VC-12/VAW-12 Newsletter

VC-12 VAW-12 Newsletter May 2008

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 1900 members and know of 750 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 1900 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 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.

2008 Reunion

The 2008 VC-12/VAW-12 reunion will be held at the Holiday Inn at Patriot’s Point in Mt Pleasant, SC which is just over the Cooper River from Charleston, SC. The hotel is located at 250 Johnnie Dodds Blvd and is at the first traffic light after going over the Cooper River bridge on route 17 north. The reunion will run from Monday afternoon Sept. 22^nd to Thursday morning Sept. 25^th.

Reservations at the hotel can be made at 1-800-290-4004. Identify yourself as a member of the VC-12/VAW-12 reunion group. The room rate is $89 plus taxes. This rate is good from Sunday night Sept. 21^st through Thursday night Sept. 25^th. The room allotment is protected until 30 days prior to reunion so make your reservations early.

The Holiday Inn is just one mile from Patriots Point where the USS Yorktown museum is located along with the USS Laffey (DD 724), the USS Clamagore (SS 343) and the Coast Guard Cutter Ingham.

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 Monday evening with Hors d’ Oeuvres – Cash bar

* Banquet Wednesday evening– Cash bar

* Breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings – juice not included

Two organized bus tours are being offered that will be operated from the hotel.

1. Tuesday Sept. 23^rd from 9am to 2pm. Charleston City tour

Tour Charleston, one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the south. Her stately homes with their lovely gardens, her magnificent public buildings and her majestic churches will enchant you. As you tour you will see the College of Charleston, Charleston Village (one of the early suburbs of the city), the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, and of course the famous Battery with its elegant town houses built by planters and merchants in the 18th and 19th centuries. Spend some time shopping and browsing in the Old City Market and have lunch on your own at one of our fine restaurants.

Cost $30 per person Advance sign up required & space is limited

2. Wednesday Sept. 24^th from 9:30 to 12:30pm Plantation tour

Visit historic Boone Hall Plantation, which was used in the filming of the television mini series, "North And South" and "Queen" and for background filming in "Gone With the Wind".

Tour the lovely Georgian plantation house, the slave quarters built from brick made on the plantation in the 1800's and watch the flower ladies making their sweetgrass baskets.

Cost $44 per person. Advance sign up required & space is limited

In addition Spirit Line Cruises operates several tours from Patriot’s Point that members can schedule on their own.

The Fort Sumter tour at 10:45 and 1:30pm. It is a two hour and fifteen minute tour and costs adults $14 and seniors $12.50.

The harbor tour is for one hour and thirty minutes and costs adults $14 and seniors $12.50. It departs at 3pm.

Tuesday evening Sept. 23^rdyou have the options of dinner on your own at a restaurant of your choice or:

* Buffet offered by the hotel restaurant (cost and menu TBD).

Dinner cruise from Patroit’s Point - Board at 6:30 pm Cruise from 7:00 to 10:00pm

Cruise Charleston's beautiful harbor aboard the 100' luxury boat, Spirit of Carolina. Enjoy the unique and beautiful sights of the harbor as well as a delicious dinner in a romantic atmosphere. Dance to the music of a live band. Entree choice may be made at the table. Alcoholic beverages and optional dessert menus are on your own.

Dinner Menu - Charleston She Crab Soup, Spirit Signature Salad with assorted home made dressings, Choice of a Beef, Seafood, Chicken, and Pasta Entree. Chef’s selection of potatoes, rice or pasta, Fresh Seasonal Vegetables, Freshly Baked Breads with Sweet Cream Butter, House Dessert, Coffee, Tea, or Decaffeinated Coffee

Cost $50 per person; Advance sign up required

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 $8, a 1" by 3" guest badge can be ordered for $7 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.

Note from Dick Bray, Chairman

We are going to be working hard to make this years reunion the largest in our history so please sign up early and contact your old shipmates as well. If you would like to volunteer to help us in our effort to expand our reunion attendance by personally contacting members in your area please let me know. We can supply you with the member’s names, phone numbers and email addresses.

To attend the reunion here are the necessary steps.

* Make hotel reservations at 1-800-290-4004

* Contact me at leighbray@hotmail.com or rbray1@rochester.rr.com phone 585-576-0595

Provide him with:

Names(s) and number attending plus contact information

Tour desires if any

Charleston city tour Tuesday

Plantation tour Wednesday

Dinner options Tuesday

Dinner cruise

Buffet at hotel

On your own

Banquet dinner choice Wednesday

Chicken Wellington

Filet of Beef

Badges choice

Engraved/Hand Written

City shingles

VAW-11 will hold its next reunion October 9-12, 2008 in San Diego. The date is firm.

