This Date in Naval Aviation History
So it’s back in the the Luftwurst for the trip back home today via a, no doubt, wx impacted intermediate point…in the meantime, here’s a couple of tidbits to tide you over until our return to the rolling hills of Occupied Territory and the warmth of Hearth and Home – SJS
21 January 1972 – The Mighty War Hoover’s First Flight
The S-3A Viking, the Navy’s newest ASW aircraft, conducted its maiden test flight from Lockheed’s Palmdale, California facility. The S-3A Viking met the Navy’s requirements for a 400 knot plus aircraft and a 2,000 mile range subhunter to replace the aging S-2 Tracker. The S-3A, while about the same size as the S-2, had twice the speed and range of the Tracker. It had been equipped with the latest sensor and weapon systems and could cover nearly three times the area of the S-2 Tracker. It would be officially intoroduced to the fleet and accepted by VS-41 in ceremonies at NAS North Island two years later on 20 January 1974.
I am a little less than 2 years in the Navy. The other day, in port, I say an S3 flying overhead, I thought it to be an honor. I didn’t know there were still any around. it’s funny to see how this aircraft was no bigger than the last, with 3x the range. Now, it would seem that everything has to get bigger.
I still well remember hitting VT-10 in ’78 and how so many in my class still wanted to go VS because the hoov’ was still new and all…glad to have had my opportunity to have flown in one (courtesy VS-31)
– SJS
My Dad was on the Attack Design desk at NavAir back then. They did a lot of the work bringing the program to fruition. He never did get a hop in one though.
In a VS-30 bird, I gained my appreciation for the crews who preformed their duty from a perch on an ejection seat. We got stuck up for an extra cycle, over the double planned. That was n the Med in ’86, whilst doing the deal to show Khadaffi why he had named it the “Line of Death.”
I learned a lot in those few hours back in the SENSO seat, running the radar.
Proud to be a Viking Double Centurion!
Previewed comment:
SJS- Saw your post over at Eagle from 23 Jan:
re- “one of 10 worst decisions in the past 10 yearsâ€
Agree 100%. At the time the Sundown made sense (pre 9-11) from an economic standpoint but only that. Only one of the 3 precursors to retirement were met- SuperHornet procurement. The other 2- the SH-60R and P-3C AIPs were never met. Under the original plan leadership was supposed to reevaluate every 6 months. They didn’t when fatigue life testing showed the Viking was onlt at 50% life (2003), the Romeo had problems, or when the P-3 fatigue life “house of cards†was built in 2005. And we now know that House is crumbling….
However, as I write this another decision, “engineered” by the same crowd is going down that is even worse and the Viking could have contributed…
Naval Aviation Enterprise? How about NAD or NADs for Naval Aviation Dictatorship? Same actors same gameplan.
Yeah, I’m nobody and my pushback is irrelevant but I am burdened knowing. I’m sure you’ve read my screeds from time to time about legacy aircraft “not being created equal” and that the Viking bucks all trends for fatigue life, unique design, supportability, CFH etc. I won’t even get into tanking, Sea Control or persistence. You know too.
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b2:
Alas, too well it seems these days. Just came from a 1-day workshop last week where similar sentiments were echoed by SWO brethern re. ongoing sinkex of hulls that seem to have fair bit of life left in them (Spru-cans, etc.) yet we’re yelling about shrinking numbers. Response from one quarter (advocating need for quality over quantity) was to draw parallel with Navy and Army of the 1920’s and 30’s. The Navy chose to give up force structure preservation and instead build and advance technology, though it meant a smaller force made up of many (small) classes of vessels. Army chose prservation of force structure vice building and the result, according to this school of thought, was that Navy was better prepared to fight a modern technological war when we found ourselves so engaged the following decade.
Except, sez I, we weren’t.
Just like now when we find our blue-water ASW fixed wing capabilites seriously eroded (oh yeah, and ASUW, and SSC, and tanking, and ESM, but I digress) – there were other unintended consequences that Navy in 1942 had to deal with because of choices made in the 1920s and 30s that made the early days of the war a d*mn near run thing that it seems some folks like to gloss over.
I don’t think the full bill has come due yet for the decisions made in the last decade over the demise of the S-3. Let’s face it, the E-2, marvelous platform that it is, wouldn’t be going where it is today where it not for the decision to team-up with the Aegis community many years ago – NAVAIR sure wasn’t going to do much to advance the weapons system and bring along things like cooperative engagement which in turn required a new computer and supporting equipment.
In that light, I’m almost afraid to query what the other decision is to which you refer, though I also understand your reason for not disclosing. Often wondered what those who made the procurement decisions in the 20’s and 30’s thought in 1942 and 43 as they saw their decisions put to the acid test of combat — am wondering if similar experiences will be had in the 2012-2015 timeframe…
– SJS
SJS,
Ah Sinkex- that’s one way to get rid of the evidence for good!
They haven’t proposed making a reef outta the S-3’s YET, but certain folks,would, if they could! Want the history of this? Trace the Black legacy and his acolytes who now rule the roost. Some (but not all) of Naval Aviation’s present problems can be traced to those decisions made in the 1998-2003 timeframe..after that it’s just bad over bad….
Instead, the S-3’s will sit at AMARG with another carrier Navy service life left on them and I will be a living testament as one of the few who know the whole story. I shan’t forget.
Why? Well. I’ll give you my idea on that subject from personal observation. The rules of the game, me and you were never called to play-for the Varsity:
Never admit you were wrong. Never reverse a decision because of your own legacy. Our vision only-destroy all dissent. The Nation’s and the US Navy’s needs? That’s someone else’s problem….That’s the reality.
SJS- I’m not calling them Evil or criminal. However, I am calling them short sighted, misinformed, self-serving and vindictive. Some say B2, let it go, that’s how it is. You know it’s amazing how many folks say that about a lot of stuff that ain’t right. I call it the easy way.
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