In pre-flight 1959 (OI-23-59) a pt instructor on the trampoline was a
sun-bleached blonde, older man (60's?) in terrific shape who told us
that he had kept records for upward of 10 years, and he found that
performance on the trampoline was a good predictor of success in the
training command. Some may remember the two seaplane hangars used as
gyms, the western-most one had the trampolines in the seaward side, the
eastern one was the gym. Who could forget running "figure-8's" around
those two hangars with Antietam parked down the seawall.

Student intake seemed to be about 2,000/year with OI classes weekly, and
AOC classes alternating weekly with MARCAD/NAVCAD classes - the latter
being a quick way to increase (or decrease) input. But it must be
remembered that nugget NA's in VP/VW/VR/VAH/ZP would serve as navigators
or bombardiers, there being no NFO programs yet. In Heavy Attack A-3's,
the officially (Douglas) labeled "bombardier-assistant pilot" could be a
nugget NA, an NAO(B) (both trained by the RAG,) or an enlisted
Aircrewman bombardier also trained by the RAG in Sanford or Whidbey. The
first "true" NAO/NFO slot was the "Phantom Pherret" of the F4H-2/F-4B
Phantom II, also RAG trained (first combat deployment of the Phantom was
VF-74 Bedevilers with CAG-8 on Forrestal, Med cruise departing 8/62;
replacing VF-102 F4D Skyrays.)
J. McEachen VAH-5

Boomerang wrote:
As a career Naval Aviator with experience, albeit dated, in both the
Training Command and OPNAV, I've watched this thread spin out with some
interest. As the Director of Research at the National Defense
University in one of my prior incarnations, I was privy to a study
substantiating your remarks. When launched on a quest to find the
"Prime Indicator of Success" - the Holy Grail of the Nugget Watchers -
the study I am most familiar with came up with the revolutionary but
counterintuitive conclusion that it was not being an Eagle Scout or a BS
in AE or the kind of a baby that quit nursing every time an airplane
flew over but whether or not the candidate - get this - had a paper route.