Down in JAX for the MPRA Symposium, and this is a perfect fit…
PBY- WWII
P-2V7 This one is painted as VP-5 crew nine for a reason…
This is the reason… 38 years, but they were returned to their families…
And yes there are STILL WWII temporary buildings in use… 
How big is a Navy battle flag? BIG!!!
The dinner last night had 400 attendees, the oldest from the late 1940s. We had from E-5 to Vice-Admirals in attendance, spanning at least three generations. In one case, a Lieutenant was recognized as the PACFLT NFO of the year, the award was accepted by his daddy, a retired Rear Admiral, who is himself the son of a retired Vice Admiral… 🙂
This was a fitting backdrop for the dinner, and the lighting says it all… The P-3 on the right is fading out, and the P-8 on the left is coming into the fleet.
It was great to see old friends, as one said, with the emphasis on OLD… We’re not 21 or even 31 anymore… sigh. But it was also fun to talk to the young sailors who are coming behind us. They got a chance tonight to rub shoulders with us old farts and maybe, just maybe, some of them will look back on this night as one that prompts them to stay the course and continue to serve.
That PBY doesn’t have the side blisters for the guns. My brother was a crew member on one during Korea and he flew out of NAS Atlanta when it was located at Peachtree DeKalb Airport. They would patrol the coast of GA and FLA. A few times I got to go with him when he had special duty and I got to sit in the plane while it warmed up and they did their work. Very cool time as a kid.
I’m supposed to have one of those coming up myself. I wonder if that’s where my father was housed during his OCS in WWII.
I keep hoping my destroyer’s association will meet on the west coast, or even up here. So far, the annual meetings have been east of the Mississippi & mostly in the South. Oh, well.
I was on a phone call yesterday that had the same tenor…my era vs the present era. It made me feel old and part of history — which is accurate, if not disconcerting.
Closure! LT. John A. Brown, MD was the Flight Surgeon and a fine example at Keflavik during my tour there in 1962. His loss was doubly bittersweet as he had joined that flight to earn his flight pay that month. Thanks for that post, and for the efforts of all the recovery crews.
If I were rich I would learn to fly and buy a PBY…convert it in to a flying yacht.
I’ve seen pictures of a modern conversion, but all I could find was this link. Some 50’s cheesecake pictures at the link:
http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/04/24/all-aboard-the-flying-yacht-circa-1950/
Pretty neat. Enjoy the weather. Those planes out a NAS Jax?
PBY- WWII pic didn’t enlarge – it linked to the large pic of p2v7.
Such a cool post! Thanks so much for sharing!
Old. Bold. And still able to kick ass.
Closure! I had the good fortune to be treated by Lt. John A Brown, MD. at Keflavik while stationed there in 1961-2. His kind, considerate and friendly demeanor left an impression upon me that lasts to this day. We lost a great man (I’m sure they all were) that day. I never knew they had been found and their remains recovered until today. Thank you, and those involved in their recovery and memorial efforts, from the bottom of my heart.
Cool stuff.
NAS JAX is a nice place to visit.
All- Thanks Hyper, I have no idea why that is screwed up. Will try to fix it later.
Posted from my iPhone.
Hyper- I ‘think’ I got it fixed…
Thanks for sharing
Those “temporary” buildings look almost identical to the ones at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro!
Probably built about the same time, from the same plans.
Rick- You’re welcome
Drjim- Probably… Pine with tar paper inside, no internal walls, just poles and open bays… Needless to say, they’ve been updated a few times since then!
Wow. I never saw those planes when I was in Jacksonville. Are they off-limits to the public at large or did I screw up and miss them?