Story Archive

This Kind of Exhibition Too

The U.S. Navy has grounded the two-man crew of a jet which traced out a design in the sky over Okanogan in central Washington, about 125 miles from the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island. The giant outline of a phallus was so obvious in the clear daytime sky that social media instantly lit up with photos posted by people on the ground. “The Navy holds its aircrew to the highest standards and we find this absolutely unacceptable,” a NAS spokesman said. “We are holding the crew accountable.” Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker promised an investigation. “Sophomoric and immature antics of a sexual nature have no place in Naval aviation today,” he declared. The jet was identified as an EA-18G Growler, a carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft used to thwart enemy radar and communications. (RC/Spokane Spokesman-Review, Washington Post, AP) ...And the Navy was mighty embarrassed to learn it could easily be thwarted by social media.