They are on an every 3 years cycle. They include all VAW people including the active duty guys now. They naturally are predominately a West Coast membership. There is some small overlap with our people. Bob Allwine tells me they have over 500 committed to come and are on overflow.

NGC's Second E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Pilot Production Aircraft Completes Successful First Flight (St. Augustine, Fla., December 19, 2007) -- The second E-2D Advanced Hawkeye development aircraft, known as Delta Two, built for the U.S. Navy by prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), completed its first flight in just over two hours from the company's Florida manufacturing and flight test center Nov. 29 followed by a second flight Dec. 4.
   "The first flight of our second development aircraft signals another major program performance milestone for the E-2 program and for Team Hawkeye. It's clear by our consistent team effort that we're focused on delivering to the Navy its arsenal of 21st century network-centric warfare and battle management capabilities when we said we would," said Tom Vice, vice president of Airborne Early Warning and Battle Management Command and Control Programs - Navy for Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector.
   "Team Hawkeye and our Navy program team are performing in stellar fashion. We are right where we want to be in flight test. The combination of commitment and communication from the integrated Navy and industry team is the key to the success we have seen in this program," said Capt. Randy Mahr, NAVAIR Hawkeye program manager.
   Piloting the test aircraft was Mike Holton, an 18-year Northrop Grumman experimental test pilot veteran with 25 years of E-2 test pilot experience. Co-piloting Delta Two was 21-year veteran and the Airborne Early Warnings program's Chief Test Pilot Les Ryan, who has tested E-2s for over 26 years. Joining them in the flight was Wyle Weapon System Operator Ray Collazo, an experimental test weapon system expert with 17 years of test experience. All three are Naval Academy graduates and flew with Navy E-2 squadrons during their military careers. Collazo and Holton flew together in VAW-112 and Ryan flew for VAW-114.
   During the flight of the program's second system design and development aircraft, the team conducted a series of air vehicle tests to evaluate airplane flying qualities, engine response, and cockpit instruments.
   "Our go-forward plan is to fly another flight to check out engine air start capability, and high angle of attack flying qualities, and then we will complete the installation of the weapon system. Once the weapon system is in, we will fly approximately two hundred flights to evaluate the new radar. And just like Delta One, which flew its first flight on Aug. 3, Delta Two flew just like an E-2C," Holton said.
   In July of this year, Northrop Grumman was also awarded a $408 million pilot production contract to build three aircraft, and the keel was laid for the first production aircraft (AA3) on September 27. The original $2 billion SD&D contract was awarded on Aug. 4, 2003.
   "In late 2001, Northrop Grumman was asked by the U.S. Navy to build a new Hawkeye. Northrop Grumman's goal was to deliver a capability that would be a generational leap forward with new technologies-those that are more adaptable to changing threats from the enemies of today and tomorrow, and that could protect our nation and its allies well into the middle of the century," Vice said.
   "The E-2D system gives the warfighter expanded battlespace awareness, especially in the area of information operations," Vice added. "The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye delivers battle management, theater air and missile defense, and multiple sensor fusion capabilities in an airborne system. These advances provide warfighters with the necessary situational awareness to compress the time between initial awareness and active engagement. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye will provide joint U.S. forces and coalition partners' airborne battle management command and control from the sea, in both over-land and over-water environments."
   Vice said the Navy plans to procure at least 75 E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes, all which are manufactured at Northrop Grumman's Manufacturing and Flight Test Center in St. Augustine, Fla. Today, more than one third of all current Hawkeyes are flown internationally by Japan, Taiwan, Egypt, Singapore and France.

E-2D Flight, Radar Tests Accelerate

Aviation Week's DTI | David A. Fulghum | April 09, 2008

This article first appeared at Aerospace Daily & Defense Report. The answer to finding and killing stealthy, next-generation cruise missiles from the air may be about to take off, although the journey so far has been a little bumpy.

"A big reason the E-2D is happening is to be able to detect [small] targets over land," says James Culmo, Northrop Grumman vice president and program manager for airborne early warning (AEW) and battle management command and control networks. So, "it is significant in that the first time we flew [the radar] we detected targets over water and land out to ranges [still classified, that] we expected." Because of the introduction of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) software, the hybrid APY-9 electronically-scanned array (ESA) radar aboard the new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye will be able to pick those elusive flying targets out of a background of rough terrain and urban sprawl, a far different mission that the over-water detection capability of earlier Navy AEW and control aircraft.

