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MILITARY OFFICER
SEPTEMBER 2012 $4.75 THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF MOAA | ONE POWERFUL VOICE®
Throttle Full
Military air demonstra- tion teams combine precision and power to dazzle millions 84
MUDDY STUDY Recent studies propose big benefit cuts, but some reflect “garbage in, garbage out” 33
ATOMIC VETERANS Veterans of the Atomic Age face lingering health concerns 92
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who joins the military as a result of seeing the demonstration teams would be predisposed to joining anyway.
“ Anyone
—Lt. Col. Yale Marienhoff, AUS-Ret.
”
Demonstration Teams With the prospect of cuts to defense spending … continuing to fund military demonstration teams [“Full Throttle,” September 2012] is a luxury we cannot afford. The best pilots and paratroopers should be in combat units, instead of par- ticipating in air shows and fairs as their sole function. In my opinion, anyone who joins the military as a result of seeing the demonstration teams would be predis- posed to joining anyway. —Lt. Col. Yale Marienhoff, AUS-Ret. via email
There is one correction you should make [to “Full Throttle”] concerning the Air Force. The first officially authorized U.S. Air Force air demonstration team was The Acrojets, formed at Williams AFB, Ariz., [in] 1948-49 flying Lockheed P-80s. —Lt. Col. D.D. Campbell, USAF-Ret.
New Hampshire Chapter of the MOAA via email
When I was a helicopter pilot stationed at VC-8, Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico, in 1978-81, the Navy’s Chut- ing Stars parachute team came down in the winter for training. I found online that there was a Chuting Stars team at NAS Pensacola, Fla., in the early 1960s; a Chuting Stars team at NAS Lakehurst, N.J., in the early 1970s; and another Chut- ing Stars team [on the East Coast] until 1985. … We took them up to 10,000 feet (as I recall) to jump, which, for SH-3G Sea King pilots used to bopping around at 500-1,000 feet, was pretty scary and about as high as we could go. —Cmdr. Milady “Bunny” Blaha, USN-Ret. Pikes Peak Chapter
Colorado Springs, Colo.
[I’m] a little disappointed that you didn’t mention the defunct U.S. Army Preci-
16 MILITARY OFFICER NOVEMBER 2012
sion Helicopter Team. The Square Dance team existed from the mid 1950s to early ’60s. They flew H-13 helicopters and were a popular novelty at air shows. In the early ’70s, the Army fielded a new team, the Silver Eagles. They flew OH-6 helicopters like those in Vietnam. They performed at many major air shows and were a popular attraction. —Lt. Col. Fred Sass, USAR-Ret. Bay County Chapter Ocala, Fla.
I am sorry there was no mention of the informal U.S. Air Force C-130 team called the Four Horsemen, which performed in the U.S. and Europe in the 1950s demon- strating the then-new Lockheed C-130 Hercules. —Col. Michael R. Gallagher, USAF-Ret. Hillsboro, Ore.
[“Full Throttle”] states [Lt. Cmdr. Butch Voris, USN, first flight leader for the Blue Angels] flew Grumman F-6F Hellcats at Guadalcanal. The Battle of Guadalcanal took place from August 1942 to February 1943. [The] Hellcat was not placed into service until August 1943. Voris likely flew the Grumman F-4F Wildcat during the Guadalcanal campaign and the Hellcat during subsequent operations. —Lt. Col. Richard I. Sudhoff, USMC-Ret. Annapolis, Md.
The article [on the Thunderbirds acci- dent in 1982] says that the Thunderbirds were to do “a slow outside loop.” I have seen both the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels many times, and I have over 1,000 hours in Air Force jets, but I have never seen or heard of anyone doing an outside loop in a jet. I have to believe that it was a standard inside loop. —Maj. Earl Marsh, USAF-Ret. via email
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