Lockheed P-3 Orion

Rex Lake, e-mail, 18.12.2010 21:48 The mighty P-3 was my other wife - almost cost me my first one because I was gone so much! I flew 23 years as a Flight Engineer in VP-68 at Pax River, MD and Andrews Air Force Base. Nearly 7,000 hours in the A, B and C models only served to make me love it even more. My heart still beats faster when I hear those mighty Allison turboprops and smell the sweet odor of JP-5. VP-68 1970 - 1993. reply

Russ Adams, e-mail, 11.12.2010 18:10 I did my AMS2 tour working and flying in those P-3s during 68-72. First in VP-30 for a little training, and then off to VP-24 for the remainder of my 4 years. I took 3 every-summer trips to Sunny Keflavik which was not a whole lot of fun since we were promised a woman behind every tree! As only a 4 year man with an A&P license I got the opportunity for 2nd mech flight crew duty during the deployments and sometimes at back at home in Pax River. Our crew was the Bear Trap crew so we were certain to be sent out after some suspicous Ruskies. I remember one event while on a liberty run to Denmark when we tried to return to Keflavik. One of our engine start valves would not operate so we tried to remove a good one from a running engine. We kept the running engine in "Low RPM" but unknown to us was the fact that bleed air would still be supplied to that duct in that condition. It was a dangerous failure so we spent the night back at the hotel in AAlborg waiting for the replacement parts. Another "fun" time was when we lifted off from Stavanger Norway and immediately had an inflight fire. We went through the first few items on the checklist and our AW1 got it controlled quickly to our relief. On another back home trip up to Maine to pick up some lobsters for the officer's planned feast, about halfway up the coast we got a couple of prop pump 1 lights on #3 and #4. If that wasn't bad enough, we also only had one Engine Driven Compressor for pressurization and that was on #3. We shut them down, dove for below 10,000 feet, and made a landing in a Massachusetts base. Oops! the problematic prop pump caps popped open. Refilled with 5606 and then we went back home with our tail between our legs. The best part about being in a P3 squadron was during Christmas when we would sign a list indicating what airbase we would like to be picked up at after our Christmas leave. Pretty neat. Sit in a military terminal waiting for your own personal 4 engine airplane to arrive just to pick you up! They would leave the two right-hand engines running, lower the ladder, scoop you up and off they would go to the next stop. Very nice. I've had a few aprehensive moments during my time in the middle seat, but overall it was an excellent experience that gave me some good insight into my civilian airline mechanic career. Can any of you ex flight engineers still repeat the little engineer speal we had to go thru before an inflight engine start? Also, how about a little in the head math and give me the "landing weights and speeds"? Ha Ha! Also I believe the max speed listed in the aircraft specs is a bit off. From my memory it was 402 knots, which converts to 462, not 473 mph. reply

E.Dallas Grimsley, e-mail, 08.12.2010 19:11 What an honor to have flown the P-3 as a Flight Engineer. I had 13,860 flight hours in most models A,B,C,update 2,s,3s and early version of the LSRS. Many deployments a lot of shipmates. Great tours of duty VP,VQ,VX and PEP Canada. reply

E.Dallas Grimsley, e-mail, 08.12.2010 19:09 What an honor to have flown the P-3 as a Flight Engineer. I had 13,860 flight hours in most models A,B,C,update 2,s,3s and early version of the LSRS. Many deployments a lot of shipmates. Great tours of duty VP,VQ,VX and PEP Canada. reply

Mike Ford, e-mail, 02.12.2010 23:37 I spent 2500 hours and three deployments( two Sigs and a Bermuda)as a sensor three with VP-45. Great plane, lotsa' time spent down at 150' rigging ships and doing MAD work. Flew on a 14.6 hour Ready-1 alert launch out of Sigonella once... a real "eye burner". I was in in the early 80's and we tracked and saw Charlies, Victors,Foxtrots, Echo 2's and Juliets in the Med as well as tracking Yankees, Deltas and even an Alpha while flying out of Bermuda, Rota and the Azores. Great times, important work. P-3C ASW forever! reply

John "Tank" Weber, e-mail, 29.11.2010 01:16 I am a retired AW1. I was fortunate enough to have tours in VP-8 from 1973-77 and VP-10 from 1981-85. When in VP-8 we flew the old Alphas. The squadron converted after I transferred to Cecil Fld. 3 yrs later I "Guarded" back to Brunswick to VP-10. Flew SS-1 on Crew 10. I was there for the conversion from P-3C to P-3C Update II. I survived the "Icelandic Hostage Crisis" and enjoyed flying as a Naval Air Crewman. Because of my tours< I've seen a lot of the world I would not have seen otherwise, and I could not have seen it in a better aircraft. reply

Wade Renstrom, e-mail, 25.11.2010 20:17 I was a AW with VP-19 1971-73 with lots of hours in the Gulf of Tonkin. I wonder how many cases of San Miguel a P-3 would really hold. reply

