re: #181 eon

While unarmed, the Hawkeye is protected by the fleet-defense fighters it controls. Simply put, to get to the E-2, an enemy first has to get past the shooters that the E-2 is busy vectoring in on his a$$.

The Hawkeye also takes off and lands at a lower airspeed than any jet. While it normally takes a cat shot just like any other carrier plane, it’s avble to get off a Nimitz or Eisenhower- class CVN on its own power, due to originally being designed for the Forrestals back in the late Fifties.

Has the Navy even ever lost one in an accident?

/I’ve never heard of any