Mariner / Marlin ASSOCIATION Spring 2011 Vol 30, Issue 1 THIS ISSUE’S COVER CONTENTS 3. From The Editor Arnold Zaharia 4. Welcome / Taps 5. Letters 6. Note From the President 7. Pensacola Reunion Information 8. Pensacola Holiday Inn Information 9. OFFICIAL RECORD: Second VP-40 Michael D. Roberts 13. Interview: PBM Mariner Combat Crewman Jon Guttman, Aviation History, 2004, 19. “Dead” Men’s Diary Owen McCarty, The Saturday Evening ,1947 23. The $5,000.00 Photograph Irvin S. Copper, Photo is a digital edit of the front of the Pensac- ola, Florida Naval Aviation Museum where the F-14A Tomcat was replaced with a World War II era PBM Mariner. 7 Pensacola Reunion 9 Second VP-40 13 Interview: Crewman 19 “Dead” Men’s Diary 2 Mariner/Marlin Spring 2011 marinermarlin.com Mariner/Marlin Association Organization Chart OFFICERS FROM THE EDITOR Chairman/President: Douglas C. Miles Vice-President-Membership: Frank Jones No, you will not see a Mariner on a pedestal at the Pen- sacola Museum. Hope everyone appreciates the humor. Vice-President-Newsletter: Arnold Zaharia But I also hope you can come out to the Pensacola re- Treasurer: Al Schipporeit union. A lot of effort was made by the association board Secretary: Deanna Crouch to make this reunion happen and with the 100th year of Naval Aviation taking place, it promises to be one of the best reunions ever. We are however extremely late in DIRECTORS making this happen, so please send in your forms right away as time is of the essence. Questions concerning the Jim Alyea reunion should be made to Doug Miles. (His informa- Ed Bojan tion is at the bottom of this page) Bill Heston Ken Lindl We are still looking for more stories and letters for the newsletter. Please send them to Arnold Zaharia. (infor- Bob Noble mation at bottom) Dave Rinehart Bob Tibbetts I know a lot of you have had a pretty hard winter but Don Zickefoose this is the Spring issue so Spring must be just around the corner and Florida is great in May. COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN Arnold Pensacola P5M: Jack Page 2011 REUNION CHAIRMAN Doug Miles DIRECTORS EMERITUS C. Ahee D. King D. Anderson J. Korbein D. Cain C. Lambing S. Calkins L. Lammers CONTACT INFORMATION B. Barth F. Lewis P. Bredthauer N. Maffit L. Courtemanche G. Mamoulides Doug Miles, MMA Chariman K. Courtright W. Olson 2264 Vanessa Drive, Birmingham, AL 35242 J. Crouch N. Poliski 205-991-5652 ● [email protected] D. DeLaMater D. Reed F. Dorsch B. Smith (Founder) Frank Jones, Membership Chairman F. Dunigan R. Sommerdorf F. Elg R. Stephens (Founder) P.O. Box 4548, Oceanside, CA 92052 B. Escobar H. Stetson 760-439-9988 ● [email protected] R. Gibbs J. Strohl D. Gingrich (Founder) B. Suppies Arnold Zaharia, Newsletter Editor M. Gitlin A. Szuhai 7615 N. 75th Ave., Suite 105 G. Harmon J. Thompson D. Hoffman C. Villemin Glendale, AZ 85303 L. Jendrusch J. Woodcock 623-934-2100 ● [email protected] W. Johnson marinermarlin.com Mariner/Marlin Spring 2011 3 WelcomeWelcome toto thethe MMAMMA NEW MEMBERS AS OF FEBRUARY 2011 Dean, Thomas Kirchner, David P. Taylor, Bud W. VP-50 VP-47, VP-50 VP-40 541 846-1309 417 439-0541 816 453-3332 Aircrewman Pilot Aircrewman TAPS “For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return” - Leonardo da Vinci Blake, William F., O’Hara, T. Patrick Travers, Victor C. Harborside, ME Cypress, CA Dumfries, VA passed away June 13, 2009 reports passed away October 25, 2010 passed away June 12, 2010 reports his wife Patricia. William was a reports his friend Edgar Josephsen. his wife Vicki. Victor was an Air- Pilot with VP-26. Patrick was an Aircrewman with crewman with VPB-214. VPB-25. Dunbar, Boyd E. Troutman, Robert L. Haxton, CO Pinkston, Jack R Wichita, KA passed away September 19, 2010 San Antonio, TX passed away February 19, 2010 re- reports his wife Lydia. Boyd was a passed away December 4, 2010 ports his son William. Robert was Pilot with VPB-27 and VPB-210. reports his wife Jane. Jack was an an Aircrewman with OTU-4. Aircrewman with VP-50 and VP- Gless, Richard D. 892. Wade, John K. Frederick, MD Blain, TX passed away August 15, 2010 re- Salvador, Lionel passed away January 21, 2011 ports his wife Jeanne. Richard was Melbourne, FL reports his son Tofer. John was a a Pilot with VP-74, VPMS-10 and passed away December 25, 2010 Pilot with VP-46. VR-2. reports his wife Marylin. Lionel was an Aircrewman with VP-43 Willis, Tom G. Lawson, Shirley W. and VP-46. Phoenix, AZ Valley Center, CA passed away February, 2010 reports passed away January 17, 2011 re- Thompson, James P. his wife Mary. Tom was an Aircrew- ports his friend Russell Lansberry. New Orleans, LA man with VPB-216. Shirley was an Aircrewman with passed away November 25, 2009 VP-50. reports his wife Gloria. James (Re- Wolfe, William C. union Chairman ’93) was a Pilot Novi, MI Maca, Donald D. with VPB-25. passed away September 3, 2010 Omaha, NE reports his wife Fay. William was passed away January 2, 2011 re- an Aircrewman with VP-731. ports his wife Dorothy. Donald was a Pilot with VPB-205. 