VC-12 / VAW-12 Newsletter April 2009
Website: www.vc12vaw12.org All the old newsletters are there;
Members list: www.vc12vaw12.org/members/members.html
Contact me for rosters of the detachments you were on. We are continually adding to this database. (rgs@coho.net)
We are now at over 2000 members and know of 800 deceased men in addition.
Chairman: Richard Bray 765 Hosmer Rd Churchville, NY 14428 585-538-4252 Cell: 585-576-0595 leighbray@hotmail.com
Past Chairman: Edward Seykowski 607 N 70 E Valparaiso, IN 46383 219-462-3636 edseykow@juno.com FAX 219-462-2168
Treasurer, Scribe, & Membership Chairman for dues:
Roger G. Smith, MD Office: 561 SE Oak St Hillsboro, OR 97123
Home: 34464 SW Firdale Rd Cornelius, OR 97113 503-628-2229 home; FAX 503-693-9109; Cell 503-407-8436 rgs@coho.net
Dues are $10 a year for those who get the newsletter by post. New Year starts at the reunion. Send in your dues now or e-mail me for a status report on your account.
Many who get the newsletter by e-mail offer dues and we are grateful. We send e-mail newsletter to all who wish to see it, regardless.
We are 2000 members. There are a lot of people we have still not found.
We have listed groups by detachments. Send me your request and I'll share your detachment list with you so you can contact the guys you want to meet at reunion. Tell us who you remember and let us help you find him/them. We have too many new contacts since the 2008 reunion to list them all. We have many incomplete detachment rosters. Send for yours and help me complete the lists. I call a lot of guys who have no interest, but if their old buddies call them, that may be a different matter. Our membership continues to grow. We have found people through the Navy Memorial Foundation and Military.Com.
People who send me old newsletters from the squadron and old orders, social notes, watch bills, cruise book lists and rapid recall bills have been very helpful.
Every once in a while I find a new member referred from a member who recalls where his old buddy is now.
Surprisingly few men that I have heard of have taken the roster of their cruise and made calls to old friends. That is another way to improve the list. Many of those rosters have names with incomplete addresses. Studying them may yield clues to where they may be now—wives’ names, birthdates or birth years, hometowns etc may be very helpful in finding men with more common names. Let’s have some stories of contacts made among old shipmates.
2009 Reunion will be in Dayton, OH
Time: Thursday afternoon Sept. 17 through Sunday morning Sept. 20.
Place: Holiday Inn Dayton North, 2301 Wagner Ford Road, Dayton, Ohio, 45414,
Phone: 937-278-4871, Room Rate $85 plus tax
Contact: Dick Bray, 585-576-0595, leighbray@hotmail.com
The hotel is located at 2301 Wagner Ford Road which is at exit 57B on I75. The reunion will run from Thursday afternoon Sept. 17th to Sunday morning Sept. 20th.
Reservations at the hotel can be made by calling the hotel at 1-937-278-4871. Identify yourself as a member of the VC-12/VAW-12 reunion group. The room rate is $85 plus taxes. This rate is good from Wednesday night Sept. 16th through Sunday night Sept. 20th. The room allotment is protected until 30 days prior to reunion which is about August 17th so make your reservations early.
You can also make reservations by accessing a WEB site that we have set up for our reunion. If you wish to make reservations for nights prior to the 16th of Sept. or after the 20th you will have to call the hotel directly. The WEB site address is:
http://events.ichotelsgroup.com/DPRD-7NWUTL/DAYNO/website/
The registration fee will be $100 per person ($200 per couple). The fee covers:
* Overhead costs
* Snacks, sodas and coffee in the Ready room
* Welcome Reception Thursday evening with Buffet
& cash bar
* Banquet Saturday evening– cash bar
* Breakfast buffet in the hotel Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings
Friday morning Sept. 18th we have arranged to have a private viewing of an A1-E aircraft at the Air Force museum from 0800-0900. This aircraft was originally a Navy AD-5 Skyraider Bureau Number 132649. The viewing will take place before the museum opens to the public so you must be at the museum at 0800. Prior sign up required. Sorry but only members can take this tour – no spouses or guests. Aircraft information at:
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=297
Dayton is where it all began in 1903 & 4. The Wright Brothers based there in their bicycle shop.
