Officially Licensed US Navy RVAH-3 Sea Dragons Squadron Patch - Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron Three (RVAH-3) Sea Dragons officially licensed embroidered patch with velcro backing.
Sea Dragons identity, RA-5C Vigilante heritage, and the quiet pride of the crews who built every fleet reconnaissance pilot the Navy sent into harm's way.
RVAH-3 was established as Heavy Attack Squadron Three (VAH-3) on 15 June 1956 and redesignated Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron Three on 1 July 1964, serving as the sole Fleet Replacement Squadron for the entire RVAH community across both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. Based first at Naval Air Station Sanford, Florida, the Sea Dragons received their first RA-5C Vigilante aircraft in late 1963, training the conversion of the A-5A from a nuclear strike bomber into a high-speed carrier-based tactical reconnaissance platform. Every pilot and naval flight officer who flew the Vigilante for the nine fleet RVAH squadrons that deployed to the Mediterranean, Western Pacific, and Vietnam-era combat zones passed through RVAH-3 first. While the Sea Dragons did not deploy operationally, their graduates flew hazardous post-strike reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam, returning imagery that shaped strike planning and battle damage assessment throughout the conflict. Budget pressures and base closures moved the squadron from Sanford to NAS Albany, Georgia in 1968 and then to NAS Key West, Florida in 1974, where RVAH-3 continued training until disestablishment on 17 August 1979. The patch insignia, featuring a coiled sea dragon, remains one of the most recognized emblems in Cold War naval aviation collecting.
Perfect for Navy veterans, RA-5C Vigilante enthusiasts, RVAH community alumni, naval aviation historians, Cold War carrier air wing collectors, shadow box builders, reunion displays, challenge coin and patch boards, and families honoring the reconnaissance crews and maintainers who kept the Vigilante flying through Vietnam and beyond.
Sea Dragons lineage, stitched for the collectors and veterans who know what it took to train the fleet.
