324

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1979-Contin ued

Aircraft Division at Stratford, Conn. The SH-60B was

designed to operate from destroyers, frigates and

cruisers in performing its role in the LAMPS mission-

detecting, classifying, locating and destroying hostile

submarines and surface vessels over extended ranges.

Secondary missions for the helicopter included search

and rescue, medical evacuation and general fleet sup-

port. The SH-60B was officially dubbed the Seahawk

in February 1979.

30 August A U.S. Navy CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter

of VR-24 lifted a 12-foot bronze statue of the Madonna

and Child to the top of Mt. Tiberius on Capri, Italy, to

replace one which had been destroyed by lightning. The

statue was too large to be transported overland.

15 September The first UC-12B for the Navy arrived

at NATC Patuxent River, Md., for preliminary evalua-

tion tests. The UC-12B is the military version of the

Beechcraft Super King Air 200 which was purchased

by the Navy to replace aging reciprocating engine air-

craft and supplement the Navy's transport inventory.

The UC-12B was designed to carry S to 12 passengers.

It had a maximum cruise speed of 300 mph and a

range up to 1,760 miles. The aircraft could operate

from short, grass runways and fly at 31,000 feet. It had

advanced solid state avionics which could automatical-

ly navigate the plane through bad weather conditions.

The UC-12B had been designed for reliability, main-

tainability and low cost of operation, with a configura-

tion which lent itself to a variety of transport, training

and utility missions.

18 September The Circulation Control Rotor made

its first flight using the airframe and propulsion system

from an HH-2D helicopter. This CCR was initiated by

the Navy as an advanced rotor system with improved

performance, reduced maintenance requirements, and

reduced vibration levels from extant rotor systems.

28 September RVAH-7 was disestablished, closing

the history on the last RA-5C Vigilante squadron in the

Navy. The Vigilante had provided 15 years of tactical

support to the fleet as a photographic reconnaissance

plane and had served valiantly in Vietnam with inte-

grated intelligence sensors and photographic equip-

ment. Some of the RA-5C Vigilantes were planned for

use as drones.

1-8 October The AV-SC Harrier shipboard trials

were conducted aboard Saipan. Testing consisted of

33 flights involving short take-offs, vertical take-offs

and vertical landings by the A V -Sc.

11 October Nassau and other amphibious ships

headed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a show of

force ordered by the President in response to maneu-

vers by a Russian combat brigade in Cuba. On 17

October, 1,SOO Marines landed in Guantanamo Bay as

a demonstration of naval power in the wake of the

Soviet refusal to withdraw the Russian combat brigade

from Cuba.

14 October The A-6E TRAM aircraft was introduced

into the fleet, at NAS Oceana, Va. The A-6E TRAM pro-

vided the U.S. Navy with the finest all-weather attack

system in the world.

28 October Kitty Hawk and her escort ships were

directed to operate south of the Korean peninsula in

response to the assassination of South Korean

President Park Chung Hee on 26 October.

30 October The F/ A-IS Hornet made its first land-

ing at sea aboard America for five days of sea trials.

A total of 32 catapult and arrested landings were

completed.

4 November One Naval Aviator and 14 Marines

were among the more than 60 Americans taken

hostage when the United States Embassy in Tehran,

Iran, was seized by a mob of Iranian revolutionaries.

Spokesmen for the mob demanded that the United

States return to Iran the deposed Shah who was in a

New York hospital at the time.

18 November Midway and her escort ships, which

had been operating in the Indian Ocean, arrived in the

northern part of the Arabian Sea in connection with

the continuing hostage crisis in Iran.

20 November The last RA-5C Vigilante in the Navy

departed NAS Key West, Fla., on her final flight. The

RA-5C was one of the Navy's finest and only all-

weather carrier based reconnaissance aircraft. With

this final flight, the entire reconnaissance inventory of

156 Vigilante aircraft was phased out.

21 November Kitty Hawk and her escort ships were

directed to sail to the Indian Ocean to join Midway

and her escort ships which were operating in the

northern Arabian Sea. The two carrier forces provided

the U.S. with A-6 and A-7 attack aircraft and F-4 and

the modern F-14 fighter aircraft, which could respond

to a variety of situations if called upon during the

Iranian hostage crisis.