CWO Fast with a F-14 ready for the USS Kennedy-early 90's
I think he likes to be in pictures. |
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VF-161 Detachments:
Dad was in VF-161 Chargers from Nov. 1967 to Aug. 1971. The Squadron was using F-4 Phantoms at this time. He cruised out of San Francisco, California on the Coral Sea and when it went in for an overhaul after his first two cruises to the Western Pacific, the squadron was reassigned to the USS Midway for his third cruise in the Western Pacific. After their cruise on the Midway, the Midway was reassigned and homeported in Osaka, Japan.
Detachments with VF-161:
USS Coral Sea
USS Midway
Stops made during his TDY in Vietnam on board ship:
Australia
Japan
Hong Kong
Vietnam
The Philippines
Prior to his assignment with VF-161:
Mirimar, Ca.
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VF(A)-201 Detachments
Dad was in 201 from Aug. 1973 until his retirement in Dec. 2000 and is the longest serving sailor in the Squadron (31 yrs). During Dad's time in 201 he saw a lot of changes and can give you the history of the squadron covering many decades. From the "Change of Command", to the loss of plane and pilot, from the decommissioning of their sister Squadron, the VF-202 Superheats, to the closure of their Airfield (NAS Dallas), both which happened in the mid 90's, to the subsequent move to Carswell JRB Fort Worth. The most interesting changes to me were the plane variations that they went through. From the F-8 Crusader in the early 70's (the regular Navy was not using them as fighter aircraft but were using them as photo reconnaissance at that time), to the F-4 Phantom in the late 70's through the mid 80's. They sent all the F-4's they had down the tarmac at NAS Dallas to the Marine Squadron (VF-201 was the last Navy Squadron, both regular or reserve, to have F-4's) transitioning to the F-14 Tomcat at that time. Keeping the Tomcat until their changeover to the F/A-18 Hornet in the late 90's because the regular Navy was getting low on Tomcats and wanted the ones the reserves were using. (They were out of production by then.) So VF-201 became VFA-201 to accomodate the F/A-18 designation.
Carriers he was detached to with VF(A)-201:
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
USS John F. Kennedy
USS Kitty Hawk
USS John C. Stennis
Tours of Duty:
Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico
Sigonella Airbase, Sicily
Key West NAS, FL.
Fallon, NV.
Oceana, VA.
Point Magu, CA.
Eglin AFB, FL
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Dad's Military links in his Civilian Life
After his tours in Vietnam Dad went back to work at LTV also known as Vought, in Grand Prarie, Tx. working on the A-7 Corsair and the S-3 Viking (They also made the F-8 Crusader and the ever popular F4U Corsair). While there during the early 70's his dentist was in the Naval Reserves and convinced my dad to go back in . He reenlisted into the reserves and was assigned to NAS Dallas (which shared it's runway with LTV, where he worked) to VF-201, the Hunters. During the late 70's my dad left LTV/Vought and went to General Dynamics (who did the F-111 Aardvark) in Fort Worth to work on the F-16 Fighting Falcon. In the mid 80's my dad went to a small engineering company in Arlington which had govt. contracts such as the Lamps system for guiding helicopters during deck landings on small ships. In the late 80's my Dad then went to Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth working on the V-22 Osprey. In the early 90's he took a contract job with McDonnell Douglas and other contractors at JSC/NASA working on the Space Station. I can now officially say he is a Rocket Scientist. (Now if he could just learn to program the blinking 12:00 on his VCR!!)
Aircraft worked on:
F-4 Phantom----Military Career
F-8 Crusader--- " "
A-7 Corsair-----Civilian Career
S-3 Viking----- " "
F-16 Falcon---- " " Trivia question: What was the original name for the Falcon? See below.
F-14 Tomcat----Military
V-22 Osprey----Civilian
F-18 Hornet-----Military
Space Station Freedom/Intl. Space Station---Civilian Career
The Answer: The Viper! The owners of the Copyright /trademark name would not release it. The BattleStar Galactica TV show used the name on one of it's spacecraft and held the rights to its use.
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Dad's old card
F-14 firing a Phoenix Missile. This card is out of date but it's still a cool Pic. Dad retired as a CW04 and they are now located at JRB Fort Worth, not NAS Dallas. |
