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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Gabe Watts

CDR Watts received his "Wings of Gold" at NAAS Beeville, TX in 1958. While a student aviator he made the 50,000th carrier landing aboard the USS Antietam flying an F9F-8 "COUGAR" jet. Subsequent assignments included duty with Fighter Squadrons 101 "Grim Reapers", stationed in Key West, FL. and VF-41 "Black Aces" flying the all weather F3H Demon. Three deployments to the Mediterranean were conducted aboard the USS Independence (CVA-61) where he received the first of four "CENTURION" awards for carrier landings.
As an instructor pilot for advanced training in the swept-wing F9F-8 Cougar, for three years at NAAS Kingsville, TX., CDR Watts established a new record for total flight hours flown.

Following flight instructor duty, CDR Watts was assigned to the USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) for 27 months as the Catapult/Arresting Gear Officer. Subsequent to this assignment he received orders back to the cockpit with RVAH-3 in Sanford, Florida, and began training in the RA5C Vigilante, a supersonic photo/recon aircraft.

In 1969 he was assigned to RVAH 11, the "Checkertails,” deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin aboard the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63), for an eight-month Vietnam cruise. During this deployment CDR Watts received the following decorations: Air Medal w/the numeral "5," Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal w/Bronze Star, Navy Commendation Medal, Korean Expeditionary Medal.
Following a "MED" cruise with the Vigilante, CDR Watts returned to the RA5C Replacement Air Group Training Squadron as a Flight Instructor/Maintenance

Officer. During this tour he was selected to take the Aviation Reporter from the Milwaukee Journal, Edward Williams, on a MACH-2 speed run in the Vigilante. A speed of Mach 2.014 was officially recorded. CDR Watts was also forced to eject from a crippled Vigilante while on a radar landing approach as he was descending through 500 feet.

CDR Watts' final active duty assignment was as Project Director for design and procurement of flight simulators and wide-angle visual systems for the Navy's F-14 program.

Upon his retirement in Orlando, FL in 1976, CDR Watts accepted a position offered by the Naval Air Systems Command, under contract with Booz, Allen & Hamilton, to become the training manager for the introduction of the U. S. Navy's F-14 Tomcat into the Imperial Iranian Air Force. CDR Watts, his wife, and two sons lived in Isfahan, Iran, for two years before being forced to flee due to the overthrow of the Shah.

CDR Watts retired from Booz, Allen & Hamilton in 1995 and resides on the banks of the Severn River, close to his sailboat (Slo-Flite), in Annapolis, MD. He is involved with the volunteer instructor sailing program at the U.S. Naval Academy.