtiss-Wright setout to sell the Navy an improved

Cyclone-powered Helfdiver. Th e struc-

tural failUre of two successiveprototypes In dives doomed Ihe effort.

The modified firsl 02C-2 crashed at

Buffalo in September Wi th tatalresuttslor Its CUr1lsSIliQht crew. The further

modified replacement, redesignatedXS3C~1 for 1Isprimary orientation to

th e increasingly important canter-based scouting: rnlsslan, followed atAn aco sna In February 1932 w ith itsNavy pilot bailing out, spelling the end

C > f the advanced Hal /d iver program.By this lime, 30 additional 02C-1 s

lor the reserves had been ordered and

delivered, and the F6C·4s had beenwithdrawn from the fleel to r overhauland asslqnrneo] to the reserves and

other utillty uses. The XFBC·7 and

second 02C-2 also became u(lIItyplanes. Use of the third 02C-2 for ser-

vice testing a new Wright twin-roW Fl-151.0 engine ended in July 1933

fpllowing an In- fl igh t fire. The XF8C-6modification was cancelled and thesetwo aircraft became 02C-1s for the

Marines.Marine use of 02C-1s <:11O..7M

continued, the last being stricken in

July 1936. Reserve use, at bases

across the country lasted less than a ,

yea, longer, the last being renred In

May 19B7 . By then. while they had

served well, they were hardiy seen asHead/vers.

NAVAL A VIA nON NEWS November-December' 992

Span(both wlngll)

Length

Height

Engine

fBC-4 O:2C-2

32' 3 2 '

25'11" 25'7'

10'11" 10" "

P&W WrlghtR-1340C R·1820E450 hp 640 hp'

137 mph 174mph'

15.000' 20,000"

399ml 6161111.

2 :2

MaxImum speed

Service ceiling

Rang.e(Inl.emalluel)

Crew

Armament Two .30 machine Sameguns 'heed;

IWo,30 machineglinS trexlbl'n;and 101.1100.1b. bombs.

-As lested, se.Nlce engine 515 hp.

19



a

The Outlaw Hunter p·3e seen at Diego Garcia en route to

Operation Desert Storm.

By David Reade and LCdr. Rick Burgess

Wilhin a few ho urs of the starto f the coaliti on a ir campa ignagainst Iraqi forces in Opera-

tlon Des.ert Storm. a speoially COn-

figured Navy p-3e Orion patrol planed ete cte d Ira qi p atro l b oa ts in th e n orth -e rn P ers ia n G ulf. T he P -3 immed ia te lyv ec to re d s tr ik e B a cra ft to destroy th eta rg ets a nd la te r p ro vid ed th e battled am ag e a ss es sm en t o f th e a ctio n,wh ich became U '1ef ir st nava l engage-ment of the war .The hapless Iraqi targets never

knew what f ou nd th er'n ~th ey we re v ic -tim s o f "O utla w H un te r," a n Im pro ve dOver-the-Horizon Targeting (OTH-T)

system ins ta ll ed In a P~3C proof-of-concep t a ir cra ft .

Developed by th e N av y's S pa cean d N av al W arfare S ystem s C om -mand (SPAWAA) w ith th e cooperetono f T ibu ron Systems, In c., o f S an J os e,Calif ., O u tla w Hunte r tra ce s li s originsto th e "O utla w S ha rk " p ro gramd ev elo pe d in th e m id ·1 97 0s by Lock-heed Miss il es a n d Spa ce Company .Outlaw H un te r c on sis ts o f th re e m a jo ra vio nic s im pro veme nts to th e P -3 ,c ou ple d b y ta ctic al d ata p ro ce ss or tot he O f li ce r- in -Tactic a l-Co rnmand Inf or -

20

ma tlc n EXChan ge Sys tem (OTC IXS ).the w o rldw ide m aritim e co mm and a ndcont ro l n etwo rk , Th e union of th e APS-137(V ) in ver se s yn the tic aper tu rera da r w ith th e G lo ba l P os itio nin g S ys -1em y ie ld s h igh -qual ity ta rge tin g da taw hleh can be immed ia te ly t ransmi tt edfrom th e A dv an ce d T actic al W o rk sta -tion by sat ellit e communicat io n s lin kedb y O TC IX S to the ba ttle g ro up com-

mander . The t ar ge tin g in fo rma tio n canthen be u se d b y th e b attle groUp com-mander 10 la un ch s trik es b y a irc ra ft o rc ru ise m is sile s. T he Outla w H un te rcrew o n s ta tio n ca n u pd ate ta sk in gs ,pass on contact repo r ts , ma intain a

ta ctic al p lo t 0 1 th e h attlle a re a, a nd a s-s es s b altle d am a ge to th e ta rg ets.

De slq na d to te st- th e fe as ib ility o f th eI nt eg ra ted t ar ge tin g s ys tem 0 1 ' 1 a11eeta irerat t, the l es t- oed Ouflaw H unter P-3C w as used t o eva lua te operatorwo rk lo ad , e ng in ee rin g p ro blems ( in -c lu din g w e ig ht, p la cem en t o f th es ta nd -a le ne s ystem in th e alreratt, an dlo ca tio n o f a nte nn as ), a nd in te gra tio nwith exisLing aircraft systems.

P atro l Squadron (V P) 9, N AS M of-fe tt F ie ld , C alif" w a s th e fira t fle etsquadron to u se Outla w H un te r,

ter

Toe Advanced nactleal Workstation 'n-stalled In the aft luseillge 01the OutlawHunter P-3C.

NAVAL AVIATION NEWS November·OeGember 1992



o pe ra tin g th e a irc ra ft in a fle et e xe r-c is e and depl oy ing it to th e In dia nO ce an p rio r to th e Ira qi In va sio n o fK uw a it T he a irc ra ft was t rans fe r red toVP -1 9, wh ic h look II 1.0t he Pe rs ia nG u l f War ( W i l h squlprnent upgradedto r m axim um p erfo rm an ce) a nd fle w Itth ro ugho u t th e c on fH c t w i t l 1 g rea t s u c-c es s. T he a irc ra ft s pe nt s om e tim ew ith V P-4 b efo re b eing re tu rn ed to V P-9 - vvhen VP-19 wa s d is es ta blis he d In

mid·1.991 -to joinlts fol low-on,"OASIS I."Outla w H un ter ts n ow b ackw i fh VP ·4 .

OASIS (Over-the-Hor izon AirborneSen so r lrr to rma tlo n S ys tem ) is th e,n ame o f Ih e f ollo w - on o pe ra tio n al te st-ing phase o f the O TH -T pro gram . TheOASIS pha se In vo lv es d own -s ca lin gth e e qu ipmen t f or In te gra tio n In to theTac tic al C o or din ato r ( TACeO ) s 1a tio no f th e P·3. Th e OASIS I s ys tem Washu rrie d to the P ersia n G ulf bu t w a s to ola te to se e actio n in the sh ort w a r; thlsaircraft is n ow a ss ig ne d 10VP-46.

OAS IS II, w ith im p ro ve d s oftw a re , h asbe en in sta lled a bo ard a P -3 C a s-s ig ne d to V P .2 6, N AS B ru ns w ic k,

_ - -

NA VAL. A VIAnON NEWS Novem bar-December 1992

Kills of Iraqi Ships are tallied on the

nOSe gear door 01 the OuHaw Hunterp·3e.

Maine . W hile O utla w H un te r a ndOASIS 1 /1 1 - w hich w ere a ll brought up

to th e s am e s ta nd ard by th e s ummerof 19 92 - currently use the stand-a lo ne e qu lprn en t in th e re ar o f th eP-3's cabin, the f ollo w - on OAS IS con-

figuration wil l inc lUde sta te-o f-the-ar tte oh no lo g y a nd s of tw a re 10 integrate

the syste m in to th e TACCO s ta tio n.

Im plem ented by SPAW AR on a"ncnacqulsltton 1und lng" bas is , theOTH-T pro gra m is fu nd ed in Ih e FY .9 3 b ud ge t. T he Outla w H u nte r/OASISsyste m, w h en fu nd ed, co uld b e b ack -fitte d in to th e e )(is lin g P -3C fle et a ndln cor po ra ted In to any f o llow - onaircraft. GiVen its e xc elle nt wa r re co rda nd th e e nth us ia sm o f battle com-manders , th e outlo o k Is h op efu l.In th e mean tim e , d ev elo pmen t is in

p ro gre ss to In te gra te th e s ys tem Io tasea -based a ir c ra f t to e xp an d the O TH -T c ap ab ility a va ila ble to th e b attleg ro up c omma nd er, "O utla w V ik in g" isa pro to typ e syste m in a n S -3 8 Viking

undergoing engineering, operator

wo r k lo ad, and ca rr ie r- su ita b ilit y te s t-jn g.. l n s erv ic e, It w ill b e o pe ra te d b y

f le et a ir a ntis ubmarin e wa rf ar es qu ad ro ns , a lre ad y f am ilia r w i th th eAPS-137 (V ) radar installed on every S-3B.

"O ulla w S ea haw k " is a sim ilar p ro -gra m to Integrate th e APS-137Mra da r In a n SH -6 0B S ea tJ aw l( h allc op -ter, Instead of t ransmit ti ng target ingd ata d ire ctly fro m th e h elic op te r o ve rth e OTC IXS , th e h elic op te r tr an sm ttsthe data to its m other sh ip, w hich intu rn re la ys th e in fo rm a tio n to Ih e b attleg roup commande r OVer the O TC IX S .•

The Oasis II P-3C assigned 10 VP-26

sports S,ATCOM Sind Global Positioning

System antennas atop lis fuselage.

21



sAC M

Berks

Reti, ed

A. n eta In Naval Aviation ended as".., quietly as it began. On May 26,1992, the Navy's last EG-130 Hercu les

TACAMO (take charge and move out)aircraft departed'Fleet Air Reconnais-sance Squadron (VO) 4 at NASPatuxent River, Md., for storage an deventual disposal. Its replacement by

the sleek Boeing E-6A Mercury wasthen complete.

The TACAMO mission originated in

secreoy in 1961 as a program to testvery low frequency (VLF) communica-

tions using a C-121 a nd a KC-1 '30F .The success of the project generated

a requirement to de.ploy an airborne

cornrnunlcatloes platform that could

receive, process, and relay vitallnfor-

matlon to th e fleet o f ballistic missile

submarines that had recently el1tered

service as the third leg at America's

nuclear deterrent triad.

Originally ordered by the Navyunder the designation GV-2U, four C-

130E airframes were delivered off the

Lockheed production t1neas C-130Gs

(BuNos 151888-151 B91) and exten-s ive ly mod if ied with a moblleInstallation (three equipment vans) of

second-generation VLF comrmmica-

lions gear (TACAMO III. The first

C-' 30G was delivered on December

26, 1963, with two airoraft each as-

signed to the TACAMO components of

Fleet Taoueal suppon Squadrons(VAs) 1 and 21 at Patuxent Aiver andNAS Barbers Point. Hawall raspsctlve-

Iy. VR-21 transferred i~sTACAMO

component to Airborne Early Warning

Squadron (VW) 1 at NAS Agana,Guam, on January 1. 1966. The KC-

130FTACAMO prototype aircraft

served both components when one ofthe C-130Gs was undergoing depot-

level maintenance.As Ihe testing and refining of equip-

ment and techniques continued, a new

generation ofT ACAMO gear

(TACAMO III) was developed, being a

permanently installed integrated sys-

22

P H;! W G . H arv ey

The beginnlng ...One of the two

C-13()Gs assigned to tile

TACAMO comp.onent 01 VR-1.

tern. TACAMO '" featured aIO,Ooo·pound weight reduotion, In.

creased communications flexibility,

vastly improved in-11ght maintenance,and a crew loLinge faci li ty, Eight bullt-

for-lhe-purpose EC-130Q TACAMO III

aircraft (BuNos 156170.177) were pur-

chased. As the mission becameintegrated Into national command

structure, th e decision was made to es-

"tabush the TACAMO components as

full squadrons. On July 1, 1968, VQs 3

and 4 were es tab lished a~NASsAgana and Patuxent River. respective-

ly , and soon grew to become two ofthe largest squadrons in the Navy. The

same month, the C-130Gs were

redesignated EC-130Gs. VQ-4 also be-

came the fleet readiness squadron fort he EC -130 .

By LCdr. Rick Burgess

The next generation equipment

suite, TACAMO IV, arr ived In 1974and featured a new power amplifier, a

dual tra11lngWire antenna system, and

a high-speed antenna deployment and

retraction system. Ten more Ec-.

