On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 14:59:07 -0500, Cub Driver
wrote:


Ed, the age limit has gone up to 29.5 at application and 30 by entry
into SUPT.

Some of our top guns today are old enough to be the father of a World
War II fighter pilot.


Given that some WW II fighter pilots were 20 years old, that's very
true, particularly if we are calling Fighter Weapons School
instructors "top guns". Since a pilot candidate now must get a four
year college degree first, then a commission (min age 21) then attend
a year of UPT, a couple of survival schools and operational training.
Next an operational assignment and experience leading to four-ship
flight lead and instructor pilot status, followed by attendance at FWS
(used to be a minimum of 1000 hours operational experience), followed
by another operational or maybe operational training assignment and
eventually amassing enough experience to become an FWS instructor, it
would be very common to have "top guns" old enough to have fathered a
20 year old.

I was doing instructor training for the Fighter Lead-In course at age
39-43, flying 400 hours/year at .9 hours per sortie. I could still
hold my own quite nicely with the young bucks who thought the essence
of air/air was pulling more G longer than the other guy. Sometimes
experience will trump youth.

Reminds me of the old bull and the young bull standing at the top of
the hill eyeing the herd. The young bull says, "let's run down the
hill and screw one of them." The old bull says, "let's walk down and
do them all."



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8