Navy officials point out that analyses of the radar cross section of various targets will be done by other specialized aircraft like the EP-X, with its massive, active ESA (AESA) radar and advanced electronic surveillance arrays or even the carrier-based, F-35B/C Joint Strike Fighter. The goal is "one piece of metal, one track," he says. "That means everyone is looking at a single picture. I'm going to have server capability on the E-2D that can maintain some historical piece of the picture. Other parts are going to be resident in ships and with ground forces. I am the central airborne piece." But there's potential for future concerns. "I may need to see more things [outside the range of the new radar]," says U.S. Navy Capt. Randy Mahr, program manager for the E-2D Hawkeye. "As we move into the world of unmanned and remote vehicles, we're going to have a large amount of sensor data available. How we're going to operate with those unmanned vehicles is not fully understood. In some way, every airborne platform will be integrated. That challenge is coming at us." Meanwhile, Mahr is accelerating the schedule by increasing flight tests up to 4.6 hours from 2.5 hours. "We're doing well, flying missions and we're now within weeks of our original plan," he says.

Its official, DD-214's are NOW Online.

1. The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) has provided the

following website for veterans to gain access to their DD-214's

online: http://vetrecs.archives.gov/
This may be particularly helpful when a veteran needs a copy of

his DD-214 for employment purposes. NPRC is working to make

it easier for veterans with computers and Internet access to obtain

copies of documents from their military files. Military
veterans and the next of kin of deceased former military members

may now use a new online military personnel records system to

request documents.
Other individuals with a need for documents must still complete the
Standard Form 180, which can be downloaded from the online web site.
Because the requester will be asked to supply all information essential
for NPRC to process the request, delays that normally occur when NPRC
has to ask veterans for additional information will be minimized. The
new web-based application was designed to provide better service on these
requests by eliminating the records centers mailroom and processing
time.

2. The Department of Veterans Affairs has made it easier for the public

to get answers about family history, old war buddies or famous war

heroes. The agency has put on the web 3.2 million records for veterans

buried at 120 national cemeteries since the Civil War.
The VA's Nationwide Gravesite Locator also has records for state veterans

cemeteries and burials in Arlington National Cemetery since 1999.

The Web site is http://www.cem.va.gov

Obituary

It's like the end of an era. One of the really great guys is gone. Yesterday, April 30, RADM Jack Christiansen, died. He was one of only two men ever to enter the Navy as an enlisted man without a high school diploma to make Admiral. He even managed to get a law license along the way. He successfully defended one of the Admirals the Navy tried to "hang" for the Tailhook scandal.

We were classmates at Monterrey and frequently car-pooled together. He came aboard SHANGRI LA (CV-38) as O-in-C of an F7U Cutlass detachment. It was customary to off-load the F7U dets in Hawaii or Guam

as the carriers proceeded on their WestPac cruises because the aircraft was such a nightmare to maintain and operate. Jack fought this and kept his det aboard and did a superb job of keeping his F7U's flying. He always gave credit for this to his second-in-command, LCDR Snuffy Stirnweiss. Snuffy was a Pax River graduate, always puffing on a pipe, real quiet, looking more like a college professor than the outstanding fighter pilot he was. I never knew a really good fighter pilot who looked the part.

Jack called me, after retiring, when he was a Vice President at Grumman, and told me I better get my ass to the very first Tailhook reunion to be held in Baja California. I didn't go. Jack was one of the founding fathers of the Tailhook Reunion concept. That one last year was my first.

After that last Tailhook reunion, I sent him an e-mail telling him that I was disappointed not to see him. I should have realized something was up when his wife responded saying that Jack had some "minor" surgery and would see me at the next Tailhook.

I really hate it when my heroes die. Guys like Jack were out there on the leading edge, looking out for the rest of us. He makes you feel proud to be a part of Naval Aviation

Regards, Bill Campbell

Operations Schedule for VC-12 1 April 1955 – sent to me by Bob Watson who had saved it.

This is a wonderful spoof from 58 years ago with “inside” jokes. That so many of these officers and crews are no longer with us makes it bittersweet. I have maintained the original (mis) spellings.

