combat aircraft

We bypassed a whole bunch of things

and nobody really understood the

implications of bypassing them.’

Training was initially not an issue as

the Marine Corps had contracted with

the Ministry of Defence to have its

Harrier pilots trained at RAF Wittering,

but this came to an abrupt end in 1973.

In Stromberg’s words, ‘What they were

thinking was, ‘we’re going to bypass

NAVAIR... so we’ll contract with the

Brits to train.’ That worked for about

24 months. Then there was the post-

Vietnam budget crunch, and a decision

was made to do training internally. These

are two very independent decisions,

but you can see the consequences. The

Harrier to Maj Gen Keith B. McCutcheon,
the deputy chief of sta for aviation.
Sold on the Harrier, McCutcheon
convinced the commandant at the time,
Gen Leonard F. Chapman, Jr., that the
Marine Corps needed to buy the Harrier.
As unconventional as the Harrier was,
the manner in which the Marine Corps
acquired it is perhaps even more so.
As Col (ret’d) Russ Stromberg, a career
Harrier pilot explained, ‘The US Navy
vehemently opposed the purchase of
the Harrier. NAVAIR, Naval Air Systems
Command, is responsible for acquiring
aircraft for the US Navy and Marine Corps.
NAVAIR threw up so many barriers to
the program that the Marine Corps and

McDonnell Douglas had to  gure out a

way around [them]. So they had [them]

go to the British government and buy

the airplanes, and then sell them to the

Marine Corps.’ This clever maneuvering

got the USMC the airplane it wanted,

but it led to several unintended

consequences.

Growing pains

Along with managing aircraft acquisition

for the navy and USMC, NAVAIR oversees

the training and logistics needs of those

air arms. ‘Naval Air Systems Command

does training development for all navy

and Marine Corps aircraft,’ Stromberg

told CA. ‘They also buy all the parts.

Above top to

bottom: An AV-8A

in dogfi ghting

confi guration

with two AIM-9

Sidewinders.

USMC

VMA-513 Harriers

on the fl ight line

at MCAS Beaufort,

South Carolina,

the AV-8A’s fi rst

home station.

USMC

The AV-8A’s

small wing meant

conventional

operations were

considered

to be rather

challenging. USMC

http://www.combataircraft.net // November 2018 61