A Lockheed S-3 Viking Scrapbook
S-3 Viking executing a wing fold/unfold Story by Ken Kula, photos by Ken Middleton, Don Linn, Bob Finch, Scott Zeno, Jeff Serpa, and Ken Kula In the late 1960s, the U. S. Navy put forth a requirement requesting a...
Category: Aircraft carrier
USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72 (Fleet Replacement Squadron Carrier Qualifications)
Story and photos by Peter Boschert USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72 is the fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Like most aircraft carriers, it was named after a United States president. The vessel was ordered on December 27, 1982, keel laid on...
Tristars and DC-10s Enhanced Trans-Oceanic Travel Before ETOPS
After the advent of the Jet Age, large intercontinental jetliners routinely had four engines. The American Boeing B-707 and B-747, and the Douglas DC-8 designs had four; the British Vickers VC-10 had four as did the DeHavilland Comet. Even...
U.S. Navy Trainers Used During My Lifetime
Story and photos by Ken Kula I’ll soon turn 64 years old and have seen quite a few military aircraft over the years. I remember visiting cousins in Massachusetts, near the (former) NAS South Weymouth base. There was a...
Base Visit: NAS Lemoore 2022
Photos and story by Peter Boschert NAS Lemoore is the largest US Navy base with about 12000 hectares. It was opened in 1961 and is now a Master Base of the US Navy. In 1998, NAS Lemoore was selected...
Book Review: Legends of Warfare; A-6 Intruder by David F. Brown
Summary: Details: Title and ISBN: Legends of Warfare Series ...
BLUEBEARD 5
RH-53D BLUEBEARD 5 There is a rare and unique helicopter that sits vigilant as a gate guardian at the Wrightstown Gate of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JB MDL) in New Jersey. However, the very existence of this helicopter and how...
Grumman F-14 Tomcat History Part 2
Service The US Navy put the F-14A Tomcat into service in 1974 with VF-1 and VF-2. The F-14 took off on its maiden flight in December 1970 and was introduced to the group just three years later! If you...
Grumman’s Long-Serving C-2A Greyhound To Be Replaced This Decade
About to catch a wire, a C-2A arrives aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. Dion Makowski photo The Grumman C-2A Greyhound was developed from the E-2 Hawkeye AWACS during the 1960s. More than five decades later, the final...
Grumman F-14 Tomcat History, Part 1
First F-14A 159607 in IRIAF camouflage Story and photos by Peter Boschert – this was written during the Tomcat’s final operational days. Development The Hughes (Raytheon) AWG-9 was a weapon system for which an aircraft was sought! The Navy was...
COD OF WAR: FLYING ABOARD THE US NAVY NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS RONALD REAGAN
I’m surrounded by twenty-somethings, in a war zone and this is no drill! Aviation Report and PhotoRecon were recently invited aboard the 97,000 ton, twenty-story-high, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76). Forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet...
Carrier Air Wing Nine Returns Home
Portions of Carrier Air Wing Nine (CVW-9) returned to Naval Air Station Lemoore following a 7 month around the world deployment on May 16th. The VFA-14 Tophatters (F/A-18E), VFA-41 Black Aces (F/A-18F), VFA-151 Vigilantes (F/A-18E), and VFA-97 Warhawks (F/A-18E),...
