Tag Archives: sharpshooters

So long, SharpSHooters (for now)

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This is probably the last time 18 F-18C/D models will be in the air in a single formation again:

U.S. Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT) 101, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, conduct a mass formation launch known as “flying the barn,” to honor the squadron’s legacy on the day of its deactivation at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Sept. 29, 2023. For more than 50 years, instructor pilots of the VMFAT-101 “SharpShooters” have qualified combat aviators and sent them to operational squadrons worldwide. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Samantha Devine)

With the end of the line– at least in U.S. service– for the nimble but aging F-18C in favor of the mammothly larger F-18E “Rhino” Super Hornet, since October 2019, the “SharpShooters” of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT) 101 has trained Navy and Marine Corps aviators as the only remaining F/A-18C Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron in the Department of the Navy.

That ended on 29 September when the 3rd MAW deactivated the squadron aboard MCAS Miramar. As outlined in the 2022 Marine Corps Aviation Plan, the Hornet will continue to operate and provide combat capability until its complete transition to the F-35 Lighting II in 2030. Still, the dedicated training mission of new Hornet crews (if needed) will be curtailed and transferred as an ancillary mission to the “Death Rattlers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323, a 3rd MAW operational F-18C squadron co-located at Miramar. Besides VMFA-323, the Marines still cling to six Hornet squadrons including those in the reserves. 

VMFAT-101, commissioned at El Toro on 3 January 1969 as a Vietnam-era F-4 Phantom training unit,. Some 125,000 flight hours later, it flew its last 10 operational Phantoms to Davis-Monthan in 1987 then returned to El Toro to pick up the Hornet, ultimately feeding 11 active Marine fighter attack squadrons.

Now, capping 36 years with the bird, they once again put a classic type to bed in style and opted to “Fly the Barn” putting its 18 aircraft up in a single flight during the sundown ceremony.

As for a deeper dive, The Fighter Pilot Podcast sat down with the final VMFAT-101 Commander, LtCol Ryan “Yoshi” Franzen, and Operations Officer Maj Erik “Tucker” Rheinhart to share Sharpshooter history and legacy, and what’s next.

You do know the Model 1851 Feldstutzer, yes?

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From the Hungarian site Kapszli comes a great piece on the Swiss Army’s innovative Model 1851 Federal Rifle, otherwise known as the Feldstutzer or Eidigenössischer Stutzer.

Via Cap & Ball (Kapszli)

“The Model 1851 rifle at the time of the acceptance was truly the best military rifle of its age. First of all, it fired a much smaller diameter and lighter bullet than any other military rifle. While the French military rifle fired a 17 mm bullet, the American and British a 14.7 mm bullet, the Swiss rifle fired a 10.4 mm bullet weighing only 16.5-17 g. The bullet was pushed from the bore with a relatively high 60-grain charge of fine grade black powder resulting in a 440 m/s muzzle velocity and a flat trajectory.

The flat trajectory was a key feature in Switzerland the soldier had to master shooting downhill and uphill. The Swiss army consisted of free people for many centuries. These civilians were more important to the state than to let them be killed in melee combat so sniping the enemy from a safe distance was always an important element of the Swiss tactics since the introduction of firearms. It is also a reason why the shooting sports have been always so popular in this beautiful little country.”

Much more here