I saw the first Saturn rocket blast off from Canaveral. I think it was 1965. I had a great vantage point thanks to a relative. What I remember most is the noise. The roar. You knew you were dealing with almost unimaginable power.
Lived on South Merritt Island for years. Enjoyed every launch I could. Night launches were spectacular.
I lived in St. Pete during those years. Believe it or not, we watched and HEARD the Apollo launches from nearly 180 miles away. IIRC it took over a minute for the light from the engines to pop up over the horizon, much longer for the SOUND to reach us there on the west coast.
Decades later I was in Daytona and watched a night launch of the space shuttle from the beach.
Thinking about making a road trip down to Musk Land soon to watch a launch.
The first of the Saturn V launches was #4, 1967 (uncrewed).
The first of the Saturn designation was a different set of engines (8 H1 engines, putting out a total of 1.3 million pounds of thrust) in 1961. By contrast, each of the five F1 engines in the Saturn V put out 1.5 million. (!)