The Silent Screwtop of VAW-123, Part 1

By Captain Alexander G. Monroe, USN (Ret)
HRNM Docent & Contributing Writer

(Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

At Ely Memorial Park, close by Gate Four at the Naval Station Norfolk, formerly known as Naval Air Station Norfolk, are a number of aircraft on static display. One such bird is an E2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft that bears the paint scheme of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron One Hundred Twenty-Three (VAW-123), also known as The World Famous Screwtops. The squadron exists today as it has over time to provide an airborne asset for radar surveillance and monitoring thus supporting an embarked Carrier Air Wing. The display serves three purposes: 

(1) It commemorates 50 years of operations of the squadron based ashore at Norfolk.

(2) It recognizes consistent outstanding achievement in various facets of operational performance to include hostile operations.

(3) It memorializes the loss of three outstanding aviators aboard a Hawkeye during training operations being conducted on August 15, 2007 from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), 150 miles southeast of Norfolk.[i] The tragic loss reinforces the terrible reality that even simple training missions are far from routine.

VAW-123 was commissioned at NAS Norfolk on April 1, 1967, under the command of Commander Lucio W. Hill, USN.  Just 11 days later it embarked on board USS Forrestal (CVA 59) as part of Carrier Air Wing Seventeen for refresher training in the Caribbean followed by a combat deployment off the coast of Vietnam, which began on June 6. When it arrived on Yankee Station on July 2, it became the first East Coast VAW squadron to take part in hostile operations in the Vietnam War. On July 29^th, 1967, the sustained major damage at the result of a catastrophic fire caused by premature detonation of a missile in an aircraft about to be launched.[ii] The fire, which might have resulted in loss of the ship had the fires not been brought under control, resulted in the loss of 134 crewmen and wounding of 161. A VAW Hawkeye was on the catapult ready for launch. Power was shut down and the crew escaped without injury. Fortunately, only 21 squadron aircraft suffered minor damage, though the ship sustained millions of dollars in damages and returned to Norfolk on September 14 with the squadron and airwing for major repairs.

The paint scheme for the Hawkeye on display was used because VAW-123, presently commanded by Commander Patrick Dzieken, USN, has earned the Battle Efficiency E for the past two consecutive cycles. The squadron history is replete with awards based on superior performance. Through the years it has earned 16 Battle Efficiency Es and 9 Safety S’s. It supported Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and was the only E-2 squadron to operate from the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf.  It has supported counter-narcotics operations from Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. Under hostile fire conditions, it has provided support of time sensitive operations in Operation Mountain Resolve in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan.[iii]

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[i] “Three Missing in Navy Plane crash off North Carolina Coast,” Louis Hansen, Norfolk Virginian Pilot, August 17^th,2007, p.1. The article notes that the carrier’s aircraft and Coast Guard aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, searched over 2,100 square miles in an attempt to locate the aircraft and any survivors.

[ii] One aviator who barely escaped injury was Lt. Cmdr. John S. McCain, III,USN

[iii] See home pages for Airborne Command and Control Wing and Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron One Two Three. The aviators lost were Lt. Cameron Hall, Lt. Jerry Smith and Lt. Ryan K. Betton, the aircraft commander

(Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

About the author: Captain Alexander "Sandy" G. Monroe, a retired surface warfare officer, is the author of In Service to Their Country: Christchurch School and the American Uniformed Services (2014) as well as official histories on U.S. Atlantic Command counternarcotic operational assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies and the treatment of Haitian asylum seekers at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was also dispatched to the Arabian Gulf on assignment for the director of naval history during Operation Earnest Will.

Editor's note: This and every HRNM blog post by a contributing writer reflects the opinions and core beliefs of the writer and should not be construed as representing the official policies or opinions of the museum, the Department of the Navy, or the United States Government.