Quote:
Originally Posted by Llarry
By then, the Navy was down to three seaplane patrol squadrons; two at the Naval Air Station North Island, Coronado, California and one at the Naval Station Sangley Point, Philippines. From Sangley Point it was a relatively easy transit to Vietnamese waters and Sangley was home to all three patrol aircraft then in USN service: the Martin SP-5B Marlin flying boat, the Lockheed SP-2H Neptune and the Lockheed P-3A and P-3B Orion, which was rapidly replacing the other two types in service. Sangley was crowded with those aircraft as the war expanded, and also was home to a small U.S. Coast Guard unit with Grumman HU-16E Albatross amphibian seaplanes.
|
When our family got to Sangley, we discovered that many of the teens had small motorcycles. Ohhhh, want one badly! The source was unusual: The Martin company technical rep at Sangley had a connection in Japan at Iwakuni, a seaplane-capable base in Japan that no longer routinely operated seaplanes. Every once in a while, an SP-5B with the tech rep aboard would fly to Iwakuni and he would buy motorcycles for the teens on base. You never knew quite what you would get but the prices were really low. There was a major catch -- and I don't think it ever happened -- but the SP-5B would not maintain altitude with one engine out unless at a very low weight. So if the aircraft lost an engine, the understanding was that the motorcycles would be tossed -- and there were no refunds, as they had already been purchased! Our motorcycles had some kind of "on-base use only" sticker on them and the base was small; no matter: we loved our bikes. (Mine was a 65cc Honda; I was slightly jealous of the guys who had 90s.)
Post-script to the seaplane story: By 1967-68, the Navy retired the SP-5B. The Coast Guard continued to fly the HU-16E for a few years more. Of course that new P-3 Orion that replaced the flying boats has now itself been replaced by the Boeing P-8A.