FALLON!!

So I couldn't not be in NW Nevada and not go to Fallon NAS, home of the Navy's "Top Gun" program now, could I?

I drove up to the gate of this Navy facility way out in the desert only to be challenged by some rough and ready MP types who let me right in and gave me directions to all the cool stuff to see once I gave them my ID and dropped Old NFO's name.

The actual name of the field is Van Voorhis Field, named for LCDR Bruce Van Voorhis.

And the plaque bearing his Meal of Honor citation is flanked by these two gate guardians, a Vought A-7 Corsair II (left) and a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk (right).

There's also a beautiful Douglas A-1 Skyraider just inside the gate.

And across the street is a slick-looking North American A-5 Vigilante.

And here's a Grumman F-14 Tomcat, a pane so cool even Tom Cruise could not screw that up when he pretended to fly one on the movie Top Gun.

They have lots of really cool warbirds on display in an open-air park here. I spent a fair bit of time walking among them and I was the only one there.
Here's a Grumman A-6 Intruder.

They have another Douglas A-4 too.

There's another A-7, too.

And a Vought F-8 Crusader, the "last of the gunfighters".

And naturally there's a McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom. There has to be.

Apologies is some pictures look close-cropped or don't show both sides of the aircraft. As a guest here on this active duty installation, I don't want to photograph and publish pictures of the many, many communications and radar antennae that are all around. Erring on the side of caution for Opsec at the expense of numerous photos. Sorry.

More to come soon as I can. Many, many more.

Any Time, Any Weather: The A6 in Vietnam

Back when men were men, and planes were planes, and the job got done (provided Johnson and McNamara stayed out of the way).