USN/USMC Photos

[Aircraftprofiles]

F-3B of VF-13, 1962

F3H-2N of VF-31, 1958

F3H-2 of VF-41, 1959

F3H-2M of VF-112, 1957

F-3B of VF-151, Jan. 1963

F-3B of VF-161, Jan. 1963

F3H-2 of VF-213, Oct. 1962

F-3B of VF-213, Nov. 1963

Aircraft Profiles

[Logan Hartke]

Thanks for these updates, Aircraft Profiles! They're from the years my grandfather was in carrier aviation on the USS Ranger so they're a bit magical for me.

Cheers,

Logan

[Aircraftprofiles]

Hi Logan ! Great, i´m glad that you like them...Was he in one of the squadrons ?

Here´s todays update:

F-14A of VF-1, 1982

F-14A of VF-2, 1982

F-14A of VF-32, 1979

F-14A of VF-33, 1982 (4 photos)

Aircraft Profiles

[Aircraftprofiles]

FA-18A of VFA-113, Oct. 1983

TF-18A of VFA-125, Oct. 1983

FA-18A of VFA-303, Jun. 1986

FA-18A of VFA-303, Jul. 1986

FA-18A of VFA-303, Sep. 1987

FA-18A of VFA-303, Apr. 1989

FA-18A of VFA-305, Feb. 1988

Fa-18A of VFA-305, Aug. 1990

FA-18A of VMFA-314, Mar. 1983

FA-18A of VMFA-314, Jul. 1983

FA-18A of VMFA-314, Jun. 1984

Aircraft Profiles

[Aircraftprofiles]

F-14A of VF-101, Sep. 1977

F-14A of VF-101, Oct. 1978

F-14A of VF-124, Oct. 1972

F-14A of VF-124, Jul. 1973

F-14A of VF-201, Aug. 1996

F-14A of VF-202, Jul. 1988

F-14A of VF-202, Jun. 1992

Aircraft Profiles

[Logan Hartke]

Hi Logan ! Great, i´m glad that you like them...Was he in one of the squadrons ?

No, he started off on catapults, but was later transferred to the USS Ranger's Grumman TF-1 Trader crew--a job he liked FAR more. It was the "ship's plane". Not assigned to a squadron, per se, but the ship itself. He always brags that he was on the USS Ranger's ONLY airplane, since the rest were just squadrons from an air group assigned to the ship temporarily. Generally it was semi-permanent, but my grandfather was on it from at least 1957-60 and saw the air groups come and go when they went from the Atlantic to the Pacific. There was some time during which they WERE the only plane on the ship.

The idea was that the carrier could use it for all sorts of odd jobs, including flying the mail. In practice, however, they never flew the mail as it would take the job away from the COD squadrons flying the same plane and leaving them without a role. So, the ship's plane was mainly used for getting spare parts, shuffling personnel, and keeping the higher ranking officers not assigned to a squadron on the ship (such as the CAG, the Captain, etc) current on their flight hours. As such, they kept the plane in pristine condition at all times and got to really see some fantastic pilots.

To get an idea of how the USS Ranger's TF-1 my grandfather served on was used, read this account of how the air boss of the USS Independence used their TF-1. Just hit Ctrl+F your way through this link, looking for "TF":

Gerald E. Peddicord, Cdr. USN. Air Boss 1958-1960

Sunday, 25 January. Flew our TF to Norfolk to pick up some ship’s personnel and had to fly back at night on instruments.
...
To prepare for our cruise, a group of us from the ship including McElroy, flew to Guantanamo Bay (GITMO), Cuba, to meet with the Group Training Group and Naval Air Station personnel. Our base of operations for the shakedown cruise would be GITMO. I piloted our TF for this flight. We returned to New York 23 March after stopping to refuel at Jacksonville and Norfolk.
...
We departed Norfolk the next day for GITMO and the following day we discovered all of our catapult steam flow control valves were defective. We could not operate without them. I was up all night writing messages to Commander, Naval Air Forces, Atlantic, (COMNAVAIRLANT) and the shipyard in Brooklyn. We sent our ships TF plane off 25 April with a defective valve to Brooklyn to try to get a fix on it.
...
On 7 June a shipmate and I flew the ships TF to Montego Bay, Jamaica, and back to get in our flight time. Took us five hours.
...
The new Captain and I took the ships TF plane and flew to Washington and New York to get in our proficiency flight time in good weather and it gave me an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with him. He was a dream come true, pleasant personality, compassionate, friendly and a human being.
...
On 15 December, I flew our TF to Washington to pick up some of our ship’s officers from a meeting and after return to Norfolk, took off at 1850 to fly to Kansas. Refueled at Scott AFB in St. Louis and then on to Olathe where my family picked me up and drove to Wamego arriving home the next morning at 0530. Had a good visit with relatives and took off for Norfolk at noon on 17 December.I flew in (IFR) instrument weather nonstop arriving in Norfolk with the red fuel lights on from both tanks indicating low fuel state. The next day I had the command duty again. My rest and relaxation had evaporated.
...
On 3 January, I flew our ships TF airplane to Washington with Captain O’Grady as my co-pilot and picked up a navy captain and U. S. Congressman Miller. I had a lot of experience in flying our TF and was pretty good at it and I loved the airplane.

It was much the same on the CVA-61.

Since it really was an unnecessary (albeit very useful) aircraft, they eventually were taken away and all aircraft on a carrier were assigned to squadrons.

Cheers,

Logan

[Aircraftprofiles]

Thanks Logan ! Nice story !

F-14A of VF-1, Jun. 1976

F-14A of VF-1, May 1977

F-14A of VF-1, Aug. 1978

F-14A of VF-1, Aug. 1983

F-14A of VF-2, Oct. 1973

F-14A of VF-2, Nov. 1973

F-14A of VF-2, Dec. 1973

F-14B of VF-11, Nov. 2001

F-14A of VF-41, Jan. 1997

F-14A of VF-124, Nov. 1975

F-14A of VF-124, Jul. 1982

F-14A of VF-201, Aug. 1996

F-14A of VF-202, Jan. 1991

F-14A of VF-211, Mar. 2001

F-14A of VF-211, May 2003

F-14A of VF-211, Apr. 2004

Aircraft Profiles

[satanas]

thx a lot for this

[Aircraftprofiles]

F-14A of VF-2, 1976

F-14A of VF-2, Jun. 1980

F-14A of VF-24, Sep. 1976

F-14A of VF-51, Jan. 1984

F-14A of VF-111, Feb. 1982

F-14A of VF-302, Aug. 1985

Aircraft Profiles

[Aircraftprofiles]

F-8J of VF-51, 1970

F-8J of VF-124, May 1972

F-8J of VF-191, Aug. 1973

F-8J of VF-191, Jul. 1975

F-8J of VF-211, Oct. 1976

F-8J of VFP-63, 1976

Aircraft Profiles