OLD GAL' RETIRED

摘要

AIR TEST AND evaluation squadron VX-20 conducted a final flight with C-2A BuNo 162142 on March 19 at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. The Greyhound's final flight marked the end of its 28-year career as a flying testbed. Delivered in 1985, the Greyhound was the third of 39 C-2A carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft produced by Grumman Aerospace. It was assigned to VX-20's predecessor the Force Aircraft Test Squadron in 1992 and had served as a test article ever since. One of its most recent assignments saw the C-2A support land and carrier-based testing of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) that equip the Ford-class aircraft carriers. During its final detachment aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 79) the Greyhound, which the squadron referred to as the 'Old Gal', flew for 11 days straight and made around 40 catapult launches and arrested recoveries plus 50 touch-and-go landings. In addition to testing, it performed several logistics flights back to land bases. Following its retirement, the Greyhound was prepared for display at the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum. Retirement of the C-2A preceded the start of the navy's transition of the COD mission from the fixed-wing Greyhound to the CMV-22B tiltrotor. The reprocured Greyhounds replaced 19 earlier C-2As that were delivered between 1966 and 1967.