1978-Continued

15 September The test-bed P-3C Orion was deliv-

ered to the Naval Air Development Center,

Warminster, Pa., for the Update III program. The air-

craft featured an advanced signal processor developed

by IBM which provided a four-fold improvement in

isolating sounds of submerged targets from ocean

background noise. Lockheed California Company was

the prime contractor of the P-3C and had been

involved with its development over the past 17 years.

9 November The U.S. Marine Corps' newest light

attack aircraft, the AV-8B, flew for the first time at

McDonnell Douglas Corporation in St. Louis, Mo. The

AV-8B Harrier had more than double the payload and

radius of its predecessor, the AV-8A.

18 November The Navy's new strike fighter, the

F/ A-18 Hornet, made its first flight at McDonnell

Douglas Corporation in St. Louis, Mo. The Hornet was

designed for a combat radius of more than 550 miles

and a ferry range of more than 2,000 miles.

18 December Commander, NAVAIR formally estab-

lished the undergraduate Jet Pilot Training System

Project. This project was designed to provide Naval

Aviation with an integrated training program consisting

of aircraft, simulators, academics, and training man-

agement. VTXTS was aimed at the intermediate and

advanced jet training levels.

27 December Constellation and her escort ships

were directed to the vicinity of Singapore in response

to the internal crisis in Iran and because of vital U.S.

interests in the Persian Gulf area. On 2 January 1979,

the president directed Constellation and her escort

ships to remain on station in the South China Sea and

not enter the Indian Ocean.

1979

16 January The first F/A-18 Hornet arrived at NATC

Patuxent River, Md., for evaluation trials. Testing dur-

ing the year included in-flight refueling, land-based

catapult launchings and arrested landings, speed tests

and at-sea carrier takeoffs and traps aboard America.

24 January Vice President Walter P. Mondale pre-

sented Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Fix with the

Harmon International Aviation Trophy. Colonel Fix

received the award for his role as Commanding

Officer of HMH-463 during the evacuations of Phnom

Penh and Saigon in 1975. The citation praised Colonel

Fix for carrying out his missions "without casualties

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

321

among the aircrews of 16 rotary wing aircraft in HMH-

463, although the operations took place under combat

conditions involving antiaircraft fire, machine gun and

small arms fire, and in part at night with few naviga-

tional aids." Colonel Fix was the first U.S. Marine

Corps pilot to receive the Harmon Trophy. At the time

of the award, he was Project Manager for the H-lIH-3

Helicopters Project Office at the Naval Air Systems

Command.

25 January The Navy's YAV-8B, the Harrier proto-

type built by McDonnell Douglas, arrived at the Naval

Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Md., to test its aerody-

namic improvements not found in the AV-8A.

28 January Constellation and her escort ships were

released from contingency operations in the South

China Sea. The contingency operations had been

issued in response to the internal crisis in Iran. The

crisis abated when the Shah of Iran departed for exile

on 16 January. Due to the uneasy situation in Iran all

U.S. government dependents and nonessential

American citizens were ordered to evacuate the coun-

tryon 30 January.

9 February The Secretary of the Navy announced

that the helicopter portion of the Navy's LAMPS MK III

was to be known officially as the Seahawk. Designated

SH-60B, the Sikorsky helicopter took its name from the

Curtiss SC-l Seahawk which was a catapult launched,

noncarrier, float plane of late World War II.

,

The newest plane in the Navy inventOlY, the FIA-l8 Hornet, is exam-

ined by naval officers.