Grumman E-2 Hawkeye (16-6508)

I love Hawkeyes. They haul a_s thru the sky, sounding like a monster swarm of very, VERY POed bees and swooping and banking like fighter jets. The tight banking turns they can make are amazing. I wish I could be on a carrier to get some clicks of these being launched and being recovered. Must be fabulous to see!

An awesome beast for sure. Had wondered about the sound and now you confirm my expectation along with a damn good photo. Interesting coincidence that you post this the same time as Brian in Shannon, Ireland posts pics of one landing there.

I think the USN lost a Hawkeye on a training mission out of Norfolk VA just a few days ago. Luckily all 4 crew members managed to bail out safely.

Chris .... You are indeed correct. In fact, as we watched this one approaching from a distance, we were discussing that crash as it had occurred only several hours previously. One question we all had was why there had been just 4 on it. A Hawkeye crew usually numbers 5 - two of those are pilots, but there was no copilot aboard the one that went down. It was on a training sortie so we were a bit mystified why there was no copilot. Even the Navy PAO with us was wondering that question. But at least all aboard were able to get out and survived.

Thanks for that background info Gary. The sight (and the sound!) of a Hawkeye is one extremely rare event for all of us down here...It will be interesting to see what the investigation into this loss of an extremely valuable a/c reveals.

Excellent photo, capture and detail! Way to get 'up close and personal! :) Filling in all 5!

Yup, that's a really nice shot, Gary!