VP 69 Totem Pole VP-69 hosts “Reunion 2011” A Newsletter for VP-69 Alumni and Friends October 2011 Capt Kuntz speaks on the P8A coming this year from Maryland. The CPO club was a fabulous venue to wrap up the gathering with a fantastic buffet diner and an opportunity to mingle and renew old friendships. The guest speaker for the evening, Mike Lavelle, gave a fascinating talk on the “first continental flight” accomplished by Cal Rodgers. Mike gave life to the subject with his insights of personal circumstances that were part of this historic event. a celebration of lifelong friendships What an amazing success it was for the VP-69 biennial hosting of the “Patrol Squadrons of the Northwest Reunion.” We had 139 paid participants coming from 9 states and British Columbia coming back to our old “home town.” Capt Al Wykoff and his wife Barbara traveled the furthest from Venice, FL. AK1 Mike Baldwin coming in from Pennsylvania was a close second. Never seeming to miss a reunion regardless of where he lives was AEC RonKravitz, who proved that he can still fit into his uniform, Capt Paul Kuntz, former CO of “69” (1985-1987), gave the Friday evening presentation on the history and time line of the commencement and building of the Boeing P8A Poseidon. The new patrol plane is being built on a redesigned Boeing 737airframe. The project began about 10 years ago and shortly we will see them being introduced into the VP community. Prior to the P8 update, the microphone was passed around the gathered Shipmates. This gave each an opportunity to introduce themselves and give their version of personal time in the Navy. What started as a short intro began to get “legs” and at times sounded like “sea stories”. Most people enjoyed hearing the stories, as this gave a little different side to their experiance than we had known prior. The “Feed Back” forms suggested that we keep this time of sharing as a future part of the opening day, albeit more controlled. Saturday morning was reserved for visiting the PBY Memorial Foundation Naval History Center at the Sea Plane base. Capt Brian McGuiness and AOCS Ed Hammond have been very involved in the creation of this museum. The displays included historic articles from WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War as well as the PBY-5A Catalina. Many memories were brought back while touring the display. There was an opportunity to practice your flying skills in the PBY flight simulator. Most people agreed that it was more difficult than anticipated and many crash landings occurred. Capt McGuiness P8A Update Introduction of Veterans PBY Memorial