-- Born 1923
-- Year Group 44 (commissioned June 1943 at age 20)
-- Briefly assigned to VF-5, then VF-1 as a replacement pilot early/mid 1944; didn't get enough action and requested reassignment to the RAG in Hawaii to go again
-- Assigned to VF-19 Satan's Kittens aboard Lexington (CV 16) Sept 1944 as replacement pilot; took part in the battle of Leyte Gulf, then stayed with the squadron as it returned to CONUS
-- VF-19 was the first VF to get the Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat while reforming at NAAS Santa Rosa in 1945; the squadron was convinced that they would all becomes aces when they returned to combat with the F8F. But it was not to be, as Air Group 19 was in Hawaii when the war ended.
-- VF-19 did an odd WestPac 1946, spending a lot of time ashore in Saipan, but also making it to Tsingtao (Qingdao), Hong Kong and Manila.
-- The squadron was redesigned VF-19A in 1947; then-LT Cauble was ordered to Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River for TPS and subsequent assignment to Tactical Test. While at Tactical test, flew a huge variety of aircraft: Qualified in jets in 1947 in Bell P-59B; project pilot for Martin AM-1 Mauler and Grumman F9F-2 Panther; also flew F6F, F7F, FH, F2H, PBJ, PB4Y, etc. (Those were definitely different days!)
-- From NATC Tactical Test, reassigned to VF-61 'Jolly Rogers' flying F9F-2 Panther, one of the first LANT jet fighter squadrons. While with VF-61, make a Med cruise aboard USS Frankin D. Roosevelt (CVB 42) 1951.
-- With just a few college credits, enrolled in 5-term program at GWU in the early 50s. Likewise, as a Naval Aviator, went through General Line School at Monterey. Also did a staff tour at AIRLANT and a tour aboard USS Kearsarge (CVA 33) as First Lieutenant.
-- 1956-58 did a tour at China Lake with VX-5 'Vampires' flying F9F-8B, A4D-2 and FJ-4B. Of note, during 1958 air show at Corpus Christi flying A4D-2, had an engine failure while vertical during a loft maneuver in front of a crowd of hundreds of the aviation writers of America. Ejected and landed in knee-deep water off Padre Island. Returned to China Lake lying prone in the cockpit of a squadron A3D and spent a while on the binnacle list before returning to flight status.
-- While at VX-5, promoted to CDR and screened for squadron command. (This was several years before the Navy adopted the XO/CO pattern.) Assigned as Commanding Officer of VA-23 'Black Knights' in Air Group Two (homeport NAS Alameda) assigned to USS Midway (CVA 41) and did a WestPac 1959-60.
-- Payback time for the command tour came with an assignment to OpNav 1960-63 (this was during the McNamara/Whiz Kids era and my sister remembers that Dad was so miseralble that he was frequently phsycially ill during this tour), followed by a return to Alameda as ComFAir Alameda VA Jet Training Officer, which gave him an opportunity to fly with the A4D/A-4 squadrons at Lemoore; his last flights in operational combat aircraft.
-- A high point for me as his son was an assignment to ComNavPhil at Sangley Point 1964-66, where I graduated from high school in a class of twelve from John Paul Jones Dependent's High School. For CAPT Cauble, he amassed a large number of flight hours in the station UC-45J 'Bugsmasher.' I think staff duty did not particularly agree with him and getting into the cockpit was a form of therapy, just as it had been at Alameda before
-- Payback time again: Assigned to Joint Staff at the Pentagon, then the Center for Naval Analysis.
-- Retired summer of 1968 and moved to Oregon to look to buy a cattle ranch
-- I borrowed his log books late in the 1990s and did an analysis: the most flight hours in type were the SNB/UC-45 (over a thousand hours) and I kidded him about it but those hours were mental health hours -- getting out from behind a desk and into a cockpit -- at times when he needed it.
-- Gone West late 2000.
-- Year Group 44 (commissioned June 1943 at age 20)
-- Briefly assigned to VF-5, then VF-1 as a replacement pilot early/mid 1944; didn't get enough action and requested reassignment to the RAG in Hawaii to go again
-- Assigned to VF-19 Satan's Kittens aboard Lexington (CV 16) Sept 1944 as replacement pilot; took part in the battle of Leyte Gulf, then stayed with the squadron as it returned to CONUS
-- VF-19 was the first VF to get the Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat while reforming at NAAS Santa Rosa in 1945; the squadron was convinced that they would all becomes aces when they returned to combat with the F8F. But it was not to be, as Air Group 19 was in Hawaii when the war ended.
-- VF-19 did an odd WestPac 1946, spending a lot of time ashore in Saipan, but also making it to Tsingtao (Qingdao), Hong Kong and Manila.
-- The squadron was redesigned VF-19A in 1947; then-LT Cauble was ordered to Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River for TPS and subsequent assignment to Tactical Test. While at Tactical test, flew a huge variety of aircraft: Qualified in jets in 1947 in Bell P-59B; project pilot for Martin AM-1 Mauler and Grumman F9F-2 Panther; also flew F6F, F7F, FH, F2H, PBJ, PB4Y, etc. (Those were definitely different days!)
-- From NATC Tactical Test, reassigned to VF-61 'Jolly Rogers' flying F9F-2 Panther, one of the first LANT jet fighter squadrons. While with VF-61, make a Med cruise aboard USS Frankin D. Roosevelt (CVB 42) 1951.
-- With just a few college credits, enrolled in 5-term program at GWU in the early 50s. Likewise, as a Naval Aviator, went through General Line School at Monterey. Also did a staff tour at AIRLANT and a tour aboard USS Kearsarge (CVA 33) as First Lieutenant.
-- 1956-58 did a tour at China Lake with VX-5 'Vampires' flying F9F-8B, A4D-2 and FJ-4B. Of note, during 1958 air show at Corpus Christi flying A4D-2, had an engine failure while vertical during a loft maneuver in front of a crowd of hundreds of the aviation writers of America. Ejected and landed in knee-deep water off Padre Island. Returned to China Lake lying prone in the cockpit of a squadron A3D and spent a while on the binnacle list before returning to flight status.
-- While at VX-5, promoted to CDR and screened for squadron command. (This was several years before the Navy adopted the XO/CO pattern.) Assigned as Commanding Officer of VA-23 'Black Knights' in Air Group Two (homeport NAS Alameda) assigned to USS Midway (CVA 41) and did a WestPac 1959-60.
-- Payback time for the command tour came with an assignment to OpNav 1960-63 (this was during the McNamara/Whiz Kids era and my sister remembers that Dad was so miseralble that he was frequently phsycially ill during this tour), followed by a return to Alameda as ComFAir Alameda VA Jet Training Officer, which gave him an opportunity to fly with the A4D/A-4 squadrons at Lemoore; his last flights in operational combat aircraft.
-- A high point for me as his son was an assignment to ComNavPhil at Sangley Point 1964-66, where I graduated from high school in a class of twelve from John Paul Jones Dependent's High School. For CAPT Cauble, he amassed a large number of flight hours in the station UC-45J 'Bugsmasher.' I think staff duty did not particularly agree with him and getting into the cockpit was a form of therapy, just as it had been at Alameda before
-- Payback time again: Assigned to Joint Staff at the Pentagon, then the Center for Naval Analysis.
-- Retired summer of 1968 and moved to Oregon to look to buy a cattle ranch
-- I borrowed his log books late in the 1990s and did an analysis: the most flight hours in type were the SNB/UC-45 (over a thousand hours) and I kidded him about it but those hours were mental health hours -- getting out from behind a desk and into a cockpit -- at times when he needed it.
-- Gone West late 2000.
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