Flight Crew LC 3

While attached to Patrol Squadron Eight (VP-8) located at Norfolk, Virginia our squadron was flying the P2V5F Lockheed Neptune aircraft.  Leading up to 1959 the P2V had been having some problems with nose gear extension throughout the Navy.  There had been a limited number of planes with this problem, yet any were too many.

A Chief Petty Officer (sorry, I can’t recall his name) in VP-8’s Aircraft Structures shop devised a method of using an onboard fire extinguisher to force the nose gear down in an emergency.  It consisted of using a special attachment to manually attach the extinguisher directly to the nose gear while in flight.  It was decided that a Structural Mechanic should be made a part of all crews to use this if an emergency situation of this nature should arise.  As a Second Class Aviation Structural Mechanic I volunteered for this duty, and was assigned to LC 3 crew.

Thus I began a short career as a P2V flight crew member.  It lasted but a few months.  One night our aircraft was patrolling out over the Atlantic Ocean far from the east coast.  It developed a problem with the starboard (right) main engine causing our pilot to call for a relief aircraft as we headed back toward Norfolk.  It was determined that on a spark plug change the previous day the wrong set of plugs had been placed in the engine.

Our head mechanic on the aircraft was being blamed for the error.  Our crew members didn’t believe the problem was his fault and told anyone who would listen of our feelings.  While discussing the situation I made the statement that I felt the entire crew should quit flying if they blamed our head mechanic.  After this rumor traveled a bit, a very good friend of mine, a grizzled old Chief, informed me there was talk of charging me with mutiny at a courts martial.  As flying was voluntary, I then decided to stop.  I made the statement I had suddenly developed a fear of flying due to the flight problems of our aircraft.  This stopped all ideas of courts martial, and the complete crew, minus myself, returned to flying as if nothing had ever happened.  This was a good thing for the crew, but ended my short career as a flight crew member.