US Navy training with Beech T-34 Mentor

I hadn't been to the red board in yrs...I guess it missed me.

Notice how Tom's reference to R&W's FAA employment was mocked then mentioned no more. Yet every jot and tittle of Tom's post's are carefully examined.
 
I hadn't been to the red board in yrs...I guess it missed me.

Notice how Tom's reference to R&W's FAA employment was mocked then mentioned no more. Yet every jot and tittle of Tom's post's are carefully examined.

Funny, that.
 
I hadn't been to the red board in yrs...I guess it missed me.

Notice how Tom's reference to R&W's FAA employment was mocked then mentioned no more. Yet every jot and tittle of Tom's post's are carefully examined.

yeah, but there is one thing he missed..

he thinks any one cares.
 
I see an attempt of character assasination. I see one goading another to reveal details of their past. I see that until that person does comply he is speculated to be lying.

I also see one person demanding all this information yet not revealing his on motivations.
 
I see an attempt of character assasination. I see one goading another to reveal details of their past. I see that until that person does comply he is speculated to be lying.

I also see one person demanding all this information yet not revealing his on motivations.

A perceptive fellow, you surely are.
 
You're right. I'll just consider the source and move on. :rolleyes:

Next week you can tell everyone how you were really the CNO. :rofl:

and you can tell every one you're a over authorized avionics tech working for the FAA as an ASI.
 
I see an attempt of character assasination. I see one goading another to reveal details of their past. I see that until that person does comply he is speculated to be lying.

I also see one person demanding all this information yet not revealing his on motivations.

No character assassination, just trying to ascertain how someone makes a claim of military service (enlisted aviator) that was clearly abolished years before they were in the military.
 
No character assassination, just trying to ascertain how someone makes a claim of military service (enlisted aviator) that was clearly abolished years before they were in the military.

No, just the only program you can find on the internet.

Hiding behind your moniker and sniping shows your character.

simply because we were not the WWII hero's doesn't mean we did not exist.
 
mine were archived years ago, and personnel records can not be retrieved unless you have permission or a court order. simply because they contain medical records and S/S numbers and such.

Not interested in the overall p-ing match here, but just so you're aware, Tom... the military has been answering most of these types of FOIA requests for some time now and just redacting (you know, blacking out) the personally identifiable information like SSNs, etc.

I had to laugh at how much work Peterson AFB went through to redact the list of people authorized to be on the base this weekend for a CAP activity... each and every one of us got a fully-redacted copy of the order with every line blacked out except the line with our name on it, since DOB and last four of SSN was required for the background check to be on the base.

They generated almost 100 separate sheets of paper instead of just removing the two columns on the order. Amazing.
 
Doug,

Very good description of the handling qualities of the mentor. I have sent you a PM.

tomdocherty72
 
Guys!

This was my first post on the POA forum and initially I was pleasantly surprised to start receiving intereresting feedback to my query. However, the thread appears to have been hijacked by Rotor&Wing to conduct a street brawl with NC19143.

I am now in a position where I may need to repost my question to get away from the bloodbath! Can we please get back to answering my question and perhaps R&W and NC can start another thread or resort to private messages to continue their boxing match!

Yours in anticipation of a friendly continuation of the Mentor discussion!

tomdocherty72:yikes:
 
Further to my question about the Mentor, do any of you chaps know of a good US Naval Aviation forum (and/or USMC and USAF forums) where I might contact aviators and maintainers about other US military aircraft types?

tomdocherty72
 
1 hour for preflight/prebrief, 1.5 hours in the air, 1 hour post flight debrief 3 times a day, 5 days a week. I always hated the night flight on Friday followed by the first go Monday morning. T34c is a GREAT airplane. Loved the air-conditioning during the muggy Whiting summers. Stable platform for instruments, nimble enough for some aerobatics, durable enough to take some pretty hard landings, she was a real joy to fly.
 
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Stolen Valor.... NC19143 is obviously a "wanna be".
 
What does this link have to do with anything mentioned earlier in this thread?

Figure it out.. 50 years ago the Navy was a different place, and there were several methods of enlisted to become pilots.

Way back at the start of AOPA chat, it was difficult to tell folks how I started as an enlisted but flew the Conies, And now it's even more difficult to get a knot head to believe.

The simple explanation is I gained a commission flew and then reverted to enlisted because there are no billets for me, and retired 7 years later.

But old Rotor couldn't understand that or figure it out, he got stuck on a program name, and couldn't get past it.

Ever wonder why I spent 22 years in the navy? When I could have retired at 20? It's called dead time, that is what the seaman to admiral program did, it combined all those old programs and now there is no dead time for education.

I had 2 years of college prior to entering the Navy, and finished after entering service. that is why I had 2 years of dead time not 4.

Enlisted pilot, is still the best way to say it.
 
So Tom do I read this right? You went in enlisted then got an officers commission learned to fly then the job kinda of sucked or there was no job to do so you went back to being a enlisted sailor.

I knew a guy who was an enlisted sailor then became and officer then I thought he was an enlisted man again but I thought he may have switched services or just took the enlisted gig to get a special assignment. Its pretty fuzzy in my memory so I can't say thats what happened but for some reason thats the story playing in my head. Ah who knows certainly not I.


Now to the orginal poster I've contacted Nav8tor and asked him to look for this post so that he can give you some more info and share his experiences in the T-34.
 
Figure it out.. 50 years ago the Navy was a different place, and there were several methods of enlisted to become pilots.

Way back at the start of AOPA chat, it was difficult to tell folks how I started as an enlisted but flew the Conies, And now it's even more difficult to get a knot head to believe.

The simple explanation is I gained a commission flew and then reverted to enlisted because there are no billets for me, and retired 7 years later.

