RVAH-11

Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron 11
RVAH-11 squadron patch
Active	3 December 1951-1 June 1975
Country	United States
Branch	United States Navy
Role	Photo-reconnaissance
Part of	Inactive
Nickname(s)	Checkertails
Engagements	Vietnam War

RVAH-11 was a Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron of the U.S. Navy. Originally established as Composite Squadron Eight (VC-8) on 3 December 1951, it was redesignated Heavy Attack Squadron Eleven (VAH-11) on 1 November 1955 and was redesignated as Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron Eleven (RVAH-11) on 1 July 1966. The squadron was disestablished on 1 June 1975.

VC-8 was established on 3 December 1951 at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. A small group of officers collected from various other squadrons of the Heavy Attack Wing at NAS Patuxent River assembled in the Fleet Aircraft Support Squadron 52 Ready Room to hear Commander Eugene P. Rankin, one of the pilots of the famed P2V-1, the "Truculent Turtle," read the orders establishing VC-8. Approximately one minute after CDR Rankin finished, VC-8's first scheduled flight became airborne. Personnel from VC-5, VC-6, and VC-7 were pooled to form a nucleus for VC-8 as the first squadron equipped with the AN/ASB-1 radar bombing system that would later be incorporated into the AJ Savage and the A3D (later A-3B) Skywarrior. Unlike other VC squadrons previously formed, VC-8's first aircraft were not AJ-1 Savages, but P2V-3C Neptunes, later redesignated as P2V-3Bs. These aircraft would serve as training platforms until production AJ-1s became available for VC-8.

VC-8 later transitioned to and eventually operated both the AJ-1 and AJ-2 Savage. In 1955, VC-8 relocated to Naval Auxiliary Air Station Sanford, Florida, and on 1 November 1955, was redesignated as VAH-11.

VAH-11 continued to fly the AJ-1 and AJ-2 until reequipped with the A3D-2 Skywarrior in November 1957. With the replacement of the AJ-1 and AJ-2 with the new A3D, NAAS Sanford was the focus of extensive military construction during the mid and late 1950s, all intended to upgrade the installation to full naval air station status as a Master Jet Base and resulting in its redesignation as NAS Sanford. Remaining homeported at NAS Sanford throughout its existence as VAH-11, the squadron made seven Mediterranean deployments, five aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and once each aboard the USS Independence and the USS Forrestal.