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The ready room telephone at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island rang at 0400 on New Year’s morning. Once the cobwebs and disbelief had been whisked away, VAQ-135, with the help of sister squadrons and various staffs at the Oak Harbor, Washington, base, responded rapidly. There was an urgent need for additional electronic warfare support in the Sixth Fleet. By late afternoon on the first day of 1986, five EA-6B Prowlers and support personnel from the squadron were headed east. A “no-notice” deployment had begun, and within 96 hours from that early morning call, aircrews were landing aboard the 38-year-old “Ageless Warrior,” USS Coral Sea (CV-43), and a support detachment for the Prowlers was assembling at NAS Sigonella, Sicily. VAQ-135 thus joined a number of other key participants in what was the most important moment of naval aviation’s 75th anniversary year.
The carrier Saratoga (CV-60) and her battle group joined the Coral Sea's in January and February to operate under Commander Battle Force Sixth Fleet, for freedom of navigation operations north of Libya. In late March the America's (CV- 66) battle group formed with the others for another freedom of navigation exercise in the Gulf of Sidra to demonstrate U. S. intention to operate freely in international waters.
The days of violent peace for naval aviation ignited on 24 March when long- range SA-5 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) were fired from Libyan sites at aircraft covering U. S. Navy ships steaming below Colonel Muammar Qaddafi’s “Line of Death” but outside of the internationally recognized 12-mile limit. Pilots evaded the missiles, but action continued. An A-6E Intruder destroyed a high-speed Libyan missile patrol boat with a Harpoon antiship missile. A-7Es disabled an SA-5 launch site with highspeed anti-radiation missiles (HARM), also on the 24th, and next day struck it again with HARMs after the site began operating again.
There followed a respite. The Saratoga returned to the United States while the Coral Sea and America conducted routine operations. Then, on 15 April, in the turbulent wake of the fatal terrorist attack in a West Berlin disco, President Ronald Reagan ordered a joint Air Force-Navy, nighttime raid on Libyan targets. Although two Air Force aviators were lost, the raid was a success. The F-llls struck the A1 Azziziyah army barracks, Tripoli’s airport, and the port of Sidi Bilal. Carrier planes struck Benghazi’s A1 Jumahiriya barracks and Benina airfield. Despite heavy ground fire, all Navy aircraft returned safely to their carriers; considerable damage to targets, including destruction of Libyan planes on the ground, was
As part of the 25 October 1986 ceremonies for the commissioning of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) at Norfolk, planes from the air wing fly over. Included are F-14s, F/A-18s, A-6s, EA-6s, and E-2s.
recorded. Intruders led the attack with A-7E Corsairs, F/A-18 Hornets, and F-14 Tomcats participating along with the indispensable EA-6Bs and early warning E-2C Hawkeyes. There were no air-to-air engagements with Libyan fighters. After the raid, the battle groups withdrew from the Gulf of Sidra.
Carrier battle groups steamed in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans throughout the year and remained the most frequently called upon armed force to respond to crisis contingencies.
While the Libyan raid was the most noteworthy naval aviation event of 1986, of special significance was the increased activity by U. S. Navy forces in the cold conditions of the Northern Pacific. Carrier forces as well as shore-based aircraft, particularly P-3 Orions, operated with surface combatants. There were numerous intercepts of Soviet aircraft. Valuable experience was gained in cold weather operations.
The Pacific Fleet is the largest of the Soviet Navy’s four fleets; with 800 ships it is now one-third bigger than it was in the late 1970s. Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam is the Soviets’ only warm water port and is growing. When the tenth RimPac (’86) exercise took place in May, a Russian newspaper reported that the major participating allied powers—United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Great Britian—would “conduct battles imitating an engagement with the Soviet Navy and strikes against USSR Far East regions. . . . Washington is actively drawing its allies into the noose of its adventurist policy.”
In July, after inspecting ships of his Pacific fleet, Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, said, “We proposed to start talks on the reduction of naval activity in the Pacific. . . . Restriction of rivalry in the sphere of antisubmarine weapons . . . would strengthen stability.”
Commander Michael J. Smith, a Navy astronaut and pilot of the space shuttle Challenger, was killed along with the entire crew when the space vehicle exploded shortly after launching on 29 January. Navy aircraft were instrumental in locating the first large pieces of Challenger wreckage with U. S. Coast Guard helicopters also performing valuable service.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-
71), the fifth nuclear-powered carrier and 15th active flattop, was commissioned at Newport News Shipyard on 25 October. The Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and George Washington (CVN-73) will follow the Theodore Roosevelt in 1990 and 1992, and are also under construction at Newport News.
