NAS Fallon is located about 60 miles east of Reno in Nevada, home of VFC-13 flying the F-5E/F and Naval Strike & Air Warfare Centre (NSAWC) flying the F-16A/B and
F-18 C/D/E/F fighter jets and the E-2C and SH-60.

The base is well known for its “TOP GUN” air combat training school and regular deployments of Carrier Air Wing preparing for a cruise.

While visiting NAS Fallon recently we had the luck of CVW-3 being present and about to leave as well as the final day of a “TOP GUN” class which resulted in a lot of external assets like F-22’s and F-15’s from Nellis AFB and F-16’s from Fresno and Luke.

The external assets flew 1 v 1 sorties against the students.

The students came from Navy and Marine units:

F-18D             VMFA(AW)–225
F-18C             VMFA–232
F-18C             VMFA-323
F-18C             VMFA–115
F-18E              VFA–137
F-18C             VFA–151
F-18C             VFA–94
F-18C             VFA–34
F-18F              VFA–2
F-18F              VFA–213

External assets:

F-22A             422 TES
F-22A             433 WS
F-15C             422 TES
F-16C             194 FS
F-16C             61 FS
F-16C             308 FS
F-16C             310 FS

CVW-3

F-18C             VMFA-312
F-18C             VFA-37
F-18C             VFA-105
F-18F              VFA-32
EA-6               VAQ-130
E-2C               VAW-126
SH-60             HS-7

The Air Power Park is definitely worthwhile visiting with a lot of legacy fighters present.

We would like to express our gratitude to Steven Rinkel for setting up our visit and to Zip Upham for his outstanding hospitality on base.

Text en photo's by Hans Antonissen