US Navy F/A-18C Hornet Performs Final Active Duty Flight

On Oct. 2, 2019 the last US Navy F/A-18C Hornet performed its official final active duty flight at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, escorted by three F/A-18F Super Hornets. “Today marked the final United States Navy F/A-18C Operational Hornet flight. Its technological innovation was continued on the F/A-18 E/F/G aircraft and helped the U.S. Navy transition from 4th to 5th generation aircraft,” said the Commodore, Command Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic, Capt. Brian Becker.

The aircraft, BuNo 163506 modex AD-300, was assigned to VFA-106 Gladiators in 1988 and remained with the squadron for its entire 31 years of service. After this final flight, it will be officially removed from the US Navy’s inventory and will begin its decommissioning phase, where all the usable parts are removed, before facing the final demolition.

Strike Fighter Squadron 106 (VFA-106) is the Navy’s East Coast Fleet Replacement Squadron, which trains naval aviators to fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Before this last flight it operated a mixed fleet of F/A-18C/D Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The Gladiators are also one of the squadrons that made up the US Navy’s Tac Demo Teams, together with the Flying Eagles of VFA-122 out of NAS Leemore, California.