The Aviation Museum is one of the best displays of aircraft and aviation history in the world. It’s all yours all of Friday. There is a former Air Force One, historical planes, WW I & II, Korean, Cold War and modern planes, Research & Development Gallery and a Missile & Space gallery.
One organized bus tour is being offered that will be operated from the hotel.
Saturday Sept. 19th from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm Dayton museums tour
Assuming we are able to sign up at least 40 people to take this tour we offer the following itinerary:
Wright Cycle Company Complex http://www.nps.gov/daav
The Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center and Aviation Trail Visitor Center and Museum, located at the corner of Williams and West Third Streets, hosts an orientation movie, a restored Wright brothers' print shop, and exhibits operated by the National Park Service.
Carillon Historical Park http://www.daytonhistory.org/
Experience Dayton’s rich heritage of creativity and invention at Carillon Historical Park! Enjoy our beautiful 65-acre campus with 25 special exhibit buildings and structures ready for you to explore. See the actual 1905 Wright Flyer III, Dayton-made cash registers, vintage automobiles, train cars & bicycles, a 1930s print shop and the largest carillon in Ohio.
Cost $40 per person. Advance sign up required & space is limited
Friday evening Sept. 18th will be dinner on your own at a restaurant of your choice or at the hotel. A list and map of area restaurants will be available at the reunion. There are numerous restaurants within an exit or two of the hotel.
Engraved name badges will be available again this year. Will provide hand written stick-on tags if engraved ones are not desired.
Please provide the following information as you want it to appear on either the stick-on or the engraved badges:
For a members badge we will need the following
information: Name, Rank (highest held in the Navy), and the year(s)
you were in the squadron (i.e. 1959-1961). The guest badge requires just the
first and last name of the guest.
Engraved name badges/city shingles must be ordered through Dick Bray prior to the reunion.
A 2" by 3" engraved members badge can be ordered for $9, a 1" by 3" guest badge can be ordered for $8 and a 1/2" by 3" city shingle can be ordered for $4 each. Contact Dick so that the correct information will be engraved. Dick can send a picture of the engraved badges if anyone wants to see them before ordering. Badges/city shingles can be prepaid with reunion registration or paid at sign in.
We can acquire city shingles for past reunions. If you attended any past reunions and desire a city shingle or shingles let us know which ones.
To attend the reunion here are the necessary steps.
Make hotel reservations at 1-937-278-4871 or Go to WEB site: http://events.ichotelsgroup.com/DPRD-7NWUTL/DAYNO/website/
* Contact Dick Bray at leighbray@hotmail.com or rbray1@rochester.rr.com phone 585-576-0595
Provide me with:
Names(s) and number attending plus contact information
Tour desires if any:
A1-E viewing at AF museum Friday @ 8 am
Dayton museum tour Saturday
Banquet dinner choice Saturday
New York Strip Sirloin or Grilled Breast of chicken Honey Dijon Glaze
Badges choice:
Engraved/Hand Written City shingles
Make check payable to VC-12/VAW-12 and send to
Dick Bray 765 Hosmer Road Churchville, NY, 14428
2009 VC-12/VAW-12 Reunion Schedule
Thursday Sept. 17
1300: Sign in starts in hotel lobby
1300 + Ready room open for entire reunion – Pine Room
– snacks and soft drinks/coffee*.
1800-1930 Welcome Reception – on the Patio
Buffet* and cash bar
Friday Sept. 18
Morning: Breakfast buffet* just outside the Ready Room Open 6:30 – 9:30 am
0800-0900 Private viewing of an A1-E aircraft at the Air Force museum. This aircraft was originally a Navy AD-5 Skyraider Bureau Number 132649.
Tour on your own. The Air Force museum recommends people visit on Friday instead of Saturday. Saturday is more crowded. Shuttle service to Air Force museum can be provided by the hotel. Keep in mind the shuttle bus holds 10 people.
