US Naval Aviation in the 1980s: Atlantic and Pacific Fleet Air Stations

The final decade of the Cold War saw unprecedented peacetime expansion of the US Navy, including Naval Aviation. President Reagan’s plan for a 600-ship Navy, resulted in stepped-up construction of Nimitz class supercarriers and the aircraft to operate from them, including new types like the F/A-18 Hornet. Naval aviation was highly diverse, from carrier-borne F-14 Tomcats, to P-3 Orions keeping vigil over the world’s oceans, SH-2 Seasprites operating from tiny landing pads on warships in hea...