Combat aircraft

T

HE MYRIAD

CHALLENGES that

have recently hit the US

Navy’s T-45 Goshawk

training community —

detailed in part one of

this feature — mean it faces a backlog

of student pilots eagerly awaiting their

time to earn their coveted ‘Wings of

Gold’. The units of both Training Air Wing

One Two (TW-2) at NAS Kingsville, Texas,

and TW-1 at Meridian are pushing ahead

with their intensive courses, which are

all ultimately about learning how to fly

at the aircraft carrier.

The Meridian wing is the larger of

the two T-45C operations, with a pair

of squadrons attached: VT-7 ‘Eagles’

and VT-9 ‘Tigers’. They exist solely to

progress young student naval aviators

from their very first fast jet flights to

the high demands of being carrier-

qualified (CQd).

LT Adrian ‘Aids’ Kellgren is one of the

instructor pilots (IPs) with VT-7. He

explains that while fleet tactics have

changed over the years, the basic

requirement to snag a piece of curved

metal on to a strip of coiled steel —

both day and night — on the deck of

a pitching, nuclear-powered piece of

American real estate has not. Coming

from the T-6 Texan II, taking a jet’s

control column for the first time and

then progressing through to calling ‘the

ball’ on finals to the carrier is a steep

learning curve. Only the very best make

the grade.

‘They first go through five to six weeks

of ground school here at Meridian,’

Kellgren explains, adding that this

A VT-7 T-45C during

a phase two mission

out of NAF El Centro,

California.

Scott Dworkin

TRAINING AIR WING ONE | UNIT REPORT

81

January 2018 http://www.combataircraft.net

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