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

NAVY DIVISION

INCOMPLTE SQUADRON TWELVE

U. S. Naval Air Station

Quonset Pernt, Road Isle

OPERATIONAL AND GROUND TRAINING SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 1 1955

Squadron Duty Officer Brodie, SA

Squadron duty officer indoctrination CDR Melhorn

Operations duty officer ENS Hoskin

Aircraft readiness watch none – no aircraft available

Tower duty officer LT H. B. Smith USNR

All watches are for the entire weekend

0800- 1130 Brief 0730 Spec Ex DESDIV 142 on station 0900

_____ADW Kelly Baller Ott

_____ADW Van Kluyve Quinn Zarbo

_____AD5 Speaker

_____AD5W Hermann

0800 – 1130 Brief 0730 SPEC EX DESDIV 142 ON Station 0900

_____ADW Becker Smith, V. W. LTJG Johnson Barrier 1A93

_____ADW Coller Uffman LaPointe Barrier

_____ADW Powell, E.C Gilroy Zarbo Barrier

_____ADW Kelly Campbell Steele AFT CA & Standby BARRIER

_____AD5 Speaker CAP

_____AD5W Pearce Bogie

0800 SPECIAL EXERCISE WITH USS TEXAS brief at 0750 ON STATION at 0810

SNB-W Gwaltney, Storm, Guy, Smith, R.G, Strudle, Walrod, Watson

SNB-W Nopola, Battersby, Jenkins (III), LCDR Long

Exercise consists of 60 deg dive bombing runs with live loads

0830 CROSS COUNTRY TO SAN DIEGO 1 April to 30 April

AD5 Van Kluyve

0830 HIGH SPEED TAXIING TO THE COMPASS ROSE (3 LAPS AROUND THE FIELD PERIMETER)

AD5 Wetz Becker Day Marecki

AD6 Forscht Charno Prosser Hermann

AD7 Walker (read handbook for proper jet operation)

AD69W DOWN FOR SHORT RELIEF TUBE

0830 BEER MUSTER IN LINE SHACK FOR AIRMAN APPRENCTICES – MUSTER WILL BE TAKEN

0830 CROSS COUNTRY TO GITMO (LOAD 1 GROSS OF EMPTY BOTTLES-EXPECT FULL LOAD RETURN TRIP)

SNJ CDR RIGG

0830 Inspection CAPTAIN QUEEG AND BALLS ASSISTED BY SDO

Note: uniform for inspection will be Whites, with medals, swords, and flight helmets

0900- - 1200 FLATHATTING AND LOW LEVEL ACROBATICS

_____ADW Prosser

_____AD8 Otis

0900 RAPID RECALL FOR BOQ LATE SLEEPERS AND FRIENDS

0930 officers secure unless scheduled

1300 GROUP GROPE TO YOUNGSTOWN, OH

F6F-5W Short

SB2C-8S Long

HOS-4 Medium

1100 Relative Motion and vertigo training

Officers Club -- all pilots Muster will be taken

2200 FORMATION FCLP – INVERTED FLIGHT – LSO BOZEMAN

ADW Lynch ADW Ballard ADW Humber

ADW Forsch ADW Smith, H.B. ADW Merton

ADW Nickell ADW Guarrasi ADW Paglialungo

Fair weather cloud flying (Wheels up or down)

AD18NLW CDR Melhorn

1158 LIBERTY CARD BONFIRE & SONGFEST – PETE EVANS ATC

TWO WEEK SURVIVAL TREK MCFADDEN DOVILLE HOTEL, MIAMI

FLOGGING FLIGHT DEPARTS AFTER LAST CLAIMING RACE AT KI, BILLS TAP

THOMPSON, LEONARD, LANCASTER, COLLER

1300 PAPER SHUFFLING CONTEST –ADMINISTRATION PERSONNEL

WINNER TAKE OVER COMFAIRQUONSET

1400 LVI LAKE ERIE

___ ADW Pearce F3D Oughton

____ADW Powell TBM Potter

____ADW Webb A4D Pires

____ADW Clapp TV2 Burris

____ADW Martin SNJ Jenkins III

SPARES ARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL SCHEDULED FLIGHTS

1415 VD Lecture Wilson, R. A. LTJG

ALL WAVES ATTACHED TO VC-12

Night flying cancelled except as follows:

CDR LARSON NIGHT NAV 2300-0530 ORBIT FIELD FOR FIRST TWO HOURS UNTIL MOONRISE

CDR CALDWELL NIGHT SLOW TIME 2300-2330 TAKE Evans, P.E ATC AS MECH

CDR MELHORN NIGHT BOUNCE SIMMONS FIELD

1500 BEER MUSTER

1530 HIGH SIDE RUNS ON LANDING AIRCRAFT AT IDLEWILD

_____AD5 McCann

_____AD5 Gray

_____F-110 Hermann

1530 PRACTICE DITCHING CAPE COD BAY OBSERVE RADIO SILENCE

____AD3W STRUBLE

____AD3W Watson

____AD3W Walrod

Signed Elisha Matterhorn

CDR USN-RR

Operations officer