The concept of “notional” air wings commanded increasing interest in 1986. Compared with the present air wing complements, notional wings will feature a larger number of surveillance and attack aircraft, particularly medium attack Planes like the A-6. The first notional wing will be assigned to the Theodore Roosevelt in fiscal year 1988. Eleven more similar wings will be operational in the 1990s.
A new “functional” wing, Strike Fighter Antisubmarine Wings Atlantic, Was formed in October at NAS Cecil Field, Florida, under ComFitMatAEW- Wing, Atlantic. Rear Admiral Henri B. Chase is the first ComStkWingsLant.
Navy and Marine Corps fliers recorded a 3.30 Class A mishap rate in 1986, equaling the historic low rate of 3.30 achieved in 1984. The rate is based on accidents per 100,000 flight hours. A Class A mishap involves a fatality, permanent injury, loss of aircraft, or damage °f $500,000 or more. In 1985 the rate was 3.42. Also 60 lives were lost in 1986 compared with the previous record low of 74 in 1982.
An especially tragic accident occurred on 22 May when an A-6E went out of control after takeoff at NAS Oceana, Virginia. Both crewmen were killed. The crashing aircraft slid into an automobile, killing a pregnant young woman.
Several SH-3 Sea Kings suffered tail rotor drive shaft problems during the year, but investigations identified the fault area, and corrective action was taken. Two turboprop-driven T-34Cs and a T-34B were lost due to different causes, but all six fliers on board, two per aircraft, were killed. The Tomcat community sustained ten Class A mishaps in 1986, an unusually high loss rate for F-14s. Seven TA-4 Sky hawks crashed, although predictions based on statistical analysis indicated the figure should have been five. Two new SH-60 Seahawks were lost in accidents that were considered preventable.
There were 19,400 officers in naval aviation in 1986, including about 10,000 pilots, 5,500 naval flight officers (NFOs) and 860 Training and Administration of Reserve (TAR) aviators and NFOs. There were 2,000 student pilots and 1,100 student NFOs. The enlisted ranks included 144,000 with another 9,000 TARs.
Two ships bearing the same hull number, the battleship Missouri (BB-63), left, and the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk (CV-63), right, refuel off the coast of Southern California from the oiler Kawishiwi (T-AO-146). The Missouri was recommissioned and returned to service in May 1986.
With respect to manpower, naval aviation suffered a mid-grade officer (0-3 to 0-4) shortage of approximately 1,000 aviators in 1986. The migration to the airlines and other civilian pursuits has continued. Interestingly, of the 7,000 pilots hired by commercial airlines in 1986, only half of them came from military sources. The balance were civilians. Navy planners hope for improvement in the retention figures in 1987. In fiscal year 1986, pilot retention was 46%. In fiscal year 1987 it is expected to be about 49%.
The NFO community is in much better shape. Seventy-four percent of the NFOs remained in the Navy in 1986, and that figure is expected to reach 77% in 1987. For enlisted manpower, there is definite concern for the future. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Carlisle A.H. Trost said last October, “In the next ten years the census tells us that the manpower pool of 18-year-olds eligible to serve in
the military will go down dramatically. Today we need to recruit roughly one in three qualified personnel as they come out of high school. By 1995, we will need to recruit roughly one in two.”
A more tranquil aspect of naval aviation’s 75th year was embodied in a continuum of events, large and small, that saluted the Diamond Anniversary. A more detailed account of them follows in this report. Additionally, the film Top Gun drew raves and significantly enhanced aviation officer recruiting.
Naval Aviation
The America (CV-66) and CVW-1 prepared for their March to September Mediterranean deployment with FleetEx 1-S6 (similar to operational readiness evaluations [OREs] of the past) in the Puerto Rican area. After the Libyan combat operations, they joined in May Italian and Turkish units for exercise Distant Hammer, and in June conducted Operation Poop Deck off the Spanish coast and Exercise Tridente with Italian forces.
CVW-2, assigned to the Ranger (CV- 61), honed combat skills at the NAS Fallon, Nevada, weapons training complex in February. The ship/air wing team joined RimPac 86 operations in June and July and participated in FleetEx 86 en route to the Sea of Japan. After working with the Japanese in AnnualEx 86, the Ranger's battle group proceeded to the Bering Sea for cold weather operations. For the first time since World War II, two carriers and a battleship worked together; the Ranger’s Battle Group Echo joined the Constellation’s (CV-64) Battle Group Delta and the New Jersey (BB-62) and her Battle Group Romeo for combined operations, often in heavy seas and poor Weather. The Ranger returned home 20 October.
