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Met a fellow VP aircrewman at a restaurant last evening. He. served a few years before me in one of the squadrons based on Oahu. We got to swapping experiences, places, events to a small group that had gathered around. Guess we might have closed the place down if those we were with hadn't dragged us both out of there. Good memories (mostly).
VP 30 In Jax
VP-28 and VP-4 out of Barbers Point. Watched and interesting video yesterday about the ditching of a Charlie in '78 (?). Heard about the event back then but never the details. Until then it was the only successful ditching of a P-3 - in 20 foot seas and 40 knot winds no less. Faulty maintenance which was blamed on the pilot who followed the engine e-handle procedure in the NATOPS manual, which was later changed to compensate for a o-ring replacement made of the wrong material.
USN 72-76. PMTC, PT Mugu, CA. Avionics Tech, Plane Captain F-8, A-6, A-3. Flew 3rd seat A-3 for short period, Navy cut aircrews and I did not earn my wings.