VP-5 Squadron Shipmates
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VPNAVY Address

ShipmateRoyal Air Force ShipmatesShipmate

BARRON, Flt Lt J Retired jbarron@lineone.net "...I was looking for 205 Squadron Royal Air (RAF)! I served with 205 for 3 years in the Far East - the sqn was a maritime patrol unit, much involved with search and rescue. I send you my best wishes and will carry on searching for the UK twin! Cheers..." [14APR2001]

BELLAMY, Dave bellamyd@worldnet.att.net "...I served with VP-47 (1969), VP-64 (1971), VP-30 (1972), RAF 206 (1975), VP-24 (1978), VP-10 (1981), and NAS Bermuda (1987). Looking forward to Andy Jampoler's book about the VP-9 ditching (ADAK, The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586) due to be published in April 2003..." [04MAR2003]


HAMMETT, Roy roymhammett@aol.com "...I served with the RAF at Luqa, Malta from 1950 to 1953. I was in the same barrack block as members of FASRON. I became very freindly with a US Navy member called Murray Fried who came from the Florida Keys I believe. I have often thought of him, as he was very kind to me when I was in Bihgi R.N. hospital. He used to bring me cigarettes, etc. Does anybody know of him?..." [09FEB2003]


LENSON, Lenny lenson@llenson.freeserve.co.uk "...My father flew B24 Liberators during active service in the RAF Costal Command during WWII. Although I appreciate that this was a largely different aeroplane from the PB4Y but it was used in a similar role. My father was the flight engineer of a B24 which depth charged and sunk a German submarine in the Atlantic. My father was based at RAF St Eval in the south west of the UK and this airfield was adjacunt to RAF St Mawgan, which was used by a large number of PB4Y's in transit to and from the US..."

LEWIS, Neil [Taff] ns.lewis@ntlworld.com "...I was a WoP (wireless Operator) with the British Royal Air Force stationed at RAF Masirah Island in 1960 and was on duty the night that the SS Electric Ran aground. In those days all the communication to & from the Island were done my Morse. We did not even have a Radio Teleprinter Cct. The grave yard or night shift was covered by one operator. It was about 02:00 hours [local time] when I saw distress flares coming from the direction of the beach. I tuned into 500 k/cs [the international distress frequency] and heard a c/s HOPV sending out an SOS. I contacted the C/O [Sqdn Ldr Huggins]. In order to communicate with the vessel we had to use out NDB [Navigation Direction Beacon] transmitter as it was the only one that could go down that low. We switched off the NDB and sent a NOTAM briefly explaining g what had happened out to Aden. [Aden was the GHQ]. Although I could clearly hear the ship she would not respond to my many transmissions. At first light The C/o, myself and an SAC Wallace [a radio Mec who was also a keen wireless ham] drove down to the beach. We took with us an Aldis Lamp. To be honest the sip did not want to know us and after over an hour of signalling she sent back her name. ELECTRIC. We could not get an Arab Dohw to go out because the sea was too stormy. That evening the boats were lowered and all the crew made off to board a passing tanker. We all reckoned that it was an Insurance Job because of the way the ship's radio officer acted. I did manage to get aboard her a few days later. I was given the ship's Marconi Morse key as a souvenir. Her cargo was Iron Ore and the general state of the vessel was in an appalling condition. A Dutch Salvage Tug spent weeks trying to pull her off, but eventually she broke her back and the attempt was abandoned. As far as I know what is left of her is still there 40 years later. Another interesting snippet was again when I was on duty. We had a civilian firm called Costain who were contracted to build a concrete runway as up to then we only had a sand one. They recruited Pakistani Labour. These men in turn married the local women. The Sheikh from Muscat heard about this and sent a signal to the local Sheikh that he did not like the idea and that these marriages were from that date annulled! Why I distinctly remember this was because the date was sent in the Moslem, not Christian Calendar. There was Hell to pay as there had been dowers given with these brides, as was the local custom. In July of 1961 I was tour-ex and left. I never did find out what happened. Perhaps somebody out there will tell me..." [20DEC2000]


MONCASTER, Chris Chrismoncaster@hotmail.com "...I completed a tour with VP-30 over the period April 1985 through April 1988 while on exchange from the Royal Air (RAF) Force. I'm trying to make contact with any members of the Squadron from that period. My time at the Pro's Nest was very rewarding. As a Nimrod navigator by trade I found the the transition to P-3 fairly straight forward except for NATOPS! The ASW missions were very similar except the transits seemed so much longer in the Orion..." [25DEC99]


PRICE, Jeff janda.price@xtra.co.nz "...I served with Royal Air (RAF)-201 flying the Nimrod MR1 with a two week deployment to NAS Cubi Point, Philippines (03/1975) where VP-19 were the resident maritime squadron..." [03DEC2015]


YEATS, Raymond (Rowdy) RowdyPilot@aol.com "...VP-44 (75-78), VP-31(78-81), 42 SQN RAF (81-84) NWC 84-85), VP-46 (85-87) Commander, Patrol Wing Ten (CPW-10) (87), XO/CO VP-40 (89-90) Commander, Patrol Wing Ten (CPW-10) (90-91), CNAP VP Training (91-94), ACOS MARDEZPAC (94-95) Retired 1995. Currently A-300 pilot with Federal Express Corp..." [27MAR98]


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