The John F. Kennedy (CV-67) departed for the Mediterranean with CVW-3 on board in mid-August to relieve the America. “JFK” aircraft flew in the major NATO exercise, Display Determination '86, which featured air combat maneuvering (ACM) operations as well as overland strike activities with Italian and Turkish aircraft The John F. Kennedy returned to her home port in February 1987.
Carrier Air Wing Five on board the Japan-based Midway (CV-41) was upgraded with the assignment of two F/A- 18 squadrons, VFA-192 and VFA-195 in April. They replaced VA-56 and VA-93 whose crews will transition to the Hornet. The last F-4S Phantoms in the carrier inventory, from the Midway’s VF-151 and VF-161, also departed in March. These
Top Gun, the motion picture about the Navy Fighter Weapons School, starring Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis, above, was tops at the box office and tops for naval aviation recruiting in 1986.
squadrons will become VFAs upon transition to the Hornet and return to CV-41. Partly as a consequence to the transition to the F/A-18, Carrier Air Wing Five, for the first time in 13 years, deployed to Naval Air Station Fallon for concentrated combat training in October.
The Forrestal (CV-59), which completed her service life extension program (SLEP) in May 1985, held refresher training with CVW-6 in February 1986, then, in April, conducted a successful FleetEx 2-86. The carrier deployed to the Sixth Fleet from June to November, although originally scheduled for an Indian Ocean assignment. The ship/wing participated in Sea Wind ’86 with Egyptian naval and air forces and Display Determination ’86 while in the Med. Three VS-28 Vikings were launched from the Forrestal and, in a “first,” joined three VP-24 Orions in the Ionian Sea for a low- level mine exercise into the Pachino mine range.
While their parent ship, the Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), was in overhaul, CVW-7 squadrons conducted shore- based training. VS-31, flying S-3A Vikings, had a detachment at NAS Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, for Orange exercises when Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet directed the squadron to send three Vikings to Cartagena, Colombia, for exercises. The S-3s sought out German-built S-209 diesel submarines, used by the Colombians primarily for coastal defense, while evaluating the effectiveness of U. S. Navy antisubmarine tactics. In July, two VS-31 Vikings flew non-stop from NAS Cecil Field, Florida, to the West Coast. The S-3s did not use wing tanks and were refueled in flight by a KA-3 Sky warrior from VAQ-208.
Captain Frederick L. Lewis was “Senior CAG,” (formerly called “Super CAG,”) with CVW-8 on board the Nim- itz during a successful trial period of the concept. Wing squadrons carrier-qualified in April and from mid-August to mid-October participated in NATO’s Northern Wedding exercise in the North Atlantic, particularly in the area of Norway’s Vestfjord. Units from Belgium, The Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, and Denmark were present. Wing fighters intercepted numerous Soviet Bears, Badgers, and Mays during the exercise, with the help of VAW-124 Hawkeyes, and engaged in adversary activities with Sea Harriers from HMS Ark Royal as well as British Tornados and Buccaneers.
Squadron VS-33 of Carrier Air Wing Nine recorded what is believed to be a first in naval aviation when, in late April, it completed more than 25 and a half years of flying without a major mishap. The squadron joined the balance of wing units in the fall for work-ups on board the Kitty Hawk (CV-63). Of note was VAQ- 130’s integration of Improved Capability (ICAP) II technology in the Kitty Hawk.
Naval aviation’s 14th carrier air wing, CVW-10, is expected to operate on board a West Coast carrier in 1987. Seven of its nine squadrons were established in 1986 with HS-16 and VS-35 to follow in 1987. The nine squadrons will fly Tomcats, Hornets, Intruders, Hawkeyes, Prowlers, Vikings, and SH-3 Sea Kings.
On 12 January, the Enterprise (CVN- 65) with CVW-11 on board, steamed west for what was expected to be a routine Western Pacific/Indian Ocean deployment. Because of the Libyan situation and the requirement for an on-station relief for the Coral Sea, whose tour had been extended, the Enterprise’s Pacific operations were curtailed. She was ordered to join the Sixth Fleet by way of the Suez Canal. The “Big E” thus became the first nuclear-powered carrier to travel the 101-mile waterway, transiting 28 and 29 April. The Enterprise returned to the United States in August.
(Continued on page 276)