1300s were purchased (see tabl'e) for

a total o f 22 TA CAMO "H erk s,' Furtherimprovements fol lowed ln 1978 under

the TAGAMO Improvement Program

(TIP) (including a te le lype distribution

matrb;), and In 1979 under TIP II,

Which added a message processor

system, sate!lite communication

capability. and an enhanced VLF

capability. The aircraft were eventually

hardened to protect their communica-tions suhes from electromagnetlc

pulse damage from nuclear detonation,

With the full complement of EC-

13005 onboard, the four EC,130Gs

were eventually relegated to test and

trainIng roles. One. BuNo 151891,

served as the TACAM 0 developmentplatform with the Naval Air Test Cen-

The end ...The tast deploying TACAMO C--130 crew Included: L1.William Crowell Ii ,

Mission Cdr., Cdr. ,(Sel.) Stephen Crawf,ord, Aircraft Cdr.; Lt. Sleven Miles, Airborne

CommuniCiltions OllIcer (nof pictured); Lt. Timothy Jewell ; U. Michael Mabee; L t lg ·Marks Parsons; AEC Theodore Jachens; AEl Josepl:! Lavery; AE1 Jon Bosson; AD1Charles S1ICOK;RM2 Gregory' Jones; ATl James Tilton; AT1 Christopher Gill; AT2

Gerald WaddeU; AMS3 Mark Slade; AMSJ Steven Horvath; AMS3 Richard Gray;AMS3 Daniel Lange; AT2 Lauren Blakley; AE2 Kelly Krantz; AMH1 Pedro Ramirez;and RM1 Larry Miller (not plc1Ured).

NAVAL AVIATION NEWS November-December 1992



ter, Patuxen River, tram the early1970s until 1987, later becoming a TC-

130G. as did 151888. Another, BuNo151890, was damaged beyond repair

by an In-fl ight fire, but its ccmrnunlca-

t ions su ite survived an d was ussd as agr,ound trainer and test module.

As the TACAMO fleet b ullt u P. the

EC-130s were ma in ta in ,in g a con-tinuaus airborne oommunications

watch. Twenty-four hours per day,year-round, an EC-130 was airborne

somewhere ln the world. ready to relaythe "doomsday" messages should lhey

come. The stress on the EC-130

airframes thai resulted from the long

and frequent flIghls, much ot the time

Inangles of bank to properly trail theantennas, aged the aircraft to become

"older than their years."During the Iate 19,805, two EG·

1300s (BUNos t 59348 and 159469)were modified as TC-1300s, serving

as pilaf proficiency trainers and u ti li tylogistics aircraft, The first of

thesedeployed to the Mediterranean in late

199 0 w i th tw o crew s to a ugme nt V A-22 In the logistics ef for t support ingOperation De s e rt S to rm .

The replacement o f the EC-130 by

the E -6A began In rnte-tsas with VO-3(which ha d moved to Barbers Point in

Augus t 1 981), followed by V O-4 in

1991 . Th e last HerCUles TACAMOdeployment departed Patuxent River

on May 7, 1992, with its 22·membercrew in EC-130Q BuNo 161531. This

aircraft was also the last to go, follow-ing its mates to the Rockwell

.lrrternational 'racility at Shreveport, La.,

for communications suite removal.

EC..130 Fleet Disposition

BuNo

EC-130G151888

151889

151890

151891

EC-130a

156170156171156172

156179156174

156175

156176156177

159348

159469

160608

161223

161494

161495

16149B161531

162312

162313

Disposilion

Redesignated To.130G. Stored at AMARC for reclamation.

Stored at NADep Cherry Point. N,C . • for reclamation.Struck af!,ar m.fhsht fir·eJanuary 15, 1972.

RedeSignated TC-1JOG. Serves Blue Ange/s as transport.

former VXE·8 crew Iralner Storedat AMARC 101 reclamation.

Sloced at AMARC f o r reclamati on .Siored at AMARO for rectamanon

Siored at AMARC 1m reclamation.FormerVXE·6 crew trainer. Stored at AMARC fo r reclamation,Stored at AMARC f o r reclamati on .Los! In mishap at Wake Island, June 21, '977.

Stored at AMARC fo r reclamationRedesignatedTC-1300. Serves as crew trainer for VXE-B.RedeSIgnated TC·130Q. Stored al AMARC for reclamation.

Stored at AMARO for reclamation.Donated to Marine Corps Air-Grol,lnd Museum.

Transferred to NASA.



L!,!s!EC" 130 In Navy service. Transferred to NOM.Stored at AMARC. Soldto NSF tor atmospher ic research.Storedat AMARO lor reclamation,

AMARC = Aerospace Maintenance an d Regene'rBtion Center

NADep '" N;;Ival Aviation Depot

NASA ~ Natfonaf AIr and Space Administration

NOAA = National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration

NSF -; National Science Foundation

NAVAL AVTA.TION NEWS November-Dellember 1992

An EC-130a assigned to VO-4.

Altl10ugh most were ret ired from the

TACAMO role 10the Arizona desert,

some former TACAMQ "Herks" havestarted second c are ers ( se e table).One TC-130G serves as "Fat Albert" -transport for the, B lu e A nge ls - and

one TC·130a helps Antarctic Develop-

ment Squ.adron 6. train its LC-130pilots C it NAWS Point Mugu, Calif"replacing an EC-130Q used briefly In

that role. The National Aeronautics

an d Space AdmlnlstraUon recently ac-

qulred three EC·1300s tor various

research projects. At least one EC-130Q. acquired by the Marfne Corps

Air-Ground Museum. Quantico. Va ..

will end up as a museum piece or gateguard.

The Hercu l es and its tireless crews

shouldered the TACAMO role wilh

reliability and grace for over 28 yea~s.sitently doing their share in winning the

cold war. Withe, neW wor: ld order, and

a standdown from nontlnuous airbcrne

operations, the "comm guard" has

shifted to the elegant E-6A Mercury.

deployed by VQs 3 and 4 from Tinker

AF8. Okla., in support ofthe new U.S.

Strategic Comman d .•

Spe cia l t h an k s to M ich ele H ade n of N A SPatuxent Rive r , LL Chris/oper R edm an an d

LtJgl. OsvidHtlmeferofVQ-4. Cdrs, W .

R oe tin g a nd Mark J oh ns on o r N B 8 0G . and

David Reade forfnformalion

23



Naval Aviation InWWD -----------------

Naval Aviation in

SBDDaunUesses fly upwind etthelr earirler after·8 Torch mission.

The First Joint Operation ofWW II

Englan.d was relieved when

America entered WW II inDecember 1941. The British

hoped lhal the U,S, would Soon col-laborate with them in cperationsagai.nst the Na~is. British prime M!n-IsterWinslon Churchill, under pressureat home and from the Soviet Union'sdictator Josef Stalin 10 open a second

front pleaded with Prasident Franklin

Hocseveltlo jOin British forces In an in-vasion olll"le North African coastThe VIChy French, and the Free

French, under General Charles De

Gaulle, were tunous that Brirtlsh

arrcraft had bombed Frenchships in

1940,even though the attacks wsrs 10

prevenl iheships !ramlaHing in to , Ger-man hands. (Vichy is a city in southern

France wher-8 a puppet government

was set up when the Nazis conquered

France In Ju ne l '940,) The Brillshknew Ihat to invade by themselves

would probably mean intense Frenchresistance. Only a joint operation withAmerican forces leading· the way

stood any chance of acceptance.

Wlt.hlhe Japanese advance hailedIn the Pacific, America turned some of

Its allention to other theaters.

Roosevelt agreed 10[om Churchlll in

Operation Torch, Ihe Invasion of North

Africa. American and British naval air

played major supporting roles inneutralizing any French opposition toIheamphibious land,ings. It was oneetthe few times that Amerlcan naval airpower fought i l " l a major campaign out-Side the Paciflc.

The Vichy French Air

Foree: A Mixed BagOn paper, the French forces were

tcrrnioabfe and included surface ships..submarines, numerous an tiai rc raf t a r1l1' Ieryemplacements., and some 500

aircraft of various types and

24 NAVAL.A VlATlON NEWS November·Oecember 1992



Operation TorchBy Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR

capabilities,.

B efo re the w ar, the French bo ughts ev era l, U .S . A rm y A ir F orc e aircraft,and Vichy squadrons now ffew the C ur-tiss Hawk 75A (an export version of Ina

1' ·36 srngle·seat fighter), the MartinMluyland twln.engine l ight bomberand reco rma lsssnce aircraft. and 1M

Douglas DB· 7 , th e e xoert version ofthe A·20 light twln~englne bomber. If

American crews encountered aerial

resistance, it would be one 01 the lew

times t ha t Arne ri can -bu ll t ·al rc ra ftWould engage each other In actualcombat in Ina hislory o f aert al wa rr ar e.

The Allied Lineup

The Br it ish f1e·et lnc luded seven car-riers In three task forces to cover two,

landing areas along the Nonh African

coast, Five American flattups made upthe Weslern N:aval Task Force, led by

Range r (CV-4), Th e American forcelanded at Casablanca, while twoBritish fdrces landed al Oran (Genter)and Algiers (Eastern), The third

B ritish ta sk fo rc e (T ask Force H )covered operations 10 the Med'iter-

.ranean, mainly to defend against any

o ppos lu on from th e Ita lia ns .Suwannee (ACV-27) had a mixed

air group of four squadrons: VGFs27

and 28 and VGSs 27 and 30. Sen-

~ gamon (ACV-26) had VGF-26 andt > VGS-26, while Santee (ACV -29) in-

,~ eluded VGF·29 and VGS-29. Anotherg escort carrier, Chenango (ACV-28) ter-

~ ried 7 .6 U S . A rm y Air F orce P ~4 0 War-hawks across the Allanticlor use eneaa beachhead had been establishedand the fitst enemy airfields secured.

Lt. Mac Wordell. VF-41 XO (rI8,1"I1),eadsthe squadron In song In the squadron

ready room onboard Ranger belore Ihe

start of Torch,

A plane captaIn relaxes on U..e wing, oI9-F-12, a Wildcat. 01 VF-9. Note I.he ,strap

from the pllol's harness spread over Ine ccckplt sill.

Nil V AL ,Q .I,IT An ON N EW S November-December 1992

(The des igna tio n ACV (auxilia ryaircraft carrier) preceded CVE (escort

carrier). VGF (fighter) and VGS (scoul-Ing) squadrons embarked in ACVs.)

For most of the crews, this was theirfirst combat OpGt9.t ion, an d apprehen-

sion and discussion wenllhrol.1gh a nIne ready rooms. Ashore, the French

crews Felt th e same way. ManyFrenchmen harbored resentment

a.galnsllhe Bntis", especially atter

"l'attaire de Mers ·e l-Keb ir ," whe reRoyal Navy dive-bombers struck

Fi'enchl ships in Alrican ports In July1940 to keep lhem from failing lnto

German h an ds . However, there was

no such feeling toward the Americans.

Indeed, many Frenchmen hoped Ihalthey could soon 10111he U,S. forcesagainst their German oppressors."How can th e Americans thin,k of

fighting us?" the ViChy aircrews asked."Atter all, we've been wa:iting for them

for two years. and don't we f ly many

American aueraft? And are we not th edescendants of the Escadrille

Lafayette?"

Iro nic aH y , o ne o f the Americans'potential opponents would be French

fighter squadron GC 1 1 / 5 at Casablan-ca. This squadron's inSignia was the

familiar American I nd ia n's head nrstused by the Lafayette Escadrll!e InWI/III , a squadron rnadeup I'argely ofAmerican avlators and expatriates,

who couldn't wail lo r their country toenter Ihe war. IIwas geing to be hard

for everyone when Ihe battle wasjoined.

Intelligence was not as complete as

i t should have been as rar as the flighl

crews were concerned. Much of the in-formation "for atrorews cams from

travel brochures and NationalGeographic.

Vichy squadrons. were spJead along

the coast, with Casablanca hostIng astronq fighter force of Hawk 75Asand

~ Dewoiline 5205, considered the besl§ French fighter. (A few had seen action<I: agains1 th e Germans In 1940 and had

aCQu"lttecl themse,lvesfavorablyagalnsllhe vaunled Messerschmitt BI109.)

forch represented the largesl as-

sembly of Allied ships andaiscratt in

25



Naval Aviation in WW0

the w ar up to that tim e; how ever, the

huge flee1 w as never in tercepted by

Germ an patro ls. The Germ ans

be lie v ed tha t th e AUied ships wereh ea de d fo r th e b ele ag ue red Medller-ranean island o f M alta ..

Th e Brl1ish carriers had a w ide as-

so rtm ent o f a ircraft, ~ anglng fro m

b ip la ne F aire y Swordfish an d Albacoreto rpedo bom bers to G rum man Martjet

( the Br it ish name fo r th e G ru mm an

Wildcat). H aw ker Sea Hurricane. an d

n ew ly a rriv ed Superrrrarlne Sea f ir eflghters_ The H~wker and Supermarine

aircraft w ere "navalized" variants o f

ttle h igh ly suecessfu l Iand-based ver-

s ions thai had m ade such a name fo r

th em selves in t he Ba tt le of BrifalnTorch wou ld be the Searire's first com-

baloperation.

