Tag Archives: VF-2

The last T-bone, 10 cents a peek

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“Jamboree Day” on USS Yorktown (CV-5), 10 April 1942. Parading the last T-bone steak on board. Two sailors displaying a sign that reads “Special Slide Show. Big T-Bone Steak. The only one in captivity. 10 cents a peek. Do Not Touch.”

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 95570

Note the Marines with newly-issued M-1 (Garand) rifles and fixed bayonets surrounding the steak and the clarinet player with beard and sunglasses.

At the extreme right is the tail of an F4F-3 Wildcat fighter (Bureau # 3999) that had been transferred to Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42) from Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2) in March 1942. Note Bombing Squadron Five (VB-5) SBD-3 aircraft parked in the background and volleyball net in the upper center.

Yorktown, still nursing grave damage from the Battle of Coral Sea, would be sunk at Midway less than two months after this somber celebration.

Fighting Two and Bombing Five would go on to fight another day, as would another carrier with the name Yorktown, and by 1945 steaks would be back on the menu.

Bluebird in Brazil, 98 years ago

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A rickety canvas and wood Vought flying machine takes gingerly to the air from a catapult, allowing its 180-horse Wright-Hispano E-3 to claw at the sky. Below is the green-blue water of Rio De Janerio. The date is 11 January 1922.

80-G-410390 VE-9 Vought aircraft, (BuNo# A6463) leaving the catapult of USS Nevada (BB 36) 1922

NARA 80-G-410390

The floatplane, a VE-9H Bluebird (BuNo# A6463), is shown leaving the stern cat of the battleship USS Nevada (BB 36) during the Brazilian Centennial Exposition.

When armed with a single .30-06 machine gun firing through the prop, the two-man VE-7/9 series had a maximum speed of just over 100 mph and was considered to be a fighter at the time.

Only 120 or so were made, split between the Army Air Corps and the Navy. Notably in USN service, the type equipped the Navy’s first two fighter squadrons– VF-1 and VF-2 —, making history in October– ten months after the above photo was taken, when a Bluebird piloted by Lt. Virgil C. Griffin alighted from the deck of the newly commissioned carrier Langley, the Navy’s first carrier takeoff.

F-14s were huge…

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Take a close look at the two dozen Grumman F-14 Tomcats arrayed on the 1,092-foot long flight deck of the Roosevelt below.

Atlantic Ocean (March 10, 2006) – F-14D Tomcats are staged in launch position for their departure from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) to their home port of Naval Air Station Oceana. VF-213 and VF-31 are completing their final deployment flying the F-14 Tomcat. For the past 30 years, the F-14 Tomcat has assured U.S. air superiority, playing a key role in ensuring victory and preserving peace around the world. The F-14 Tomcat will be removed from service and officially stricken from the inventory in September of 2006. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Chris Thamann

Atlantic Ocean (March 10, 2006) – F-14D Tomcats are staged in launch position for their departure from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) to their home port of Naval Air Station Oceana. VF-213 and VF-31 are completing their final deployment flying the F-14 Tomcat. For the past 30 years, the F-14 Tomcat has assured U.S. air superiority, playing a key role in ensuring victory and preserving peace around the world. The F-14 Tomcat will be removed from service and officially stricken from the inventory in September of 2006. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Chris Thamann

And on the elevator of the Conny…

030413-N-0295M-004 Arabian Gulf (Apr. 13, 2003) -- Hanger Deck Crew move a F-14D Tomcat assigned to the ÒBounty HuntersÓ of Fighter Squadron Two (VF-2) onto one of four aircraft elevators aboard USS Constellation (CV 64). Constellation and Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) are deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the multinational coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and end the regime of Saddam Hussein. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Daniel J. McLain. (RELEASED)

030413-N-0295M-004 Arabian Gulf (Apr. 13, 2003) — Hanger Deck Crew move a F-14D Tomcat assigned to the Bounty Hunters of Fighter Squadron Two (VF-2) onto one of four aircraft elevators aboard USS Constellation (CV 64). Constellation and Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) are deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the multinational coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and end the regime of Saddam Hussein. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Daniel J. McLain. (RELEASED)