The F/A-18 soon took over the precision strike mission from the A-6E. Michael Scott Speicher, who is believed to be the first combat casualty of the conflict. Just three were lost, including one flown by Marine Capt. The Hornet shined during the Gulf War, with historically high readiness and accurate strikes. Success bolstered sales, and by the end of 1989 the air forces of Canada, Australia, Spain, Kuwait, and Switzerland had ordered F/A-18s. The Hornet saw its first combat that same year as F/A-18s from USS Coral Sea flew missions against Libyan air defenses. The Hornet's public profile got a big shot in the arm when the Blue Angels chose the airplane to replace their A-4 Skyhawks in 1986. McDonnell (no longer partnered with Northrop) developed structural modification kits to solve the problem. As Hornets deployed, stress from high angle of attack flying resulted in fatigue-related cracks in the tail. The first F/A-18As entered service with Marine Corps squadron VMFA-314 at MCAS El Toro, and the F/A-18 was immediately praised for its strike accuracy and reliability, requiring half the maintenance-hours of the F-14A and A-6E Intruder.
None of these deficiencies were enough to forestall the Navy's order, though. And the strike fighter's 460-mile combat radius was little improvement on the F-4, and 10-12 percent less than that of the A-7. It was lessened by engine modifications but remained an issue. Insufficient transonic acceleration showed up, too. Testing revealed problems including excessive liftoff speed and takeoff roll that had to be addressed by changes to the horizontal stabilators. The new airplane, now officially called the Hornet, first flew in November 1978.
The Daredevil Race to Be the World's Fastest Plane.Infrared Sidewinder missiles lived on the Hornet's wingtips, while radar-guided Sparrows would hang on one of four wing stations that also could be used for bombs or external fuel tanks. The new jet had fly-by-wire control, a heads-up display, multi-function CRT displays, and the latest Hughes AN/APG-65 radar. thrust General Electric F404-400 engines with fixed inlets. The builders added more internal fuel to meet Navy range requirements, and incorporated 16,000-lb. Leading Edge Extensions (LEX) below the canopy blended back into the wing, allowing the airplane to remain controllable at high angles of attack. The F/A-18's trapezoidal wing had a 20-degree sweep on the leading edge and a straight trailing edge. The airframe and landing gear were strengthened for carrier suitability, and an arrester hook and wing-fold mechanisms were added. With its canted tails, the new airplane certainly looked like the YF-17, but key additions got the jet ready for service in the Navy. The carrier aircraft of the 1950s and '60s tended to be specialized fighter or attack airplanes. But the low power-to-weight ratio of these early jets forced the U.S. The aircraft carrier-based fighter planes of World War II, such as the Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair, could carry bomb loads as heavy as the dive bombers of the day, successfully combining fighter and attack capabilities into a single aircraft. This plane was a way for the Navy to replace multiple single-mission aircraft with a jet that could do it all, but it was a long time coming. The first thing to notice about the Hornet is the "F/A" in the F/A-18 designation, meaning the jet was designed to be both a fighter and an attack aircraft. But they became the go-to choice for decades. Hornets weren't always the Navy's first choice. Even so, the swift manner of success showed what the F/A-18 could do and why it was built. The squadron departed Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in early May 2020.Those two Iraqi MiGs are the only aerial victories for the F/A-18 Hornet/Super Hornet during its decades of service-no surprise, since the opponents in America's recent conflicts lacked the air power to challenge the U.S. The carrier and embarked air wing spent a total of 10 months at sea, an unusually long deployment made longer by COVID-19 quarantine procedures and an extended stay in the Persian Gulf to check on Iran. Marine Corps fighter attack squadron VMFA-323 has returned from a deployment on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. The F/A-18C strike fighters of the Marine Corps “Death Rattlers” squadron are back from their last cruise, soon to be replaced by the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. The F/A-18C Hornet, a fighter jet that once crowded the decks of aircraft carriers by the dozens, has left carriers for good.
The “Death Rattlers” squadron will trade in the jets for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter.The Marine Corps adopted the F/A-18C in 1987 and flew the jets for a remarkable 34 years.Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet squadron flew the Marines’ final deployment on an aircraft carrier.
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