CAG 11 Change of Command

Changes of com­mand hap­pen all over the mil­i­tary all the time and usu­ally one isn’t really all that dif­fer­ent from another.
When Captain Tom “Trim” Downing took over com­mand of Carrier Airwing 11, based on board USS Nimitz on August 1, though, the “on board” became “air­borne” as the change of com­mand with out­go­ing CAG Captain David Woods occurred in two F/​A-​​18 Hornets pass­ing over­head the ship.
Airborne changes of com­mand are not that rare in the Navy. It pro­vides a nice alter­na­tive to the staid, for­mal and at times stuffy stand­ing in ranks. I don’t know if there is an Army equiv­a­lent (a cou­ple of main bat­tle tanks in for­ma­tion?) to naval aviation’s air­borne change of com­mand, but again it is a nice alter­na­tive to have in this time-​​honored pass­ing of the lead­er­ship torch. The fact that we’re at war, as well, kind of calls for a no-​​nonsense approach to this cer­e­mony. Nimitz is cur­rently deployed to the west­ern Pacific and the Arabian Gulf, as well, so being on the pointy-​​tip of the spear calls for pointy-​​tip actions.

PACIFIC OCEAN (JULY 31, 2007) — Capt. Michael Manazir, com­mand­ing offi­cer of the nuclear-​​powered air­craft car­rier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), Capt. David Woods, for­mer Commander, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11, and Capt. Thomas Downing, com­man­der CVW-​​11, fly by the Nimitz in a F/​A-​​18E and F/​A-​​18F Super Hornets dur­ing an air­borne change of com­mand cer­e­mony for CVW-​​11. The Nimitz Strike Group and embarked Carrier Air Wing 11 are deployed in the U.S. 7th Fleet. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Brian Knoll (RELEASED)
Trim was a squadron mate of mine back in our VF-​​14 Tophatter days. I’ve only seen him a cou­ple of times in the years since we left that first Tomcat duty, but he’s gone on to com­manded VFA-​​136, led strikes into Afghanistan and has been Deputy Commander of CAG 11 since July of 2006.
The Navy News arti­cle on the CoC is here. More pics over at the Instapinch.
Congrats, Trim!
–Pinch Paisley

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