BUT if they went on to fly in the USMC, they would have had gold wings

Not necessarily.

Nearly all of the JOs in VMA(AW)-224 sported Wings of Lead when that outfit deployed with CVW-15 / USS CORAL SEA during 1972. Only the senior leadership of 224 were carqualed (i.e., Wings of Gold) and none of these folks had seen a rounddown since the training command.

However, I suspect the JOs all earned their Wings of Gold during that cruise, on the basis of OJT if nothing else.

This was the first time the Marines had ever taken the A-6 aboard the boat, having previously operated it ashore in expeditionary mode. 224 went through a carqual syllabus as part of its pre-cruise workup which could only be described as "colorful," with the LEX's skipper effectively banishing them from his flight deck.

--
Mike Kanze

"There's a fine line between evil and underpaid."

- Carol The Secretary, Dilbert (1/14/2007)

"qui si parla Campagnolo" wrote in message ps.com...

Mike Kanze wrote:
During the Vietnam era a number of USMC flight students went through the USAF pilot training pipeline as an expediency. Thus it would not be surprising to hear of a serving General officer still sporting Wings of Lead, especially if his later flying career (C-130s, for example) never took him in the vicinity of El Boat or required him to carqual.

BUT if they went on to fly in the USMC, they would have had gold wings,
not USAF wings, even if they didn't go to the boat..I'm guessing it was
Naval Parachutist wings...get USA jump wings, do 5 more jumps, get USN
jump wings.

If they were gold, the "star" may in fact have been a deployed parachute, i.e., Naval Parachutist.

--
Mike Kanze

"There's a fine line between evil and underpaid."

- Carol The Secretary, Dilbert (1/14/2007)

"nmg175" wrote in message . ..
Saw a B/G Marine with what appeared to be Navy Pilot Wings on his tunic on
C-SPAN.

But these were different, they had a Star in the middle, looked very similar
to the U.S. Air Force Senior Pilot wings.

Have they gone to this approach, with Command Pilot also?

Or where these some sort of other Aeronautical Speciality?


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DIVFONT face=ArialDuring the Vietnam era a number of USMC flight students
went through the USAF pilot training pipeline as an expediency. Thus it would
not be surprising to hear of a serving General officer still sporting Wings of
Lead, especially if his later flying career (C-130s, for example) never took him
in the vicinity of El Boat or required him to carqual. /FONT/DIV
DIVFONT face=Arial/FONT /DIV
DIVFONT face=ArialIf they were gold, the "star" may in fact have been a
deployed parachute, i.e., Naval Parachutist. /FONTBRFONT face=ArialBR--
BRMike Kanze/FONT/DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVFONT face=Arial"There's a fine line between evil and
underpaid."/FONT/DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVFONT face=Arial- Carol The Secretary, Dilbert
(1/14/2007)BR/FONT/DIV
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DIV"nmg175" <A
t/A> wrote in message
A
href="news:L5adnV3yFe1W2jPYnZ2dnUVZ_qCmnZ2d@comcas t.com"news:L5adnV3yFe1W2jPYnZ2dnUVZ_qCmnZ2d@comca st.com/A.../DIVSaw
a B/G Marine with what appeared to be Navy Pilot Wings on his tunic on
BRC-SPAN.BRBRBut these were different, they had a Star in the middle,
looked very similar BRto the U.S. Air Force Senior Pilot wings.BRBRHave
they gone to this approach, with Command Pilot also?BRBROr where these
some sort of other Aeronautical Speciality? BRBR/BLOCKQUOTE/BODY/HTML

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