We both decided we’re pretty damn old when ‘most’ of them are on sticks somewhere, or in museums…
But there IS hope!!!
Flew on this one in 1970-1971…
Flew on this one 1971-1972 (and flew it to the museum in late 72)! It’s been repainted to the Hurricane Hunters paint scheme.
I’d have to go back and look, but I ‘think’ I flew on this one too, that BUNO is rather distinctive (in the late 70s), it’s in the museum too…
But there is a new kid in town!!!
The latest iteration of sub chasers, the new P-8 Poseidon (Boeing 737-800 with a 900 wing and upgraded engines) is officially hitting the Fleet. VP-16 is currently transitioning to the P-8 as we speak in Jacksonville, FL and they have their first two airplanes!!!
This picture was taken in Guam last week. VX-1 on a road trip with the new bird!!!
And one just for the hell of it… 🙂
Doing the job, kicking ass, and taking names…
We need a CinC to authorize the use. It’s not much good when he’s ‘one of them’.
In one of the books I read on the early days of hunting bin Laden in Afghanistan, the SF guys would call in an AC-130 and taunt the Taliban/AQ with the fact that the pilot was female. They’d come out of hiding to shoot at the plane because they couldn’t take it, and the AC-130 would then unload on them.
I laughed at seeing the poster of female pilots. Can’t imagine anything that would enrage the muzzies more than that. 🙂
Yeah NFO, 40(wow!) years ago I was halfway through boot camp in Orlando.
Since then, every squadron I was ever in has been disestablished, every airplane I worked on or flew in (A-6, A-3, really-low BUNO P-3s) has gone off to the boneyard or worse, and they’re working their way up through the BUNO sequence on the P-3s.
Saw the Tomcat and the Viking come and go.
And have you seen the KIDS they let sign for a jet these days??
Rev. Paul, I need to dig up the photo of the lady P-3 pilot with her purse hung over the engine emergency shut down handle. (And if you’re REALLY old, you’ll know the joke/urban legend that the picture refers to!)
LL- Yes we do!!!
Andy- That is true! 🙂
Rev- LOL, that’s why it’s up!
Rick- If you hadn’t gone in the Q, you too could have flown ‘relatively’ new airplanes… Just sayin! And do and I do on the last two 🙂
Yep – where have all the old planes gone (must be a song in there). My Air Force rides included the C-119, C-47, C-7, C-123 – long since gone. But then there is the C-130 and B-52 that just keep on truckin’.
Good times Sir, good times . . . .
You know there are only two choices, old or dead —- old is good!!!! LOVE the poster 🙂
737-800 and -900 wings are the same dimension. Same as the -700.
I suspect the wing involved is from the ER version, which does have some internal structural changes.
Surprised they went with the raked style winglets.
PP’s are the same as on all NG style 737’s, CFM56-7’s.
(I hold an AWR for all variants of 737’s.)
Ah, yes, the old T-39, the EC-121, the P-3 (dono if the USAF ever had any of those).
The USAF had plenty of T(VC)-39s, though, but they had short legs. They used the VC-140 (Lockheed) JetStar for longer missions. When I was at Leftover (Westover AFB, MA), 140s came in often on their way to Otis out on the Cape, where they transported various Kennedys back and forth to the Kennedy Compound.
In ’72, I was home on a Humanitarian while the Wing was deployed on Arc Light duty, and being the most senior Navigator, I got to do all the Wing’s missions in the VC-29, a T-29C Navigator Trainer (Convair 440) all gussied up with galley, flush toilet and leather armchair seats. The Wing Staff pilots got their currency in it, I got mine, and I kept them honest with the APS-42 radar. Most of those old pilots hadn’t seen an ARDA (airborne radar-directed approach) as done by a competent SAC navigator, so I would do one of those per mission. We used the VOR approach plates and minima, but I had those old WW2 pilots actually doing it under the hood.
The Good Old Days, yes.