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Above: In the Map Room at NAS Miramar for the mission briefing. Left to right: CAPT. Sidney Pobieski, CV-63 Skipper, LT. Hazel Brooks, CV-63 VF-114 CO and Mission Commander, and CAPT. Asra Kron, NASMCO and VF-84 CO. The mission diagram can be seen on the board behind the officers.
Above: General view of Miramar's Map Room. On the floor map the route from NAS Miramar to the Blake Sea corridor is highlighted, along with the "Bingo" airfields and the refueling corridor.
Above: The two Miramar participating squadron commanders, CAPT. Asra Kron (VF-84 Jolly Rogers) and CAPT. Vickster Kühn (VFC-13 Saint Adversary) listen to LT. Hazel Brooks as she explains the mission to the officers in the briefing.
Above: LT. Hazel "Witch" Brooks lays out the details of the mission she designed for the day.
Above: Two Kitty Hawk F-4J Phantom II of VF-213 ready for take off at NAS Miramar. The tanker would take off from SNO International, on the Eastern end of the Blake Sea Corridor.
Above: The Blacklions light up with brakes on as the Saint Adversaries and Jolly Rogers F-14 Tomcats hold position with engines warming up on the West apron at NAS Miramar.
Above: The four Tomcats from NAS Miramar participating on this mission warming up on the West apron; the two Bad Girls at the front and the two Skulls behind them.
Above: Bad Girl 200, BuNo 18005, and Bad Girl 203, BuNo 18006, hot and static at NAS Miramar as the Skulls hold on short stop behind them.
Above: Skull 201, BuNo 16021, and Skull 203, BuNo 17007, on the West apron ready to taxi to runway 36L at NAS Miramar as the two Bad Girls take off from it.
Above: The Tomcat remains the mainstay aircraft of NAS Miramar's squadrons, faithful to the Navy Fighter Weapons School heritage. Here two VF-84 F-14A's cruise at high altitude towards the exercise area.
Above: The VF-84 Tomcats make their first stop at Honah Lee Field, one of the exercise's "Bingo" airfields. All the squadrons were to have their first refuel there after completing the journey from NAS Miramar, then take off and join the stack over the AAR corridor.
Above: Bad weather and communication glitches foiled most of the attempts to refuel in flight. The Skulls had the tanker on sight a few times but other aircraft were attempting to attach and on one communication from the tanker they had to abort the engagement due to other aircraft still on the tanker's tail. All in all a good exercise with a good number of aircraft involved and no accidents.
Above: Back home. The Jolly Rogers returned safely to Miramar. They were the first to land. Here "Cougar" approaches LCDR. Jenny "QB" Kaz, her wingman for that day. The others were not far behind.
Above: The Aardvarks and the most resilient Bad Girl over NAS Miramar as they fly over Du Sud Isle on their way in. The Blacklions called it a day on a "Bingo" airfield. Considering the weather conditions that day it was amazing so many made it back from the Blake Sea.
Above: 7th Fleet Aardvark F-4J visitors on the East apron after landing as the local Bad Girl enters the taxi to the West apron where the VF-84 Tomcats are parked. It's debriefing time.
Above: In the briefing room inside building B at NAS Miramar, the pilots are debriefed after the mission. No exercise is a waste no matter how bad the conditions are and many valuable lessons were learnt that day.
Above: The mission commander, LT. Hazel Brooks, was in charge of debriefing the pilots and RIOs. Congrats on a job well done. More to come soon, please.
CAPT. Asra "Cougar" Kron
NASMCO / TFCOM
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