I started from the starboard rear quarter of the ship, at or slightly below flight deck level. “It’s not risky at all with practice… It was my opening pass to a Tomcat tactical demonstration at sea. Nowadays “Snort” is still in the air shows circuits and he is qualified in the F-86 Sabre, P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, T-6/SNJ Texan, MiG-15, MiG-17 and MiG-21.ĭealing with the low pass over the USS America, “Snort”, at the time Executive Officer (XO) of VF-33 Starfighters, released this interview to John Sponauer: In the Navy, Dale amassed more hours in the F-14 than any other pilot, and he is considered the “highest time Tomcat pilot”, with over 4,800 hours and more than 1,200 arrested carrier landings and for 14 years he has flown F-14 demos that people still talk about today. My RIO responded, “We’re an Eagle Eater, Baby…!” Zone V (which was the maximum afterburner thrust setting for TF-30 engine) burner to 20,000 feet and still over their runways! The departure controller watched in amazement and then asked our aircraft type.
Let’ em get a load of a real fighter, Navy style! The final flight over to Miramar was short, so we whacked the Air Force a final time with a sunset takeoff. At that time no one under the rank of O-4 major had flown the Eagle. Luke was scheduled to receive its first F-15 Eagles the next day. A general came to greet us at the VIP parking ramp. We were the first F-14 ever seen at that huge base. To make the flight truly historic we stuck another ensign in the RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) seat.”īefore arriving at Naval Air Station Miramar, Dale and his RIO made a fuel stop at Luke Air Force Base: “We’d let the Air Force get a close-up look at the Tom. I was rewarded with the privilege of picking up a brand-new Tomcat at the factory for delivery to the west coast. “I was the first ensign to complete day/night Tomcat quals, right out of flight school. Grown up in Long Island, Dale’s dad was a test pilot and “Snort” set a new standard within the naval aviation program becoming the first flight school graduate to be selected for the newly formed F-14 pipeline, as explained by Snodgrass himself in the book Grumman F-14 Tomcat Bye-bye, Baby…! :
DALE SNORT SNODGRASS DRIVER
In fact, this photo was taken on the 1988 Dependents’ Day Cruise of the USS America (CV-66) and the F-14 Tomcat driver who performed this incredible super low, super close pass is Dale “Snort” Snodgrass, a pilot who has become synonymous of Tomcat. But the true story behind the above picture is quite different.
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