Red Flag 81-4: VMAQ-2

[Old Viper Tester]

Always liked these markings. A shame they had to disappear after the Tailhook '91 scandal. Three birds on hand for Red Flag in May 1981.

 

BuNo 160437, Modex CY10

 

 

160705 CY12

 

 

160786 CY16

 

Thanks for looking,

Sven

[RidgeRunner]

23 minutes ago, Old Viper Tester said:

Always liked these markings. A shame they had to disappear after the Tailhook '91 scandal. Three birds on hand for Red Flag in May 1981.

 

BuNo 160437, Modex CY10

 

 

160705 CY12

 

 

160786 CY16

 

Thanks for looking,

Sven

 

Like you I was always drawn to these marks. Very smart. Q: what was the ‘91 tailhook scandal?

 

Martin

Edited April 23, 2018 by RidgeRunner

[Old Viper Tester]

9 minutes ago, RidgeRunner said:

Q: what was the ‘91 tailhook scandal?

Tailhook is/was a naval aviation symposium held annually sponsored by the Tailhook Association. Up until 1991 it was always held at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino. I had always found the symposia very interesting especially the Saturday Flag Panel, where just about any naval aviator would pose a question or concern about naval aviation to the assembled admirals. Needless to say, a lot of other activities accompanied these events (golf tournament, unit reunions, etc) and a lot of drinking (for those that imbibed). In 1991 things got out of hand: accusations of sexual assault resulted in a very far reaching investigation, promotions were delayed or withheld, and in the end about 300 officers were punished either criminally or by being forcefully separated from the service of the Navy or Marine Corps.

 

That's just a summary, but there were a lot of questions about the extent of the punishments, politics involved, service attitudes, etc. One of the results was that any unit identity that showed a hint of sexism was to be wiped away, including VMAQ-2's Playboy Bunny. For a while there was a cute variation of the rabbit ears sticking out of a top hat, but that quickly vanished as well.

 

The symposium went on hiatus and after a few years came back, first near the association's HQ in San Diego, and for the past twenty years or so it has been in Reno Nevada every September. 

 

I'm retired USAF, but have been a Tailhook Association member since the early '80s,

 

Sven

[Procopius]

It was huge at the time...I remember being, oh, I must have been eight when it happened, and I heard adults talking about it quite a bit.

[RidgeRunner]

Thanks Sven. It is certainly new to me, but then I don’t profess to be a US naval expert at all.

 

Martin

[Red Dot]

Never heard of it either but it explains why the bunny girl symbol disappeared, thanks

Andy

[Thud4444]

It's a rough read.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailhook_scandal

 

 

 

[Old Viper Tester]

1 hour ago, Thud4444 said:

It's a rough read.

Yeah, my writing "things got out of hand" was a bit of an understatement. In no way did I intend to trivialize the the events that happened that weekend. No excuse for that kind of behavior.

 

There were a lot of rumors about "Command Influence" in the investigation, implying that higher-ups had already determined the outcome before it started or that some ulterior motives were also being pursued. What I thought was really a shame was that many naval aviators who weren't even at the event or members of Tailhook were caught up in the aftermath with delayed promotions and other implications of the investigation in their records. Date of rank is a big thing in the services and this killed morale and retention beyond the event itself for a few years after the fact.

 

Gone way OT, I'll get back to scanning slides now,

Sven

[Thud4444]

I had a model of the solid black F-4J in these markings years ago.

 

Nice pics.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Thud4444

[F-32]

Such a great scheme, what a classic!