Fallon,
NV, USA - 23/01/2008
Our
second day in Nevada saw Mark
Rouse and myself make our
second visit to NAS Fallon,
while Michael
Hind made his first.
As
with the first visit, Zip
Upham was our superb host,
meeting us at the Pass and
Decal office at 0830. Little
did we know at that stage
that we would be on base for
nearly eight hours, or exactly
what he had planned for us.
Suffice it to say, and I wasn't
sure it was possible, this
was even better than my first
experience of the station!
I
think this has to go down
as the most images I've ever
tidied up from a single day's
visit, but we saw so much
stuff, from so many different
angles that I felt the inclusion
of everything was justified.
For ease I'm arranged everything
by unit.
If
you would like to know more
about NAS Fallon and the resident
units, I recommend reading
my report from the earlier
visit (NAS
Fallon 12/02/2007)
In
addition to the residents,
CAG-14 (USS Ronald Reagan)
were in town on a workup which
provided us with plenty of
variety in the markings on
display.
On
to the pictures, starting
with those aforementioned
home team players:
Naval
Strike Air Warfare Center
VFC-13
"Saints"
Since
our last visit, the Saints
had taken delivery of a handful
of 'new' F-5Es, namely those
in the three-tone desert (light
brown/dark brown/green) colourscheme.
These were aircraft that had
been returned from their stint
in service with the Swiss
Air Force.
The
Air Operations Department
...
and now for the non-residents:
CAG-14
USS Ronald Reagan
VFA-22
"Flying Redcocks"
VFA-22
fly the Boeing F/A-18F Super
Hornet and are based at NAS
Lemoore, CA. They were present
with seven aircraft out on
the ramp.
VFA-25
"Fist of the Fleet"
VFA-25
fly the F/A-18C Hornet and
are also residents of NAS
Lemoore, CA.
VFA-113
"Stingers"
VFA-113
also fly the F/A-18C Hornet,
and again they are residents
of NAS Lemoore, CA.
VFA-115
"Eagles"
VFA-115
fly the Boeing F/A-18E Super
Hornet and they too live at
NAS Lemoore, CA.
VAW-113
"Black Hawks"
The
Black Hawks fly the Grumman
E-2C Hawkeye 2000 and their
home station is NAS Point
Mugu, CA. They had three aircraft
present at Fallon.
VAQ-139
"Cougars"
The
Cougars fly the Grumman EA-6B
Prowler and are based at NAS
Whidbey Island, WA. They also
had three aircraft present
at Fallon.
HS-4
"Black Knights"
The
Black Knights provide the
rotary support for CAG-14
with their Sikorsky SH-60B
Seahawk helicopters. They
live at NAS North Island,
CA. They had six aircraft
present, including one in
the hangar.
In
addition to all of the above,
the other 'visitors' were
captured during our stay:
The
VAQ-141"Shadowhawks"
CAG Prowler arrived during
the lunch period, hot-refuelled
and then flew with the afternoon
wave.
The
ATAC Kfir was a welcome boost,
particularly since it flew
whilst we were near the runway.
All
in all a quite superb visit,
and my most sincere thanks
are extended to Zip Upham
for putting together a quite
brilliant programme for us.
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