Dale “Snort” Snodgrass, a renowned F-14 Tomcat pilot and accomplished airshow performer, was reported to have perished on July 24, 2021, in Lewiston, Idaho, when a SIAI Marchetti SM.1019 crashed
Dale “Snort” Snodgrass, a renowned F-14 Tomcat pilot and accomplished airshow performer, was reported to have perished on July 24, 2021, in Lewiston, Idaho, when a SIAI Marchetti SM.1019 crashed. AvWeb claims that the specifics are still hazy. Based on the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, the SIAI-Marchetti SM.1019 is an Italian STOL liaison monoplane produced by SIAI-Marchetti for the Italian Army.
Dale’s father was a test pilot while he was a child growing up on Long Island, and he introduced Snort to flying. According to Erik Hildebrandt’s story in Anytime, Baby! The last Navy F-14 Tomcats, after graduating from high school, Dale enlisted in the NAVY ROTC program to train to become a pilot and attended the University of Minnesota, where he studied biology.
After getting his B.S. in biology and completing ROTC training, Snort established a new standard for the naval aviation program by being the first flight school graduate chosen for the F-14 Tomcat pipeline. He was the first nugget to ever qualify for carrier in the F-14 RAG (both night and day). The US Navy named Snort “Fighter Pilot of the Year” in 1985. Dale received “Topcat of the Year” awards from Grumman Aerospace in 1986 for being the top F-14 pilot.
Snort served as the VF-33’s CO during “Operation Desert Storm.” He served in 12 operational Fighter Squadron/Wing tours, leading 34 missions as the overall Strike or Fighter Lead. He received awards, including the Bronze Star for Leadership and Valor. He was appointed Commander of the US Navy F-14 Tomcats for Fighter Wing Atlantic in September 1994.
With over 4800 hours and more than 1200 arrested carrier landings, Dale was the “highest time Tomcat pilot” in the Navy and the front-seater with the most F-14 flying time.
Dale “Snort” Snodgrass retired from the Navy after 26 years of service and continued to fly warbirds to expand his cockpit knowledge. He qualified in the F-86 Sabre, MiG 15, MiG 17, P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, Curtiss P-40, T-6 Texan/Harvard, and 8KCAB Super Decathlon in addition to flying F-14 demos at airshows for 14 years. Only ten USAF Heritage Flight Pilots have been selected, and Dale was one of them. During the span of 20 years, Captain Snodgrass participated in over 850 airshows and qualified in both formation and surface aerobatics. Because, as some said, “he keeps the grass mowed between the runways,” airshow enthusiasts love watching Date perform his signature low-level banana pass.
Captain Snodgrass most recently held the positions of Chief Pilot, Director of Deployed Operations, and Congressional Liaison with Draken International.
Photo by U.S. Navy