Dinner on your own at the hotel or elsewhere. A list and map of nearby restaurants will be provided.
Saturday Sept.19
Morning: Breakfast buffet* just outside the Ready Room Open 6:30 – 9:30 am
Tour on your own or take
0830-1430 Dayton museum tour - $40 per person
1500: Business meeting in Ready room
1800: Banquet* and cash bar - Sycamore Ballroom
Sunday Sept. 20
Morning: Breakfast buffet* just outside the Ready Room Open 6:30 – 9:30 am
* Covered in $100 per person registration
Korean War History item
Here is a story you can see. Sent to me by 2 Franks, Capt Frank Sequeira & Frank Lukasik:
www.steeljawscribe.com/2007/10/11/flightdeck-friday-guppy-spads-in-korea/print/
The first AD take off wings folded
Hello Roger,
In reference to the AD that took off with his wings folded at NAAS Charleston, RI. in 1949. I was standing line watch at the time with Squadron VA-95. What happened was that there were six AD doing FCLP's, from a Squadron based at Quonset Pt. They all came to the transect line for fuel and a break. When they started to leave all but one started but one the Midshipman, And as all of you know that a 3350 Eng. is hard to start when it is hot if you over prime it, that's what happened to the Midshipman. When he got it started the other five had already took off. He was given the spread wings from the director,he signaled he would taxi with the wings folded. So when he got to the duty runway and did his engine run up and check out, he just took off with the wings folded over his head. When the rescue team got to the crash sight he was setting on a log with his head in his hands.
I don't know about the crash in 1954, I never heard of that one. But I do know that a fellow by the name of Larry Webster has the remains of the AD that crashed in Charleston.
AMC Howard K. Weekley SR. USN Ret. Jusrhow7@aol.com
AD in Texas
Last weekend Marilyn and I drove to Addison a suburb of Dallas and visited the Cavanaugh Air Museum. Our son Steven told me that a flyable AD5 was there on exhibit. When we arrived there wasn't a Skyraider in sight so we wandered among the other planes mostly WWII Prop jobs. Suddenly I heard a sound that I hadn't heard since March 8-1955. It brought tears to my eyes and music to my ears - better than Mozart or Beethoven. The most gorgeous piece of aviation was taxiing between two buildings, turned and came straight for me and stopped about 15-20 feet away, behind a very small rope barrier of course. It was as if the plane was alive and knew I was there. The pilot revved her a bit to clean out the heads and cut. The aroma that wafted over me made me think was 19 again and Capt Rigg's plane captain. Marilyn stood beside me and said "is that the airplane you keep talking about"? All I could say was "yes."
Dr Bernard Luke
Inaugural Parade
Northwest Aside Group (NAGs) have joined the American Sidesaddle Association. This means there could be more interest and grown of sidesaddle riding in your area. I also thought that you might be interested to know that the Southern Ohio Ladies Aside organization that I belong to has been accepted to participate in the Presidential Inaugural Parade on January 20th. So I will be waving at you.
Linda A. Bowlby (wife of our member, James Bowlby, in Bucyrus, OH. lbowlby@aol.com )
Ride on over to Dayton and strut your stuff! ED
Fudd Escapade
The Feb 1966 Randolph cruise gave us more support because we took 6 Fudds on the cruise. The navy had installed a new experimental "super secret" ECM box installed in the waveguide of the radar of the two extra planes. We steamed for several days with the planes sitting almost on the Bow and tied down and all of the radars and radios of the ship turned off. I got to peek in once to tweek the inertial guidance system and they let me see what they were seeing.
We steamed to Puerto Rico and they flew the two extra planes off and back to the squadron.
They used one of the special Fudds for Carrier Quals on the Intrepid right after that and lost the plane to a cold cat shot. This was the first trip out for the Intrepid with steam cats.
According to the story told when the crew got back was, the plane floated into the water off the bow and the skipper got the ship stopped before hitting the plane. Ship’s company dropped Tilly's hook through the radome and sunk the plane while trying to salvage it.
After that they pulled the other ECM gear out and that was the last we heard of that episode. –Larry Jarvis