This an edited transcript of an oral history interview of David Ayres conducted by Layne Karafantis. David R.“Dave” Ayres was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1935. He had always wanted to fly for the Navy, enlisting in the Naval Air Reserve as an airman recruit in 1953. He qualified for the Naval Aviation Cadet program and reported to NAVCAD CLASS 34-55 in 1 October 1955 in Pensacola, Florida. He proceeded through the flying curriculum including flight management, formation, gunnery, and carrier skills, as well as developed aptitude in night and instrument flying. Ayres also opted to receive jet training, which he completed in May 1957 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. His first flying assignment was with VA-36, flying the A4D-2 Douglas Skyhawk where he also served as a maintenance division officer for electronic and electrical equipment. From 1960 to 1963 he attended the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he received his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s in mathematics. From 1963 to 1966 he was assigned to Heavy Attack Squadron 10 flying the Douglas A3B Skywarrior, the largest carrier-based airplane. He served as Staff Analysis Officer at the Operational Test and Evaluation Force in Norfolk, VA from 1966 to 1967. From there he served in the Naval Plant Representative Office from 1967 to 1970 as the Engineering Division Director at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach and flew as an acceptance test pilot in Palmdale for A4 and C9A aircraft. His logbook shows over 2700 hours flying Navy aircraft with three carrier deployments, accumulating 290 carrier landings. In 1970 Ayres and his family relocated to Falls Church, Virginia when he was assigned to Naval Air Systems Command headquarters and the Naval Material Command project offices, doing programs for Electronic Warfare and Command and Control Management Systems. Notably, he initiated the exploitation of a Russian SUNVISOR shipboard radar system. He installed a sophisticated tactical command and control system aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, which utilized electronic tactical control innovations that provided a real-time communication link with a ground-based terminal at the Navy Test and Evaluation Center in Sunnyvale, CA. Ayres retired from the Navy after 23 years of service with a Meritorious Service Medal. A detailed biography is appended to the transcript. [Object file name], Aerospace Oral History Project, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
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