392
UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995
1994-Contin ued
20 October Dwight D. Eisenhower completed a
Mediterranean deployment. She initially had the most
advanced technology available in the fleet and be-
come the first aircraft carrier to have women perma-
nently assigned.
25 October Lieutenant Kara S. Hultgreen, the first
woman to fully qualify as an F-14 Tomcat pilot, was
killed in a training accident while attempting to land
on board Abraham Lincoln. She was with VF-213.
28 October Ground was broken for a hangar that
would become the new home of VP-30 at NAS
Jacksonville, Fla. The fleet readiness squadron trained
Navy pilots, naval flight officers, airborne systems spe-
cialists and ground maintenance personnel in the op-
eration of the P-3 Orion patrol aircraft. VP-30 became
the sole Navy P-3 fleet readiness squadron in October
1993 upon the disestablishment of VP-31 on the West
Coast.
15 November Commander Donnie Cochran as-
sumed command of the Blue Angels, becoming the
first African-American skipper of the Navy's flight
demonstration squadron. Commander Cochran had
commanded VF-11, NAS Miramar, Calif., and had
flown with the Blues from 1985 to 1988.
CO of the Blue Angels, Commander Donnie Cochran.
6 December The "Spirit of Naval Aviation" a monu-
ment dedicated to the thousands of Navy, Marine
Corps and Coast Guard aviation personnel who have
earned Wings of Gold, was unveiled at the
Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, Washington,
D.C. The monument would be displayed at the
National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Fla.
8 December NASA announced the selection of five
Naval Aviators to be among its 19 new astronaut candi-
dates for the space shuttle pilot instruction program:
Lieutenant Commander Scott Altman, VF-31; Commander
Jeffery Ashby, VFA-94; Lieutenant Commander Joe
Edwards, Jr., Joint Staff; Commander Dominic Gorie,
VFA-106; and Lieutenant Susan Still, VF-lO 1, the first
female Naval Aviator to be chosen for this program.
Naval reservist Lieutenant Commander Kathryn Hire
was also selected for training as a mission specialist.
20 December Robert C. Osborn died at his home in
Salisbury, Conn., at the age of 90. He had drawn the
cartoon "Grampaw Pettibone" in Naval A viation News
for over 51 years. During World War II he was the cre-
ator of the "Dilbert the Pilot" and the "Spoiler the
Mechanic" posters, which were seen throughout the
Navy, and the "Sense" pamphlets.
...
!.
Robert C. Osborn in his later years.

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