The White Falcon - 10.12.1976, Blaðsíða 3

December 10, 1976
P-3C Orion tallies 5th year
VP-49 wraps up Keflavik deployment
by J02
Terry Barnthouse
Patrol Squadron 49 is wrapping up its
five-month deployment to Iceland. The
conclusion of the "woodpecker's” fifth
deployment here will mark the fifth year
of use of the Lockheed-built P-3C Orion
in Iceland.
VP - 49, the squadron that first
brought the P-3C to Keflavik, will be
relieved by VP-45 at the end of the
month.
While only temporarily attached to
the base, VP-49 has acted as the eyes
and ears of the Iceland Anti-submarine
Warfare (ASW) Group in this region of
the Atlantic. During this time they
have flown approximately 3,500 hours and
conducted extensive ocean surveillance
missions.
Numerous submarine patrols and
special operations flights are a part of
the daily routine as explained by Com-
mander William Bloh, commanding officer
of VP-49. "Our primary mission is to
find submarines. In addition we fly
surface patrols and occasionally we fly
special flights such as mail drops to
Jan Mayen Island (located 360 miles
north of Iceland). We have also pro-
vided tours for organizations such as
wives groups, grade school children,
host nationals, foreigners and other air
crews, with static displays and guide
service for our P-3C aircraft. Approxi-
mately 700 people have visited us."
Cdr. Bloh, who has been deployed to
Iceland before with a different squadron
compared the two tours, "The cooperation
we have received from Public Works,AIMD,
Supply, and Fire Department is much
better now than before. There’s a
much more positive attitude. Items
get fixed in a more timely manner and
in general ’things get done'."
He added, "Considering the time our
men spend at work and still manage to
get involved in other acitivites such as
sports and community affairs I'd say the
squadron is super."
The statistics prove that the "wood-
ADJf SMITHWICK LOOKS OVER the engine of
the P-3C during a pre-flight inspection.
(Photo by J02 Terry Barnthouse)
SILHOUETTED BY THE MOONLIGHT is a VP-49
home base at Jacksonville, FL.
peckers" can use their bills to peck
holes in wood. From the August exams,
68% of those tested will be advanced to
a higher paygrade and they have a 90%
retention of first and second term per-
sonnel. They have also been heard peck-
ing away at the sports log by winning
the base track meet and the pre-season
basketball tournament. VP-49 teams have
also participated in football and pad-
dleball.
Most of the 287 enlisted personnel
are attached to the maintenance depart-
ment in a non flying capacity. Of the
74 officers, all except four are on air-
crews in addition to their ground job.
The squadron has 12 flight crews,each
composed of five officers and seven en-
listed men to fly its nine planes. Dur-
ing a typical mission, the pilot and
crew are given a brief where projected
maps and weather information are viewed.
They are also provided information on
the area to be patrolled. The plane
then goes out and uses radar, visual and
other means to locate the unit in
search. Soviet warships, scientific re-
search ships, and merchant ships com-
prise the majority of the surface con-
tacts. These flights usually last from
eight to 10 hours and are recorded on
tape. Recall of the mission can thus be
made available at anytime by running the
tape through a computer. Upon their re-
turn, the flight crew is debriefed and
the flight tape is replayed.
During these numerous missions crews
have sharpened their skills against
actual surface and subsurface targets
while pilots have constantly been called
upon to use their skills to operate the
Orion safely in varying types of weather
conditions.
"Because my job requires me to sit
behind the pilots to monitor systems, I
get the added pleasure of seeing what we
are flying into or over," says Aviation
Machinist’s Mate Third Class Guy Mc-
Elhaney, a flight engineer • "One can
see ships, whales, fish, the coast of
Greenland and the sun pretty clearly
from up there. But the most spectacular
P-3C Orion, soon to journey back to its
(Photo by J02 Terry Barnthouse)
sights are the icebergs and the northern
lights."
He continues, "One of the most un-
usual flights I can recall was during
the mail drop to Jan Mayen Island. The
weather was so bad that we had to fly
by radar, distinguishing the clouds from
the mountains before making the drop. In
times like those one uses his training."
Senior Chief Aviation Electronics
Technician Owen Jones, who supervises
the work in the Quality Assurance Shop,
says, "We're the experts, the 'watch
dogs' of the squadron for maintenance
and we monitor all aircraft repairs.
It's normal work here, not the best work
hours and we are away from our families.
Before arriving we were briefed about
duty here and knew pretty well what to
expect. Still, there's that bit of
'seeing is believing' feeling and you
realize you're here when you start shi-
vering and don't see trees. It's quite
a change from Florida to Iceland."
