 | 
A private organization, The Tailhook
Association is comprised of active duty,
Reserve and retired Navy and Marine Corps
aviators, defense contractors, and others.
(The name 'tailhook' comes from the device
that halts aricraft when they land
on aircraft carriers.)
The first symposium took place in Tijuana,
Mexico in 1956 as a reunion of naval aviators.
In 1963 the conference moved to Las Vegas and
added a number of professional development
activities to its agenda. Official Navy
support for the symposium grew after this
point, and the planning for official functions
was conducted by the office of the Assistant
Chief of Naval Operations. The Navy provided
free office space for the Association in Miramar,
California, and used its passenger aircraft
fleet to transport attendees to Las Vegas.
In the early years the
conventions centered
around social gatherings
and parties held in
numerous hospitality
suites funded by Defense
contractors. In the late
1970s, new Dept. of
Defense rules restricted this practice and
suite sponsorship fell to the individual naval
squadrons and commands, who collected funds
from members.
As the number of naval hospitality suites
increased, so too did the competition among
them to create the popular suite. For nearly a
decade attendees have witnessed drunkenness,
strippers, public nudity and consensual public
sex acts that have been attributed to
competition among the squadrons.
|
