Cool!
The only flying time I got was as a door gunner on a UH-1N , I did get to
fly front seat in a Cobra once though. That needless to say was an absolute
blast! I was a 6144 (Aviation Structures Mech) UH-1N, AH-1J, AH-1T. Got
some experience on CH-46 and CH-53's on a government funded pleasure cruise
(NOT!) AH-1W were just coming in when I was getting out.
Training school was pretty cool, we had F-4, A-6 , A-7 , and A-4D's
there. I hated drawing the helo duty at first but really ended up enjoying
the whirlybirds. Never had any regrets on joining, my son will this summer
it appears. Has it set in his mind to be a grunt and try as I may I can't
talk him out of it! Keep trying to tell him there is not much call for a
sniper in the civilian world.

Patrick
student SP
aircraft structural mech

"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...
SEMPER FI Vincent! What did you get to fly in the beloved Marine Corps?

Well, timing worked against me on that score!

I had learned to fly in a J-3 as soon as GA opened up after VJ Day.
My instructor was a newly discharged Marine F7F pilot. He raved about
that airplane. So after I finished Basic and went to Advanced
Training, I requested multi-engine traaining so I'd have a shot at
the F7F.

Unfortunately, when I arrived at Cherry Point with a shiny pair of
gold wings, after two years of college and a year and a half of flight
training, I was too late for F7Fs. "We're phasing them out," I was
told, "But we sure need transport pilots!"

So I spent most of my time flying R5C-1s and then R4Q-2s. You probably
know them as the C-46 and th C-119. Not very exciting duty, but there
were some good things about it. I got a lot of IFR time and
cross-countries to interesting places.

I did spend a year flying OE-1s (Cessna L-19 Birddogs) as a FAC with
the 5th Marines at LeJeune and Vieques. That was fun.

vince norris