Emerson, D.B. Lt., e-mail, 07.11.2010 23:00 VP-24 1965-1968. 65-67 in Norfolk in P2V then transitioned to P3B and relocated to Pax River in 67. Deployed to Sigonella, Rota, Keflavik. Detachments to GTMO, Lajes, Key West. After flying P2Vs (135550 was the oldest) the transition was like going from go carts to NASCAR. I flew 152721 in VP31 and 152722 in VP24. Really a great airplane to fly. Stall procedure- Add power. reply

Bill Maikai, e-mail, 23.10.2010 21:42 P-3 F /E 8,500 21 YEARS. 1973-77 VP-17, ZE-6 took 3 hits in the tail last battle of Vietnam. She /we flew another 7 hours dodging tracers we were young and dumb ZE-6 brought us all home safely. She sits in the desert of Arizona looking proud and humble what an aircraft lockheed got this one right thanks RIP Mr. Beasly Bill Maikai AFCM /RET. reply

Nick Mulich, e-mail, 21.10.2010 06:35 AE-2 First VP tour 61-63 NAS JAX VP-5, (Cuban Crsis) P2V=5FS ECM. 67-69 VP-50, AX-2 P5M-2 San Diego /AX-1 P3A Deltic, Moffett Field, Julie /ECM. AW-1 70-73 VP-23 Brunswick P3B, Julie /ECM, DIFAR NATOPS. AWC 75-78 NAS JAX VP-49 SS3 NATOPS, DIFAR OPR, P3C, I, II. Many great hours of on top USSR boats. Read "Blind Man Bluff" for the Russian's respect for the P3 Orion, the remarks are in the back, in the writers interviews with the Ruski Admiral. Last tour at the Naval Training Equipment Center, Orlando. Team leader on the acceptance of the P3 WST Update III 14B44 JEZ and the 14B40 RADAR trainers. One particular flight from Adak to Moffett in a P3A we were logging 555 ground. The beginning of that flight we departed Atsugi, Japan and was unable to climb above 1700' due to the excessive weight. We managed to get up to 17K before reaching Adak. There were about 20 Orental Rugs in the tube and 11, 143 pound hibachi Pots in compartment 'E'. Both bombay racks were full of aircraft parts which were left in Adak. Would go back today if called up for duty. Have a son-in-law in TSC Sig and he says that ASW is a lost art. We need to retrain our crews for the future threat from Russia and China. reply

Nick Mulich, e-mail, 21.10.2010 06:34 AE-2 First VP tour 61-63 NAS JAX VP-5, (Cuban Crsis) P2V=5FS ECM. 67-69 VP-50, AX-2 P5M-2 San Diego /AX-1 P3A Deltic, Moffett Field, Julie /ECM. AW-1 70-73 VP-23 Brunswick P3B, Julie /ECM, DIFAR NATOPS. AWC 75-78 NAS JAX VP-49 SS3 NATOPS, DIFAR OPR, P3C, I, II. Many great hours of on top USSR boats. Read "Blind Man Bluff" for the Russian's respect for the P3 Orion, the remarks are in the back, in the writers interviews with the Ruski Admiral. Last tour at the Naval Training Equipment Center, Orlando. Team leader on the acceptance of the P3 WST Update III 14B44 JEZ and the 14B40 RADAR trainers. One particular flight from Adak to Moffett in a P3A we were logging 555 ground. The beginning of that flight we departed Atsugi, Japan and was unable to climb above 1700' due to the excessive weight. We managed to get up to 17K before reaching Adak. There were about 20 Orental Rugs in the tube and 11, 143 pound hibachi Pots in compartment 'E'. Both bombay racks were full of aircraft parts which were left in Adak. Would go back today if called up for duty. Have a son-in-law in TSC Sig and he says that ASW is a lost art. We need to retrain our crews for the future threat from Russia and China. reply

Dave Kukuk, e-mail, 17.10.2010 00:45 I had the privilege of flying Julie, and backup radio and radar in VP46 from 1966-68, in B models, plus some training time in VP31 before that in some of the first As with APUs. During that time we went to Midway, and on the way back the cockpit crew, radio and I had to go on Oxygen for about 15 minutes, because we took it to just over 36,000 to get between thunderclouds. I always felt safe with those four big T56s, because it seemed we never needed more than 3 of them even with a full 127,000 pound load. The articles that talk about its ceiling and speed being limited by power don't know what they are talking about. Someone mentioned differential cabin pressure, which was the altitude limiter. And they or someone else mention the airframe speed limit, which was where the vector of propeller tip rotation and forward velocity hit mach I. An operational ceiling of Angels 54 is wrong, though it might have the power to get there, but they;d need to carry more than the standard amount of O2, as the cabin pressure would be around 30,000 feet, ( or more ) At Utapao, Thailand, I was checking radios, and remember seeing one stripped of equipment and with only a small fuel loads going to Bangkok for a wash down, rotate into a 45 or better degree climb right off the runway. The tower called to ask where they were, because they were above the approach radar's coverage. reply