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E-2 NFO Work

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DairyCreamer

DairyCreamer

Registered User
Howdy,

I was curious what particularly NFOs in the back of the E-2s do on typical missions. Are they really the ATC of a war? Are they giving vectors (or some derivative thereof) to out planes to find bogeys and bandits? What do they monitor with that insanely powerful radome up top?

Just curious... seems like a fun job. I'd only hope there's enough room to stretch your legs back there :)

~Nate
 
R

rubicon

Registered User
Yeah me too, I am reading a book about AWACS development, but it tends to focus more on the technical side of things?
 
wink

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I sure hope the Hummer dudes roger up to this. I wasn't a E-2 guy but I can say they were the most professional reliable group of aviators on the ship. The VAW guys really run the entire show. It wouldn't be completely accurate to call them the ATC of the war. They have other missions as well.
 
UncleFester

UncleFester

Hummer NFO To Be Reckoned With
Well, we pretty much do everything. That is, everything that the air wing does, we're involved somehow, except maybe the COD bringing mail aboard. Mostly CAG and the admiral like having us airborne because we can see a long way and have a $hitload of radios aboard. With this current unpleasantness in Mesopotamia, we do have sort of an ATC role - getting guys through Kuwait Center and handing them off to the USAF/Marine controllers in Iraq. Sort of like traffic cops. We also do a lot of SSC work - looking for boats, because we're good at seeing surface tracks a long way off. We do a lot of work with the S-3s for that. Our bread and butter is AIC - controlling air intercepts, getting the fighters onto the bad guys. For obvious reasons, though, there's not much demand for that these days. I remember the skipper of the RAG when I was there compared it to being the catcher on a baseball team: you're not even on the field of play and you don't get the glory, but you're calling the pitches, and when the pitcher has a great game, he knows it's because of you.
Oh, and it's not like a P-3; you don't really have room to strech your legs, and you're mostly anchored to your seat for the whole triple-cycle ride (3-4 hrs). Though at least you can go in the back and stand up while you use the relief tube.
 
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