The Battle Is JoinedAs the British fle el s aile d L hro ug h

lh e S tr aits of Gibraltar In to th e Me dite r-

ranean on November 6 (the

Americans stayed In th e A tla rru c), th e

c arrie rs s en t ou t fighter patro ls fa

scout fo r any enemy aircraft ASide

from one Or tWI!'>F re nc h s co uts , the

B ritish and A merican com bat air

p atro ls fo un d the sk ies quiet a s the y

approached the N orth A frican coast.

On Sunday. NO llem ber8, the firs!

waves ot American and B ritis h A rm y

troo ps hit the- beach at daw n. A l firs t.

French resistance was relatlvely light

Vichy shore batteries opened fire andw ere an sw ere d by the guns of the as-

s em ble d su rfa ce ships Th e French

oatt[eshlp Jean Bart, [rn rn ob lliz ed In

C asablanca harbo r, turned Its IS ·lnch

guns on the A merica 'n landing fo rce.

T he bat tle sh ip Mi'J5Sachusetis sent a

16-m o h shell into Jean Bart. jam m ing

I i tsone w o rk In g tu rre t

As the battle progressed, French

North African Landings

reso lve strengthened and severa l

V ichy destroyers and subm arines so r-

tied against the Allied forces outsrde

t he h ar bo r. R ang ers W Udcats an d

Daunt/esses bombed and strafed theFrench ships a nd t ar ge ts ashore. They

also engaged ln unexpectecHy intenseaeria l encounters w ith the ir French op-

ponents. In the first battles, 16 V lohy ; ~~~:::~~~;"""J:r.fighters w ere sho t dow n tor the loss o f ~

four Wi ldcats . Even biplane Curtiss ~SOC lia is on flo atp la ne s co ntrib ute d by g

break ing up a French tank co lum n w ith Zdepth charges u sin g im p ac t fuses. Army Capt. Allcorn lakes. off from

The SOCs flew 1rom cru isers and bat- Ranger In his L,4.

tleshlps and usually carried m essa.ges

a nd sp otte d fo r a rtille ry.

O n N ov em be r 9, R'anger launchedits three Arm y L-4 P iper Cubs, which

w OIl.H dbe used as o bservatio n plat.

fo rm s. T he th re e little S in gle -e ngin e

planes were led by Capta in Ford E.

Allcorn. who took o ff in to a 3s-knotheadw ind, 60 m iles from shore, run-

n ing into antia ircraft artille ry fro m U .S .

shlps, W hich w ere obv iously unaw are

o fthe identity o f Ihe three aircraft.

F ren ch s ho re batterles also fire d a tthe Pipers as they w ent over Ihe

b ea ch . O apt, Allcorn w as woundedand his a ircratt se l on lire , H e w as

b are ly a ble to sideslip his stricken

plene to the ground, then drag him self

from It-before II exploded. H e -th us h adth e Unique, and som ew hat oublous,

distinctions o f fly ing the first Cub from

an aircraft carrier. beoom inq the firs t

Army aviator 10be wounded In thecampaign. and the first to be shot

do wn In the cam paign.

Chenango began l al Jn chi n{ J its loado f Arm y P.,4Qs, m ost o f w hich made it

asho re. H ow ever. dam age from Ihe

Am erican and B rItish air a ttack s w as

so greal that the airfie ld at Pori

Lyautey had 10 be repaired. The

rem ainder o f the Warhawks flew

~ ( . . .," T· I.F·· AI~dll"".n"'1 s....Eastern as.. orce

\Cenler Task Forr;:e \\. T '. ~ 1.1 .

wulern .,. - \ c " . . , . . . . - - - + ifgUWl (

TJsk force r.. '-... T Slid· Maison \

(

Mehdla ~_., a a Blanch" )~ T . PI.Lyauley ran Tataracul -Rabal

___ • Fedalar Casablanca

Morocco

Sp~in

Sail

(

)

2:6

AI":" ' 1 . . . . , '

Algeria

A Curtiss SOC is C"atapulted from acruiser during Operation Torch.

Severa l American Navy alrcra" sland onafrlleld, perhaps Cazes, aHer the ceaseSBD on the left Is minus Its vertleal tal l. N

various ruts in the grass made by the

a sh ore la te r.

The B ri~sh C entral N aval' Task

Force landed rts assault troops at

oran on N ovem per 8. encountering lit-

lie resistance except Irom Frenchshore batteries. R oyal N avy carriers

Furious. Biter. an d Dasher launched

s tr tk e s a ga in st the airtleld a nd d ro pp ed

leaflets. Sea Hu r ric ane s from Bi te r an d

Dasher sho t dow n five French f ighters.Th e Eastern N ava l T as k Force at -

tack ed A lgiers, a lso flndl,ng little o r no

resistance except fo r sho re batteries.

A q uic kly a rra n,g ed ce as enre broug,htm ost o f lhe figh1ing 10 an end in this

a re a la te onthe 8lh. By November 10

an d 11. al l th e F re l'\ch fo rc es h ad

capitulated

Aerial Engagements

As the firs t w aves 01 A merIcans hit

the beach at Fedala (15 miles north o f

Casablanca). MehdlB (70 m iles to the

NAVA.l.AVfATIONNEWS November-tJecember 1992



north), and Safl (140 miles south ofCasablanca). Ranger's VFs 9 and 41

orbited Cazes airfield. The Frenchthreat had 10 be clear before Americanaircraft went inlo action. HOW18ver.as

the Wffdcatpllots sa w several aircrafton the roll. Ueutenant Commander

Tommy Booth. CO of VF-41. calted,~Batter upl" In response 10the prear-

ranged signal, Range r radioed, "Playb all I" T he fighl w as on.

Although Cazes was a base forbombers and transports, there were

severall iglhter squadrons on the fieldwitb Curtiss Hawk 75As and Dewoi11ne

520s, Most otthe French aircraftsported one ot the most colorlul

schemes ever applied to a large num-ber o f co mba aircraft. There werevariations but the basic markings were

bright yellow-and-red striped cowlings

and tails The eye-catching colors con-

trasted dramatically with the dun-colored American Wildcats and SSOs

Not 100 much room as P-40Fs launchtrom Chenango. Beijides the Vellow-

ringed national Insign's, the A r m vfighters atso carry American flags lor-

ward of the usual insignia.

that now ranged over the enemy air-fields.The dogfights over the Moroccan

coast were fierce at any rate, and

American Naval Aviators found them-selves Upagainst an experienced, wilyfoe Many French pilots had seen com-bat against the Luftwaffe durIng theBattle of France; some. were even

aces. Their American opponents,

while somehad a

relatively hlgh num-ber of f light hours, Were all untested In

combat To an extent, tl'1isdifference

In operational experience offset the dis-

parity belweenthe Wildcat and theelderly Hawk 75A, although less so the

D.520.Two 0.520s surprised Lieutenanl

Og ) Charles Shields of VF·41. How -

ever. the young pilot turned into the

threat and dropped the lead French

lightoer. Hardly catching his breath,Shields spotted three more aircraft

directly over the field. When he dove

toward Ihe trio. Shields found two

Hawks pursuing a lone Wildcat,p loled by l ieutenant CHuck August.

The two Americans turned the tables

on the Vichy pilots, shoaling both Cur-

us s fighters down.

• After strafing the airfield with 1M' Iast 01his ammunition, Shields was

bounced by four more Hawks and had

to abandon his aircraft As he hung

from his chute, he was surprised Ihenangry to see the Hawks lining up on

'" him They Intended to shoot hIm wllile

Ie hung helplessly In midair.< \: Desperate. Shields shot It out with

:.. his.45 pistol-as the HaWks buzzedhim, occasionally firing at the lone

Z American. Neither side scored and

Shields descended to the ground andcapture. He was not alone, Several

other Navy Wi ldcat pilots spent a fewdays as prisoners of war.VF-9 also saw aclion. Lieutenant

Commander Jack Raby ted his

29-GF-10 ran Inlo Irouble during arecovery onboatd Santee. Note theeen-Itol eaeles protruding 1110m the fuselage,and the overlapping of 'tie squadron

numbers into the national insignia.

NAVAL AViATION NEWS November-December 1992

squadron to Port Lyautey where they

shot down a twin-engine Potez 53 -one of the many light-bomber/observa·tton twins that the French produced in

the late 19305.VGFs 26 and 27 had been In the

same area and enc oun te re d several

French fighters and bombers. shooting

down several. Unfortunately, VGF-27

Wildcats attacked a Royal Air Force

Hudsonfrom Gibraltar, which they had

wrongly identi'Hed as a French aircraft,The Lockheed twin crashed, with only

one survivor 01 the tour-man crew.

lieutenant Commander Tom Black-burn o f VGF-29 ditched his Wl ldca lafter running out of gas trying 10

recover onboard Sanlee. It was an ig -nominious beglnning to what would be-

come an amazing oombat career,

albeit in the Pacific. with another typeof fighter, the Vought F4U Corsair.Blackburn spen150 hours in his life

raft unlil a destroyer plucked hfm fromthe water. When he returned to his

squadron, Blackburn, who had senthis [unlor pilots ashore before ditching,

learned thai four of his squadronrnateshad crash-landed and were captured.

As Lieutenant Malcolm Wordell. XO

of VF-41. strafed an airf ield, an-tiaircraft arlmery hit his aircraft, wound-

ing liim. He crashed In 1 , ; 1 cow pastureand made his way to a "neighbo(hood"

wmeshcp. The shop owner and wife

ministered to the wounded American,plying 111mwilh rum.

Local infantry troops soon arrived to

collect their prisoner. The corporal

demanded Wordell's pistol. which thelieutenant reluctantly handed him,

after requesting a receipt.It had been a rough tnhlation for the

untried fighter squadrons. The

Wildcats had lost seven F4Fs toenemy action - f ighters and fla:k-and

16 to opera lienal causes,

The Dauntless in Action

SBDs from Sangamon. under

Ueu!enanl Commander J i. S. Tracy,

flew over Fedala, white Santee's

Daunt/esses covered the landings at

san, southwest of Casablanca.Several SBDs dive-bombed Jean Bart

In Casablanca harbor, while others at-

tacked 1M French destroyers that hadmanaged to sortie from Ihe harbor at

0800. intent on hit tlng the Allied troop

ships offshore.Aocompanied by Wi ldcats , which

dId their best to strafe and disrupt the

~ destroyers' defenses, the SBDs struck~ the Vichy ships, One SBD was shot« down, the crew lost. II took several

~ hours, and additional attacks by saDs~ and the few TBF Avenge rs with the-

27



Naval Aviation In WWD ----------------

Am erican task fo rce . to ha lt the deter-

m ined enem y a llack .

Wrthal l t n e : landing forces ashore,

aeria l action on Novem ber 9 centereda ro u nd - su p po rt in g the A llie d t ro o ps

and ending w hateV er French resis-

tan ce re main ed, V F·g 's Wlldcals found

I S Hawks ahd sho t dow n rive 01 the

Curtiss figh ters fo r the loss o f oneGrum man a ircraft, w hose pilo t w as res-

cued. VF·9 a lso los t th ree m ore

[ighlers in Ihe co urse o llhe da y during

stra fin g m issio ns to P ort lyauteyBy the tfm e an C lrm isiice w as

Aircraft CarrIers and Squadronsof Operation Torch

Untted States

Ranger (CV-4)

VF-9

VF-4lVS·41

2 7 F 4F- .4 :W i ld c a ls

27 F .: IF -4 Wildcats'6 SBD·3 DaUAllesses

1 TBF-1 Avenger

Sangernon (ACY·26)VGF·26 12 F4F-1I WildcatsVGS-26 9 SBO·J Dauntlesses

9 T BF -1 Av.engers

Suwanee (ACV.27)VGF·27VGF-28

VGS-..27

vas-soSantee (ACY.29)VGF-29VOS-29

1 1 F4 F-4 W l ld ca ls12 F4F...4 Wildcats

9 TBF·i Avengers6 F4F-4 WI'ldcats

14 F4F-4 Wildcats

9 SBD-3 Dauntlesses

8 TBF-1 AvengersCl'1enango(ACV·28j76 USAAF P-40F Warhawks (laUnched)

Britain

HMS Victorious

N o. B 09 SquadronNo. 882 SquadronNo. B8tj Squadron

No. 817 Squadron

No . 6 32 S qu ad ro n

HMS Formidablil

No . 8 85 S qu ad ro nN o . 8 8"8 squadronNo. 893 Squadron

No. 820 Squadron

HMSAvengerNo, 802 Squadron

Mo. BS3 Squadron

HMS ArgusN o. a 80 SqUadron

HMS FuriousNo. 801 Squadron

No. 607 Squadron

No. 9 2 . . 2 Squadron

HMS Dasher

No. 604 Squadren

No.S91 Squadron

HMS BiterNo. 80 0 Squadron

28

6 FUlmer H I P s

18 Martie! IVs

6 Sea li"r e 116 s

8 Albacores

1 J Albacores

6 Se aflre 11 8s12 MartletlVs12 Martlat IVs

" 2 Albacores

6 Sea Hurncane lis

8 Sea HurrIcane l is

1 8 S ea fire IIB s

12 Seal1re les12 SeaJ1re IIBs8 Atbacores

6 SeE!Hurflcane lis

6 S ea H urricane lis

t 5 Se6 Hurricane l is

reached w ith the French autherttles on

November 1 1 - an appro priate date

since It w as a lso the date lhat an a rm lstice ending WW I w ent in to e ffe ct 2.4years ea rlie r - Amer ican Wildcat pilots

ha d claimed 22 Frenc," , al rcratt, fo r the

lo ss o f fiv e F4Fs I n aeri al combat .(T he c la im in clu de d one or tw o

m is id el'1 tifie d B ritis h a irc ra ft. a nd th eFrench a ct ua lly a dm it te d to losing 25aircraft) Fourteen Wildcats had been

lost to operational causes. In total, 23

percent o f all F4Fs In th e Am eric an

carrier fo rce had been lo st, a s lg -n fflca n1 attritio n ra te. C apta hl C , TOur·

gin, Ranger's CO, vlslled Gazes on

N ovem ber 12. A fte r m eeting w ith the

pilo ts from his a ir w ing w ho had been

captured. he rem arked on the stout

defense by th e F ren ch : "If th is ba ttle

had continued at the pace o f the flfSI

day, I w o u ld have had to return to meU.S . f o r rep lacemen ts ,"The SBOs and TB Fs of the Western

Task Force had been in actio n

lh ro ugho ut th e o pera tio n, bo mbing

enemy a ir fie ld s an d gun positions

asho re. They also a ttacked w hatever

French ships ventured ovt o f the ir har-

b ors . H o w e ve r, the Oaun r J e s s andAvenge r sq ua dro ns s uffe re d re la tiv ely

high loss rates. Santee's squadrons

lost four SB Os and seven TBFs In th e

four-day opera tion. Som e o f th e lo ss esw ere due to fue l starvation an c p ilo tin g

e rro rs rath er th an direot en em y actio n

On N ovem ber 10. Ra ng e r's D a un t-

OJ )

: g

fQ.:l. .~. .":! :s; : , ;

Mer1.1nMaryland 161&. Theselast reconnaissance bombers

flew with both Armee de l 'Alrand Aeronavale squadrons.

A pllo t o f GC 11113by his Dewoitine 520.

An unusual view of two DewolUne

520s 01 GC 1 /2 .

lesses made the final a tta ck a ga ln si

the de term in ed, bu t ba tte re d battle sh ip

Jean Bart, w hose crew had returned

one turre t to operation . The SB Os

scored tw o h its w ith I.OOO -p ou nd

bombs and the French B B w as out o f

th e w ar 10r g ood. Nine DillIn-tresses

ha d been lo s t d ur in g Torch, most 10

o pe ra tio n al c au se s.Operat ion Torch began the fina l

s tages 01 expeillng the G erm ans fro m

N o rth A fric a. It also le t the French

know that they w ere nat forgotten.Torch w as a lso the first tIm e the Allies

used jo in t p1ann ing t o forge a major

o pera tio n, se tlin g th a patte rn fo r fu tu re

I nvas ions , p a rt ic u la rl y 1h e June 1944

invas io n o f Euro pe and am phib io us

o pera tio ns in the P aciijc . Tor:ch alsofirm ly e sta blis he d th e a irc ra ft c arrie r

al'l ld Its planes and crews m th e close

a ir suppo rt ro le , ready on arriva l, and

clo se to the actio n .•Cdr. Merslly is a naval reservist and as·

sist!:ln\ edit or o f Approach magazine. .

Vichy forces hade lot ar Maryland 167s

In 1941.

Sud·Est Lea 4S1 four·place bombersequipped several squ.adrons of the

Armee de fAir -and Aeronavale.

Hawk 75As 01 GC 1/5over Rabat, Moroc·co, 1942.

-,~fI'L~

This Douglas 08-7 crashed at Mar-

rakeoh In March 1941. MlJ!leetlal'Alrelli I'ESp



The Royal Navy's Flee'tAir Armin Operation Torch

By Cdr. Peter Mersky, US'NR

W hila the Arnerlcans saw con-.. siderabJe action In th e w est.Ihe Brit ls" task terces were covering

their own lal1dings. Allhoughthese landings were Irelatively simple.

Ihe French mcuntedan active antisircampaign ar least for a. few days.

Incongru.ously marked with pseudo-

American markings - a while star on a

bltrs circle. surrounded by a . yellow

rin~ ~ in a vain attempt to 1 0 0 1 thedef·enders Into thinking they Were

American. British aircraft made bomb-Ing attacks and 10ught several aerial

engagements. The flfst British carrierstrikes came a\ da,wn when 42 aircraftlaunched against Vichy ai.dields at L a

Senia, Maison 81ancha, and Tafarou!near Oran. Albacores struck La Sanla

and des tw y e d s ev er al haO('larsand 47aircraft. Ttle bIplanes were Interceptedby nine 0.520s. which were engaged

by 5e , ;! Humcanes from HMSs B i t e rand Dasher, Theescort claimed fiveFrench f igh te rs des troyed . bu t theVichyfighlers hac ! taken ou t three ofthe Albacoresand.llak hit another asthe a.ltackers began their dive. Kalf the

force was 9 :one. .One Marliel p!lot landed 10 accept

the surrender 01 a French ganisonal

Slida, after reoelvlng permission from

his supstiers 0]'1 the ship. The station

commander pro mptly w ro te o ut a sur-render on a.piece of note paper.Americ an A rm y R a ng ers soon arrfved10relieve IheRoyal Navy olficer.

O n N ovem ber 8, Six Sea ff re J lC~ .ofNo. B a s Squadron Irom HMS For-

midable fo und a Vichy M()ryland homb-

erover Mers-el-Kebk and shot IIdown, Sea f ir e s from No.B07

Squadron (HMS Furious) engaged

several O.520sand sliol d ow n th re eSoon alter this encounter, 807

Squadron wa s a tta ck e d by more

The author would like 1oacknow-ledge the help and conlribullons 01thefollOwing authors and aUlhorlUes In reo-searchl.ngand wrolt lng t l1ls artlole: Harry

Galln, Norman Palmar, Barrett Tltlrnan,Lois Lavlsolo 01 the Grumman HistoryCenter, Dale Connell.,. and Rutns Dicks01 the Stin Picture Branch or the Nation,.

al Archives, Jerry Shore ancllhe 51.af f 0,1IheF,leel Air Arm Museum, a.nd especial ,

Iy, Rene Francltlon. Slephane· ',Nlcol(lou,

and General lucien, RobineBu. Dlrec-

leur. SerVice Hlst.or lque.de l'Armee de('Alr_

A Fairey AlbBcore 0,1820 Squadron

during North A'~ricanlandings In 1942.

Dewo it ln e s. The Royal Navy f lgh le rsclim bed to m ee t the th re at and al-th ou gh lo w o n ammu nitio n', s ho t downanother D.520 a nd d am ag ed s ev era lothers. II had been. an auspicious.opening fo r the Sea f ir e s.

Sea f ires Flewarmed escort andreconnaissance missions lhroughou1

lhe day, Two BrUish pilots landed Iheir

Seaf/ res near American columns, Sub-

Lreutenant Peler Tw iss - w he w ouldbecome a famous postwar lest pilot ~

offered 10 fly Shan reecnneissaece rnls-

s lo ns 'o r aU S. Army lank co lumn,even tl10ugn h is a irc ra ft h ad o nlyabout 50 gallons of fuel lett.Sub-Lieutenant P. J. Hu tto n c ra sh-

landed a longside anothetarmored

column and made his way 10 the U.S.

Army Air Force's 31s1 Fighter Group.which had lIo wn its Spitfire VCs In toOran at the end olll1e day. The nexlday. November 9, Hutton borrowed anAmerican SpIt f i re and flew a missionbefore beinglerried back 10Gibraltar

by a Roya l Air Fotoe- Huaso» .(American Sp;t f i~es were ferried ..alongw i th B r iti sh aircraft, aboerd British car-

riers to Gibra l tar .)

The Roya l Navy also I·rledtollnishthings up in A lg eria . T he task w asmade harder by t he nO I- unexpect edappeararce of German and ltallan

bombers, which attacked the lask for-ces offshore. Martiefs and Seafires

II.ew combat air pa tro l aga ins t tnesera ide rs w h o co uld do littie lo a lter th eoutcome of the succsssfullnvaslon.

AI du,sk o n No vembe r' 0, 15 Ger-man JU.8 8s mou nte d an a tta ck o ff A l-giers but were Intercepted by Seaf / resfrom HMS Argus and anl lal:rcraft art il -lery from th e task. lorce sh ips . .Onasmall bomb managed 10 hit thecanter's after f light deck, While the hitdid l it tl e damage to th e d ec k I!s alf . tourvaluable fighters were destroyed. Thethree Seaf i res in the ail had to recover

ashore.L 1k a th e Amer ic an s, th e Royal Navy

s uffe re d a h ig h percenta.gebf tossesto operational causes rather than to

direct ef1smy action. Indeed, 2t

S e afir9 S ~ 40 percent .o f thor;;e typesavailable st t he beg inn ing of Operation

T orch - were des troyed . o ' r: ll ythree to

e oemv a cu en .To add to \he-counl. HMSAvenget,

one of the escort carrlers, was sunk bya-torpedo trem U-1 55, a German sub-

marine thai caugl'l l the carrier o n th enight of November 15 near Gibralla,r_

Aveng e r ,exploded; only 17 of her crewsurvived_.

50 Years Ago - WW II

Nov 1: Palrol Wings were redesig-natsd Fleet Air Wl,ngs, and to permll

th e organizatiorl 01pa tro l aV ia t ion onIhe taskforce princlple, Ihe practice of

aSSigning a standard number ofsquadrons to each wing wa s c ha nqad10 provide fo r Ih e assignment o f ,a lltypes of aucratt reqUired by the wing

10 perform its mission iri Its particular

a rea .Nov 2: Naval Air s ta son , Pa tu xen t

River, Md., was esl.Q.bllshe.d 10 serve

as a facil ity fo r testing experimental

airplanes. equipment. and rnatartal,and as a Naval Air Tranport Servicebase.

Nov 16: Naval Aviation's first nigh1·tighler squadron, VMF{Nlr531. wasac-

NAVAl- AVIA nON NEWS ,November-December 1992

livated at MCAS Cherry Pofl"1t,N.C.,with Lt. Col. Frank H . Schwable mcommand. Initlally Ir.Blning withSNJs and SB2A-4s, the squadron w as

assigned twln-engined PV-1seqUipped with British Mar-II IV-type

radar.D ec 27: Santee (ACV-2.9l, f lrSI o f

, 1 escort carriers a ss ig ne d to hunter-k i ll er dU ly , soruee fro m N o rfo lk , v a.,.with Air Group 29 onboard lor free-roving antisubmarine warfare an d a n-IIraider operations In th e souLh Atlantic.Oec31: Es s e x (eV-9), Capt. D_B.

Duncan commanding, w as commls-sioned at No rf oH ( ,Va . ~ the first 01 17ships Ijf her ·CI8$$cornmtsslonedduring WW II.

29



AwardsHSL-46 received three prestigious

awards: Chief of Naval Operations'

Aviation Safety Award. ComNavAlr·Lant BaHle E, and Capt Amold J.ls-

bell Trophy.

A01(AW} Scoft Palumbo 01Nimitz(CVN·68) weapons department has

been s ele cte d a s th e 1992 John W.

Finn Aviation Ori:tnanceman of the

Vear. Petty Officer Palumbo was at-tached 10 NAS Whidbey Island,

Wash., when nominated tor the award

whloh is named in honor of AOC (Lt.)Finn, a W W H Congressional Medal o fHonor recipient for heroic action

during the anack o n NASKaneOheBay, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.

T he re cfp ie nts o f th e FY·91Seoretary 01 the Navy Energy Con·

servatlo n A w ards, are : Large S hip,For'rester (CV·59): Squadron, VA-65:and Industrial, NADep Jacksonville.Fla.

The wIllner of the py·91 Secretary

of Defense Maintenance Award Inthe large command category Is

Amer ica reV-66).

LI. Michael R. Croskey orVS·3S,received the lirst IBM S·3 El'ectronlcWarfare (EW) Excellence Award for

the Pacific Fleet. The EW award wil lbe given annually to the naval off iceron each coast who does the most to

further the tactics or employment 01electronic warfare assets in the S-3Aor S·38 altrcraft.

The 1992 Captain Edward F. Ney

and Major General W. P. T. Hili

Memorial AwardS'Program for FoodService Excellence winners: FirstPlace Ashore: Reserve, NAF

Washington, D .C .; F ir sl Place AfloaL

Large, B elle au W OO d (LHA·3) andAircraft Oarrter, Ranger (CV-61).

ADAN Dirk G. Hoogland was

presented the Navy and Maline Corps

Medal fer herolsm while serving as a

CH·53E aircrewman assigned to HC~4aboard USNS J oh n T , L enth s/l (T·AO·180) on May 9, The medal is tl1e

highest award for a peacetime act.

