Re: What Is "Old?" (was: NAVAIR's F/A-18 Program Celebrates 25 Years of Flight)

On 12/1/03 1:05 PM, in article [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Mike
Kanze" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Woody,
> 
> What is "old?"
> 
> 1) You don't know what "old" is (or feels) until you see a bird whose BuNo
> adorns several of your logbook entries sitting in a museum somewhere.  In my
> case:  KA-6D, BuNo 152910, now sitting forlornly in the back lot of the
> Western Aerospace Museum at Oakland airport.  Just a bunch of aluminum held
> together by a bazillion coats of paint.  Tanker package still installed,
> though.
> 
> 2) When I went through VT-10 as a SNFO in 1969, the flight syllabus
> consisted of several low-level visual nav hops about the south Alabama
> countryside in the squadron's fleet of venerable C-45 / SNB "Bugsmashers."
> The VT-10 CO had the following painted above the pax hatch on each of these
> birds:  "NFO Trainer - Built 194X," with the "X" variable indicating the
> exact year of manufacture.
> 
> Oldest "Secret Navy Bomber" in his fleet was one built during the third
> Roosevelt administration.  All of these tired birds were older that the
> students using them, and in many cases, the instructors teaching in them
> too.  The Skipper always made sure that this fact was explained to each
> visiting Poo-Bah - especially anyone from Washington or having anything to
> do with Naval appropriations.
> 
> Owl sends.

Owl,

What a hoot!  (No pun intended.)  And no question...  You'll always be older
than me.  |:-)  But I have some old airplanes too...

149484, a KA-6D, January 1990.  The airframe was estimated to be 28 years
old back then.  It was still older than me.  I think it's a reef now.  Got
lots of hops in the one on the stick in Grand Junction too.  It used to be a
China Lake bird.  Got time in several 149 BUNO A-6E's when I was a FRP in
VA-128.  I'm sure we've got time in the same jets.  Scary, huh.

You get the picture.  The cycle repeats itself.

Now I read that the Hornet just turned 25?  Struck me as ironic that I can't
get away from old jets (162 series BUNO's in Lot 8's now).  Even weirder to
think I'm now flying them against guys who graduated college in 2000.
Parading my stories of night Intruder traps on LEXINGTON in front of them
wouldn't even be sport any more.  Can't impress these kids because most of
them don't know anything smaller than KITTY HAWK class.

--Woody