Reporting

Coming back after successful carrier qualification, our crew had just a few flights to finish the formal syllabus.  Aerial mapping was one particular skill we were working on.  It was left until last because it's something that fleet A-5 squadrons hardly ever do.

I had already received orders, to be executed when training was done.  The orders were to Recon Attack Squadron ONE, the "Smoking Tigers".  They were just beginning to work up toward a deployment in the fall, so joining the squadron at this time would be ideal.  They were located across the ramp, and I visited them to introduce myself.  "Best RVAH squadron" I was told.  

This straightforward transition from the training squadron to an operational fleet squadron was not to be, however.  Halfway across the world, an A-5 navigator decided he didn't like the idea of getting shot at, and turned his wings in.  He needed to  be replaced.

So a received a call to Wing headquarters.  I was the one. My orders to RVAH-1 were cancelled, and I was to report to Reconnaissance Attack Squadron TWELVE.   A few days later I was on a MAC charter over the Pacific, headed for Clark AFB, then Naval Air Station Cubi Point, Philipines. There I would meet up with the squadron, embarked in USS Constellation, heading in to Cubi after a short period on the line in the Gulf of Tonkin, conducting the systematic bombing of North Vietnam.