Hoogland was supervising and as-

sisting lnthe otfloading of cargo from

Ihe rear of a helicopter, and coordinat-

ing the e.lforts 01a team of 10 person-nel. The aircraft vlbrated severely,

snapping two of the ue-down chains.Hoogland immediately began to grab

aUpersonnel working beneath the

aircraft and force them towards thesafety of the ship's deck house. The

30

helo's rotor blades severed the tall- Several units marked safe flyingrotor pylon, scattering debris around time.the flight deck,

Unit Hours Years

HC-4 24,000 9

He·S 1

HSl·34 3

HSL·36 3

HSL-4 26

HSL-46 25,000 3

HSL·4S 3

HSL·94 2

NAS Brunswick 32

NASGlenview 21

NAS Jacksonville 13VA·65 35,000 9VA·7S 28,368 £

VAO-a5 1,600 1

VAQ·132 36,700 22

VAW·Sa 29,962 22

VA W·112 40.300 19

VC·l0 7.700 4VF·:M 38,428 10

VF·31 20,536 6

VAdm. Rudy Kohn replaced Adm. VF·33 5

Jerome L. Johnson as the Gray Eagle, VF·43 4

the Naval Aviator who has been on ac- VF-64 7.36~ 2·tlve duty the longest. VF '< !OI 2

VF·202 9

VF·213 3.042

Records VF·302 17.763 6

Cdr. J. P. Avvedutl 01HS·3 sur-VFA-25 68,264 16VFA·B3 31,000 7

passed 4,000 11Ighlhours as a NavalVFA·1S1 , 1.800 3

Aviator. He has logged flight time inVFA-195 40,000 10

the T-28. TH·1l, UH·l N. SH-3D, sH-VMFA·451 60.000 15

60F, and HH-60H. VP-1 53,900 9Lt . Fred Kilian recorded his 3,QOoth VP·22 82,460 13

f light hour In the F·14A during VF· VP·45 150,000 23Ill's air wIng detachment to NAS Fat- VPU·2 26.230 9lon, Nev., in J un e. VQ·, 30.000 5

Saratoga (CV·60) completed her VO-a 130,450 15

350,OOOltl arrested landing in JUly. VS·21 13;800 4

VS·37 40,000 4 -0

VX N·8 2S

Cdr. Chuck Wyatt. co an d Cdr. SkipSayers, XO, of VF·74 simultaneouslybagged their 1.00oth Tomcat traps onJuly 9 willie embarked aboard Saratoga

(CV·SO) during Med deployment 2-92.

Adieu JOCS CornfeldIt IS With regret that NAN ew s bids

farewell to JOCS Barbara A Cornfeld,

Who retired in November after a navalcareer o f more than 2 5 yea rs . Thestaff wishes her good luck In her newIlle In California, and envies her

chance to sleep late Inthe mornings

Harry Gann RetiresHarry Gann Is one of the finest

aerial photographers In the avtauenfield. Harry, who went to work for

Douglas Aircraft Company ln 1954 as

an engineer, retired from McDormeil

Douglas In September. Ills difficult to

NAVAL AVIATTOfil NEWS November.December 1992



Imagine the world 01aviation photog"raphy without his visual signatUres,

Happ y "c on tra ils " 1 0 yo u, H a rry .

Rescues

Members of Det 3 ,01H SL 46 ex-ecuted a rescue in1he Adriat ic Sea,

Us. James Churbuck an d DanielRothenberger and AW2 Timothy Kline

were c.onducting a surface surveil-lance mission In the early morning of

August 2 when they received' word

that a crewman had fallen overboard

from Sarii iJ!og'Q They maneuvered Ihe

Sf-t-SOB Seahawk helo into a low al·t itudesearch-astern of the ship andquickly located the lostcrewman. UsChurbuck and Rothenbefger executed

an automatic approach to a doppler

hover, while AW2 'Kline directed the

pilot 10Ihe survivor and lowered the

rescue hOOK. After salely hoisting thesurvlvor, he was returned 10 Saratoga.

For their el1orts, the. c rew 01 "Cu tla ss464" were pres -en ted Navy Commen-dat io n Meda ls .

A P-3 Orlan from NAS MoNett Field,

Cali1., responded to a request from the

Search and Rescue Conrdlnallng Cen-

ter in San Francisco 10 assist Coast

Guard aircraft In locallng the crew of

the fishing trawler Toorur, approximate-

ly 120 miles south of the Baja C-allfor-

nia coast.

Wilhin one hour. an alrcraw fromVp·.:l'Swas airborne. They picked up

radio signals from a marker beacon

lefl by the departing Coast Guard C-130 and homed In on the Signa! until

raear co ntact w as m ade w ith the aban-doned fishing boat.After locating the survivors aboard a

Ill'e raft, the P-3 crew dropped smokemarkers, A's strong winds and high

seas from Hurricane Darby made

smoke markers difficult 10 see, thecrew employed Ine P-3's sophisticated

sensors to g oo d advantage by drop-ping sonobuoys and uSing the co-top

positlo n indicalo r t o ma rn ta ir '1contactwith the ran's posinon.

The patrol. plane stayed on station

w hile anether C oast G uard C -1 30 w ase n ro ute from the San FranCisco Bay

a re a, F iv e minutes a fte r ch eck in g o nstation, the C-1S0's crew had visual

contact w'ith the rafland survivors.

Early the next morning. the 10 crewm em bers o f Tootur w ere pick ed up bya merchant ship thal had Men

diverted to their posrtlon and

transported 10 Panama.

Scan Pattern A newly restored Grumman F6FHel lca t -was unveiled at Ihe New

E ngland A ir M u:se um in W indso rL oc ks , Co nn . The Hel lcar ls o n per-rnanentloan to the museum from theNavy. Unde r r es to ra tio n for nearly 18years~ it has been refurbished to I lke-new ceaoltion and is now on per-

manent display

AT -2 prepares 10 l aurreh off the deck or

Forr·estal (AVT·S9) wl'lile A-5S and .FA.

18:swaH onlhe sideline. With herredeslgna.lionas 1;Inauxi,li$ry $Ircraft

Ia.ru::litlg training ship, ,Forrestel sUIitraps the be-slaviators In the World -

whether they Bre seorr-te-be pilots InfHg,hl tr.Binlng or fleet pros updatingtheir qualifications.

Everett A.lvarez, the t ongest heldprisoner of war In No rth Vietnam,

helped open the second General As-semblyof YMCAs on JUly 4 inAnaheim. CaJif, Alvarez. wrote Chainf}d

Eagle, a book which recounts his ex-

periences during the war (seeNANews. Mar-Apr 90),

He is curreruly on the national boardQ r Ihe Armed Serv ic es YMCA, w h ic hserves people. in Ina U.S. military, with

an emphasis o n yo un g er:lllsted person-nel and their tamilies. In 199 t . on 20

m lllls ry In sta lla tio ns , th e A rmed S .e r-vices Y offered social services to morethan 500,000 people.

The establishment of Stralegi.c Com-munlcations WII19 1 in.May Signaledthe consolidattcn of th e Navy's two

TACAMO squadrons, VQ s 3 and 4,and the.r transltion t o T inke r AFB, Ok·

lahoma City, Okla.

One 01 the rernalnlng 24 examples of Ihe

F6F rests malestlC'allyln the NewEngJand Air Museum.

Lt. Wes Nielsen l;l:nds· 'SaltyDog 1.21,"

an FA-, 8 Homel strIke fighter fromNAWC AD Patuxent River, Md ., a b oa r dGeorge Washll1gtlon (CVN.13). Tn.ls

marked the flrstarres,tedlandlng aboardthe new NlmUz-class alrcra:H carrier. TheShip was undergoing IIxed.wing flightdeck ,certif ication operaUons ofllhB

'coBSI or Vitgmla.

!Front view of the Navy's new TACAMO facility at Tinker AFB, Okla.

NAVAL AVIATION N~WS November-Duember' 1992 31



AnniversaryNaval Air' Technical Training Cen-

ter, Memphis, Mill ington, Term.,

celebrated 5 0 yea r's o f e nlls re d avia-

tion tralning on September 23.

In Memoriam ...AdmJral Freder Ick H . f .Hchae! l s ,

USN ( R et.) 7 5, died o f cancer August13 in Walter R e ed H ospita l. A N ava lAcademy graduate. he re ce iv ed h iswings In 1943 and served during WW

II. After fighter squadron and carriertpurs. inc uding command, he becameAssistant Chief o f Naval Operations(Air) trom Augusl 1968 to September1969. Next, he was Director, Joint

Straleglc Plannll'lg Staff al OffullAFB,

F la g Moves

RAdFfl, (Sel) Phillip S. Anselmo,lrom Dlr. , Av i a. tiOfl Plans and Requ ire -ments Dlv" N-S80, OPNAV, to Deputy,

A frW arfa re , N -B B B , OPNAV. O ct 9 2.

RAdm. Thomas A. Mercer, nom

Commander , U.S. Facillly, Subic Bay ,R.P" USCInCPacRep Philippines, toSuperintendent. Naval Postgtadua1e

School. M onte re y, C alif

RAdm. Paul W. Parcells. fromCommander , Tactical Wings . A tl an ti c,to Commander, FIgh1er Airborne Early

Warn In g WJn g. U ,S . Pacific: Fleel. Ju t92; Nava l Postgraduate School,

Monterey, Calif., Oec 92.

RAdm. (LH) Robert J. Spane, fromCommander , Cartier Group Eight, 10Oir'TAvlatien Plans and RequirementsD iv . . N -880. O PNAV , S ep 9 2.

Change o , t Command

America; Capt. William W.Copeland, Jr., relieves Cap!. Kenl W .Ewing.B lu e A ng e lS : Cdr. Robert S, Stumpf

r e'lle v ed Capt . G reg Woo ld rlQge.CW-?: C3Pt. S. H. Baker relieved

Capt. J. C. Snerlock,FItLogSupWingr: Capt. Mike King

relieved Capt, R o be rt D . McKen~ie,HC-2: Cdr . FlaY A, Merril l III relieved

Cdr. John L. Dal1ey. Jr.HelSeaConWing·3 (later HSCW-1).

Capt. William C. Turville, Jr., relieved

Capt, R. Tlmotl'ty ZIemer.

HelWingslanl' AAdm, Frahk M.Dlrran, Jr., relieved RAdm. Joseph W

Walker.HMH·363: Lt. C ol. M ark T. Beck

32

Neb., ollowed by Commander. Nava!Air Force. U.S. AtlantiC Fleet. His last

active duty postnon held "from 1975 t o .1978 was Chief of Naval Malerlal. Heretired on October '. 1978,Two recent hono rs ac co rded Adrn,

Michaelis were his selectlon to carrier

aviat ion's Hall ef Fame en USSYorktown in Charleston, S.C .•and thenaming o .f the new academiC building

at Ihe 'Top Gun" IIghler school, NAS

Miramar. Calif., "Michaelis Hail."

PauIE.Garber, 93. died septern-

b e r 2 3 in A llin gto n H o sp ita l InVirginia.Garber. who acquired most of the

prize a ir planes f o· r the Sm ithson ianIns tilU llon 's wc rt d- rencwned aa ronautt -cal collection, w as tne t irst curator ef

relieved Lt. Col Danlal C. Spurlock.

HS·12: Cdr. Daniel C. Simondsr elie v ed Cd r. T imo thy A. Meyers.HSl-32: Cdr. Frank. A, Verhotstadt

relieVed Cdr Joseph E Bel inskl .HS L-4 4: C dr. DaVid R . L op ez

relieved Cdr J. Kevin Moran.• M AG -46 : Col. Andrew S. Dudley.

• J r. , relieved C ol. i,D , Se de r.MALS -'1 1. U . Cal. WIlliam J. Powell

relieved U. Col. John J. Moyer .MATSG Pensacola: COl. Miohael J,

Cross relieved Col. William L. Nyland.MATSG Whidbey Island: Co1.Paul

E. Hanover re lieved Co t Jo hn M .Suhy.

NADep N or:folk . C apt. B ruce A,Pleper relieved Capt. Thomas W,

Hancock.NADep Pensacola: Capt. Spenoer

E , R ob bin s II relieved Capt. Rober t L.

Jordan,

NAF Atsugl: Capt. JO lV1 W. Curtfnrelieved Capt William A. Roop .

NAS C orp us Christi: Cap!. KenB ix le r re lie ve d C ap t. B e n L in er.NAS Oceana: Capt. John W ,

Craine, Jr., re lie ve d Cap l. L aw r eneeW.Urblk,

NAS Patuxent RIver: Capt. Roger

D . H ill re lie ve d C ap t. Donald A. WrightIII.

NAS Pensaco la : Capt. William T. R.Bogla relieved Capt, Richard J, Burns.

NATMSAc t : Capt. Olen Akinsrelieved Capt. David T immons .NavAiAes No rfo lk : C ap t, R o be rt F .

