 Royal Norwegian Air Force History
Circa 1997
A BIT OF HISTORY: "...Under Arctic Conditions In Europe:
Norwegian P-3 Winter Operations..." Contributed by Marco P.J. Borst p3orion@wxs.nl Website: http://p3orion.nl/index.html [27MAY99]
   
"...photos of Norwegian P-3N Orion 6603 (BuNo 156603) mentioned as illustrations...with my article on their Winter OPS. I took these photos myself at Andoya AB in February 1997. The air-to-air photo is one of their Charlies and that´s an official RNoAF photo...Marco"
The Royal Norwegian Air Force's 333 squadron was the first P 3 operator in Europe. Five P-3B Orions were delivered to the squadron between January and March 1969 and, after a training period in the United States, Norway's first Orion arrived at Oslo/ Fornebu Airport onl 10 April 1969. Today the "Saints" of 333 squadron have 30 years of experience with P-3s and are the proud operators of' four P-3C-III and two P-3N Orions. The squadron has its home base at Andoya Flystasjon in the North of Norway. The country's large coastline and the huge area of responsibility give the rel-atively small P-3 fleet an enormous job, especially during the winter, when Andoya has to face a lack of daylight. and is distressed by snow storms, strong crosswinds and a runway covered with snow and ice. But all this does not seem to bother the men and women of 333 squadron. They just continue to do their jobs no matter how bad the weather conditions are. Hardly any P-3 missions are cancelled because of weather.
The Squadron
February 8, 1997 marked the squadron's 55th Anniversary. Back in 1942, in the middle of World War II, a Norwegian detachment of the RAF's 210 squadron was established, and became the forerunner of 333 squadron. The squadron received its current designation on 10 May 1943. During, the war, 333 squadron operated with
Catalinas as well as with Mosquito fighter-bombers. After three years of wartime operations out of Great Britain, 333 squadron moved to a liberated Norway, in May 1945, and was established at Oslo/Fornebu Airport. Remarkable operations during this period included missions flown by some German Dornier 24 aircraft with German aircrews augmented by a Norwegian officer. They flew missions in support of 333 squadron, and assisted the squadron with its move to Sola. One of the German crews even flew an SAR mission in search of a sinking Dutch ship!
The Squadron operated with Catalinas until 1961, when the planes were replaced by HU-16B/ASW Albatrosses. After having deployed air-craft to Andoya for several years, it became 333's new home base as of 15 January 1963. The Albatrosses remained in service until the "Saints" became operational with their new Orions in 1969. 333 Squadron is the only Norwegian squatdron that has been continuously operational since its establishment.
Andoya Flystasjon
The Flystasjon (airbase) is situated on the island of Andoya ("oya" means island) which is part of Andoy county in the Nordland District. Andoy county consists of two islands: Andoya and Hinnoya and has approx-imately 6,500 residents of which 3,250 live in the town Andenes. Andoya Flystasjon is close to this town and shares its runway with Andenes Airport. The airport handles about six or seven domestic flights per day. The airbase is the largest employer in the region and, therefore has a good relationship with the citizens of Andenes. 333 Squadron is the only squadron at Andoya. However, the airbase is fully equipped with shelters and dispersals to act as the home base for about forty fighter aircraft. As a matter of fact, it happens once a year., during an annual winter exercise, that Andoya has such a large number of fighters within its fences. During this year's winter exer-cise, in March, RNLAF 306 squadron operated out of Andoya with its F 16s.
333's P-3 operations
A regular P-3 mission out of Andoya is not much different from an average P-3 mission elsewhere in the world, but what makes it so special dur-ing the winter is that Andoya's runway is covered with snow and ice most of the time. Together with strong cross-winds of up to 50 knots, this makes every takeoff and landing an adventure to anyone who is not used to these circumstances. Runway conditions are the worst when temperatures change from minus to plus: melting snow and ice make the runway surface really slip-pery. Norwegian P-3 crews are used to these winter conditions, and hardly any mission is cancelled. They can rely on their crosswind reference handbook, based on the experiences of P-3 pilots since the introduction of the aircraft in 1969. However, a crew departing from Andoya under minimum weather con-ditions is never sure if they will land at their home base after the mission is completed. If conditions become worse, they will divert to an air base in the Southern part of Norway. So if you ever fly a P-3 out of Andoya during the Winter, always bring your tooth brush!
