As an NCO in the Marines, I flew the Pioneer RPV (UAV). But that is done from the ground. So, I did fly aircraft as an enlisted man, but since I wasn’t in it, feel free to not count it as really piloting.
It is a pretty intense job though. Landing a million dollar plane from the side of the runway, at night, just by looking at the plane in the air can get pretty hairy, especially with uncooperative winds.
Doh!! flys should be flies…
BF, I haven’t heard of this. I’ll ask some friends and see if they can back it up. I’m not saying it’s not true… there are plenty of things about the Navy of which I’m clueless. This is probably one of them.
I knew someone in grad school (around 1960) who was a HS dropout, joined the Navy near the beginning of the Korean war and was being trained to be a SEAL. When he discovered the life expectancy of SEALs, he quickly applied to OCS and, mirabile dictu, was accepted! Of course, when he came out he was an officer. The rest of the story is, if anything, even more improbable. He became a pilot, cracked up a plane, suffering a relatively minor disability, with a bit better than a minor disability pension. At this point, a HS dropout who had, to be sure completed OCS, he talked his way into graduate school, got a PhD and became a professor at a large state university and, if he hasn’t retired, is still there today. I guess the Navy was desparate for pilots, but they did make him an officer first.
I never understood why you had to be at least a second louie to fly a plane, but a mere WO could have the much harder job of flying a helicopter. I think it was because they make an analogy of flying a plane with commanding a ship instead of driving a tank.
No prob’, flyboy88, we know you fly-boy’s are kept sheltered from reality. A Jar-reen buddy of mine who flies the Carolina lawn-dart likes to wear his “Fly Navy, divers need the work” t-shirt I gave him when he liaises with squiddly types… 