According to Chief Aviation Machin-
ist's Mate Ronald Smithwick, "Support
given to us is -fabulous. In ways it's
even better than home base. Parts that
we're in need of are almost always pro-
vided or fixed in a timely way. There's
a good working relationship here."
Even though most of the men of the
squadron are on call after working hours
they find time to enjoy themselves. Some
crew members upon their arrival purchase
a car and on off-time travel around the
countryside and into Reykjavik.
But no matter how they have flown
from the job, they all nest together in
their primary missions. For their ex-
cellence, the squadron has received
several recognitions since arriving in
Iceland. The Meritorious Unit Commenda-
tion was awarded to them for their de-
ployment to Sicily in June-July '75 they
also earned the 1976 Top Gunner Award
for successful torpedo training flights
and have surpassed the 110,000 accident-
free flight hour milestone, which has
been an accumulative record of 14 years
of flying.
VP-49 also participated in Exercise
Teamwork 76, a NATO mission held this
fall, flying 43 missions in 11 days. Be-
sides VP-49's nine P-3Cs some 900 other
aircraft were involved in the exercise.
One of the more interesting missions
tasked to VP-49 was flying surveillance
flights on the new Soviet carrier, KIEV.
During the monitoring of the ship's
movements, photographs were taken by the
P-3C's nose camera. One picture was a-
warded the COMPATWING 11 Photo of the
Month Award in August. The Soviets of-
ficially list the KIEV as an anti-sub-
marine warfare cruiser.
As the personnel of Patrol Squadron
49 depart the Keflavik scene, we extend
appreciation for their support and co-
operation of our NATO community. Upon
their arrival in Jacksonville, may they
enjoy lots of sunshine to warm their
frozen "woodpecker" feathers.
DURING A CHILDREN'S TOUR of the squadron, a squadron member demonstrates the
use of a parachute. (VP-49 photo)
Sundowners’
night of fun
and fellowship
The Midnight Sundowners Square Dance
Club gathered with the Icelandic Nation-
al Dance Society Dec. 3 for an evening
of folk dancing.
Lieutenant W. B. Duquette, Midnight
Sundowners caller» described the
scene, "There was a sense of excited
anticipation among the club members as
their bus drove to Reykjavik. Only a
limited number were able to attend, and
those on the bus felt lucky to be a part
of what promised to be a unique and
interesting experience."
This mini-group of dancers, composed
of single and married, oldsters and
youngsters, military and civilian, "...
was truly representative of their parent
club," Lt. Duquette commented.
An accordionist and a drummer pro-
vided musical entertainment—waltzes,
polkas, schottisches, tangos and rumbas
were interspersed among folk dances from
the Scandinavian countries.
A "Paul Jones" number got everybody
on the floor.
Cowboy shirts and square dance
dresses mixed and melted with tradition-
al Icelandic folk costumes in a whirl of
color.
The folk gathering was completed with
some "fun and games." A three-legged
race and an old-time "broom dance" (last
couple on the floor without a broom
wins) appealed to the more competitive
spirits.
A combination grand march/snap the
whip to the tune of "Anchors Away"
(among others) had everyone snaking
around the dance floor, up and down the
stairs and even out-of-doors.
"For many, the night ended too soon,"
Lt. Duquette explained, "and, as the
square dancers boarded the bus for the
return trip, they took with them a set
of special memories...memories of a
truly unique experience that few are
permitted to share."
NEWS BRIEFS
Sailors to be advanced
The following Navy personnel will be
advanced Thursday to the rates preceding
their names: MMCS James D. Kerr, AZ1
Larry E. Adams, ABF1 William P. Endicott
KT2 Tallman E. Doughty, SK2 David I.
Hutson and AX2 Walter T. Nichols.
The advancement ceremony will be held
at 8:30 a.m. in the Naval Station Con-
ference Room.
Airmen receive awards
Members of the 932nd AC&W Squadron
were recently presented the following
awards during the unit's Commander's
Call: Master Sergeant Thomas A. Haley,
First Oak Leaf Cluster to the Joint
Services Commendation Medal; Master
Sergeant Ronald D. Henderson, Second Oak
Leaf Cluster to the Air Force Commen-
dation Medal; Sergeant Vincent B. Abies,
Air Forces Commendation Medal.
Staff Sergeant Thomas L. Houston re-
ceived the First Oak Leaf Cluster to
the Air Force Commendation Medal during
the recent Air Forces Iceland Head-
quarters Squadron Commander's Call.