PALUBA

U.S. Navy’s Last Operational F/A-18C Hornet To Be Retired On Feb. 1, 2019
January 29, 2019 David Cenciotti

VFA-34 “Blue Blasters”, the remaining F/A-18C Hornet squadron in the U.S. Navy, will perform their last flight in the Legacy Hornet this week. The only squadron that has not transitioned to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet yet will say farewell to the “Legacy Hornet” at their home base at NAS Oceana, Virginia, on Feb. 1, 2019. Between Jan. 5 and Apr. 11, 2018, the unit has completed the last combat deployment aboard an aircraft carrier: as part of CVW-2, VFA-34 took part in a Westpac deployment that included a port call in Vietnam, the first such port stop by a U.S. carrier since the war ended.

Although they will be officially retired in a matter of days, some F/A-18A+ Hornets (where “+” designates aircraft equipped with AN/APG-73 radars instead of the original AN/APG-65) will continue to serve in the fleet adversary support role with the Reserve as part of VFC-12 from NAS Oceana and VFA-204 from NAS New Orleans Joint Reserve Base. The Blue Angels will also continue flying their Legacy Hornets while transitioning to the Super Hornets. “Legacy Hornets” remain in service with the U.S. Marine Corps that plans to fly the F/A-18Cs until they are replaced by the F-35B STOVL variant Lightining II stealth aircraft While Legacy Hornets are retired, the F-35C CV (Carrier Variant) aircraft prepares to deploy aboard USS Carl Vinson in 2021: after a 6-month deployment aboard USS Nimitz, VFA-147 “Argonauts” have started transition to the F-35C in December 2018.