Orions of 333 Squadron still operate regularly over international waters, North of the Kola peninsula. The Russian navy and naval air force also operate regularly in this same area on local training exercises. Visual con-tact between Norwegian P-3s and Russian ships and aircraft is not uncommon: similar to the state existing with the previous Soviet navy. The rela-tionship between Russian and Norwegian units nowadays can be described as more relaxed than at the height of the Cold War, although rela-tions between Norwegian P-3s and Soviet units in earlier years were hard-ly ever tense, with the exception of one dramatic incident: in September 1987 a Norwegian P-3B collided with a Soviet Su27 Flanker after some irre-sponsible manoeuvres by the Flanker pilot. Fortunately the P-3 was able to make a safe landing and nobody got hurt. As for observed activities of the Russian navy, they typically mount two large exercises a year, with many surface units out in the open waters. Submarines sail in this local area more regularly over the whole year. The Russian high com-mand has stated that the submarine navy will be given priority in the Russian forces. After some initial set-backs following the demise of the Soviet Union this concurs well with what Norway's small fleet of maritime patrol aircraft can observe. In 1994, exercise Pomor took place in North Norway. This was a basic communica-tion and maneuvering exercise. One Russian Krivak class frigate and some NATO surface units sailed together from Tromso in Norway to Murmansk. During the exercise several joinings with Norwegian, British and Russian MPA were conducted, as well as inter-ship helicopter operations.
333 Squadron is a small self-sup-ported community. Almost everything that is needed to operate the Orions is available at the base. Two hangars can accommodate five of the six Orions. Most of the regular maintenance work is carried out in these hangars by the local Planning and Control Squadron which has approximately sixty technicians, both military and civil. They have recently changed the maintenance cycle for the Orions. The RNoAF adapted the Isochronical Scheduled Inspection System (ISIS - utilized by the US Coast Guard) into their local ISIS-N, with the 'N' for Norway. This means that each aircraft goes through an inspection every 35 days. Every seventy days, the Orions go through a corrosion inspection. During the winter the Orions are washed inside the hangar because the local bird wash installation is out of service for four or five months a year. The winter condi-tions do not have much impact on the condition of the aircraft. Sometimes when the runway is too slippery, sand is applied and a landing Orion reversing its engines will slam the sand against its fuselage. Maintenance technicians often find small areas of damage to the paint on the fuselage. This damage can easily cause corrosion, and need some extra care, but that seems to be the only real threat of operating P-3 Orions under winter conditions. Heavy maintenance (Scheduled Depot Level Maintenance - SDLM ) of the RNoAF Orions is sub-contracted to Braathens S.A.F.E. at Stavanger airport. A couple of years ago, this airline company outbid Scandinavian Airline Systems, who always did the SDLM for the old P-3B Orions. Starting in January 1998. all four P-3C-III's will go through the Update Improvement Program (UIP). The pro-gram will run as a Foreign Military Sales program with the US Navy. The prime contractor is Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems (LMTDS) in Eagan, Minnesota, while the modi-fications will be done at the Lockheed Martin Aircraft Center (LMAC) at Greenville, South Carolina. The UIP will be based on the USN's ASUW Improvement Program. However, Norwegian requirements dictate certain changes and add-ons to the AIP. The UIP was initially limited in scope to include replacements for the CP-901 computer and the AN/APS -115 radar. The P-3C-III's will be modi-fied with the AN/ASQ-222 Data Processing System, with the CP-2339 processor and the AN/APS-137(V)5 radar produced by Texas Instruments. The system is capable of using both Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) with imaging of contacts and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with surface mapping capabilities. The com-puter update includes the replacement of the AN/ASH-33 Digital Magnetic Tape System with a state-of-the-art Data Storage System. A separate ESM workstation will be established with a new, spinning DF-antenna, and a suite of signal processors with a Radar Warning Receiver capability produced by Condor Systems of San Jose, California.
Communication will be improved with an Over-the-horizon Airborne Sensor Information System (OASIS III) and SATCOM. OASIS III is the third generation of an Over-The--Horzion Targeting (OTHT) system that was first used by the USN with success during the Gulf War. The first two versions of OASIS had a separate workstation. but OASIS III is integrat-ed into the regular workstations in a P-3. Other updates incorporated in the UIP are the installation of new universal display and control stations, exclud-ing the acoustic stations, with color displays, programmable entry panels, trackballs and alpha-numeric key-boards, a new focal lens for the AN/AAR-36 Infra Red Detection System to increase its range, an AN/ARN-151 GPS navigation system, a new AN/AIC-41 Inter-Communica-tions System, an AN/AAR-47 Missile- Approach Warning System and an AN/ALE-47 Counter-Measure Dis-pensing System (chaff, flare and jam-mer). The UIP update lasts about six months per aircraft and, as the modifi-cations to the several aircraft will over-lap each other, 333 squadron will have only two P-3C-III aircraft available for a considerable period. After completion of the UIP updates to the fourth Charlie, the RNoAF will probably dis-pose of their two P-3N Orions. It is not known yet if funds will become available for replacements.
