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VP-90 Association

Contributed by LARSON, LCDR John Retired oriondriver1975@yahoo.com

"VP-90 Newsletter"
MARCH 26, 1998
Number 5
Greetings Everyone,

Well we had another successful VP-90 Reunion. We had it on March 19-21, 1999 at Pensacola, Florida.

There were 46 former Lions in attendance. We had 70 members and guests for the dinner on Sat night.

Dave Adams
Frank Anderson
Susan Arnold-Gaines
Dennis Barfuss
David Blair
Dennis Behr
Skinny Brown
Mike Cieslik
John Clennon
Bernie Cottone
Dr. Tom France
Glen Frostholm
Don Grobl
Rich Grooms
Rick Harrington
Mel Henschel
Buck Henry
Ron Hilson
Paul Kelly
Bob Korman
Bill Korthals
Sam Kupresin
Fred LaLuzerne
John Larson
Steve Latterner
Andrew Lawrence
Ron Leis
Pat Lentes
Rodney Lewis
Marty Martinson
Mike McCarten
Butch Michaelson
Don Mitchell
Jenny Moultrie
Ed Nowicki
Mike Pabich
Ken Parks
Steve Reeve
Bill Reline
Daryl Rice
Don Riebe
Richard Scaffidi
Eric Shives
Felix Unger
Ray Voigt
Tom Watry

The first event that we had was the briefing by CDR Brian Scott, the CO of VT-10. It is the training squadron for Navy and some Air Force navigators. Brian is from the Chicago area and a friend of Dave Fennelly. He gave us a briefing of the status of the present day Navy. We are down to 322 ships, about 4100 planes and roughly 650,000 Officers and Enlisted personnel. The VP Navy is doing drugs ops and surveillance flights over the former Yugoslavia. Not much ASW is being done. We were given a tour of the 2 aircraft that VT-10 uses, a T-34C trainer and a T-1, a Air Force trainer (a business jet type aircraft).

After the tour we adjourned to the Officers Club for Happy Hour. We then had a great seafood buffet. After stuffing ourselves we went to our hospitality room at the Days Inn downtown for a long night of socializing and telling sea stories.

On Saturday morning some members got up early and golfed at NAS Pensacola. The next planned event was meeting at the Naval Museum for a viewing of the movie Flight at the IMAX theatre. When the museum closed, we were given our own personal tour of the museum. It was a very informative tour about the history of the aircraft there. Following the tour we went into the Cubi Café in the museum for our dinner. It has the original bar from the NAS Cubi Point, Philippines Officers Club in it and all the plagues that were in the Cubi Bar. It was a special place to hold the dinner, since VP-90 was the last Reserve Patrol Squadron to get into NAS Cubi Point, Philippines before it closed.

We held a little meeting after the dinner. One thing that we did was have a moment of silence for our departed members since the last Reunion. We remembered Jim Rohlfing and Denny Parks. Denny was in the SAU for along time before coming to VP-90.

We then returned to the hospitality room for our auction. Ron Leis was again the auctioneer. He did a fabulous job again raising funds for the next reunion. That was definitely the entertainment for the weekend.

On Sunday there was a smaller gathering for a Sunday Brunch at the Seville Quarter. It is a New Orleans style complex in downtown Pensacola.

Don Grobl made up buttons again to commemorate the occasion of our reunion. Skinny Brown put on a great skit as a REAL old Senior Chief. We are hoping to set up a VP-90 Webpage. Watch for that in the future. We have found out that it is possible to order a coffee mug with the squadron logo from the 1980's. Bill's Mug Shop out of Jacksonville, FL still has almost 100 logos left from the order in the 80's. If you are interested in getting one. Contact Sharon at (904)-292-0222 or Fax 904-292-9203 to order one. The standard Navy coffee mug, model M-1 is $13.95 and shipping/handling will be $6.00. That price should be with your name and squadron logo on it. If you want more items on the mug, then the cost would be more. They also have beer steins to order.

The plan for the next reunion will be around mid August 2000 in the Great Lakes, IL area. Stay tuned for more information on that. It was a good time at this VP-90 Reunion. If you didn't make this last one, we are hoping that you can make it to the next one. It is always fun to see old friends and squadron mates.

The list of former "Lions" is growing, please spread the word that we are having these reunions and would like more people to know about them. If you have email, please let me know when you change servers, since I have lost some members now that their email doesn't work anymore. Also if you get email for the first time. Let me know, so that I can add you to the growing list. I have almost 190 names now on the list.

