# GOODBYE PATROL SQUADRON 65!



## FLYBOYJ (Oct 26, 2005)

I spent 6 years in the USNR, 5 1/2 were with VP-65. We operated P-3Cs that I actually built during the 1980s. It was recently decided to de-commission all reserve VP squadrons. When I arrived at Point Mugu last Thursday, I found out the last P-3 was flown out the day before. Times are changing, good-bye VP-65, 35 years of service without a major mishap!  

_Patrol Squadron Six Five (VP-65) has been operating in Ventura County since it’s establishment in 1970. The Tridents currently fly the P-3C Update III version of the Lockheed Martin Orion, the U.S. Navy’s standard long range maritime patrol aircraft. The P-3C is specifically designed to search, detect, track and destroy enemy submarines. Secondary missions include mine laying, shipping surveillance, reconnaissance, search and rescue, and drug enforcement operations. VP-65 is one of seven reserve patrol squadrons assigned to Commander Reserve Patrol Wing, based out of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Willow Grove PA. 

Supporting both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, VP-65’s mission is two-fold. The first is to support the regular Navy in fleet operations and exercises around the world. The second is to maintain combat readiness for rapid mobilization to meet national defense requirements. The highly skilled and motivated aircrews, maintainers, and support personnel maintain proficiency in a multitude of combat mission areas such as undersea warfare, surface warfare, surveillance, intelligence collection, aerial photography and counter-narcotics. 

VP-65 most recently supported operations in the Caribbean and Western Pacific, including Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Scotland, Belize and Japan. 

Team Trident is comprised of 304 active duty and Reserve personnel. A majority of these people live in the local area, however, some commute from points as distant as El Paso, Phoenix, Atlanta and Denver to meet their commitment to train and operate at least one weekend each month and one 16-day detachment per year. 

For aircrews this commitment is often much more. These “Citizen Sailors” come from all walks of life and are the key ingredient in keeping VP-65 a fully trained and operational Maritime Patrol Squadron_


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## evangilder (Oct 26, 2005)

Tis a shame. I know my good friend in grammar school's father flew P-3s in the reserves as well, many years ago.


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## toffigd (Oct 26, 2005)

In which state the squadron was based? Florida?


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 26, 2005)

toffigd said:


> In which state the squadron was based? Florida?



California


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## evangilder (Oct 26, 2005)

NAS Point Mugu, right Joe?


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 26, 2005)

Yep!

Here's some more stuff.....

The Tridents in 1997 deployed to the Western Pacific, including Japan, Korea, Guan, Thailand, Malaysia, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and Central and South America supporting a myriad of Fleet Operations and Exercises, demonstrating the flexibility and mobility of our Naval Reserve Force. Of note, VP-65 was the first patrol squadron to operationally deploy with the new AVX-1 "Cluster Ranger" electro-optical camera system. Their successful employment of this new combat system earned recognition as Commander Task Force 72 Crew of the Month for May 1997. In 1998, Team Trident was the first West Coast VP Squadron to deploy to the Caribbean. Crews flew from Puerto Rico and Panama supporting counter-narcotics operations. One of our crews was responsible for a $45M cocaine interdiction, the largest of the year.


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## syscom3 (Oct 26, 2005)

So all of these duties are going to be performed by active duty squadrons?


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 26, 2005)

Yep - No more P-3 Reserve Squadrons!!!

When we got that 97' drug bust we got a "fast boat" to surrender to the Coast Guard. We flew over them and opened our bomb bays (had no bombs or weapons). The drug runners saw that and just gave it up!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 29, 2005)

Sorry to hear that FBJ!


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## Nonskimmer (Oct 29, 2005)

By the look of it, it was a good run. Shame to see them go.


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 29, 2005)

Thanks Guys!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 29, 2005)

I know my father feels the same way about the Huey and I will feel the same way about the Blackhawk. You get attached.


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 29, 2005)

Yep - and i can't believe the navy thinks a B737 will do the job!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 29, 2005)

That is just a crazy idea in my opinion. They will learn.


