The Navy Hymn Sailor Aviators Version Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep Its' own appointed limits keep; O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea. Lord, guard and guide the men who fly Through the great spaces in the sky. Be with them always in the air, In dark'ning storms or sunlight fair. O, Hear us when we lift our prayer, For those in peril in the air. But when at length our course is run, Our work for home and country done, Of all the souls that flew and sailed, Let not one life in thee be failed, But hear from heaven our sailors cry, And grant eternal life on high. May all our departed shipmates rest in peace. "Air Tragedy at Argentia - Air Ops Continue The Foghorn "...A couple days ago I received an E-Mail from a person requesting information about the mishap. Unfortunately, I had a computer problem and lost the E-Mail before I could respond. If the person can resend the E-Mail - I will reply appropriately..." Contributed by BRYAN, AWC Bill Retired goodroosterjunior@yahoo.com [04SEP2011] "...The pilot of the P-3 that crashed on the way into Argentia was a friend of mine, LT Les Duffield...Having been the NATOPS evaluator for the Atlantic Fleet for anumber of years, I became quite conversant with the P-3 crashes that sprinkled our history..." Dick Zeisel (Capt, USN, ret) eldoz@msn.com [E-Mail Updated 05FEB99] "...I was in Argentia the night of the loss of our P-3. It has been many years and I have forgotten the crewmember's names, but I had flown with them on occasion. The PPC was the Squadron NATOPS Officer. We received a message that said "Lost generator, continuing mission" and a short time later received "Lost second generator, returning." The consensus was that they lost the third generator when they were on final approach to Argentia in the dark. Radar had them on glideslope and then they went high and then disappeared from the scope. I spent the following day on a tug retreiving parts of the aircraft. Very little was recovered, and no bodies were found. The brushless generators and changes to procedures resulted from this accident..." Marion J. Smith msmith5129@aol.com "...On the VP-45 Accident in Argentia, we (Crew 10) landed about an hour before the aircraft was lost. We had flown that particular A/C to Argentia, so there was some mix-up in Jax at the Sqd. as to just who was on the crew at the time. I will attempt to locate the names if you still do not have them..." Contributed by AFCM Dick Gray (Ret) dickgray@brooksendway.com 30DEC97-"...A crewmember from the "old" VP-45 days sent me a few of the names from the VP-45 P-3 loss in Argentia. I saw where you were given the name of Lt.. Duffield, the PPC. Other names so far are: Lt. Florence, F/E's, (forgot the rates) Waite and Boone, an AT_ (?) Gonzales, AT_(?) Lee Moriano, and an AO_(?) Roy Holmes...An AT named Jim Pratt went on a flight to the Azores with us, (Crew # 3, and therefore was not on that flight with his crew..." Contributed by AFCM Dick Gray (Ret) dickgray@brooksendway.com 31DEC97-"...Jim Patton was the AX who accompanied our crew to the Azores thereby missing the ill-fated flight of LN 9. Boone and Waite were the FE's both AD1's..." Contributed by John Covert Fineart3@aol.com 03JAN98-"...Crew list of my old crew from VP-45 that crashed in Argentia Bay, Newfoundland. In no particular order, they were: LT(jg) John R. Stacey, Orange Park, Fla.....AD2 Robert Joseph Boone, New Iberia, LA.....LT(jg) Thomas Wilson McVety III, Jacksonville, FL.....LT Earle Scott Florence, Jacksonville, FL.....LT Leslie Hugh Duffield, Jacksonville, FL.....AO3 Roy Phillip Holmes, Fort Walton Beach, FL.....AMS1 Lawrence Edward Waite, Jacksonville, FL.....AT3 Celso Gonzalez, Jr., Hondo, TX.....AE? James Otis Musselwhite, New Haven, CT.....AX3 Lee Franklin Maiorano, Jacksonville, FL.....As previously stated, LCDR R. T. Lemon, PPC, and myself, the Radio Operator, had transferred from the squadron only weeks prior to the crash. LT. Duffield took Commander Lemon's place and AT3 Gonzalez took my place. I was flying with this crew on a Blue Nose (North Pole) flight when my first borne (son) WAS born at NAS Jacksonville, Florida on July 28, 1964. Being the Radio Operator, I received this info via TTY and proudly broadcast it to the crew via the Intercom..." Contributed by Bill Bryan goodroosterjunior@yahoo.com WebSite: B & D Custom Caps & Tees http://www.vpnavy.com/luckydog.html [WebSite Updated 30DEC2000 | E-Mail Updated 11JAN99] "VP-45 Mishap Summary Page" |