The final thing that was auctioned off was a beautifully framed print of LX-00, that was done by Don Feight WebSite: http://www.feightstudios.com/navalasw.htm. Bill Korthals bought it. If anyone would like to consider buying one and donating it to one of the many museums. There is a going to be a museum in Barbers Point, there is one now at Hanger One at Moffett Field. Hanger One at Glenview will be a museum someday. And finally there is the Naval Museum at NAS Pensacola. You could donate it in your name. The history of this aircraft, buno 153458 is as follows. It first went to VP-19 on 9/25/68, then VP-48 on 12/8/69, then VP-31 the RAG on 2/9/72 as RP-14/PR-27, then VP-4 4/2/79, then VP-17 on 5/20/83, then VP-65 on 3/20/86 and finally VP-90 on 7/92 as LX-1/LX-00. So this aircraft was in many West Coast VP squadrons. Email for Don Feight is: don@feightstudios.com WebSite: http://www.feightstudios.com/navalasw.htm

I received the following email from Mike Kopack . It is a real tribute to the Maintainers of VP-90.

Hello John,

Just a quick note to let you know that we recently had a VP-90 P-3 arrive here at Lockheed Martin in Greenville, SC. The aircraft is buno 153447, (old LX-1). It was originally stored at Davis Monthan AFB in AZ during 94 and will, over the next year or 18 months be turned into an AWACS aircraft, with an E-2 rotodome and avionics, for the US Customs Service. The acft looks great, your Squadron obviously kept her in great shape (looks better than most of the active acft we see.) The desert seems to keep the acft pretty well, after 5 years in storage it was pulled in off of the sand on a Monday and that Thursday it lifted off for a nonstop cross country flight. It landed with no write-ups.

Mike Kopack, Lockheed Martin, P-3 Orion PDM

If anyone would still like to get a copy of the "The Final Salute". It is a great collection of all the planes that flew at Glenview. It is a magazine that covers the history of NAS Glenview, Illinois. [Title: U.S. Naval Air Station Glenview, 1937-1995 : "the final salute."...Cover/Spine Title: United States Naval Air Station Glenview, 1937-1995...Publisher: Glenview, Ill. : GNAS Base Closure Magazine, [1995]...Pages: 44 p., [4] p. of plates ; ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm...Notes: Title from cover." Strength thru readiness."...Subjects: Naval Air Station Glenview (Ill.)...Source: GNAS base closure magazine] If you want one, contact Butch Michaelson:

3739 N. Odell Ave.
Chicago, IL 60634
773-589-0496
E-mail is: Walter Michaelson w469790@CHSTC.ameritech.com

Well that is all from me. I will probably continue to put out newsletters in the future, but not as often. There will be other members planning the next reunion. I have enjoyed working on this reunion, even though it was a lot of work. I would like to thank Bob Korman and Ron Leis who also worked on putting together a memorable weekend. I think it is important that a great squadron like VP-90 should have these reunions. So squadronmates can get together and relive our great past.

John Larson

REUNION: "19MAR99...'Hello fellow Lions' The next VP-90 Reunion will be in Pensacola, Florida. It will be the weekend of March 19-21, 1999. We are tentatively planning a Friday gathering at the World Famous "Trader John's". On Sat we are planning an all day squadron reunion at the Naval Museum at NAS Pensacola. That evening we will have our dinner at the museum. On Sun we are tentatively planning a Sunday Brunch somewhere in beautiful Pensacola. If you are interested in attending please contact John Larson LCDR(RET) oriondriver1975@yahoo.com..." [06APR98]
"...We are planning our squadron reunion(VP-90) for March 1999 and part of it was planned to be at Trader's Blue Angel Museum. It would be a shame to not have this great Naval institution around. I think the word has to get out about the possibility of Trader Jons. We need to let everyone know that Traders is up for sale. I think there needs to be a grass roots movement from Naval and Marine Corp Aviation to help save this landmark. If not saving the bar then saving everything that is inside Traders. Possible going to the Naval Museum at Nas. This part of Naval Aviation history needs to be saved. I think that the Blue Angels need to get involved. If you want to contact the PAO at the Blues, contact Lt. Tanya Wallace at BApao@aol.com. Also I think the Naval Museum needs to get involved in saving Traders Jon. There website is: www.naval-air.org. There are email addresses listed for contacting them. Also if anyone is a member of any Veterans organizations, word should be published in their publications about the possible disappearance of Trader's and the need to help save this landmark. Or at least the memories that this bar holds.A fellow Aviator - John Larson - oriondriver1975@yahoo.com..." [28OCT98]

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