Artifacts: USS Ranger 1960 Yearbook Air Group Nine Squadrons

Finally, we present the aircraft squadrons aboard the Ranger for this tour.

First up are the big boys, or "Whales" as they called them.  The plane is the  Douglas A-3D Sky Warrior.  It was a carrier-borne strategic nuclear-capable bomber.  This was before sub-based nukes became more prevalent.

The main daytime interceptor for the carrier was the Vought F-8 Crusader flown by the Red Lightning squadron.

This was the squadron that the owner of the yearbook served in.  Stanley Rhodes is in the top left picture.  I was lucky I found him.  There's also a note he put on the next page that one of his pilots was killed flying into a mountain in Japan.

These was also a reconnaissance version of the Crusader used by another unit.

The McDonnell F3H Demon was the nighttime/all-weather interceptor for the carrier.

The Ranger carried two squadrons of Douglas A-4 Skyhawks.  The Skyhawk was an amazingly capable little plane.  It could engage in air-to-air combat, function as a bomber (nuclear-capable even), and act as a fuel tanker.  The Skyhawks were used by the Blue Angels and I saw them perform in person.  This squadron was the Blue Blazers.

This squadron was the Shrikes.

Lastly, we have the Spads.  The Douglas A-1 Skyraider was indeed a prop plane in the jet age.  It was mainly a tactical ground attack bomber, but could also drop torpedoes and act as a fuel tanker.  This was the Sky Knights squadron.

A variant Spad functioned as an airborne radar unit.