Naval Flight Officer Wings 
Naval Flight Officer Astronaut Wings
VT-10 is the place where ALL Naval Flight Officers who desire to wear the Wings of Gold pictured above, received their basic air training regardless of follow on platform; be it Jets as a RIO (F-4/F-14/FA-18), BN (A-6/FA-18, or TACCO/NAV (S-2/S-3), EWOs (EA-6B), NAV/TACCO/SEVAL/ECMO (various P-3s/C-130/E-6). Male/female, young/old we ALL had to survive AOCS then VT-10, to actually get to advanced training and get our wings.
Two apocryphal stories surround both Navy and Marine Pilots and NFOs- One is that for every 1000 people that actually start the application process, only one ever gets the wings of gold. The second is the cost to train a single Navy or Marine Pilot or NFO costs roughly $1,000,000 each. Personally I can believe both of them, as I’ve seen the literally hundreds if not more applications sitting in the board offices in DC for each class, and I know that three years of training (on average) does NOT come cheap! For example, by the time an aviator gets to his/her squadron, they will have roughly 100 flight hours, at an average of $11,000/hr that is well over a million dollars right there…
Anyhoo…
VT-10 is celebrating the 50th anniversary of NFO training in Pensacola with a Reunion June 23-25. There are several great events planned, including a Dining Out,
golf tournament, symposium, social, and a winging. All the details are available at http://wildcat50thanniversary.weebly.com
We’re extending an invitation to all NFOs and former VT-10 staff.
The coordinator can be reached at [email protected]
I know there are a few um… “old” NFOs that wander by here occasionally, so if you’re interested, go sign up. I’m going to try to make it myself!
Drinks in the Cubi O’Club bar at 1830 on the 23rd, first round is on me 🙂
Oh how Gia wishes she were an “Old NFO” sounds like it’s gonna be a memorable one! I sure hope you are bringing the camera for non face shots (what happens in Pensacola stays in Pensacola) but it would be nice to see the revelries!! Have a great time! Oh and how great you are the wearer of those wings! 🙂
Gia- actually I ran into an old friend, Kay Hire last week. She is a Navy Captain and an Astronaut! She has flown three times, the last on STS-130. She’s hoping she can make it. There aren’t many NFOs wearing astronaut wings, and she is one of the few… Funny story, she was asked what it felt like to be in a man’s world- Her answer, “We’re too busy being astronauts to notice, we all have jobs to do and coordination to maintain and an 18 month training cycle for each flight. In that environment, male/female simply is not a factor. I’ve been asked how many female astronauts there are, and I don’t even remember how many astronauts total there are…”
Have forwarded post and links to my brother-in-law (Axmen flying EA-6Bs).
Thanks for the heads up.
rgr that Stretch!
Grab your “Hard Scrapper” award at my blog! Enjoy
Gia
A female astronaut has to be the most awesome job in the universe! I really mean that. When I was growing up only the boys could dream beyond the stars, us girls had to sew the uniforms!! You are lucky to have her as a friend, I would listen to her for hours!!
Have a fantastic day!
Gia
Oh to be a fly on the wall in that room! All those uniforms, yum-my!
I passed it on to a bud.
Thanks.
You might enjoy this get together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=nKU0uQki5Dc
Gerry
Were you a RIO during the F-4 era?
Gia- will do
Peedee- LOL
Gerry- That looks like EAA at Oshkosh… 🙂
ASM- P-3’s but I did get a couple of F-4 flights.
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I’d gladly buy more of these icons. Rarity.