An old fav in the fast mover category...






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Nice.
Those guys flew into the teeth of the dragon.

I like these.

I like close air support.

I saw "close air support" and thought I'd put up Sandy.
Happy to see that it was covered.

The four aircraft type I worked on in the Navy:

An A-7E Corsair II, I was with VA-105 Gunslingers (This is not a VA-105 Airplane) In 1991 We transitioned from A-7E's to brand spanking new F/A-18C Hornets to become VFA-105, here is a photo of my old Sister Squadron VFA-37 'Bulls'.
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My Shore Duty at HS-1 gave me an opportunity to work on Rotary Wing Aircraft, such as the SH-3H 'Sea King' and the SH-60F 'Seahawk'

Tonight we... ride!


Cool stuff, whats the V in VFA stand for?




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I looked it up.....it's more complicated than I imagined but it seems it means "heavier than air".....from the old days when they had blimps.
I think that's an A7 Corsair. If so, I saw one in Klamath Falls in about 1985 flying very low....green and brown camo. Cool looking ship....must have been just before they were retired.

Edit:
Doh, I see Marty has an A7 posted above.
Nice pics.

DD, thanks I couldn't find info on the "V" anywhere.

Remember this bad boy ?




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The ol' man was a left waist gunner in one of these....

Thunderbolt was another good one.....tough and lots of power.
Pratt & Whitney R-2800 18 cylinder radial making up to 2800 HP in the later versions.

V= Fixed Wing
A= Attack
P=Patrol, as in P-3 Orion or the new P-8
F= Fighter
H= Helicopter or Rotary Wing
S= Anti-Submarine
C= Cargo
Q= Electronic Warfare
M= Mine-Sweeper, as in MH-53 Sea Stallion
U= Utility
E= Electronic or Early Warning
K= Tanker
.................................................

So an Aircraft Carrier is numbered as follows:

C= Carrier
V= Fixed Wing
N= Nuclear

CVN-65 USS Enterprise

CV-59 USS Forrestal

My Squadrons, and the ships I made Deployments aboard:

Nice, Marty. Thanks for serving.

A childhood friend's older brother was a Lt. jg aboard the Forrestal in about '69 - '70 ......Ron Wysk.
Kind of an aloof character, prolly made a good officer
After a Med cruise he brought back some of this Greek liqueur that Danny and I would dip into. You couldn't add water to it (to cover tracks) because it would turn white.

Upon further review I see that the "V" went from "heavier than air" to fixed wing in modern times. Thanks for clarifying.

A Marine Corps Squadron contains the same basic designator except it always includes a M for Marine Corps.

So, a USMC Strike-Fighter Squadron would be a VFMA-## instead of VFA-## for a Navy Squadron. Both are elements of Naval Aviation and follow the same Operating Instructions.

I think i should make one more clarification regarding the designation letters for military aircraft.

T= Trainer

Any letter located after the number in an airplane designator is a model modifier.

A-7E...the E means it is the E model of that particular aircraft type. So to put it more simply there were:

A models...Navy, first model used
B Models...Navy...improvements made to A model type design
C Model...Navy/Airforce...used as trainers (TA-7C) or Electronic Warfare
D Model...Air Force... Type Design modifications for USAF usage
E Model... Navy...Type Design with improvements over all other A-7 models

The same concept can be used for any of the other military aircraft as well.

F/A-18 A Single seat Strike-Fighter (initial introduction Navy Airplane, and first replacement aircraft for A-7E's)
F/A-18B Dual Seat Strike-Fighter, mostly used as a Trainers in Training Squadrons

F/A-18C Single Seat Replacement for the F/A-18A
F/A-18D Dual Seat replacement for the F/A-18B

F/A-18F Single seat replacement for the F-14 Tomcat
F/A-18G Super Hornet Dual Seat Replacement for F-14 Tomcat

SH-60B- LAMPS model Anti-Submarine, maritime patrol Helo for Small Ships like Cruisers, Frigates, and I think Destroyers)

SH-60F SAR, Anti-Submarine Helo replaced the SH-3 Sea King

Sorry about all of this information, but sometimes I can't stop myself.


@ Freespool, I worked the Line and Airframes...was that a Reserve Outfit?

Gotta love a Sandy and the A-7 II! My Uncle flew both before/during/after the Vietnam war. I've got his LTV Aerospace Corporation 1/48th exact model of the Corsair A-7 II.

Got to take a flight in the S-3B simulator...which is the closest I've ever come to sitting/flying in a Nasal Radiator's plane. Taking off from the carrier wasn't too bad....flying around wasn't too bad....and I'm pretty sure I could have landed the plane on a LONG runway.....but attempting to land on the carrier with ZERO actual flight training was, well, BAD. Good thing the simulator crew was in a good mood and found it rather amusing.

Figured if I were ever Bill Gates kinda rich, I'd have an orignal Corsair (WWII plane, not the A-7), P-51D, A1 Skyraider and a C-130 in my collection.

Love just about all War Birds and love this thread! Cool stuff!

Some more greats...........from around the world this time

Almost a game changer....

MiG hunter.



Time 2 check out..


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Sad news about the P-51 that went down into the crowd in Reno.


My thoughts go out to all involved.


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P-40








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Nice.

Into a future past.




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That's some imagination there.
Looks like jet assist on the Mustangs.
More flying wings than ever existed.
And a few Japanese light bombers thrown in.

I think the Japanese aircraft are supposed be some kind of high speed attack birds w/ nose cannons like the 44/45 Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Me 262.



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Yep, you're right.
I believe that this is it :

So if the war was still on by '47-'48 this scene may have played out.
I wonder if they were experimenting with retro-fitting Mustangs with jets ?
First delivery for B35 was supposed to be in '47.

By 1945 seemingly everybody wants to knock down a P-51D, few ever got the chance.














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