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 29, 2005)

I think C-130s will eventually do the job....


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 29, 2005)

C-130 might not be a bad choice though.


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 29, 2005)

I know lockheed did some design concepts to convert one for ASW work.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 29, 2005)

Is there anything a Jerky Hurky cant do?


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 29, 2005)

Hover...


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## evangilder (Oct 29, 2005)

Hmm, maybe with some JATOs pointing straight down...


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 29, 2005)

That would be somethign to see though.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Oct 30, 2005)

could you imagine the look on a helicopter pilot's face, they thought they were the only ones


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## plan_D (Oct 30, 2005)

No they didn't think they were the only one. I think most people these days know about the Harrier. 

And since this seems mildly appropriate for a thread about maritime patrol aircraft...

Joe, what were the P-2s like? Were the Japanese P-2Js much better than the P-2H!? I have read about them but there's no comparison. I know the Japanese replaced the Kawasaki P-2J with the P-3 when the P-2J was only developed because the P-3 was deemed too expensive.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Oct 30, 2005)

ok how many times do you see a harrier hover on operations? apart from just before a landing..........


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 30, 2005)

Ive seen them quite a bit do hovering in Iraq.


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 30, 2005)

plan_D said:


> Joe, what were the P-2s like? Were the Japanese P-2Js much better than the P-2H!? I have read about them but there's no comparison. I know the Japanese replaced the Kawasaki P-2J with the P-3 when the P-2J was only developed because the P-3 was deemed too expensive.



The P-2 was designed from the beginning as an ASW platform - I never worked on them in the USNR but did work with a couple as a civilian. It was a truck with a lot of power, not very comfortable - to go to the rear of the aircraft you climbed over the wing spar which was right in the middle of the fuselage. It had a smooth top so you "slid" over it.

The Japansese did a bunch of upgrades to their P-2s, replacing the 3350s with turbo props. I would believe their's performed better. They were probably built a little better as well but I think the avionics were the same incorporating the ole "Julie Jezabel" active/ passive acoustic system along with the typical MAD equipment. The Japanese had a habit of correcting things that Manufacturing Engineers and QA at Lockheed would deem acceptable. I worked on the first Japanese P-3, they drove us crazy attempting to reject things that were in engineering tolerance but had a minor cosmetic flaws.

I woorked for a company that ferried two surplus P-2s out of Moffet NAS in 1978. I got to fly in the nose, it was pretty cool. To me it exemplified post WW2 technology, but like designs in that period, gave little or no consideration to crew comforts - the Flight Engineer either squated behind the pilots or sat on a board!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 30, 2005)

FLYBOYJ said:


> plan_D said:
> 
> 
> > To me it exemplified post WW2 technology, but like designs in that period, gave little or no consideration to crew comforts - the Flight Engineer either squated behind the pilots or sat on a board!
> ...


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## plan_D (Oct 30, 2005)

The British weren't too big on creature comforts post-war either. But then, you're in the military ...who said you were there to be comfortable!?

I don't know why. I just found the Japanese P-2J interesting because they only designed it to avoid buying the expensive P-3. Yet they replaced the P-2J with the P-3. To say they're a smart nation, that wasn't very smart.


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 31, 2005)

Yep - sometimes they lack a bit of common sense. For example, they would try to reject parts (That Lockheed Built) for having scratches in them .00015 deep! We could not believe they were trying to measure something like that, the drawings gave tolerances that were no way that tight, all they had to do is read the entire drawing. The shipping costs of sending there parts back turned out to be a small fortune - we made them pay for it.

If I remember right Lockheed built 3 P-3s in Burbank for the JMSDF, they built the rest (I think 42) in Japan, Lockheed supplied a majority of the parts. Like I sad earlier, they fixed a lot of minor flaws but it probably wasn't worth the effort!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 1, 2005)

I would have told them fuck off!


