
Amazing footage shows U.S. Hornets at work everywhere, from every point of view. Enjoy!!
You probably know Hornet Ball, the compilation of cool videos produced by LT Joseph “C-Rock” Stephens, an Instructor WSO with the VFA-122 Flying Eagles, and made of clips from most of the squadrons based at NAS Lemoore as well as the 4 forward deployed squadrons in Japan.
Well, this year’s edition has been dubbed “Rhino Ball.”
“The 2016 Rhino Ball video is finally here! From November 1999 through 2015 NAS Lemoore has hosted a mixture of legacy F/A-18A-D Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, otherwise known as “Rhinos.” Beginning in 2017, the new F-35 Lightning II will also join the presence in central California.
That makes 2016 our Year of the Rhino. Goodbye Hornet Ball and warm feelings to future Strike Fighter Balls, but this year…this year we have the one and only Rhino Ball, with the only official Rhino Ball Video ever made,” says “C-Rock” in the YT video comment.
Through the eye of HD GoPro cameras, the awesome 17-min video brings you aboard West coast F/A-18C Legacy Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet during flight deck operations, trap landings in very bad weather or at night, live firing of AIM-9 and AIM-7 air-to-air missiles, JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions), low-level flying in the mountains and through the famous Jedi Transition, ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared) pod clips taken while flying missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Here are Hornet Ball 2015, Hornet Ball 2014 and Hornet Ball 2013.
Naval airpower at its finest. You’ll never see a Russian video like this. Third-world countries can’t support carrier operations. China? Maybe something much less sophisticated in 30 years. But ask yourself this question. What will the U.S. be deploying in 30 years? The UK? France, Italy, maybe even Japan? Something even better!
I look forward to seeing the QE-class become operational. In particular the Russians will be raging with envy. They’ll never have anything like it.
“Fighter Fling” by the Tomcat community did it better. Can be found on youtube. (2003 and 2004 are the best IMO.)