Again, not ours. We did fly the TA-J in VC-8 though. They were used as 'aggressor and chase planes. I loved working on these.
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Again, not ours. We did fly the TA-J in VC-8 though. They were used as 'aggressor and chase planes. I loved working on these.
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Comments
I worked out of the Paraloft. I worked on all three aircraft. I loved the H-3's and the TA-4J's but hated working on the P-2's. Because the were all but obsolete it was hard to get some our parts, the life raft systems were worn out and we couldn't repair them because we didn't have parts available in the supply system. I had several chances to fly to the Virgin Islands on them but turned them down because of the condition of the aircraft.
One of my buddies from AIMD told me about the H-3 going down but didn't know if anyone survived. I did see on the news how the Hilton in San Juan had a bad fire and a lot of people were trapped on the roof. They showed the rescues on the air and I was proud to see VC-8 helo's landing one wheel on the roof and aircrewmen helping them in. I also heard that the P-2's were replaced.
I lived in base housing and really enjoyed living there. Being from south Florida I was able to adapt to the climate fairly easy and spoke enough spanish to get by if needed, which was rare.
We were there together. I was an AME-2 on night check. I spent about three months on mids as ASDO. That was Cdr Duda's idea of punishing me for insisting on doing things by the book.
I worked on TA-4J and H-3 as an AE during my time at VC-8 at Roosevelt Roads P.R. Dec 1976 to Nov 1979.