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 1, 2005)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> I would have told them fu*k off!


 just about did that - used to love to see the look on their faces during program review meetings when we gave them a bill for all their crap...


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 1, 2005)

I bet! I allways love going to meetings like that though. You get to hear some funny shit from people that just sit behind desks and really have no clue about what is really going on. Man it is great. Sometimes I just want to slap them.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 1, 2005)

YEP!

When I was with Lockheed working at Canadair (Today Bombardiar) we had a meeting with some of the folks there over alleged bad material being sent from California. The guy I worked with was a Brit so the folks at Canadair on our program hated him from the start. This Canadair production control guy (who was missing his front teeth) gave a 10 minute dissertation on stuff that had nothing to do with what we were talking about, but underlyingly badmouthing Lockheed and my co-worker. All of a sudden my Brit co-worker got up and mimicked this guy (who had a heavy French accent) looked at him and said, as he removed his false front teeth "Bla, Bla, Bla, Bla, why don't you just shut up now you ignorant toothless twit!"

I just about fell off my chair and even the other French Canadian guys in the room couldn't help from laughing.....


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## Gnomey (Nov 1, 2005)




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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 1, 2005)

FLYBOYJ said:


> YEP!
> 
> When I was with Lockheed working at Canadair (Today Bombardiar) we had a meeting with some of the folks there over alleged bad material being sent from California. The guy I worked with was a Brit so the folks at Canadair on our program hated him from the start. This Canadair production control guy (who was missing his front teeth) gave a 10 minute dissertation on stuff that had nothing to do with what we were talking about, but underlyingly badmouthing Lockheed and my co-worker. All of a sudden my Brit co-worker got up and mimicked this guy (who had a heavy French accent) looked at him and said, (as he removed his false front teeth) and said "Bla, Bla, Bla, Bla, why don't you just shut up now you ignorant toothless twit!"
> 
> I just about fell off my chair and even the other French Canadian guys in the room couldn't help from laughing.....


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 3, 2005)

We have this Production Control Officer who really has no clue what is going on but wants to be in control of everything. Everytime he holds meetings he throws out his P4T3 (dont ask me to explain it) stuff and how that is how we need to run our maintenance. He can talk for like 45 minutes during a meeting on just this and all I want to do is ask him if he would like to take my wrench and go out and do the work for me because he obviously knows what is going on! Yeah Right!


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 3, 2005)

He'll probably drop in wrench inside the transmission....


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 3, 2005)

With as close to impossible as it is to do something like that, he would find a way.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 3, 2005)

Gotta love those guys!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 4, 2005)

I actually know someone that dropped a wrench in a Intermediate Gearbox and mind you it has a screen cover and only about an inch wide. Pretty amazing if you ask me.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 4, 2005)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> I actually know someone that dropped a wrench in a Intermediate Gearbox and mind you it has a screen cover and only about an inch wide. Pretty amazing if you ask me.



See how good of a fisherman they can become to get it out!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 6, 2005)

No it was my aircraft so I replaced the gear box. I dont play around with those on helicopters.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 6, 2005)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> No it was my aircraft so I replaced the gear box. I dont play around with those on helicopters.



Yep - good call!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 6, 2005)

You have to take care of it yourself most of the time anyhow. When I gave over my aircraft to maintenance I norally would find tools in places that they should not be and so forth. I actually called my aircraft "The Toolbox". To bad they would not let me paint that on the nose.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 6, 2005)




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## evangilder (Nov 7, 2005)

FLYBOYJ said:


> Hover...



Not yet anyway...


> Groen Brothers has received $3 million from the federal government to study converting C-130 cargo planes into giant gyrodynes (gyrocopters with jet engines at the rotor tips). The company says it will be a cheap and easy way to supply the Army with heavy-lift VTOL capability...





