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Author's Note

By CDR Norman E. Davis, USNR (Ret)

This series of nine articles on my naval career were written for and published by AOPA (Airplane Owners and Pilots Association) Magazine in New Zealand, where my family and I now reside in retirement.

In Chapter 1: Navcad Days, I remember my early naval career which began in high school as a Machinist Mate Apprentice in the Naval Reserve. It traces the several steps I took within the Reserves before being selected for entry into the Navy's elite flight training program. The program had three categories of inductees: current officers who already had their commissions; Aviation Officer Candidates (AOC) who had college degrees and received their commissions after 16 weeks of military and pre-flight training; and Naval Aviation Cadets (Navcad) who didn't have four-year college degrees received their commission only when they received their wings at the end of flight program. I was enrolled in the Navcad Program. My first chapter tells about the training from the Navcad point of view, and my first assignment after receiving my Navy Wings of Gold.

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Chapter 2: Don't Go Near the Water, relates my first life-threatening naval adventure. It's told by Arthur Barber, a Lockheed Technical Representative with the Navy, who later wrote the story. The tense drama was related to the 1958 US Antarctica Expedition for which I volunteered in 1957, although the event took place in an area quite remote from the Antarctic. The incident occurred not far above the 500 miles of equatorial waters that lie between Honolulu and Canton Island in Micronesia. It is the largest and most northern atoll of the Phoenix Group, and at the time was a refueling stop operated by Pan American Airways for air mail, passenger and express service between Hawaii and New Zealand. The story relates to a US Navy R4D (DC-3/Dakota) aircraft of Air Development Squadron Six (VX-6), which was on its way to Wigram, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Chapter 3: Pilot Error, is a sequel to "Don't Go Near the Water." Following my tour of duty with VX-6, flying in the Antarctic, I received orders to join Attack Squadron 65 (VA 65), via Aviation Electronics Officer School at Memphis, Tennessee, and the Group (RAG) Squadron VA 42 at NAS Oceana, Virginia, flying the AD6 Skyraider. A RAG squadron is one dedicated to refreshing pilots in fleet operational aircraft after they have been on duty elsewhere. This ensures that squadrons at sea always have fully trained and ready pilots. This chapter deals with re-learning how to fly a fighting aircraft.

In Chapter 4: Aircrft Carrier Operations, I briefly describe what it's like to fly from and land on a U.S. Aircraft carrier. I also mention what it's like to live aboard a carrier for several months at a time, a description of some of my duties, and the problems related to keeping an air group maintained and supplied while at sea.

Chapter 5: Navy Memories, adds more of my memories as a pilot with the U.S. Navy in the mid-1960s.

Chapter 6: Transition to A-4 Skyhawks, tells some of my adventures following a second combat deployment aboard the USS Enterprise. I received orders to transition to the A-4 Skyhawk at the Naval Air Station Lemoore near Fresno, California.The squadron for this transition was VA-125, sister squadron to VA-122. Before reporting to this assignment, I visited New Zealand to spend some time with the family and then bring them back to California. We found a house in a nearby town and I commenced training as a jet strike pilot.

Chapter 7: Hot-Tailing It in Heinemann's Hotrod covers more of my experiences as a military pilot flying the Douglas A4 Skyhawk) on carrier operations in America and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

Chapter 8: COMFAIRLEMOORE continues with my experiences in what is my pentultimate story in my earlier life as an aircraft carrier pilot in the Navy.

Chapter 9: Whidbey Island and the EA-6B details my promotion to squadron commander of the first electronic warfare squadron with the 4-seat EA-6B "Prowler" — a modification of the US Navy's 2-seat A-6 "Intruder" all-weather attack aircraft. After 20 years as a naval carrier pilot, my family convinces me to retire to a very different life in New Zealand.

After-Word: A Life Still in the Making is a round-up of my life to-date. It adds some insights into the tales I told in the previous nine chapters, then turns to the difficulties of slowing to New Zealand life after the exciting years as a carrier pilot. It attempts to prove that there is life after the U.S. Navy — one that shows learning and contributing to civilization does not stop with age.

— October 2007

"Highlights" is in PDF Format and Requires a Free PDF Reader

Highlights of 20+ Years in the U.S. Navy
59 Pages — $15.00

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