“This photo indeed has a surrealistic quality. I believe it is due to the focal length of the camera used. There is no doubt that this pass was an aggressive low-level maneuver,” Dale “Snort” Snodgrass, former F-14 Tomcat driver
The photograph in this post, which was taken in 1988 from the flight deck of the USS America (CV-66), depicts F-14 Tomcat pilot Capt. Dale “Snort” Snodgrass executing his infamous super low banana pass. Moreover, Snort was not grounded, according to Sierra Hotel Aeronautics.
He wrote in 1998: “I am amazed that after nine years this photo is being scrutinized with such fervor. The photo is in fact real. It was taken during a Dependent’s Day airshow aboard the USS America in the summer of 1988. I was the Executive Officer of VF-33, the Captain of America was JJ Coonan. It was my opening pass in the F-14 demo. This photo indeed has a surrealistic quality. I believe it is due to the focal length of the camera used. There is no doubt that this pass was an aggressive low-level maneuver, however, it was briefed to the Airwing Commander who happened to be Captain JL Johnson. Currently, he is the Chief of Naval Operations. In fact, the officer standing on the flight [deck] with his hands behind his back adjacent to the LSO platform is CNO.”
Snort isn’t your standard former naval aviator. He resembles the prototypical fighter pilot of today as much as Chuck Yeager did. In his book Tomcat: The Grumman F-14, Lou Drendel claims that he is the most experienced F-14 Tomcat pilot (having flown the aircraft for more than 4,800 hours), as well as the former commander of Fighter Wing, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (FITWINGLANT), which served as the base for all Navy F-14 squadrons when they were not at sea.
He created and performed a formation aerobatic routine with a Grumman F7F Tigercat from World War II, flown by John Ellis when he was still commander of FITWINGLANT. That was one of the most stunning exhibitions of aviation prowess imaginable given the two Grumman fighters’ significantly varying performance envelopes. His oversight of the conversion of the Tomcat from a fleet defense interceptor to a lethal smart bomber was one of the least recognized but possibly the most significant accomplishments of his career.
Captain Snodgrass is a well-known air show pilot around the world. He has been certified in the F-86 Sabre, P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, T-6/SNJ Texan, MiG-17/21, A-4 Skyhawk, and F-5 Tiger in addition to flying F-14 demos at airshows for 14 years. As Lead Solo for the Black Diamond Jet Team, Snort now flies on behalf of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He also performs the roles of Chief Pilot, Director of Deployed Operations, and Congressional Liaison for Draken International. Nonetheless, that photograph of America is fairly common, and most people immediately appear to believe that it was either edited or that it was a dangerous maneuver.
Instead, as Snort said to John Sponauer, “It’s not risky at all with practice… it was my opening pass to a Tomcat tactical demonstration at sea. I started from the starboard rear quarter of the ship, at or slightly below flight deck level. Airspeed was at about 250 knots with the wings swept forward. I selected an afterburner at about 1/2 mile behind and the aircraft accelerated to about 325-330 knots. As I approached the ship, I rolled into an 85-degree angle of the bank and did a 2-3 g turn, finishing about 10- 20 degrees off of the ship’s axis. It was a very dramatic and, in my opinion, very cool way to start a carrier demo. The photo was taken by an Aviation Boson’s Mate who worked for the flight deck on the USS America.”
The legendary super-low Banana pass on Snort is shown in the following video (you can find a slightly better version of the video here).
Photo by Sean E. Dunn / U.S. Navy