Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Hello,

is anyone able to help with following questions? I would like to know the exact date of his USN joining and also when he left the USN.

Thanks.

Regards Zdenek Kocab

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Rudolph Daniel Van Dyke, Jr (086105)
S2c V5 USNR enlisted – 7/6/1940
ENS, USNR AV(N), date of rank – 7/30/1941
LTJG, USNR AV(N), date of rank 6/15/1942
LT, USNR AV(N), date of rank – 3/1/1943
LT, USNR AV(N), VF-36 USS Cabot (CVL-28) – 11/23/1943
LT, USNR AV(N), VF-18 USS Intrepid (CV-11) – 10/12/1944
LT, USNR A1, VF-151 (XO) NAAS Oceana – 7/3/1945
LCDR, USNR A3, date of rank – 10/3/1945
LCDR, USNR A3, killed in XF8F-1N crash San Francisco Bay – 6/1/1953

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Rich,

NACA Moffett lost F8F-1 94819 on that date. I wonder whether Van Dyke was flying for NACA in that aircraft?

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

George -

It was the same crash.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/281405

Rich

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Thanks for that confirmation, Rich.

The aircraft, a plain F8F-1, had been on loan to NACA Ames since April 1946 and had flown only 360 hours at the time of the crash.

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

George -

Idle curiosity . . . do you have an particulars on the accident? Reading just the blip in the crashes database makes me wonder if he was getting playful with CG PB-1. Seems that someone of his breadth of experience would eschew such frivolities.

That was about a year before my father arrived at Moffett Field to take over VX-5 - yours truly was all of 2 years old :)

Rich

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Unfortunately I have not been able to discover anything more about the accident but your suggestion seems plausible, as I think that had he been engaged in a specific NACA test at the time the details would have been more widely available.

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Some newspaper articles about the crash:

https://www.newspapers.com/article/t...t-a/165372498/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/o...bune/58734647/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/d...-kill/7111003/

As a besides, he lost his 'driving privileges' at age 18 for speeding and reckless driving, according a 25 Aug 1937 item in a Dayton, Ohio newspaper.
By all accounts, he made good for that as a US Navy pilot

Leendert

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Hi George

You say the aircraft was a plain F8F-1 while all my sources claim it was one of two prototypes
for the F8F-1N.

Not sure about X in front since only Rich and one other source says that.

The other prototype was BuNo 94812.
Now if BuNo 94819 was just a plain F8F-1 which was thus the second (X)F8F-1N?

Cheers
Stig

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Joe Baugher has this for 94819:

94819 converted to XF8F-1N with AN/APS-19 radar. Assigned to NACA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, NAS Moffett Field, CA Apr 2, 1946 to Jun 1, 1953.
Used for flying qualities, stability and control, and performance evaluations.
Modified with gun sight tracking displays.

(It was an F8F-1 originally).

Leendert

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Stig,

You raise an interesting point. The History Cards for both aircraft show them as F8F-1s, never -1Ns, but it is known that they were tested with a radar nacelle under the starboard wing. Whether the nacelle ever contained a radar set I don't know, but at least it can said that they were flown with at least one of the features of the proposed F8F-1N.

In mid-1946 both went on loan to NACA, 94812 to Langley and 94819 to Ames. 94812 returned to the Navy and served as an F8F-1 with VF-19A in 1948. In my view if they had both been fully equipped night fighters they would not have gone to NACA so early on.

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Intriguing George :)

Thanks for checking.
But those 12 "true" converted F8F-1N did carry their radar equipment?

Since the US Navy did not consider the conversion to be a success, were those 12 de-converted back
to normal F8F-1 standard post service with VCN-1/2?

Cheers
Stig

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Stig,

Yes, I think that the production F8F-1Ns were fitted with an early version of the APS-19 radar.

Starting in late 1948 the survivors were converted to plain F8F-1s and saw service mainly with the Reserves.

Re: Rudolph Daniel VAN DYKE, Jr (86105)
 

Thanks again George

Makes perfect sense!

Cheers
Stig