S an dw e g re lie ve d C ap t. J oh n W ylsm a.StrkFigntWpnScol.al '1l; Cdr. G . T e g o r y

Malinak relieved Cdr. J oh fl H o ffman ,TraWing·4: Capt S teven Hann lf ln

relieved Capt. George Wilson, Jr.VAQ·135: Cdr. George L Wood

relieved Cdr. Albert A, Miller.

the Smithsonian's National AirMuseum. In 1928, he was on hand atBol l ing Field. D.C., to tal(e delivery ofCharles Lindbergh's S p irit o f S t. L o u isafter its historic so lo f lig h l across ' theAtfantic.

In 1 98 0, th e Sm llh so n la n's National

A ir a nd Space Museum renamed itsSilver Hi ll s to rage faci li ty In PrinceG eo rge's Co unty the "Paul E. GarberPreserva ti on, Res to ra t ion and Storage

FaclU ty " I n h is honor.Garber was historian emeritus and

R am sey Fello w o f the Smithsonian'sNational AIr an d Space Museum. Hewas awarded Ihe Smithsonian's GoldMed al1 0r E xce ptio na l S erv ic e a nd , In1985, was designated Honorary NavalAviator No. 16,

VAQ-136: cdr. Larry J. Stack

relieved Cdr. Rlcl1ard C. Perkins.VAW-115: Cdr. Dick MaUldinrelieved Cdr. 'fe rry J ob e~VAW-121: Cdr. Larence E. Tant

re lle ve d Cdr. M a rk F, Klauss,VF-33: Cdr Anthony R . Reade

relieved Cdr. Larry H. Schmidt.

VF-126: Cdr. J, P. Bergamlnirelieved Cdr P C. Chisholm.

VF-142: Cdr. GeneW. Garrett

relieved Cdr. Fllchard K. Gallagher.

VFA·15; Cdr. J os ep h Cap alb orelieved Cdr. Steven Kunkle.V FA-B 2 Cdr. Deal<Childress

relieved Cdr, E lmer S tand ri dge .

VFA·94: Cdr. John W. GoodwInrelieved Cdr. Kenneth M. Linn,VF.A·106; Cdr. M iehael T. Anderson

relieved C ap t. J am e s B a rry W ad de ll.V FA -1 92: C dr. T 1m o lh y H e aly

relieved Cd r. J .B , Godwin.VMA·214: U. Cal, Henry Joe-Coble

relieved U, Col. Ronald v . Deloney.VMA-513: L t. Ce l. William F . B a ln

re lie ve d U . C ol. C ha rle s S. Patton.VP-': C dr. ~ ay mo nd B . B o wlin g

relieved Cdr, James J. Miller.VP~5: Cdr. LaWrence S, Cotton

relieved Cdr. Robert D. Whilmire.VP·11: Cdr. Alex HIli relieved Cdr.

John P, H o rsma n, Jr.VR·24: Cdr. Allen M. Murphy

relieved Cdr, Ja ok D . P un ch es, Jr.VS·27: Cdr. Stan GreenaWalt

re lie ve d Cdr. James Renninger,

VT-?: Cd!. Stuart A. Ashton releved

C ap t. K efln eth M . P ete rs .VT·22: Cdr, Charles W Nesby

relieved Cdr (Capt. Sel.) Paul E. Brien,VT·28: Cdr, William A. Racette, Jr.,

relieved Cdr. Ohmn C. POWers.

NAVAl-AViATION NEWS November-December 1992



8y Cdr. ,Peter M<!!rslcy,USNA

THl lman,Barrett. Daunlfess: A Novel of Midway and

GuadalcanaJ. B an ta m B oo ks, 6 66 Filf\h Ave., New Y ork ,NY 10103. 1992.412 PI', $20.N o one has ever tried 10 w rite m o re tha n a p assin g

f ic tio n al a cc oe nt o f th e p iv o ta l Battle of M idw ay o r 01 th e a ircampal~nover GuaQatcana1.These actions usua ll y appea ras inte res ti ng h ls te r ica ' footnotes in a larger s to ry . T hu s, In

this 50th anniversary year of t hese Pac if ic engagements,Barrett T i llman 's nove l, appropr ia te ly dedicated to EdHeinemann" deslqnar otlhe SBD Dauntless. is we lcome .T he a uth o r is c er ta in ly q ua lif ie d to w rrte such a book. H is

bloqraphles o f tile m ajo r N av y an d Marine Corps aircraft ofLhewar , Including that on Ihe S130, ar e standards and he

has w r ltte n many maga zin e articles. In this, his third novel,nllm an has com e a long w ay I n t ransiHoning from a h ig hlyrespected historian to an up -and- com ing historical novelist.

W ith th e author'scredentlals, th e re ad er can L ak e forgranted Dauntless's historical soundness. Til lman tries toflesh out the story witt1lhe human aspect 'Besides th e mal!]ch ara cte r, S BD p ilo t Ensign Phi l Rogers , there Is a host o fma jo r a nd minor supporting pers on alitie s c om in g f rom al l

wa lks of life and levels ot th e s er vic e - in clu din g the Navy,Marine Corps. and tha Japanese,Wr it ing exc il ing wartime f ic tio n b as ed o n we ll·~ nown

events and persona li ti es is very h ard . a nd th e a uth orgenera ll y succeeds, His asscctancn with s ev era l N av y a ntiM a rIn e C orp s a via to rs o f lh ~ p erio d, in clu din g s ev era lpersonalities w h o m ak e ca me o a pp ea ra nce s 1n t i le

na rra ti ve. l et s him give us a glim pse 01some o f th e se fabled

chatacters and how they lit Into t he ove ra ll story. Fore xample , VMF-2 23 skipper J oh n Sm ith IS J U S I as lough an dcapable as we would expect him to be.The author chose the title n ot o nly to describe th e main

aircraft but also 10 describe tn e c ha ra cte rs o f al l th ep artiC ip an ts . Irle nd a nd fo e. th e m e n w h o fle w Ihe SBD, and

perh ap s 'I1 e men who fought against her.Daun t l e ss Is a good read and ends w rth an obvious setup

for a fo llo w -o n n ov el to tel! th e characters' s to ne s a s Ihey gothrough the w ar

L am bert. Jo hn W Wildcats Over Casablanca. PhalanxPublishing Co., uc., 1051 Marie Ave .. S1.PaU l. MN55118.1992,44 pp.1tI $11.95.

Readers with long memor ies or a deep k no w led ge o fWW II Am erican N aval AViation may receil th ls 1 94 3 b oo k .written by a no th er a uth or a nd pub liS h ed by Little, Brownand Co . Some confusion may, t herefo re , b e e xp ec te d w h en

re·ading adver tisements lor Phala nx 's n ew volume 1o IIl1 hhes am e title . A t first. I th ou gh t th at some enterprisingpubli she r had r esu rr ec ted the SO -y ea r-o ld b oo k f or the 50thanniversary o f Ope ra tio n Torch. I was surprised when this

edition arr ived with barely one-eighlh 01 t he o ri gi na l' s le ngl h.The publis her e xpla in ed th at th e o rig in a l boo k w as

restricted by war t Ime censorship. I t a ls o I nc luded a lo t o fma te ria l o n th e e xperie nc es of those U.S. Nav y p flo ts w h owere s ho t d ow n and capt ur ed . The publisher wanted to l imitits edttion to th e a erta l action and decided 10 forego th ePOW material. Little. B r own and CO . had rel inquished claim

to th e tltle a nd Ihe m ate ria l lo ng a go , an d P ha la nx w as free10 prim th e b oo k in any formal.

The reader will be rewarded by th is decept ive ly slim

vo lume. There is much of the original book 's f ir st -pe rsonaccounts o f the aerial engagements between the N av y a ndVIchy fighlers. J oh n L ambert has co rr ec ted seve ra l wa r timeinaccuracies and identified people and s qu ad ro ns th at we relefl obscured 50 years ago, He has also included manyphotos taken by combat photographers that weren ' tavailable althe timeThere a re f our a x ce lle n t luustrattcns byattlsl John C.

Valo - one paintmg o f a 10w, IevBI e ngagement. a nd threecolor profi les of the principle Navy and French f igh~ers.These p ro l1 le s show th elr s ub je cts In a cc ura te s ha de s o fw e ath ere d c olo r, a lo ng w ith th e e xh au st stains that giveveteran aircraft so much character

If y ou can fin d a n e xample 01 the e arlier b oo k in a la rg ec ity H b ra ry . I recommend reading both editions Tne cu rr en tIIUe is, however, a fin e e ffo rt by a sma ll, e ner ge tic new

publisher.

AN.ABimonthlyPhotoCompetition

The wInner of th e bimonthlv ANA Photo

Co rT te s lwas th is shot 01 a V FA-9 7 FA·18A Hornel preparing to land aboardKitty Hawk (CV-63) while the earrler was

underway In the Pacific In May 1992.

Th e photo credit on the back at th ephotograph reads only "Lamont." The

ph Qtographer should contact ANA 10 eet-leel the $100 cash award.

The Association of Naval Aviation Photo Contest

The Association or Naval Aviation and Its magazine, Wings of

Geld, Is continuIng Its annual photo contestWhich began I n 1989.e"'eryone Is eligible except the staffs of Wings .0.( Gold 'ind Naval

AVlatiofl News, The ONLY requrremern is that the subje<;lmatterpertain to Naval Av,allol1 SublTllSSlon1J, can be in black and white orcotor, sl1desor prints of any dimension Please include thephotogra,pher's complete name and address, and PHOTO CAPTION,

Nit V AL A V IA nON NEWSNC lv e:m ber - D e cembe r 1992

Gash Awards: Bimonthly $100: Annual- Firs!, $500: Second,

5350, Third. $250.For deadline and submiss ion deta ils .call 1703)998·7733 Mail

phOlographs 1.0Assoclahon 01Naval Aviat ion Photo Contest. 5205

Leesburg, Pi ll .e ,Suiti l200. Falls ChurCh. VA 2 20 41

33



lOOpS

On page 11 o f N a va l A via tIO n N e w s .

Jul-Aug 92. Ihe caption on a

p hO to gra ph 0 1 a group elf shlps, !nclud-InQ t!1 re e a lr· cr afle arrle rs . id en tifie d Ih e

lead ship as 8 0 1 ' < ' ) 1 : 0 9 < 1 (C V-S 1L W hile

Saratoga' has long been a leader, her

hull number is C V ·SO . E is ew n ere inIh is is su e. Saratoga Is co rrecny Iden-

lified. It's always a pleasure 10 readNaval Avla/lon N e w s

RMm. V G Lambert, USN (Ret.)11 69 Castro R oad

Monterey, C A 9 39 40

Ed's note: Tllanlls for c:nc:hlng our

I · Y P O .

Kudo

Ma.y I take thiS opportunity (0 eon-.gralulal9 yo u on th e exceuence o f yourr n agazll l13 . We receive a t o ur lib ra ry

more than 100 different pul: l l ications,

a n aViatIOn related. Nava l A v ia tio nN ew s is , fo r m ore I ha n five years now ,

by fat th e m o st In fo rm ativ e p 1.ib Uc atio n;

II is q uit e an achievem ent in such

restricted space. Keep up th e graal)o b. 'S, Nicolaou

Musee de r A rr et de I'E space

BP 17393350 Le Bourget Frali,ce

Women In Naval Aviation

Congratu la tions on Ihe tine S ap-O ct92 issue On w omen in Nava l Avlal ' lon.T he .r e is 1 '1 0d o ub l women have madea slgnificant c o'n trlb utJ on to Ih e N avy ,

Howeve r . Ioouldn't help notice Ihat

Ute reserve C-9 community was left

out of aircraf t f lown, Nea rly e ve ry ' C·9

has a fem ale crew m em ber onboard

servfng as a plio!, crew chief,load-m aster. o r fright attendanl, lean

pe rs ona lly a tte s t 10 Iheir dedication

and pro fessionaH $m . and they are k ey

play~rs in th e Nav y's lo gis tics support

capabil i ty.C dr _Ma~k Danie lson

Aviation Safely Officer, Coda 02 1I\!AS Da l~ las , TX 75211

Ed'snole.: The table " Na va l A fr tr af t'Flown by iNavy Women" on p'age 14

should hs,ve inclu,d'ed' the C.9B IWin-Jet

transport, which Is also currenlly ne .....

by silt women in VR-56, NAS Norfolk, Va.

I just re ce iv ed the S ep-O cl 9 2 Nava lAvia(,on New s, and I w ant to bring to

y tlu r a tte ntio nlt)e 'O m is sio n 01 a s te ll ar

lamale N,av y o f fice r In NaVa l Avlatlol1l.

