1966-05: Welcome to the Vigilante

This page is not associated with a specific flight log entry, but related very importantly to a number of them.

In the summer of 1966 I was finishing up "Basic Naval Aviation Observer's School" in Pensacola.  In spite of its out of date name (it's now Training Squadron 10), scuttlebutt had it that this was the hardest school in the Navy, introducing prospective Naval Flight Officers to all the arts and skills needed to function as an NFO.  

While Pre-Flight disciplines were divided into three categories: academic, military, and physical training.  I was OK in PT, pretty good in  Academics, earning an "Academics" badge worn above the  name tag.  but I had a long way to go to develop a proper bearing.  Lots of effort after taps and on weekends eventually got me up to speed, but my class standing was average. 

In any case, standing didn't matter;  we NFO candidates were all going to Basic Naval Naval Aviation Officer School, also located at NAS Pensacola, ant Sherman Field.   Rumored to be the hardest school in the Navy, a lot of classroom work and a rigoriouys flight syllabus, which included both missions in the UC-4J and T-2C aircraft. 

We had a very important decision now that we were only a couple weeks from graduation:  which airplane did we want to fly.

The Navy gave us a surprising degree of flexibility in this choice.  Each class was given a set of aircraft selections, based on Navy needs that week, and we selected in order based on academic standing.  There was one proviso:  all attack NFO's must rank within the upper 50% of the class.

There were 2 RA-5C slots available for our class, and I was able to snag the first. There was never any doubt in my mind about this choice.  Such a beautiful aircraft and wondrously advanced systems to operate couldn't be wrong. Right? 

First, I would need to complete Basic Jet Navigation School

Next log entry: 1966-12 SERE School: Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape