VF-114 Executioners

I served in the U.S. Navy from July 1957 to March 1961. I enlisted right out of high school at the age of 17. After 9-10 weeks of "boot camp" in San Diego, I went to Airman school in Norman Oklahoma. That was an old Naval Air Station converted into a training center for all aviation ratings. It was the first "screening" process. Graduates, such as myself, went on to a technical training school. Anyone who failed two successive tests was sent directly to the fleet. I went next to Aviation Electronics School in Memphis, Tennessee. This was still 1957 and my first trip to the south. Raised in the egalitarian atmosphere of California, I was not at all prepared for what I witnessed there. Remember, while this was after Brown vs. Board of Education it was before the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Jim Crow was still very much alive in Memphis. Integration was only possible on the Naval Base and many of my "negro" shipmates preferred to stay on base rather than suffer the indignities heaped upon them by the local "citizens" they were sworn to protect.

After the first 6 weeks we were sorted into specialties. I went for Aviation Fire Control. No, I was not a fireman or fire fighter. I was a technician trained to maintain the highly complex, and classified electronic equipment that helped the fighter pilot put his aircraft on target, i.e., to control the armaments (guns, missles, rockets) "fired" by the pilot. Primarily search and tracking radar and related items.

Upon graduation in May, 1958, I was assigned to FITRON 114, Fighter Squadron 114 (VF-114) at Miramar Naval Air Station, just north of San Diego. Before joining my squadron, which was at that time deployed on the Shangri-La (CVA-38), I was temporarily assigned to the Replacement Air Group (RAG) in Fitron 121 (VF-121). Two of us AQAN's showed up on the same day, Dave Fly (yep, his real name) and I. Dave and I became close friends through the rest of our tour in the Navy. Since they didn't know what to do with us at first, they sent us over to North Island to a radar school. It turned out that it was on the same equipment that was taught in the AQ school in Memphis. We coasted through and really enjoyed ourselves, with several side trips to Tiajuana. After the school they sent us back to VF-121 and I went on night shift. This was where I saw the aircraft I would maintain for the next 3 years for the first time and was introduced to squadron life, including flight line duties. As airmen (E3) non-rated pukes, we got a lot of shit details. Fortunately we had taken the 3rd class exam before leaving Memphis and got our promotions to PO3 before the squadron returned in October.

All the veterans went on leave as soon as the ship hit port, leaving the unloading to the new guys. By then there were probably 30 of us, all new to the fleet Navy, the squadron and each other. All different ratings, too. Mechanics, metalsmiths, electricians, ordnancemen (BB stackers), radio men, parachute riggers, etc. A squadron is a self-contained operational unit, so we even had our own medics, cooks, yeomen (secretaries), personnelmen, etc. Of course at that time it was all MEN.