R e fe rring '!o yo ur pa ge 1 9 ehronel-ogy: in May 1976. Ll . S!:Iaro n Gurke

(nee McCue) was selected as I he f ir stWom an A via llo n M aln l.e na nce DUly Of-

ncer (1S20). In 1982-. she w as the tirs l

woman selected to be in charge .o f alla irc ra ft in te rm ed ia te rn a ln te na ne e

d ep artrn e nt (NAS A lamed a), ~ ollo w ed

In 1 98 4 by ru nnlog the A IMO at NAS

R o ta . S pa in .More recently, now-Cept. Sl1aron

Gurka was, th e lirsl w om an in Naval

Aviation s ele cte d fo ·, a majo r avlatlons ho re c omm an d. Naval Aviation

Depot, Pensacola. F,la., where she is

currently tt,e XO.Capl. L S. Gurke

CO, USS Normandy (C8-60)

FPO AE 09579- \ 180

Ed's note: We apologize for Ihe omis-sion, As staled at the en.d, thechronology lists most highlights; Ills

not Intended 10 be Inclusive.

E)( ce ll ri ll' 1\ j ob on ths Ssp-Oct 92

issue. 1 \ w as refreshing that you di d

not take a patronizing perspective

The barriers are coming down:

sexism, l lke raclsm and religious-p re ju dlc es , is ju st another fo rm o f

fo()using on the externals - on wha tlI'1e person 'is . instead of w ho the per-

so n Is . As you clearly po int OUI]

repeatedly in Ihe articles. any iOb a

WGmancan do sh e should be par-rnlttedequal access 10 do. However ,

yo u did nol do anyone any favors bypUltll'1g Ih e ,picture o n lh e cover o f apeflSon w e arin g a ring while work ingon Ihe flight deck .

LCdr, Bany A. Wayne , MC, USNR (FS j

VX-4

NAW S Po int Mugu, CA 9:3042

Ed'stlo:t~:,Aoeordlngto the Na·valSale·ty Center, Nor'folik,. Va . , 1Iis "strong·

Iy recommel'ld,ed Ihel f l1ghl declkpersonnel not wear rl,n9s, but fils nol an

official violation oIN'ATOPS (Naval Air

Tr,alnlng and OperlltingProceduresSlandardlz(ltIOI'1) er safety ;reglilafions.

1ha d no sooner sent my coluenn to

Wo rld A tr sh ow News than I received

th e S ep-O cl92 issue of Na v al A v Ia tio n

News. M yoo l'um n w as about the real

po ssibillty o f a fem ale cernenstrsncnpllotln either th e Blue Angels or the

Thunderbl~rds In th e near fu tu re . I havemel fe m ale N -a va l A via to rs at PatuxentA lve r, M d .• N orfo l'k . Va.; and other alr-

shows. One was in Il1e T est P ilo t

School , flying an F -4; o ne w as fly ing a

helo ; and o ne w as V C-S's to p aggres-sor p l1 01 at t he l ime . D am ned tine

pilots· w ho co w ld o .u !fly m e I n I,heirsleep,

Asa co lum nist fo r WAN, a n a irs ho w

announcer an d production designer.

and an actor and member of Tallhook,NAN ew s contains sca ds o f informationthat I ca n use, and makes lor someline reading,

F. K. Smith

2 Hea. thbrool i< RoadMerrimac, MA 01860

E.d's note: Thank you lor tfle' kindwords, Let me take this opportunity toalso tha.nk the others wnO'l!ommentedfavorabl'r' ,onour issue 1ealUrrng Women

In Nava l Aviation.

ReunIons, Conferences, etc.

Shamrock B ay (CVe:'S4) reunion, NOV5-7. MeridIan, MS. POC: Fred Griggs. 1989

Dandy Rd.. Da.llas, GA 30132,404·445·

4770 .

Na,V3,IAylali,onCadets Classes 011935.45 reunion, NOV5·S, HotSprlngs,AA. POC: Larry Eokard. PO Box 5145.

H I C K O r y , NC286Q3.

Nimitz (CVAN/CVN.S8) reunlea, NOV:5·13,J.acksollVille, FLPOC' Larry Er.kaird,

POB 5145, Hld:ory, NC 28603, 704·~56·

6274

Vlel,nam Ve!erans Memotlal1oth lin.nlversary, NOV 1-~1, Washlr!glon. DC ,Navy an d Marine families welcome for readIng o r n am es on "The WaH: rel igiousEJ.o-

I lvl lles, reunions, 1960's music concert. ancexhibition of art by Vietnam vets, POC; Vietnam Veterans Memoria l FiJnd. lnc., 815~Sth 51>NW, Suite 6 01 •Washington, DC

20005.202-39HI090,Navy Armamenl Tesl'lA.itcraft Arml)l-

me;nt Uni1 reunion, NOV 1,2"15, Pen-

sacola, FL POC: W F Culley. 206 N. 5911

Ave" Pensacola, Ft, 904-466·,5617_Okinawa (LPH-S) deeommlsslo.nlng

ceretnony(inl li tation only), DEC 17, SanDiego, CA. F orm erc re w me tl m ay contactLCdr Ja y Hrgg.ins. 619--5.56,4173.

VF·,' , reunIon, JAN 31l·31. NAS

Miramar. CA. pac' tee. P M, Pompler.VF-l t. NAS Miramar,CA 92145, DSN 517·

1211/4878 or oI9·537-1211t4878.

'Corrections

NANe .ws , Sep.Oot 92~

Inside fronl cover and!p, 1 - Cap.tlena, Forrestal's hull number Is AIIT.59

\lIce I\VT-16.Page '1 - Hull numbers sre not

·'transferred'· rrom one ship 10 another.

Members ollhe USS Gambler Bay (CVE-

73)/Squadron VC-l0 Association passed

on Ittelr goodwill and Sh.lp's herll.age 10

Washington (CVN·73) at hercernrnls-sionine_

Page 14 - The unknown female Ilighl

deck member in bofiom photo iSIilQI Lt

Erichsen.

NAVAL AVIATION NEWS November-December ' .992



A-a

Aero sp ac e Main te na nc e a ndRegenerat ion Center,

m ission ........• Jan-Feb ... 22AircraftAH-1W. first USMCreserve ,...., .• Ju l-Aug ,... .7

AV-8B , n igh t-a tt ack ,firs t d ep lo yment .. J an -F eb 7f ir st ove rseasdeploym ent .... Ju t-Aug . _ ... 7

AX . com petitio n .• ,Jan-Feb, • .. 6A-S. l as t p roduc ti on

de livered . _. . •. M ar-Apr 6Navy 's oldest. _ .. Jul-Atlg ,.4

A·7, relired ... . M ar.A pr _ . _ . -7ret lremenlreversed •....• May-Jun ..• 8

CH-53A, re tire s ... Nov-Dec _. .6C -2A , squad ronm ission ". • •. , May·Jun ., i6correctfon .....• Sap-OCI ... C3

C-20G , reserves .• Ju l·Aug ., .. 8

C -130 , TACAMOretires ...•... . Nov-Dec ... 22

EP·3J, ne wdesignation •.. . Mar-Apr. . .. 8

VAC·3S •.• , ... ,Sep-Oct •••• ,9ES-3A, firstprocuctlon _ • MCly -Jun . .. • 5VO-sos first Jul-Aug ....•. 4

E -2C, USCGends ops •. . . . Jan- Feb .•..• 4E -2 C G ro up 1 1,first lIeet ...• . , ..Ju l-Aug ." •. 7E -2C (Piu s). s etsw orld records, ••• Mar-Apr, •. , t 5

E-SA, first upgrade Jul·Aug " ... 8renamed Mercury Mar-Apr., .8

FA·i8, Kuwal l lA ir Fo rce, ... _ .. Jan-Feb ..•.. 5

F A-la C. K uw a itiA ir Fo rce "'., .. Mar-Apr •.•.. 4launches SLAM Jan-Feb., •.. 6

FA-' 80 two-sestlot'4, flrs l •... , Mar·Apr ..... 6

FA·18E /F . contractaw ard •. •.. .N ov-Dec ••.• 6

F-4. last USMC .. .May-Jun ..•. 5re llred ••••••••. Mar·Apr ••.• 10co rrection .. " .. Ju l·Aug ... C3

F-4S, V ietnamM IG k ille r. . .... Ju l·Aug '" .44F-t4.lastproduction , . .. _ Sep-Oct. , .4"V a nd y One,"repainted .. ..• Sep-Oct ... ,.9

F-14A. to Top GUn Jan-Feb .. _ .• 7

F·14D,lastproduction , . . , .sep-oct , . .4

Nimitz quals .... Jan -Feb . .. .• 6

trainers accepted. M ay-Jun .... 9H H -4 6D . re pla ce s H -, 5

o n I.:.H AlL HD s • .•. S ep -O ct .• ".4

KC·130T·30,USM C R eserve . Ja.n-Feb ..•.. 6NVH~3A . newdesignation .. . Mar-Apr .. , .8

OV -l0 D+ , la stconversion. .• .• Sap· O ct • , , . . 9

. P -3 , OVW

w orkups •... , , .• Ju l-Aug •• . 4 -

"Miss Piggy" reliTes

at 30 , •.. JUI-Aug ,. , ,38Outlaw Shark.. Nov-Dec, .. 20P-M, displayed atair sta tions. • . Jan-Feb, . _ _ .5

P-3C , OASIS Nov-Dec •.. 20

Outlaw H unter Nov-Dec •.. 20Salvaging Mar-Apr.. .18

SH·60B, OutlawSeahaw k ..... , . N ov-Dec ... 20S03,AEWproposed Mar-Apr _. 7

day In t he lif e of .• May-Jun •.. 12S -3A . la s t car rie rdeploym ent •••• _sep-Oct .•.•• 8

S·38,OullawV ik ing Nov-Dec •.• 20T ra in in g command ,de se rt sto ra ge ..• M ar-A pr ..... 7

T ·39N . r ep la ces

T -47A •. , .•. , ... J an -F eb ..• .4

T -4 5, q ua is o nKennedy ...••.. Mar-Apr ..... 9T-45A, int roduced , Jan-Feb. r ••• 5

proto type crashes S ap-O et ..... 9V -2 2. re tu rn s toflight sta tus , .. ,. Jan-Feb •... ,6V -22A , p ro to ty pecrashes •... . .. Ssp-Oct ... , .9

A IT wingsCVW-6 ,

N AV AL A VIA .T IO N N EW S Nove.mber-Deoember1992

disestablished •.• M ay-Jun •.•• 6TraWlng·3.d is es ta blis he d, .. Nov-Dec " 7

USMC/CVWinte gratio n .• _ L _ • Mar-Apr 4

. , .. • Nov-Dec , 6A nd erso n, A DM G .W .•dies _ ......• _ . _ .M ay-Jun ... 38

Av1a li on OrdnancemanS choo l, m issio n ... Jan-Feb ... ,20AwardsAv ia ti on Ordnancemanof Year ... , .... Nov-Dec ... 30

B urke, Arleigh ...• May-Jun •. 36C lark . Sheldon ... Ju l-Aug ., .40

Davis. Noel •. Jul-Aug .• " 40Energy Conservation.

SecNav ..•••••. Nov-Dec .•. 30Feinberg, F.L . .•.• Sap-Oct .. 37Fla tley. ADM. " Jul-Aug .. 40Grampaw Pettibone

••... , .......• Ju l ..Aug . , .. 40

He lo P ilo t 01 Year . May.Jun ... 36Hoff , M.G Mar.Apr .. 33I sbe ll, CAPT AJ .. Nov-Dec, .30

Lawrence.VADM W .P. _ , .. M ar.Apr •. ,33

Maloney, J,D . "" May-Jun ..• 36McOlu sk y , RADMC,W . . • • .. . .. Mar-Apr ..• 33Military Photographerof Year ., •.•.• , Sep·Oct ".37

Mor,sn , . ," .• , , . B sp-Oct ., .37Ney, CAPT E.F. " N ov-D ec ... 30

Pl lo t /NFO/LSO Ta llhooke rsof Y ear ., .• .... Mar-Apr • .33P irie, VADM A.B .• Mar-Apr , •• 33Pride, ADM A.M .. Ju l-Aug, .. , 40Safety,ONa •. " Ju l-Aug .... 40

re ad in ess th ro ug h Ju l.A ug • , •• 40

R ussell, ADM J.S . JU I-A iJg ,40

Sku la , G .M . . •. •. Mar-Apr 33Small, C.H ... _, .. JUI-Aug. .40

B l U e A n g e ls ,

1992 schedule .. , M ar-Apr , .34Boneyard, aircraft,m ission ... , • , .• Jan-Feb , • • 22

B o ok re vie w sAir War Over the

Gulf _ Sep-Oct , .. 40

35



Atr Wars and Aircraft:

A D e ta ile d R e co rd O f

Arr Comb.at, 1945 toth e P re s e n t _.. May-Jilin, .• 39

CN N War in th eGulf. _. _ ... _.. .Jan-Peb _.. 35

Dauntless: A Novel

of M idw ay andGuada lr;ana l •.. , Nov-D'ee .. _33

OesertStofm., Jan·Feb •... 35De s e rt V Ic to ry :

T he W ar for

Kuw all _., '. " .Jen-Feb . - .35Fu ry of D es ert Storm:

Ih e A ir C am pa ig .n

The .,. _. , .... ,May·Jurr " .39

N a va l In stitu te G u fd e

to tn e Soviet Navy "

Fifth Edition. The .seo -ocr .. __40O ffic ia i M onog ram US N avy

& Ma rin e C or ps A ir cr aft

Golor G uide , V olu me 3 ,1950-1959, The _.Jul-Aug . __.43-

Photogr ;Jphing

A irp lane s ., Jul-Au9 43

Sov ie t Wings; ModemSo v ie t M i lit ar y

Aircraf t MS\f-Jun .39

W i/d ca ts O ve r

Casablanca. _. _ Nov-Dec •. 33

W in gs A I/h e R e !'! ld y;~

75 Years at tile NavalAir R ese rve _ •• ,Mar-Apr _ , . ,36

Wor ld War II .

