Lockheed P-3 Orion
[image credit - wikipedia.org]
The P-3 Orion is ,only now, coming out of front line service with it being replaced by variants of the Boeing 737. She had well earned her retirement but once again has been called into service to fight a new war.
Lockheed P-3 Orion
[image credit - wikipedia.org]
The Lockheed Electra appeared during the late fifties as an efficient turboprop airliner. As Lockheed would learn the market for efficient turboprop airliners was very small and naturally turned to a more profitable secondary market with the US Navy. Thanks to its size, shape and range lent itself to becoming a patrol aircraft specializing in antisubmarine warfare. In total 757 would be built before production ended.
Magnetic Anomaly Detector
[image credit - http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/]
One of the main pieces of equipment that helped the Orion to stand out what the MAD stinger. The Magnet Anomaly Detector was used to find submarines in the ocean by locating the changes in the earths magnetic field caused by such a large piece of metal being an area normally devoid of it.
P-3 AEW assigned to US Customs
[image credit - Wayne Moyer 2012]
With the Cold War over the P-3 has been moved to the War on Drugs. This job had been filled by a various Coast Guard aircraft over the last couple decades. Now that role moved to the P-3 which has gained an AWACS radar dish to find the drug runners in the air and the MAD stinger to find those on and under the water.
Don't worry, if you get nostalgic for the Orion you'll likely be able to visit them in Canada for the next twenty odd years.
A former Orion crew member told me a favourite story of theirs: a Navy fighter pilot was razzing the crew of an Orion about their slow old plane. "Show us what you got" said the Orion pilot. The fighter zoomed off and did some fantastic fighter stuff. "Your turn" said the fighter pilot. The Orion continued along its path for some time. "How'd you like that?" said the Orion pilot. "What the hell are you talking about?" says fighter guy. "I just got up and walked to the back to take a piss."
HA! I like that. Anyway when I grew up near the Willow Grove Naval Air Station in Pennsylvania we had a load of various types of P-3's. Between the ones flying and the others being worked on over at Jonestown they were always nearby. I got very used to seeing the P-3 during those years.
So it caught me quite by surprise to see one down at the Joint Services Open House air show at Andrews Air Force Base. Apparently there have been eight or so of them converted to P-3AEWs but it was the first I had seen or heard of.
That reminds me of a not-Orion-related story one of my distant relatives had. He was an alcoholic, with a side job as a fighter pilot. At one of his tavern hang-outs, he befriended a cargo jet pilot. The two of them discussed how they had never flown jets of the others' types but had always wanted to, so they arranged a trade. Obviously seat time in a figher jet was out of the question, but the USAF was willing to let the cargo pilot have some simulator time. But the cargo line (can't remember if it was UPS or FedEx) was willing to let my relative fly as a guest co-pilot. Apparently, they both had a blast. My relative said it was odd flying a 747, because it would barely diverge from straight ahead no matter what inputs he gave it. He did say it was pretty fun operating a piece of equipment that large.
Stu– I just realized that on Saturday, you were talking about the 24 Hours of Lemons. I thought you were talking about Concours d'Lemons. Sorry. Are you going down to Buttonwillow? I have to check my calendar. Are you staying the night or making a day trip out of it?
Ive heard about the 24 Hours of Lemons… I wish the car i have wasn't a classic as it would be fun to run. That and the drive to get there would take awhile. Ive been hearing about the 24 for several years now. Id run a sunbeam alpine if it weren't for the easy-to-take-out front end. But they will take 426 hemis well enough.
Though i find it odd that "small squeegee-wielding children tied to the hood" are not passengers…. http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/pricesandrules.asp…
My current Buttonwillow plan is to drive down on the Friday and stay through Sunday. I was told that it's a good idea to take a vehicle you can sleep in, so I'm probably going to take my van.
When and where is the Concours? I'd love to check that out if I'm available.
The concours is during Monterey car week in August. They have a website, although details have not been published yet.
Splendid! I'm nominally not working during this August, so I might try to get down there.
My real father rode P-3s as a tech during 'Nam, and we were stationed out of Atsugi Japan when I was young. We don't know much about it, only that he supposedly worked in the "Purple room" on base and we weren't allowed to go in, or even ask any questions about it. He came and went at random, often for weeks at a time.
We do know they would fly in and bait SAM-sites into lighting up their Radar so they could take them out, while avoiding the fast smokey "bangy" things. Not a job I'd ever want, and the dude ended up with what we would later learn was classic PTSD.
Later, we were stationed at Moffett Field in Mountain view CA, and I remember watching the Orions fly overhead, wondering if he was leaving (or coming home) again.
They have a very distinctive, smooth and powerful humming sound, kinda like a gigantic angry hummingbird. Great planes. Thanks for the article!
One of the uses of the MAD stinger was to detect the spark plugs of trucks running on the Ho Chi Minh trail. In this case they were placed on the back of cargo aircraft. So I'm guessing people with that expertise were moved around to different aircraft types as needed.
My boss, who is a very private guy anyways, rode in the back of a P-3 during 'Nam. About all I have gotten out of him is that they weren't looking for ships or subs.
In WP-3D trim the Orion is known as the Hurricane Hunter. This one, operated by NOAA, has a decal for every country it has flown over and for every hurricane it has flown into.
<img src="http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/lch/outreach/050702/LFTp303.jpg" width="600">
Somehow I see this pic differently. I see a transport an a guy loading people who look like they want to get ON to the plan and two arrows on the plane showing how people move through two doors with the front door as having one hell of a first step out of the plane… The word "commerce" doesn't help…
But maybe its just me…
It's a school group from Louisiana, they sent one Hurricane Hunter on a tour back in 2001 or so. IDK why it says Dept. of Commerce on it. I'd want to get on one, given the chance!
http://www.aoc.noaa.gov/aircraft_lockheed.htm
Awesome planes… I've got some friends in the community, and from what I've heard, the MAD is more or less a joke. You've got to fly directly over something to detect it, and chances are it's either a mountain or simply an "anomaly" instead of a sub. They do, however, go flying with three pilots, a bathroom, a bed, an oven, a microwave, and a coffee pot. They've got all sorts of rather specific recipes for baking at altitude…
As a coincidence, I ran across a display P-2 Neptune in the front yard of the South Georgia Technical College outside Americus, GA. I was visiting the region and taking in Americus, Plains, and Andersonville. The national park at Andersonville is quite the experience, unsettling but part of our US history. The P-2 preceeded the P-3 and, while doing its duty in the years before and during the Vietnam conflict, they are reportedly still flying as air tankers and fire support planes. This was the first I have seen in person so I grabbed a few photos which I’ll be glad to share with anyone interested. One interesting detail is the use of two jet engines (yes, jets, not JATO) one under each wing in addition to the two standard and very large radial piston engines. This thing is quite the beast. Anyway, the P-2 is probably the airframe mentioned by fodder650 above that used the spark plug detector technology – and got itself shot down in the process.
I believe you are correct that the P-2's MAD detector was used to find the sparkplugs