> GBA JOINS GEORGIA TECH TEAM IN JHL PROPOSAL FOR US ARMY
> 
> A "Best Value Team" led by Georgia Institute of Technology, a top five U.S. graduate engineering research university with the top public aerospace engineering program in the country, including a world renowned rotary wing technology program, developed and presented a proposal in July to the United States Army for the US Military's Joint Heavy Lift vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft Concept Design Analysis (CDA) competition. The team included GBA along with Shafer Corporation, one of this nation's most capable systems engineering and integration technology firms, and Dancila LLC., developer of important new piezoelectric, flow control, and "smart-material" technology.
> 
> The proposal based upon the "gyrodyne" concept long espoused by GBA and extensively researched by Georgia Tech was not, regrettably, awarded one of five contracts worth roughly $3 million for CDA development. However, in the debriefing by Army and NASA personnel following the decision, we were encouraged by the reception our proposal had received and by the potential for future participation in the project. The proposal called for using a C130 Hercules as a test vehicle, fitting it with a tip-jet powered rotor designed by the Team. GBA continues to promote the gyrodyne concept and is pleased to have had the support of Georgia Tech, Shafer Corporation and Dancila LLC. Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the Hercules, and Rolls-Royce, manufacturer of the engines in the C130 had pledged support had the proposal been chosen.


http://www.groenbros.com/whatsnew/nest.htm

Now won't _that_ be something!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 7, 2005)

I dont know if I would trust that!


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## evangilder (Nov 7, 2005)

Me either.


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## Gnomey (Nov 7, 2005)

May not be trustworthy but if they did it, it would be really cool and something I would definitely what to see. However I'm not sure it will happen


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 7, 2005)

Same here.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Nov 8, 2005)

i think the Fairey Rotodyne was pretty cool.........

www.vstol.org/wheel/ VSTOLWheel/FaireyRotodyne.htm


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 8, 2005)

I did an article on this one that appeared in Aviation Heritage Magazine in 1993, I had the only surviving maintenance manual, got a great price on E Bay...


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Nov 8, 2005)

wow, do you still have it?


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 8, 2005)

the lancaster kicks ass said:


> wow, do you still have it?


No - sold it, I think I got 3 or 400.00 for it.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 8, 2005)

Wow that is a good looking plane there.


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## evangilder (Nov 8, 2005)

Are ther any surviving examples of the airplane?


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 8, 2005)

XC-142A - it was like a baby C-130. It viabrated too much and basically shook itself apart. There were 4 or 5 built before the project was cancelled, NASA operated one into the late 70s.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 8, 2005)

Is that a little propelor behind the tail....cute.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Nov 8, 2005)

i fail to see the baby C-130ness about it though.........


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 8, 2005)

It sort of looks like one...


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## Gnomey (Nov 8, 2005)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> It sort of looks like one...


Vagely. Prefer the C-130 though it is still a cool looking plane.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 9, 2005)

Agreed


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Nov 9, 2005)

i much prefer the C-17 though.........


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 10, 2005)

I am with you on that also.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 10, 2005)

Although the -130 will still do things the -17 can't. It's like a bad case of Diarrhea, it just keeps coming back!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 10, 2005)

That is true also. The C-130 will be hard to completly replace. Hell in my opinion she is the Huey of the fixed wings.

Speaking of Huey's a friend of mine just got reassigned back to the United States. He is a Blackhawk guy like myself but they put him into an Active Duty UH-1 Medivac unit. The Huey legend lives on my friends!


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 10, 2005)

I seen some being used after the Indiana tornado the other day...


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 11, 2005)

Shows what great an aircraft it is. 49 years of service!


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Nov 11, 2005)

we're getting a load of Airbus A400s sometime in the future, i wonder if they'll be as good as the C-130, me thinks they will be!


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## cheddar cheese (Nov 11, 2005)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> That is true also. The C-130 will be hard to completly replace. Hell in my opinion she is the Huey of the fixed wings.



That I agree with! 8)



the lancaster kicks ass said:


> i much prefer the C-17 though.........[/img]
> 
> That I dont...


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 11, 2005)

The Airbus A400 no matter what seems to be a great plane. I like her alot. She might actually be better than a C-130, as she is more modern.


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