 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.  Eternal Father by the U.S. Navy Band's Sea Chanters (668 kbytes - WAV file) VOL 1 No. 45 NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island Contributed by WOODRUFF, William H. (Woody) whw00dy@att.net   "...Sam Coia and Joe Gray were good buddies. We were on ORI and it was Sam's first night operation, he was nervous and he wanted AT2 Joe Gray for back up "just in case" it hit the fan. Sam and I were new to the sqdn just out of school, first fleet assignments. Sam and I both wanted flightcrew so we flipped a coin. Sam flipped a fifty cent piece and called heads. He won and got to fly. I lost and was supposed to go to messcooking, but it never happened. That "bad" night Sam was nervous he wanted Joe as back up. Someone saw him at the EM Club and they went and got him. Joe was a bit under the weather and didn't want to go. They bundled him abourd saying he could sleep if he wanted. The flight never made it back. They were working with a British sub on the surface around midnight. The subs skipper was in the conning tower and said the plane flew a low pass and then rolled left and started to pull up. The left tip tank hit the water and the plane cartwheeled. The skipper also said that there were two explosions after the plane hit the water and that was it - no survivors. A strange thing happened. My cousin told me about the boat incident (he lives on the Island). A fishing boat (about 20 or 30 years after) was a dragger and snagged something. They said it looked like a wing of a plane. As it broke the surface there were two big white letters clearly visible - "HE." It was the VP-7 aircraft. The nets broke and back went the the vertical...CAREY, AT3 Desmond F. sailordes2@yahoo.com..." [03JUN2006]
 VP-7 P2 Mishap Photo "...This photo shows the scene after the ditching. Two choppers can be seen, one in the upper right and one hovering above the wreck. The impact broke the a/c in two behind the radio station, and what you see is the forward section nose down in the water (held that way by the weight of the engines and guns) and buoyed by the empty wing and tiptanks. The stub of the fuselage is sticking up..." Contributed by Jim O'Reilly via William H. (Woody) Woodruff whw00dy@att.net [05APR2001]
 "VP-7 Page!" VP Memorial Page"
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