NUW PBY 'Cat' Time Machine ... 60+ years ago ???

[Flugelman]

Havn't been to Missoula in a few years since I busted a bleed air valve on a VP-69 log run on a Friday night trying to pick up a few reservists there for weekend drill back at NUW, we spent the night in Montana and Wing 10 Fed Exed the part we needed the next morning....turned out that there are some amazing co-eds at MU that dig flight suits...(I digress) I will have to defer to XJ and Pickle and the other Whidbey weenies who bounce at Missoula, (I hope you guys still do!) but a few of these old war horses are still on the ramp there.

Quit it!!! Yer makin' me heart go pitty pat....

 

[Fog]

Got about 500 hrs in P-2s (reserves, VP-94). Despite being a "multi-engine, land" a/c, I loved the airplane. It was originally a bomber, not an airliner, and it was better at all the secondary VP roles (except ASW search) than the P-3, IMHO.

 

[rondebmar]

Got a few P2V hours as radar operator with VQ-2...between the P4M-1Q, and WV-2Q...

Good writeup on the Neptune AND Mercator here:

http://www.vectorsite.net/avp2v.html

 

[Catmando]

As a sophomore in college, the Navy recruiters had me fly in to Kansas City and then to NAS Olathe Kansas, so they could wine and dine me, and get me to sign-up as an AVROC.

Arriving there by bus and checking into the BOQ, a P2V Reserve outfit was making a helluva racket, with numerous P2Vs turn'n and burn'n and doing touch & go's and all kinds of impressive stuff right after sunset ... aircraft and stuff I'd never seen before. Yes sir! I was sold right then, thinking yeah!...that's the life for me! :icon_tong

Of course I still played hard to get so the recruiters had to continue to wine and dine me as promised before I finally did sign up.

 

[Pugs]

Of course I still played hard to get so the recruiters had to continue to wine and dine me as promised before I finally did sign up.

All it took for me was an incentive ride in a T-34B and I was all over it!

 

[PropAddict]

Of course I still played hard to get so the recruiters had to continue to wine and dine me as promised before I finally did sign up.

All it took for me was an incentive ride in a T-34B and I was all over it!

Wow, you guys are dating yourselves.

I decided after I watched this amazing movie that came out when I was two years old. . .

 

[Flugelman]

Got a few P2V hours as radar operator with VQ-2...between the P4M-1Q, and WV-2Q...

Good writeup on the Neptune AND Mercator here:

http://www.vectorsite.net/avp2v.html

All this P2V pr0n...

I was in the last AD P2 squadron, VP-1. We gave our birds to the Reserves in '69. Great airplane to fly in, tough to maintain. The avionics were old and wiring was worn out. Many avionics problems were caused by wiring bundle chafing and were bitches to troubleshoot.

One of my favorite P2 stories involves the brand-new LtJG Nav who had to take a piss inflight, using the cone. The tube snaked back to the wingbeam on the port side and then crossed to the starboard side next to the Julie operator's station. The Julie operator crimped the tube closed and of course the cone filled up. The Nav, hunched over in his Mae West and parachute harness, is looking around for a solution and someone yelled "Blow on it!". So he did. Julie operator releases the tube enough for the cone to empty, crimps it again, and Nav fills it up again, blows on it...
This goes on for about four or five iterations. The TACCO showed Nav the tube by the wingbeam on postflight. He was a good sport about it.

 

[Fog]

Ronde/Cat/Fluges: Those old P-2Vs were hard to maintain, that's for sure. In my experience, they had a definite proclivity to break down much more frequently in places with good liberty & weather than they did in more northerly latitudes. Any XC/transpac that involved the Caribbean or West Pac islands would almost inevitably bring on an AOCP equipment failure. A man & crew could be stuck for a week in places like that. JMHO, of course.

 

[scoolbubba]

All it took for me was an incentive ride in a T-34B and I was all over it!

Which wright brother was your onwing, orville or wilbur?

 

[xj220]

Havn't been to Missoula in a few years since I busted a bleed air valve on a VP-69 log run on a Friday night trying to pick up a few reservists there for weekend drill back at NUW, we spent the night in Montana and Wing 10 Fed Exed the part we needed the next morning....turned out that there are some amazing co-eds at MU that dig flight suits...(I digress) I will have to defer to XJ and Pickle and the other Whidbey weenies who bounce at Missoula, (I hope you guys still do!) but a few of these old war horses are still on the ramp there.

Some guys were talking about heading out there for bouncing, but I haven't done it yet. I guess it's a bit of a trek, but we have the legs so I'd like to check it out.

 

[MattWSU]

VP LOVE .... and as 'VP' as you can get, too.

Did all this go down in Useless Bay?

 

[Pugs]

Wow, you guys are dating yourselves.

Which wright brother was your onwing, orville or wilbur?

It wasn't that long ago that those T-34B's that are in Navy flying clubs were assigned to recruiters all over the country!

My ride was in 86. Yes, I understand to many of you that was the stone age! . The Recruiter was in Indianapolis and he brought the plane up to Muncie and gave two of us that had been accepted to AOCS (so I guess I was really sold before then) an hour flight. At the time they were still acro capable so that was an eye-opener since all my small plane flight time until then had been in a Tomohawk.

When I got to NPA and after commissioning in 87 I was stashed waiting for VT-10 and the home office for them was the other half of the T-line building. You could go over there and with very little smoozing get ride alongs on their fam and PMCF flights. It was a great deal to get out and see the area and course rules before going to school.

 

[A4sForever]

Did all this go down in Useless Bay?

Naaaaaaaahhhhh .... Crescent Harbor, just like in the ol' days.

image by A4sForever

As a matter of interest, seaplane tenders ... like USS SALSBURY SOUND (AV-13), for example, used to tie up at the long pier in the deepwater part of the Harbor. She was, in fact -- HOMEPORTED @ NAS WHIDBEY ISLAND (seaplane base side) for a while in the early '60s before she headed for Vietnam and Saigon ...



Here's a pix of "SALLY SOUND" in WW2 in SUBIC BAY ...

 

[A4sForever]

And POOF ... just like that ... she's gone ...

MOVIN' OUT AND DOWN THE RAMP

ALOHA OAK HARBOR
images by A4sForever

(sorry 'bout the lousy quality -- hand-held memory stick & I'd been standing in the warm sun for @ 3 hours ... YEAH, BABY !!! )

NOW .... it's time for squeezin ' limes ...

 

[OscarMyers]

It wasn't that long ago that those T-34B's that are in Navy flying clubs were assigned to recruiters all over the country!

My ride was in 86. Yes, I understand to many of you that was the stone age! . The Recruiter was in Indianapolis and he brought the plane up to Muncie and gave two of us that had been accepted to AOCS (so I guess I was really sold before then) an hour flight. At the time they were still acro capable so that was an eye-opener since all my small plane flight time until then had been in a Tomohawk.

When I got to NPA and after commissioning in 87 I was stashed waiting for VT-10 and the home office for them was the other half of the T-line building. You could go over there and with very little smoozing get ride alongs on their fam and PMCF flights. It was a great deal to get out and see the area and course rules before going to school.

Yeah its a shame we cant fly the B models anymore. apparently the wings were breaking off during high G maneuvers. Too costly to upgrade the wing spars. We have a few here at pax that we cant even fly.