aviation - the past, present and future of flight

at Chino Municipal Airport. There were

historic aircraft stored on the airfield or in

compounds and these would later go on

public display here in the Yanks Air Museum

and The Air Museum ‘Planes of Fame’.

Our next pre-arranged stop was to the

California ANG’s 196th Fighter Interceptor

Squadron (FIS) at Ontario Municipal Airport,

where we logged 23 Convair F-102A Delta

Daggers. We received a warm welcome

and were excited to hear that we were to

be taken to a spot near the runway for a

launch. The day was rounded off with a

quick look at Norton AFB to see 29 of the

resident Lockheed C-141A Starlifters and

then to March AFB, where we saw eight

Boeing B-52D Startofortresses, nine Boeing

KC-135A Startotankers and four HC-130Hs.

FIGHTERTOWN USA

Our first stop on May 3 was NAS Miramar

• later immortalised by the movie Top Gun.
  The excellent ramp tour enabled us to log
  78 F-4B and F-4J Phantoms from the USS
  Ranger and Coral Sea air wings, along with
  examples from VF-121 – the West coast
  replacement air group (RAG). There were
  also 50 Vought F-8J/RF-8G Crusaders

from the USS Hancock wing and the recce

squadron, VFP-63. The Crusader was

nearing the end of US frontline service with

both Hancock squadrons, VF-24 and VF-211

shortly after converting to the F-14A Tomcat.

The latter aircraft had already re-equipped

VF-1 and VF-2 from the USS Enterprise

and these, together with the RAG, VF-124,

accounted for 50 jets.

Miramar offered still more with A-4C/E/L

Skyhawks of VC-7 and the TA-4Js of VF-

126 while ‘Top Gun’ was in its infancy with

a small cadre of Northrop T-38A Talons

painted in aggressor colours.

Miramar was not all that San Diego

had to offer as we had a tour arranged

for that afternoon at NAS Imperial Beach.

This was home to the west coast Sikorsky

SH-3A/D Sea King and Kaman SH-2F

Seasprites fleets and, in total, we logged 52

helicopters. There was just enough time to

run up to NAS North Island and, although

we didn’t have a pre-arranged visit, a polite

request at the main gate was greeted with

a positive response. So we gained access

to the Naval Air Rework Facility store to

see two Martin P5M-1 Marlins. We also

noted another 70 aircraft which included 21

Phantoms and 20 Crusaders. During the

trip we managed to gain entry to various air

bases by simply asking at the gate – how

times have changed.

60 Aviation News incorporating Jets March 2018

Above: Tomcats were only just joining the frontline US Navy squadrons in 1974. This VF-1

F-14A at Miramar wears high visibility markings typical of the time.

Below: NAS Miramar-based squadron VFP-63 flew a mix of F-8Js and recce RF-8Gs – this is an

example of the latter. Note the Top Gun hangar in the background.

An RA-5C Vigilante of RVAH-5 allocated to the USS Constellation visiting NAS Miramar.

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