VA-811 and VA-813
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Point of Contact = Squadron Duty Officer (SDO). See FAQ/Research/Contact link under [SA] in the menu. |
 NAVAIRESCEN Minneapolis Patch from G. Verver |
 VA-811 Patch from Dick Dellwo |
 VA-813 Patch from Dick Dellwo |
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Patch No info yet. |
Sources David Weber Dick Dellwo Gary Verver John Gabbard |
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Handle VA-813 - Snowbirds Radio Call Sign - "Employ" Heritage Known units at Naval Air Station Twin Cities: FAS-812 VA-5E2 VA-811 VA-813 (probably established in that order) |
Home Ports 1963 - - - - - Naval Air Station Twin Cities, Minnesota. |
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Air Wings No info yet. |
Aircraft Date Type First Received - - - - - - Type of Aircraft: Aircraft at the NAS. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Stearman PT-17. 194? - - - - - - - - - - North American SNJ Standard Navy Jet. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Beech SNB Secret Navy Bomber. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Grumman F4F Wildcat. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Grumman F6F Hellcat - Whistling Outhouse. 1953 - - - - - - - - - - Grumman TBM-3 Avenger - Turkey. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Grumman F8F Bearcat - Blue Scooter. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Douglas AD Skyraider SPAD. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Douglas AD-5 Skyraider - Lumber Wagon. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Vought F4U Corsair. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Lockheed P2V Neptune. 1963 - - - - - - - - - - Lockheed P-2F Neptune. 194? - - - - - - - - - - Douglas R4D Goonie Bird. 195? - - - - - - - - - - Grumman S2F Tracker - STOOF. 195? - - - - - - - - - - Grumman F9F-4 Panther. 195? - - - - - - - - - - Lockheed T2V-1 (T-1A) Seastar. 1954 - - - - - - - - - - Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star. 1963 - - - - - - - - - - Douglas A-4B Skyhawk. For A-4 Skyhawk aircraft assigned to this unit see lower in this page: |
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Deployments No info yet |
Commanding Officers 195? - - - - - - CDR Lyle Lundeen - VA-811 1963 - - - - - - LCDR Lyle Lundean - VA-811 1963 - - - - - - LCDR George Kline - VA-813 |
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Awards No info yet |
Awards continued No additional info |
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Events 194?: Following World War II, Naval Air Station Twin Cities hosted Naval Reserve units. Some of the reserve units assigned to Naval Air Station Twin Cities were VA5E2, FAS-812, VA-811 and VA-813. 1963: VA-811 and VA-813 were dual reserve squadrons based at Naval Air Station Twin Cities. The two squadrons transitioned from A-1E to A-4B's in 1963. There were also three T-1A Seastars to get everyone jet qualified. Most pilots went on two weeks active duty for training to Naval Air Station Kingsville or Naval Air Station Beeville Texas for that. August 30, 1963: Lieutenant Dick Dellwo flew the first Skyhawk Naval Air Station Twin Cities acceptance test flight that afternoon in A-4B Skyhawk BuNo. 142762. Not much was said about the first Navy jet flight in seven years as the base PAO was too gun-shy to go out and talk about it. August 31, 1963: Lieutenant Dick Dellwo flew A-4B Skyhawk BuNo. 142762 twice this day. September 8, 1963: A-4B Skyhawk BuNo. 144922 flew it's acceptance test flight. This was the second operational Twin Cities Skyhawk. A Commander from Naval Air Station Detroit checked out the Twin City pilots in the Lockheed T-1A Seastar. The base Aviation Safety Officer, a helo pilot, was also checked out in the T-1A. October 1963: Naval Air Station Twin Cities received a third A-4B Skyhawk, BuNo. 144916. Others A-4B Skyhawks followed. One Skyhawk was assigned to maintenance and did not count against operational availability. The Twin Cities A-4B Skyhawk complement was: BuNo. 142084 BuNo. 142693 BuNo. 142694 BuNo. 142762 the 1st A-4B to arrive August 30, 1963 BuNo. 142748 BuNo. 142799 BuNo. 142910 BuNo. 142931 BuNo. 144812 BuNo. 144882 BuNo. 144913 BuNo. 144916 the 3rd A-4B to arrive in October 1963 BuNo. 144922 the 2nd A-4B to arrive September 8, 1963 BuNo. 144939 BuNo. 144956 BuNo. 144959 Douglas A-4B Skyhawk BuNo. 144882 was later shipped to Argentina and used in the Malvinas War. November 1963: The A-4B Skyhawk had only TACAN for navigation and instrument approaches to landing. The Minneapolis VORTAC was at Anoka airport 20 miles northwest of Naval Air Station Twin Cities. The Skyhawks only approved instrument approach was a TACAN /BACK COURSE ILS approach to runway 9. GCA (radar Ground Controlled Approach) was the ONLY way in for the Skyhawks in bad weather. 1965: After trying for two years Naval Air Station Twin Cities received a TACAN trailer from Chu Lai, Vietnam Marine Corps Air Station. It took another year to get the TACAN operational. The instrument approach had a 7 mile arc to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. The instrument approach worked for all four runways. The whole TACAN acqisition was called DELLWO's Folly. |
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Unit Photos Webmaster note: Prior to 1970, reserve aircraft belonged to the local NARTU or Reserve Naval Air Station. Except for those squadrons on active duty, as in Korea, no reserve squadron "owned" their aircraft, as they were assigned to the NARTU/Station. In 1970, during that reorganization of the reserves into the "Reserve Force" concept, each new squadron was made independent of NARTU (later called NAR), and assigned either to CVWR-20 or CVWR-30. All squadrons were then made in the image of active duty units, with the reserve unit Commanding Officer owning the aircraft and reporting to the CAG. NAS Twin Cities Navy/Marine Reserve Skyhawk BuNo 142828, 7E-5, parked on the ramp next to a VMT-1 Cougar. Lionel Paul. 1965: NOV65 NAN photo of CDR Lyle A. Lundeen (r) presenting LCDR B.K. Fletcher a "trophy" for his "bullseye" at the range. NOV65 NAN photo. Mid-sixties: VA-811 takes to the deserts of Yuma AZ to practive dropping the big ones. Richard E. Dellwo
Circa 1965: VA-811 A-4B BuNo 142846, 7E-15. CDR Lyle A. Lundeen (at right), VA-811, presents LCDR B.R. Fletcher miniature practice bomb with which Fletcher scored Bullseye. NAN photo. MAR 1965: LCDR Larry Potter took this photo of BuNo 142866 while serving in VA-811 as X.O. 7E-14 is over Mt. Shasta, CA in March, 1965. Off-Duty Photos |
A-4 Skyhawk aircraft assigned to NAS Twin Cities:
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A-4 Skyhawk aircraft assigned to NARTU - NAS Twin Cities;
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