RVAH-11 on the USS Forrestal and the USS Kitty Hawk.

They flew throughout the southwest U.S., practicing day and night photo acquisition, mid-air refueling, touch-and-go landings, etc. 

In October 1967, RVAH-11 found itself unexpectedly enroute to San Diego, California, from Naval Air Station (NAS) Sanford, Florida, to go aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) as a replacement for RVAH-13. Just obtained were several aircraft as well as tools and test equipment, all to replace those lost in July 1967 aboard USS Forrestal (CVA-59) during the explosions and fires on Yankee Station that resulted in the deaths of 134 crewmen and the loss of many aircraft, tools, and test equipment. We were short on time, so it was a real strain to restore everything to a 4.0 state, almost from scratch.

To keep their proficiency level up, the Pilots and RANs flew continuous test missions. These photos reflect that time just before we again departed for Vietnam. They flew throughout the southwest U.S., practicing day and night photo acquisition, mid-air refueling, touch-and-go landings, etc. Gotta keep the "touch"!

On each of the photos are some routine comments that were added by the Photo Interpreter folks. In addition, you will see a little area of "dots" that are placed on each exposure by the Digital Data System (DDS). These dots provide a wealth of information. Encoded in these dots is such data as Pilot, RAN, Squadron, Altitude, Heading, Airspeed, Latitude, Longitude, Aircraft Number, Date, Time, etc. The DDS system exposed its data on the corner of each print via a short tube that was inserted into the Serial Frame Camera. Worked well!

Brad