Navy Fliers’ Mission Not Glamorous but Vital

Not every Navy pilot is Tom Cruise and not every plane is sleek and savage. They too serve who function as midair gasoline station attendants in bulbous-nosed craft whose engines hum but do not roar.

Their mission is long on responsibility and difficulty but short on glamour. No Hollywood movie will ever tell their story.

But without the S-3 Vikings, many of the more famous carrier-based planes--the Tomcats and the Hornets--could never reach and “loiter” over enemy targets in Afghanistan to unleash their firepower.

And when the eight planes of VS-33, a Viking squadron called the Screwbirds, returned to North Island Naval Air Station on Sunday after a six-month deployment on the carrier John C. Stennis in the Arabian Sea, crew members were given a hero’s welcome from family members and friends assembled on the tarmac.

“I was scared every day he was there,” said Joan Lewis of Winchester, Va., as she waited for her son, Lt. Cameron Lewis. “But he was doing what he loves, and he was doing it for America.”

“It’s like I can breathe again,” said Susan McCormick, wife of Cmdr. Stuart McCormick, the squadron’s executive officer.

Built in the early 1970s to fly “low and slow” to detect and chase Soviet submarines, the Viking’s mission has evolved to fit the needs of a post-Cold War environment. During the Gulf War, Vikings from numerous carriers conducted surveillance missions with long-range radar and listening equipment; a Viking became the first U.S. plane to sink an enemy gunboat with bombs.

In the war on terrorism, where targets are hundreds of miles inland, and where planes often need to wait for hours above Afghanistan while targets are selected and attack plans coordinated, midair refueling has been crucial.

Although much of the refueling has been done by large Air Force tankers, the more numerous Vikings were key.

“If the S-3s aren’t airborne, the rest of the birds probably can’t do their jobs,” said Lt. Mike Gonzalez. “We’re the backbone.”

Midair refueling is a harrowing mission. The plane needing fuel sticks a long prong into a waiting basket beneath the Viking. Both planes must be steady, and the slightest turbulence or equipment malfunction can be deadly.

“It’s the toughest at night when the [vibrations] increase and when your depth perception disappears,” Gonzalez said. It is a point of pride with VS-33 that there were no lost planes or serious injuries during the deployment.

When the first bombers took off to drop the first load of bombs on Afghanistan the night of Oct. 7, Vikings from the carrier Enterprise were already airborne.

“We’re the first off the carrier and the last to return,” said Cmdr. Ross Myers, commanding officer of the Screwbirds. “She may not be pretty or have a nice pointy nose, but she gets the job done. She’s a workhorse.”

Viking crew members joke about the plane’s looks. The Viking’s nickname is Hoover because its engine is said to sound like a vacuum cleaner. One squadron, noting the Viking’s penchant for being first to the fight, has a patch: “Go Ugly Early.”

No carrier is allowed to depart to war without a squadron of Vikings.

“Without gas, nothing happens,” said Petty Officer Warren Britten, a maintenance worker for the Screwbirds.

When the Stennis departed from San Diego in mid-November, the Screwbirds were ready. By mid-December, the carrier had relieved the carrier Carl Vinson to provide 111 days of continuous bombing and surveillance support for U.S., Afghan and coalition troops on the ground.

“They like to say: ‘We sure passed a lot of gas on this deployment,’” said Howard Lewis, father of Lt. Lewis.