Amer ica . AI War

1941 -1945 ...•.. M ar-Apr - - . _3 6

C-JCarrier-Qnboard-dellvery.

mission. ... May-Jun .•. 16CarriersA bra h am L in co ln ,

maiden cruise .Jan-Feb " ., 6

B on H om me R ioh ard ,scrapped. __ .Jul-Aug •.. 8

Forrestal, last

dep.loymenf. , Mar-Apr " ,. 4

new training

carrier . _ .

overhaul '.,

.Bep-Oct ._..24. , N o v -D ec 11

women a bo ardAVT-59 •. .Bep-Oct .22

G e org e W a sh iq gto n"

commiss oned .•• Sep-Qcl .. _.10

Horne t , scrapped . Ju l-Aug; .•. .8fndepencfenae ,

last earnerto Subic Bay May.Jun _. _ 4

John F. Kennedy , completes

modlficalion , .•.. Jan-Feb .• , , ,7T -45 quais " _, Mar-Apr ••.• 9

Kearsarge , LHD~3

ohristened. Sep-Oct 8

Kilty Hawk , cample,lesSLEP _.• , •... Jan-Feb , .. 6

Kuzne tsov , formerSoviel carnar _Mer-Apr . __ 16

Lex ing ton"

"Blue Gh-ost"

or"Lady Lex"? , May-Jun. C3

decommissioned Jan-Feb 15histo ry. . . . ... Jan-Feb 12

retirem ent hom e Mar-Apr _. _ ",6

Midway ,deccmmlsstoned JUI-Aug,. .9history, _...• , _ Jul-Aug , 2B

Nimitz. quaisF·, 4D Jan-Feb ...• 5

Oriskany, showcase

in Japan. . .. Mar-Apr . eRange r , last

d'eploymenl ,. . Sep-OcL aWasp1 concludesdrug ops _. _ Nov-Dec 6

first deployment Mar-Apr... 6slings ptrates . Sap-Oct . _ ,4

Comfeld, JOCS B.A.,

retires " .. ,. .• Nov-Dec 30

Crtses/d lsasters ,Naval Air cps .•. Nov-Dec . It

-Curator?, Are You a Mar-Apr 23

Desert Shield/Storm,Operalion •. , .•• Jul·Aug . i

' Dlc kef $on , AVCM(AW)Janeece, first

woman force

master chief., . May-Jim. , . 37

Dunleavy, VADM RoM.

ACNO (AW l. Cha ng in gthe Walch . , , . , . Jul-Al:Ig ... ,. 1

Leadership and Long-

range Sirik e, ••. Mar-Apr. - 1

Momentum of Mrdway,

The ... " ... ,. May~Jun -

Shifting Paradigms Jan-Feb .• , • i

Eas te rn ea.Operation ..... , . M ar·Apr •.. 12

Enlisted Aviation seriesAir Traffic

Controller ....•. Nov-Dec ... 14

AViation Machinist'sMale. __. . •. . Jul-Aug .• 26

Erichsen, LT R obin A.,IIrsl womanshooter _ . _ . _ _. Sap-Oct, . 25

Pleat Tactical ReadinessGroup, formed .•. Mar-Apr 7

Gann, Ha r r y ,retires _,. . •.•.• Nov-Dec ,. 30

Garber. P.E., dies . Nov-Dec , . 32Hall of Honor.

Naval Aviation,S enshrined .,. _ May·Jun • 22

Ha lsey -Doo lit tle Ra id .50th anniv , . . , . . ,Jul-Aug ,.. 5

Heinemann. Edw ard H . .dies .... _.... '. Jan-Feb, . G3

Helicopter wings

HSGWs 1 + 3'" HSLW-, . .Sep-Oot . ... 5

HSCW-3,

redesignated . ".Jan-Feb • __ 7

JOint Primary AircraftTraining System _May-Jun •• , 0

L · A

Lakehurst, Navy I

75th annlv . . .. Sep-Ocl ... 37

Lawrence, LCDRWendy B., firs'!

USN woman aviatorastronaut •..... Jul-Aug •.. 42

Marine Corps. forcereductions ..• .. Mar-Apr.

N avy CYV Vintegration

4

. ,M ar·Apr _, Nov-Dec . 6

Mag se , G EN V erno n E . .,

dies _. Mar-Apr . 35

Michaelis. ADM F H..dies ,,',. . .. _.Nev-Dec ., 32

"M iss P iggy, " retires

al30

MissilesAIM-54C Pi loenfx,upgrade _ . _. ,Sep-Oct - - _ aSLAM, imp.rovedverSion launched .Nov-Dec ., 11

Mixson, RAOM RD.,ACNO(AW}, Per spec tiv eon Respect .... sep-oct . 1

.. .,. .. Ncv-Dee 1

4

,Jul-Aug .38

MuseumsNatlonal Museum of

Nava;1Avlalion . , .Mar-Apr 21

Are You a

Curator? •... , Mar-Apr 23Naval Air Test and

Evaluation .. , ... Sep-Oct . , .2·6

Naval Aircraft seriesF2Y Sea Daff . _.Jan-Feb 1aFBCl02CHe l/c liv e l •. _ •. Nov-Dec 18

HNS Hover f l y ".May.Jun .. 20

P-59 A iracome t .. Sep-Oct _ .. 20Naval al,r stations

C ubi P oint O 'C lubpla.que bar, .. . .Jut-Aug .,. 44

disestablished ... Jan-Feb •.•. 4

MaYP0r t, co ,nso l idatedin NS .. .. .Sep-Oet , ••• ,4

Moffet! Field.closure - _ •. __ ... May-dUll •.• 5

Naval Air Technicaltr aIn in g Can te r, Memphis50thannlV . __ .. Nov-Dec ,. 32

N AVA l.. AV LA T IO N N eW S November-December t992



Naval Air Trair'ln~Mainl;enance SUpport Acttvity,

established ".'. Jan-Feb. . _.6Navl'Jl Air Warfare Center,

established .". , . Mar-Apr, . " . ,5Naval Aviation in WW II setlesCaral Sea, Battle

of. '" , May~Jun •. ,24

Early Carrier Aalcs:Proving J ,apaneseVulnerabiljty,The Mar-Apr •• ,,26

Midway, Ba tH e o f May-Jun . 28Naval Aviation in

Operation Torch ,Nov-Dec,. ,24

Patrol Aviation In II'1'e

Pacific in WW II,

P,art 1 ,. ., .. ' Jul-Aug •. .32

Part 2 . '" _ . Sep·Oct. . .30

Wake Island - A

Gallant Defense Jan-Feb. . .26

Naval AViation News,75th 8flr!iv , • . Nov-Dec ,12

North Star '91 , NATOexercise , . Jan-Feb .. ,21

Outlaw Hunter,targetingsystem . on P-3 •. , Nov-Dec ••. 20

Pho to c on te st, A NAblmo'nthly winners .Jan-Feb .. ,25

• , •• ,' .•. Mar-Apr .•. ,32• , ....••• , •.. , May-Jun .. 35

.. • .... .. _, .. Jul-Aug .... 43

· , •.•• , ..•.•. , . Sep-Oct .• ..40

•.• , . , " , •.. Nov-Dec . ,,33

1991 w mnars _.,. Mar-Apr •.. 20

Poslgrad,uate schoei,safety .., . Sep-Oel. .,28

Remotely piloted vehicles,

m ission, .,., .•. Nov-Dec .• ,16R e scu e fromSamaHa . _ • _ ... Mar-Apr. _.. 12

correction ., , .•. May·Ju!'1 ., C3

AevJew .199 ' ., Jul.Aug 10

S-·Z

Safety, Naval PostgraduateSchool ••• ,. "Sep-Oct .. ,.28

Salvaging naval

aircra ft , ••• , , ' • , . Mar-Apr .. " .18Search and rescuesw immer .•... .• Sep-Oci . " . _36

Slipstream, A Voicein the. , , • . • . • Mar-Apr .... 24

Somalia,rescu_e Mar-Apr. 12correction ... " .May-Jun . C3

Sp.acefirst USN woman aviator

astronaut. , . , .. ,Jul-Aug . _. ,42

Squadrons

He·], 251hanniv , . M ay-Jun ." ,40HM-14, arsenic

hunt _... . •. ". Mar-Apr . " . , .6

HS-S. gelsSH-60F .• . .. Jan-Feb, • 7

HSL-31,

disestablished ... Sep-Oc[ .• _ , 6

Reserve,

disestablished •.. May-Jl.m, 4

VA-176,d is es ta blis he d .. -Nov-Oee 8

VAQ-I3:3,

disestablished ,. ,Jul-Aug " 6

VC-1,

dlsestabUshed ••. Nov-Dec . 8VC-S,

disestablished ".Sep-O c! •... (3

Moutlt Pinatubo •• Jan-Feb ,16

VC,6, 401h anniv .• May-Jun . 36VF-154, first F-14s

on IwoJlma •.... Mar-Apr . 35

V fA·113, n i. gh t- att ac kFA-' BC _.,. . . . Jan-Feb , •.• 7

VFA-132,

disestablished ••. Jul-Aug .,., 6

VMA-223,50thannlv __ . _. _ "-Jul.Aug 41

VMA-322,deactivated . _. .Bep-Oc t _ 5

VMA (AW)-533,

redesignated .. Nov-Des 11

• VMAQ·1,

activated . '. • ,.Sep-Oct 5VMAO.2, becomes

3 squadrons • , ••. May-Jun ' •. 5

VMAO-3,activated Sap-Oct , ., 5

VMAO-4, deactivated!

reactivated ••.• .Nav-Dsc ' 7

VMFA-333,deactivated " __,May·JlIn 6

VMFA-531,

deactivated .. _.. May-Jun 7

VMOs.

deactivated ..•. ,Jul-Aug ... , 5

VPs. N.AS Moffet! .Aeld closure .• May-Jl.m 5

VP·50,

diseslab!l.shed ., .Jul-Aug . _•. 7

VO-3,

(0 Im ker AfB .•.. Nov-Dec ,. 11

VQs3!4.

consolid-ated ., •. Nov-Dec •• 11

VA-24, f irst behindIron Curtain .. " .. Mar-Apr __. 7

VAC-30. mission .• May.J~Lln .• 16

VAC-40, mission .. May-Jun .• 16

VRC·50.mission . .. .. .• .. May·Jun . _ 16

VS-22, day In life

of S·3. . May-Jun •• 12

VS-:28 ,disestablished . Sap-Oct •... 7VS-S1 , first to fire

H arp oo n .....• ,May-Jun •.. 6VT-21 , f irst to Instruct

In T·45A ...••• ,Sep·Oct , , 8VT-24,

disestablished • N ov -D ec .. I , 7

VT·25..

disestablished " Nov-Dec .. _ . 7

vr-ae,d ise sta blish ed •. JlIl-Aug •••. 6

VX-4., mIssion .,. Jan-Feb . 8

StealthTechnology ..•.. May-Jun. • 34

St ra teg ic Commun lcauensWing 1,

established , •• , ,Jul-Aug ., •. 4

Stral€lgy. naval," ... F rom the Sea" . Nov-Dec .... 5

Subic Bay, navalcomplex closure ,. Mar-Apr ., .• 4

Surv ey . 1 99 1readership .... , Jan-Feb _ ... 36

TACAMO HarksAetired . , , , • • . •• Nov-Dec .•. 22

Top GUll,gatsF·14As . __. _ __ . Jan-Feb ". _. 7

Voice In IheSlipstream , A .. Mar-Apr ... 24

Women

aboard Fortestal , Sep-Ocl •.. 22art to tee InN AN ew s , , . , . • , Sap·Oct ,. 18

f ir st a ll- tama le c rewto Anlarc1ica ., . Mar-Ap,f ... 33

'first womanshoeter .,., •. , Ssp-Oel . , . 25

f1rstwoman USN

aviator astronaut Jul-Aug .•. 42

Naval Aviation

chronology ••. , Sep-Oci .• , \920 years in Naval

Avia tion ., .. ,., Sep-Oci ••. 12corrections _ .• Nov-Dee •. , 34

INW II series (see Naval Aviation inW W l I )

Yellow gear, becomeswhite _ .. Nov-Dec .. , . 6

