Press, Please Note: McCain was not a "fighter pilot"

Vanity | 9/13/08

[pabianice]

This may seem like a small thing, but if the press cannot tell the difference between a fighter and a bomber it needs to be spanked and sent to boot camp.

John McCain flew the A-4 "Skyhawk," a light bomber called a light attack aircraft by the DOD. The A-4 was assigned to VA squadrons; V meaning Navy Air Squadron and A meaning light attack. (In the 60s there were also VAH squadrons -- heavy Attack -- that flew the A-3 "Whale" and the A-5 "Vigilante.") Fighter squadrons are designated VF and at that time flew the F4 Phantom and F-8 Crusader.

This may seem like a small point but the press' inability -- or unwillingness -- to get such facts straight appears to be part and parcel of today's MSM -- bad writing, bad research, and twisted so far to the left that they cannot be seen unless you have exophoria.

[Mr Rogers]

Believe you are wrong on this one. Try telling an A-10 pilot he isn’t a fighter pilot, and I think you’ll get some push back.

Attack aircraft are also called fighters. Heck, I flew in F-4s and F-111s, and the 111 sure wasn’t much of a fighter...although that never stopped us from pretending. However, when you are in an F-111 in a vertical scissors with an F-16, it is going to be bad.

[usshadley]

i’d like to have an A4...think they were up-engined for aggressor use...caught on...really a pilots plane...kind “you wear”

[usshadley]

it’s the same as how reporters still say the navy sent in 2 “battleships”...when they are CGs or even DDs

[70th Division]

Thanks. God I love this forum. Anything you want to know and some stuff you probably didn’t. LOL

[Joe 6-pack]

I flew the T-10B...

...and the MC1-1B.

If I ever ran for office, I'm guessing the MSM would claim that parts of my military career had been spent under suspension.

[NavyCanDo]

Not understanding why this minor correction is needed? The pilots of Navy Aircraft preferred to be called aviators, but I see no reason to correct every instance where someone called McCain or any Navy aviator a pilot.
Having trained with A4 Skyhawks at the Navy Education and Training Command in Millington, TN, I do know the difference between an Attack airplane and a Fighter. But the pilots (OK aviators) flying the attack aircraft were no less skilled than those flying the Fighters.
In fact strapping an 11,200 ‘pounds of thrust’ turbojet with wings to your A## and flying 586 knots with a 4,000 pound bomb load over a hostile AAA saturated jungle takes one helluva Man.

[Polybius]

This may seem like a small thing, but if the press cannot tell the difference between a fighter and a bomber it needs to be spanked and sent to boot camp. John McCain flew the A-4 "Skyhawk," a light bomber called a light attack aircraft by the DOD.

Oh, boy! An aviation nit-picking thread! :-)

Well, technically, the Skyhawk should have been designated as an "FA" as it could be used as a fighter and actually performed as a fighter in Vietnam. Air to air armament consisted of the internal Colt 20 mm cannons.

An A-4C Skyhawk flown by LCdr. Theodore R. Swartz of VA-76 aboard the carrier USS Bon Homme Richard, shot down a MiG-17 on 1 May 1967 with a Zuni rocket. Admittedly, Zuni rockets were designed primarily for air-to-ground strikes and were unguided and that was the first and only air-to-air combat victory for the Skyhawk in Vietnam but, this being a nit-picking thread, it was a legitimate air-to-air combat victory .

So, in a nit-picking sense, McCain was a "fighter pilot". :-)

After Vietnam, the maneuverability of the Skyhawk resulted in it being used at Navy Fighter Weapons School ("Top Gun") as a stand in for the MiG-17.

From the political and military aura perspective, it might be best to leave the "fighter pilot" designation given to McCain alone. In the popular mind of today, "fighter pilots" are considered cool and "bomber pilots" bring out the anti-war wackos by the bus load.

Even in the military, being a "fighter pilot" is considered being the best.

Ever wonder why the F-117 Nighthawk has an "F" designation and is called a "Stealth Fighter" when it has less air-to-air combat capabilities than a Sopwith Camel?

First, because the "F" designation was a ruse to hide its real nature from the enemy but, also, to get jet jocks that would not touch an "A" designated aircraft any more than they would touch a steaming cow pie to volunteer to fly it.