But old Rotor couldn't understand that or figure it out, he got stuck on a program name, and couldn't get past it.

Ever wonder why I spent 22 years in the navy? When I could have retired at 20? It's called dead time, that is what the seaman to admiral program did, it combined all those old programs and now there is no dead time for education.

I had 2 years of college prior to entering the Navy, and finished after entering service. that is why I had 2 years of dead time not 4.

Enlisted pilot, is still the best way to say it.

I got this email from the National Naval Air Museum:

"During the period 1961-1963 VT-1 was the only squadron conducting primary training which meant
everyone entering flight training passed through VT-1. We do have pre-flight yearbooks for the periods you are interested in. These books contain pictures with names of men entering the flight training program."

"We could not find the name of Thomas Charles Downey in the yearbooks of 1961,62 or 63. "

I also got this email from the Tailhook Association:

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]"You are correct that the NAP program ended in 1948. There have been a couple programs since that have given commissions and wings to enlisted personnel. In 1980 there was the Limited Duty Officer program that was open to selected enlisted personnel to go through flight training and be commissioned an ensign and in 2006 the Navy began the Flying Chief warrant Officer program for selected enlisted personnel. Both programs limited the pilots to non carrier operational aircraft.[/FONT]"

The simple explanation is I gained a commission flew and then reverted to enlisted because there are no billets for me, and retired 7 years later.

If you were a commissioned officer why would the billet be different between officers?? Plenty of Naval Aviators transitioned from piston to turbo-props and jets.

Other commissioned officers that lost flight status were just assigned other jobs and not required to resign their commissions.

all enlisted pilots carried their enlisted NEC their entire career. E-1 thru E9 I was always an AMH.

So in one later post you claimed to have gained a commission, and in an earlier post you claim you were always enlisted? :dunno:

and yes my primary job was always in the shops. but was TAD to several commands as flight crew.

So you were an enlisted AMH and an Officer at the same time?? Huh? :dunno:
 
So Tom do I read this right? You went in enlisted then got an officers commission learned to fly then the job kinda of sucked or there was no job to do so you went back to being a enlisted sailor.

I knew a guy who was an enlisted sailor then became and officer then I thought he was an enlisted man again but I thought he may have switched services or just took the enlisted gig to get a special assignment. Its pretty fuzzy in my memory so I can't say thats what happened but for some reason thats the story playing in my head. Ah who knows certainly not I.


Now to the orginal poster I've contacted Nav8tor and asked him to look for this post so that he can give you some more info and share his experiences in the T-34.

Not quite, I had a CMEL&S with instrument when I entered the service plus an A&P certificate. When I checked into NAF Andrews, the Skipper asked why I didn't complete my education, I told him I was broke, and the draft boards was breathing down my neck, he then recommended me to follow the program, to get my degree, and become a pilot.

And as they say,the rest is history.
 
This thread is at the point where the pi$$ing match has grossly overshadowed any legitimate content worth knowing.

Children...
 
So you were an enlisted AMH and an Officer at the same time?? Huh? :dunno:

you missed the whole point again, I was not an Naval aviation cadet.

When you resign a commission, you have choices, to stay or not. I stayed as an AMH. and served the next 7 years at whidbey. in the VAQ wing.
 
So if you had a Commercial, Multi Engine Land and Sea with Instrument, why today do you only have a Private SEL with Instrument?

That's a different story I feel You have no reason to know.
 
This thread is at the point where the pi$$ing match has grossly overshadowed any legitimate content worth knowing.

Children...

I agree, so I'm outa here, rotor can think any thing he likes the conversation is over, he already knows every thing any way.
 
If you were a commissioned officer why would the billet be different between officers??

Have you ever seen a JOs watch bill at sea? or eaten in the ward room. Yuck I would rather be a chief.
 
All airman records are available within the agency for review.

Go ahead on, try, you can't do any better than the ASI I had research in 1990, and couldn't find any.
 
Figure it out.. 50 years ago the Navy was a different place, and there were several methods of enlisted to become pilots.
Perhaps so, but the link only describes what the Navy does now.
 
What programs did the Seaman to Admiral program combine to make it what it is now?

The STA-21 program combined:
the 2 and 4 ROTC program (the enlisted accession scholarship)
Enlisted Commissioning program (ECP)
Nuclear enlisted commissioning program (necp)
BOOST
And the original Seaman to Admiral program

STA-21 began in 2001-2002
The original Seaman to admiral began in the mid 90's as the brain child of admiral boorda the first prior enlisted CNO
 
Why does any of this matter?
 
Why does any of this matter?
It really doesn't to me, but there was an issue made about how any enlisted could fly in the navy.

the Seaman to admiral program combined all those old programs into one. Aviation Enlisted Commissioning Program (AECP) was one of them.
 
Looks like I failed to bring some common sense to this thread (which I was the originator of) and the 'my dad's better than your dad' contest is still going on. Might I remind the two particiapants in the contest of the following forum rules:


  • Personal attacks are prohibited. This specifically means any text/post that is blatantly attacking another person on or off the forum, especially in a personal way.
  • Trolling is prohibited. Whenever someone is clearly, deliberately posting in a manner for the purpose of angering and/or insulting the other participants of the board, it is considered "trolling." The public posting of reputation comments received, which are considered by PoA to be personal and confidential, is considered ipso facto trolling. Trolling DOES NOT encourage further discussion in the long run; it only encourages personal attacks (if left unchecked).

On the basis that this thread has been, in my opinion, hijacked, I will be contacting the moderators. I am very disappointed that the forum members who had helped me have had to trawl through the thread avoiding the fight to find anythingf meaningful and are now leaving the thread in droves. I will be posting another thread on the same subject in the hope of carrying out some meaningful discussion and research. Thanks to all who contributed something useful to this thread

tomdocherty72:sad:
 
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