Editor’s Note: If nothing else, this is good for a smile and a laugh. Seems like the Navy guys (and gals) at Tinker Air Force Base are indicating where they believe the title of Commander in Chief will be bestowed. Either that, or they’re getting a good laugh at the expense of everyone else. Not that the Navy would ever do such a thing, right?!
VQ-3 and VQ-4, both Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons better known as the “Ironmen,” and “Shadows,” respectively, fly the E-6B Mercury. A modified Boeing 707 platform, the TACAMO (TAke Charge And Move Out) aircraft was designed to act as a communications relay between the National Command Authority and the Navy’s ballistic missile submarines. Well played, Navy!
In recent weeks, “TRUMP” has been flying high over Oklahoma.
That’s the callsign of a Navy E-6B command and control aircraft, which has answered to the Republican front-runner’s name on two flights in the runup to the state’s primaries.
E-6B “Mercury” TACAMO aircraft. (U.S. Navy photo)
Both missions were flown in March by the same E-6B Mercury, a converted Boeing 707 whose TACAMO aircrew relays messages to the fleet of ballistic missile submarines that lurk around the globe, ready to fire nuclear-armed missiles at the president’s order. TACAMO stands for “take charge and move out.” The plane appears to have taken off from Oklahoma on March 8 and headed north to Omaha, Nebraska. On previous missions, the Navy E-6B was identified as “BIGDON3.”
The E-6B flew missions March 8 and March 13 as call sign “TRUMP,” which appears not to have swayed enough primary voters — Sen. Ted Cruz topped Donald Trump in the March 14 Republican primary; in the Democratic contest, Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton. In recent months, Donald Trump jetted to the Sooner State aboard his luxury Boeing 757.
The original article in its entirety can be read at the Navy Times right here.
(Featured photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)