RVAH-9

Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron 9

RVAH-9 squadron patch
Active 15 January 1953-30 September 1977
Country United States
Branch United States Navy
Role Photo-reconnaissance
Part of Inactive
Nickname(s) Hoot Owls
Engagements Vietnam War

RVAH-9 was a Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron of the U.S. Navy. Originally established as Composite Squadron Nine (VC-9) on 15 January 1953, it was redesignated as Heavy Attack Squadron Nine (VAH-9) on 1 November 1955 and was redesignated as Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron Nine (RVAH-9) on 3 June 1964. The squadron was disestablished on 30 September 1977.[1]

Operational history

VAH-9 A3D-2 Skywarrior flies over Capri in 1958
VAH-9 A3D-2 suffers a nosewheel collapse on USS Saratoga c.1959
RVAH-9 RA-5C Vigilante prepares to launch from USS Ranger in 1966

VC-9

VC-9 was established at Naval Auxiliary Air Station Sanford, Florida in January 1953 and was initially equipped with the AJ-2 Savage, receiving its first aircraft in June 1953.[2] In 1953, while operating from the USS Midway, VC-9 conducted the Navy's first inflight refueling operations.

In preparation for the arrival of the A3D Skywarrior heavy attack jet aircraft as the designated airframe to replace the AJ Savage in the carrier-based nuclear strike role, NAAS Sanford was subject to significant improvements during the mid and late 1950s in order to upgrade the installation to full naval air station status as a Master Jet Base. Following completion of these improvements, the base was renamed NAS Sanford.

Also in preparation for the arrival of the A3D, VC-9 was redesignated as VAH-9 on 1 November 1955, receiving its first Skywarriors 14 months later in early 1957.

VAH-9

VAH-9 reequipped with the A3D-2 Skywarrior in early 1957 and flew the A3D-2 for eight years thereafter, making several Mediterranean deployments aboard USS Saratoga.[3] In September 1962, with the implementation of a common aircraft designation system throughout the Department of Defense, the A3D-2 was redesignated as the A-3B Skywarrior.

The intended follow-on aircraft to the subsonic A-3 Skywarrior in the heavy attack role was the Mach 2+ A-5 Vigilante in its A-5A and A-5B variants. As the submarine-launched ballistic missile became the primary Navy strategic deterrent, the Navy concluded that it no longer needed carrier-based strategic bombers and that Naval Aviation's strike arm would remain strictly a tactical force. Having been designed as a supersonic nuclear strike bomber, aircraft such as the A-5A and A-5B no longer had a mission, and in 1963, the Navy decided to halt any further procurement of the A-5A and the follow-on A-5B. However, in lieu of prematurely retiring the Vigilante, it was deemed that it would be reconfigured as a dedicated reconnaissance platform under the designation RA-5C.

VAH-9's transition to the RA-5C Vigilante began in April 1964. The unit's designation was changed to RVAH-9 in June of that year and the last A-3B was transferred out on 4 August 1964.

RVAH-9 / Vietnam / Cold War

RVAH-9 / Cold War

Attrition of airframes and the increasing maintenance and flight hour costs of the RA-5C in a constrained defense budget environment forced the Navy to incrementally retire the RA-5C and sunset the RVAH community beginning in mid-1974. Carrier-based reconnaissance was concurrently conducted by the active duty VFP community at NAS Miramar and the Naval Reserve VFP community at Andrews AFB / NAF Washington with the RF-8G Crusader until 29 March 1987, when the last RF-8G was retired and the mission was fully transferred to the active duty and Naval Reserve VF community at NAS Miramar, NAS Oceana, NAS Dallas and NAS JRB Fort Worth as a secondary role with the F-14 Tomcat equipped with the Tactical Air Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS).

Following its return from its final Mediterranean deployment in early 1977, RVAH-9 was inactivated at NAS Key West on 30 September 1977 following over 24 1/2 years of active service.[13]

Home station assignments

The squadron was assigned to these home stations:

Aircraft Assignment

See also

References

  1. ↑ Grossnick, Roy A. (1995). Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons Volume 1 The History of VA, VAH, VAK, VAL, VAP and VFA Squadrons. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy. p. 547. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Ginter, Steve (1992). North American AJ-1 Savage (Naval Fighters Number 22). p. 71. ISBN 0942612221.
  3. ↑ "Skywarrior in Service with US Navy". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  4. ↑ RA-5C Vigilante Units in Combat, R. R. Powell, Osprey Publishing, Ltd, Botley, Oxford, UK, c2004, ISBN 1-84176-749-2
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 http://www.gonavy.jp/navy/sqn/VAH09.html
  6. 1 2 "Carrier, Carrier Based Squadrons and Non-Carrier Based Squadron Deployments to Vietnam" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy. 1995. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  7. ↑ http://www.virtualwall.org/ds/SchoonoverCD01a.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.virtualwall.org/dh/HollingsworthHT01a.htm
  9. ↑ Powell, Robert (2012). RA-5C Vigilante Units in Combat. Osprey Publishing. p. 86. ISBN 9781782005421.
  10. ↑ "Charles Schoonover, LCDR". The Virtual Wall. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  11. ↑ "U.S. Unaccounted-For from the Vietnam War (Sorted by Name) Prisoners of War, Missing in Action and Killed in Action/Body not Recovered" (PDF). Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  12. ↑ http://www.gonavy.jp/navy/sqn/VAH01.html
  13. ↑ http://www.rvahnavy.com/5history.html
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