Navy Reopens Tailhook Probes of Five Officers

NORFOLK, Va. —  The Navy announced Wednesday that it has reopened Tailhook investigations of five senior officers, including the commander of the Blue Angels flying team and a president of the Tailhook Assn.

The Navy appointed three fact-finding panels to review again the cases of the five officers who attended the 1991 Tailhook Assn. convention in Las Vegas, where dozens of women said they were molested by drunken aviators.

Cmdr. John Tull, a spokesman for Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason, said the three panels will convene starting next week at the Norfolk Naval Base to gather evidence. Reason is the Navy’s top authority on Tailhook matters.

Tull would not disclose any allegations involving the officers.

An attorney who represents two of the aviators targeted in the sexual assault investigation called the decision “vindictive.”

“I think it’s time to let some of these guys go,” said Robert Rae, who represents Cmdr. Robert C. Yakeley and Cmdr. Gregory E. Peairs.

The other three officers being investigated are Capt. Frederic G. Ludwig Jr., based at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., and president of the Tailhook Assn. of naval aviators at the time of the 1991 convention; Capt. Richard F. Braden, commander of the Airborne Early Warning Wing Pacific Staff, and Cmdr. Robert E. Stumpf, commander of the Blue Angels.