[Let's Roll]

I also blame their laziness - they repeat indefinitely what someone else has already gotten wrong.

Just one more reason why I got out of the newspaper reporting business.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Try telling an A-10 pilot he isn’t a fighter pilot, and I think you’ll get some push back."

Try telling these Skyhawk drivers they didn't quite measure up as fighter pilots...

[Sigurdrifta]

Please don’t do that when I am eating a late breakfast over my keyboard!

[svcw]

I know this issue is big with my husband who is an aircraft enthusiast but the reality is the press does not care. They report what suits them truth or not.

[Polybius]

They do the same thing when they refer to Marines as soldiers. I’m a prior enlisted Marine and that used to bother me terribly.

Actually, the traditional nickname is "Soldiers of the Sea".

ARE MARINES SOLDIERS? .... an oft-times repeated story of a U.S. Army major visiting the wounded in a WWI French hospital in 1918. As the story goes, the major asked a young soldier if he was indeed an American. "No sir," he replied, "I'm a Marine." (Ref US Marine Corps In World war I 1917-1918, Osprey, by Henry/Pavlovic, 1999) Such it is that Marines have always exemplified the inherent pride in their identity as a member of the Marine Corps. .... But, many Marines seem to be unaware of the fact that the Marine Corps itself, as well as individual Marines, has long referred with pride to themselves as soldiers. To be sure, we are, each of us, a United States Marine, that is our TITLE, earned and claimed by us all as the capstone of that which we are. But somewhere within that coveted title lies the soldier

[Halgr]

I love these posts that draw out the Vets

;-)

[thatjoeguy]

Although the various responses aptly answer the question I just have to share this one Navy Pilot interview from some documentary that sticks in my mind. I’ll have to heavily paraphrase (my terminology may be off too, sorry) as its been years since I’ve seen it but to me it really showed what they go through sometimes.

Here goes:

Navy Pilot; It was a particularly stormy, windy night with zero visibility. I was on the glide slope about 3/4 miles out when I hear “call the ball”. Well, I can’t see the ball so I wait. At about a 1/4 mile out I still don’t see it when I hear the call again. I responded that I don’t see it.

They did land and it did come into view like at the last minute or something but his description of that landing made me really appreciate them guys all the more.

Ok, I’m done rambling :)
Hat’s off to you guys out there.
JB

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

This bird was also known as Heinemans HOTROD.Guess what else Ed Heineman designed?It tells just how long he had been around and just how good his designs were.

[BooyahPower]

If they really want to get technical, what exactly is a community organizer? Other then attack Palin at mocking the title (after being mocked as a mayor), we are led to believe community organizers are jesus? give me a break

[Hoplite]

I'm guessing the MSM would claim that parts of my military career had been spent under suspension.

After a promising take-off, a deployment saw Joe 6-pack's military carrer abruptly decelerate, and he thereafter merely drifted ever downwards...

I hope my 'chute opens.
I hope my 'chute opens.
I hope my 'chute opens.
Ungh!
I hope I don't break my legs.
I hope I don't break my legs.
I hope I don't break my legs.
Oh c**p! Trees!

[Tunehead54]

You'll want to email Mr. Barone to give him a heads up! ;-)

---

McCain Flies His Campaign Past Obama (Michael Barone Explains The OODA Strategery Alert)

Townhall.com ^ | 9/13/2008 | Michael Barone

Posted on Saturday, September 13, 2008 12:13:06 AM by goldstategop

John McCain was trained as a fighter pilot. In his selection of Sarah Palin, and in his convention and campaigning since, he has shown that he learned an important lesson from his fighter pilot days: He has gotten inside Barack Obama's OODA loop.

[Joe 6-pack]

LOL...

The media are such idiots, and really show their ignorance when it comes to matters military. The start any report with preconceived notions and then wordsmith their reports to fit the template of their choosing, facts be damned.

If any group has a vested interest in opposing a draft it should be the media...if a substantial percentage of Americans and their families became the least bit more educated on how our military functions and what service entails, the media would lose its ability to lie and obfuscate with impunity.

[bethelgrad]

Thanks for the history lesson :)

That is a Marine nickname that has faded into the history books.