Navy midshipmen got a closeup view of Navy training aircraft on Thursday, March 3. A TH-47 sea ranger from helicopter training squadron 8, based at Naval air station Whiting Field in Milton, Florida landed on the open field near Hobart Taylor Hall. The midshipmen were afforded the opportunity to speak with the instructor pilots and student naval aviators, to learn about life in the skies. When asked what the most difficult part of training was, Capt. C. S. Bailey responded, “Primary flight training. I never flew a plane, and I had a rough time.” Capt. Bailey is an instructor pilot with VT-21 based at Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas. “I flew F/A-18s in the fleet, and I love it.”
Ensign Shaun Steinburger informed students that the “workload in a training squadron is intense. If a student pilot isn’t flying, then they will be in the simulator, or doing squadron administration duties.”
“This was a great opportunity for me,” said Phillip Jones, a Navy midshipman and communications major. “I was excited to be selected for flight training, and I enjoyed speaking with the flight instructors and students, they gave me a lot of good advice.”
The United States Navy has a long and distinguished history in aviation. The first aircraft to take off from a ship occurred on Nov. 14, 1910. In World War II, naval aviators served with distinction and courage alongside marines and sailors as they defeated the Japanese Navy.
The Naval ROTC unit at PV was established in 1968. It carries the distinction of being the first Naval ROTC unit at a Historically Black College/University. Since then, the unit has commissioned 287 officers in the Navy and Marine Corps. The mission of the NROTC unit is to develop midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to give them the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty.