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UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1974-Continued

22 February Lieutenant (jg) Barbara Ann Allen

became the Navy's first designated female aviator

when she received her Wings of Gold in a ceremony

at NAS Corpus Christi, Tex.

1 March Sikorsky's triple-turbine helicopter, the

YCH-53E, the largest and most powerful helicopter in

the western world, made its first flight. The CH-53E

was a growth version of the CH-53 which had been in

Navy service since 1965.

1 March John F Kennedy commenced a year-long

overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard to be converted to

handle the new CV concept (an air wing capable of

performing strike and ASW operations) and to operate

the new F-14 Tomcat fighter as well as the S-3A Viking.

15 March Intrepid was decommissioned and placed

in the reserve fleet after thirty years of service to the

Navy. Since her commissioning on 16 August 1943,

Intrepid had seen duty as a CV, CVA and CVS. During

World War II her air groups shot down 266 enemy

planes, destroyed 298 more on the ground and dam-

aged 178 others.

18 March The first operational F-14 Tomcat fighter

aircraft made its maiden landings and takeoffs from

Enterprise. The operations were conducted by VF-1

and -2 ofCVW-14.

22 March Rear Admiral Brian McCauley arrived in

Cairo, Egypt, with a small military planning staff to

help plan the clearing of the Suez Canal of unexplod-

ed ordnance. The United States, Egypt, France, and

the United Kingdom were involved in the project

known as Nimbus Star.

2 April The last C-54 Skymaster in the Navy's flying

inventory was retired to storage. The twenty-nine-year-

old C-54Q saw its last service with the Naval Test Pilot