4 Mariner/Marlin Spring 2011 marinermarlin.com LETTERSLETTERS Dear Arnold, As my friends keep telling me, “You better write fast.” Sign Up Today I’ve been putting a book together of my experiences go- ing through flight school, OS2U training, graduating for the 2011 MMA Reunion! at Corpus Christi and sent to Bana River for PBM’s, having never been in a Catalina. I joined VPB 27 in Harvey’s Point and ended the War between Saipan and Okinawa campaigns. Most of the stuff I wrote were like short stories of about 2,000 words. Now I’m trying to link them together into one cohesive tale. I have always enjoyed the Mariner/Marlin magazine and thought the enclosed story might be interesting to other members of our group. (page23, The $5,000.00 Photograph”) The magazine is great, keep up the good work. Take some time out of your busy Respectfully submitted, schedule today to fill out this year Irvin S. Cooper, Pilot, VPB 27 2011 Reunion Registration Form. Dear Arnold, Lets ensure that this year reunion I am Richard l. Florence AO3 VP 47 1950-1951. I telephoned you recently sharing with you that I had a goes off with out a hitch. B&W snap of BA6 coming aboard the USS Salisbury Sound AV13, with Jato bottles still hanging on the racks. This of course, is a strict violation of all safety regulations. I was going to try and have it enlarged, but advised against it as it probably would “cut out,” the hanging Jato bottles. This event was during the typhoon season at the Pesca- dores Islands 1951. I was just 20 years old at this happening , and I had no idea of its value at the time. When I took this and other shots, they were strictly for my use( unau- thorized) I was confronted by the “black shoe” chief in the area, asking me,” are you member of this working party?” If not, the get the “blank”out of here. I followed his instructions , but I came back later when he was not up on deck, in the work area to take other shots . If you think this has any value to any Older Mariners, please feel free to incorporate what is needed for fill in. Thanks for listening. Richard L. Florence AO3 P 47 1950-1952 marinermarlin.com Mariner/Marlin Spring 2011 5 NOTENOTE FROMFROM THETHE PRESIDENTPRESIDENT Things are now in place for our May for future opportunities. Please share 4-7, 2011 reunion and we look forward this with your lady. to a very successful reunion in Pensaco- la as they will be celebrating the 100th During this period, emphasis has been Anniversary of Naval Aviation. How placed on contacting members that exciting and what a rare opportunity it have dropped out for various reasons. is that our reunion will be during the We broke this list into individual call highlights of this historic event. This is groups and made calls for their status. one reunion you do not want to miss. This was an enjoyable task for me as I got to share more sea stories! We We have also been actively receiving plan to continue this practice as well suggestions for improving the MMA as develop more ways to spread the and have started working on ways word about the MMA. There are many to communicate with you as our top seaplane sailors out there that do not priority. We continue to work on our know about the MMA. We will do a website and ways to communicate elec- better job at spreading the word dur- tronically. Communication is key to ing 2011. success! I hope this finds you all well and the WE NEED YOU! As stated, we have year of 2011 a prosperous year to date. We have also began working on ways many suggestions from you as how For those of you having a rough win- to get the ladies more involved at re- to improve the MMA. We now need ter just remember spring is near and unions and plan to obtain more in- workers to assist us with making these warm weather awaits you at the Pen- put from the ladies at their meeting improvements.