Description

VAH-9 Hoot Owls Squadron Patch

Enjoy this VAH-9 Hoot Owls Squadron Patch that is beautifully embroidered.  You’ll be able to display or wear it with pride.

• 4 inch
• Embroidered/Sew On
• US Naval Aviator Owned Business
• Reproduction

VAH-9
VAH-9 was reequipped with the A3D-2 Skywarrior in early 1957 and flew the A3D-2 for eight years thereafter, making several Mediterranean deployments aboard USS Saratoga.[3] In September 1962, with the implementation of a common aircraft designation system throughout the Department of Defense, the A3D-2 was redesignated as the A-3B Skywarrior.

The intended follow-on aircraft to the subsonic A-3 Skywarrior in the heavy attack role was the Mach 2+ A-5 Vigilante in its A-5A and A-5B variants. As the submarine-launched ballistic missile became the primary Navy strategic deterrent, the Navy concluded that it no longer needed carrier-based strategic bombers and that Naval Aviation’s strike arm would remain strictly a tactical force. Having been designed as a supersonic nuclear strike bomber, aircraft such as the A-5A and A-5B no longer had a mission, and in 1963, the Navy decided to halt any further procurement of the A-5A and the follow-on A-5B. However, in lieu of prematurely retiring the Vigilante, it was deemed that it would be reconfigured as a dedicated reconnaissance platform under the designation RA-5C.

VAH-9’s transition to the RA-5C Vigilante began in April 1964. The unit’s designation was changed to RVAH-9 in June of that year and the last A-3B was transferred out on 4 August 1964.