Until their retirement, the P-3N Orions will be kept on, in order to relieve the P-3C-III fleet. The P-3Ns are conducting pilot training flights, coastguard missions and equipment test flights. At the moment P 3N #6603 is involved in the development of Radiak, a system that is meant to discover and record radioactive radia-tion. Radiak consists of an equipment pod, four sensors below the aft fuse-lage, and a separate work station in the back of the aircraft's cabin. Development of Radiak was found necessary after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, and also after an accident with a nuclear Russian submarine. Norway is quite close to Russia, where several rickety nuclear installations form a certain threat. Radiak enables a P-3 crew to locate radioactive radia-tion. After a mission is completed, it is possible to print a map which shows the route flown by the P-3. The colour of the route on this map gives information about the intensity of the radiation. Furthermore the Radiak system's equipment pod, which is carried below the inner side of the right wing, col-lects air samples in a filter. A valve in the front of the pod can be opened via a switch on the radar operator's work sta-tion. After completion of Radiak's development, the system will become available in a roll-on-roll-off configura-lien. All four P-3C-III Orions will even-tually he wired for Radiak, and the system's heavy sensors will probably be carried in the P-3's weapons bay instead of being installed below the cabin floor in the aft fuselage.
Royal Norwegian Air Force 333 Squadron continues to fly daily P-3 missions with ASW still being their major task. After the dismantling of the former Soviet Union, it had been a bit quiet around the Russian submarine fleet, but Orion crews of 333 squadron notice an increasing number of Russian submarine and surface ship move-ments, so they keep their electronic eyes and ears open. With the aircraft being modified under the UIP, Norway's Orions will continue to patrol the seas for many years, into the next century.
Special thanks to Major Torbjorn Haugen (CO OPS Squadron and President Norwegian VPI Wing)
Circa Unknown
Can you identify the Month and or Year?
A BIT OF HISTORY: "...333 Squadron - "The Saints"..."
"...The 333 Sqn. was founded by Capt. Lambrechts the 8. february 1942 as a detachment to the RAF 210 Sqn. It was given the mission to operate on the weakly defended norwegian coast. Consolidated Catalina was the first aircraft the sqn operated. Later a secondary wing with De Haviland Mosquito fighterbombers were deployed on Leuchars. Then the Catalina Amfibium was used from 1954 and the Albatross was used from 1961. In 1969 the first five P-3 B Orion was put in operation. They were all named after well known norwegian polar explorers like Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, Gunnar Isachsen, Otto Sverderup og Hjalmar Riiser Larsen. The oil activity and the establishment of the Norwegian Economic Zone enlarged the area for the 333. Sqn. many times. The Coast Guard was establised and another two P-3 Bs were aquired. They was bought from the US Navy and were named.Bernt Balchen og Finn Lambrechts. These new planes came to good use in the 80's. It was a period when the Norwegian territorium was violated several times, and live rounds was dropped against foreign submarins quite many times on the whole norwegian coast. In november 1988 the first of five P-3 B were sold to Spain. After 20 years of duty new technology were needed. Four new P-3 C Update III was bought, while two P-3 B's were updated to the "P-3 N" and specialized for Coast Guard duty. In July 1989 the new P-3 C arrived. They were named Vingtor, Jøssing, Viking and Ukabrand. They are visually alike the old P-3 B, but they have new surveilance equipment. In the 90's the Russian Northern Fleet reduced its activty drasticall, wich lead to lesser contact between the 333 Sqn. and the northern fleet. But the fleet still operates 67 submarines togeather with a deep water surface fleet. The fleet we face today has prehaps even more firepower than the force we "met" in the 1980's. New technology and equipment is developed every day, and Norway has interests in surveiling this development. Togeather with a period of active surveilance in local area, the 333 Sqn. is occupupied with the task of controlling the fishing in the area. It also participates in quite a lot of search and resque missions The 333. Sqn is the only squadron in the Royal Norwegian Air Force witch have been in operation since the day it was made operative. It has been situated at Fornebu, Sola with detachments at Skattøra, Andøya and Bodø. It has been located at the Andøya Air Station since 1963. The sqadron lost 19 crews and 14 civilians in the accidents at Alta in 1946, Sortra in 1948 and Bjørnøya in 1954. Since 1969 the squadron has flown over 110 000 hours with the P-3 Orion without serious accidents..."
"Royal Norwegian Air Force Summary Page"
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