COURTESY PHOTO The Sikorsky JRS-1 was called the "baby clipper" and used for patrol flights. This particular aircraft, nicknamed "One-Jig-One," loaded up with Marines armed with carbines after the Pearl Harbor attack and went searching for the Japanese fleet. The aircraft still exists, in storage at the Smithsonian Institution. These pictures are among several hundred images tracing the history of VC-1 that were discovered in storage at Barbers Point and are being sorted by fleet photographers at Pearl Harbor before being sent off to the Naval History Center in Washington, D.C.

Eyes on the skies

Historical photos capture the Navy's days at Barbers Point

In the complex and obscure acronymology used by the U.S. Navy, the letter V stands for "squadron" and C stands for "composite." And so, the aircraft and personnel of Composite Squadron One were known simply as "VC-1."

Consistency in such designations has never been the Navy's strong suit, but the "VC" nomenclature came along in the late 1940s and was used to describe a gaggle of squadrons with different technical missions, gathered together under one hangar roof. This catch-all designation was perfect for the varied missions of the aircraft flown out of Barbers Point Naval Air Station, which could include all-weather night fliers, attack and defense; air early warning; anti-submarine warfare; and photographic aircraft.

"Photographic" is the key description here. The VC squadrons were generally on the cutting edge of naval visual communications, and the VC-1 squadron based at Barbers Point had a rich legacy of aerial photography. The squadron was disbanded prior to the airfield's civilian status, and today there is little trace of VC-1 at Barbers Point.

COURTESY PHOTO In 1969 the USS Enterprise was participating in live-wire maneuvers near Hawaii when a deck accident set off a raging fire that resulted in more than 100 casualties and a shattered deck full of destroyed aircraft and bomb craters. The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard repaired the carrier in time for operations near Vietnam.

COURTESY PHOTO During World War II, amphibian J2F-2 "Ducks" patrolled the windward coasts of Hawaii.

COURTESY PHOTO In the '70s, a target drone is fired from Barking Sands, Kauai, to give naval patrol planes based at Barbers Point a target to track.

COURTESY PHOTO In the early '60s, a pilot waits in the steaming cockpit of an F-8 Crusader, making a pretty picture framed by the control tower at the naval air station.