US Navy Patrol Squadron VP-50, Crew 13, plane crash
During the 1966--1967 WesPac deployment to NS Sangley Point, Philippines, VP-50 assumed a number of commitments around the South China Sea. Beside flying combat missions in Vietnam, VP-50 was also expected to perform Ocean Surveillance and ASW patrols in the South China Sea and fly buffer missions in the Formosa Straits. Five or more planes were attached to a Seaplane Tender (Pine Island, Currituck or Salisbury Sound) based at Cam Ranh Bay, Da Nang, Con Son, or Phu Quoc in RVN. To help accomplish all these commitments VP-50 scrounged at thirteenth SP-5B Marlin -- probably from the Konan rework facility in Japan. The Squadron patched together a thirteenth crew headed by PPC Dave Stephens, PP2P Gary Howell, Navigator Jack Morris and crewmen Bill Gunter, AMS3 Everett Nelson Whitmire, ATR3 Paul Michael Goslin, ATN3 Larry James Creighton, ATRAN Charles Marcel Goetz and AOAN Ronny Lynn Steen. Thirteen Crew then helped fulfill the Squadron's commitments around the South China Sea. Crew Thirteen launched late in the morning for a rocket firing exercise. They flew west of NS Sangley Point, Philippines to Scarborough Shoals where they put a floating smoke buoy in the water -- this was their target to fire their eight rockets at. Unfortunately, on one of the firing runs, the rocket ignited on the SP-5B's wing and exploded, blowing the wing from the Marlin. The broken plane fell, impacting the water near the smoke, killing all aboard shortly after noon. When the plane didn't send its scheduled hourly position report, another Marlin was launched to look for the missing bird. The search plane found floating remains near Scarborough Shoals and a Navy ship went to the site to look for survivors. Some remains of the aircraft were recovered but no human remains were found.
During the 1966--1967 WesPac deployment to NS Sangley Point, Philippines, VP-50 assumed a number of commitments around the South China Sea. Beside flying combat missions in Vietnam, VP-50 was also expected to perform Ocean Surveillance and ASW patrols in the South China Sea and fly buffer missions in the Formosa Straits. Five or more planes were attached to a Seaplane Tender (Pine Island, Currituck or Salisbury Sound) based at Cam Ranh Bay, Da Nang, Con Son, or Phu Quoc in RVN. To help accomplish all these commitments VP-50 scrounged at thirteenth SP-5B Marlin -- probably from the Konan rework facility in Japan. The Squadron patched together a thirteenth crew headed by PPC Dave Stephens, PP2P Gary Howell, Navigator Jack Morris and crewmen Bill Gunter, AMS3 Everett Nelson Whitmire, ATR3 Paul Michael Goslin, ATN3 Larry James Creighton, ATRAN Charles Marcel Goetz and AOAN Ronny Lynn Steen. Thirteen Crew then helped fulfill the Squadron's commitments around the South China Sea. Crew Thirteen launched late in the morning for a rocket firing exercise. They flew west of NS Sangley Point, Philippines to Scarborough Shoals where they put a floating smoke buoy in the water -- this was their target to fire their eight rockets at. Unfortunately, on one of the firing runs, the rocket ignited on the SP-5B's wing and exploded, blowing the wing from the Marlin. The broken plane fell, impacting the water near the smoke, killing all aboard shortly after noon. When the plane didn't send its scheduled hourly position report, another Marlin was launched to look for the missing bird. The search plane found floating remains near Scarborough Shoals and a Navy ship went to the site to look for survivors. Some remains of the aircraft were recovered but no human remains were found.
US Navy Patrol Squadron VP-50, Crew 13, plane crash
During the 1966--1967 WesPac deployment to NS Sangley Point, Philippines, VP-50 assumed a number of commitments around the South China Sea. Beside flying combat missions in Vietnam, VP-50 was also expected to perform Ocean Surveillance and ASW patrols in the South China Sea and fly buffer missions in the Formosa Straits. Five or more planes were attached to a Seaplane Tender (Pine Island, Currituck or Salisbury Sound) based at Cam Ranh Bay, Da Nang, Con Son, or Phu Quoc in RVN. To help accomplish all these commitments VP-50 scrounged at thirteenth SP-5B Marlin -- probably from the Konan rework facility in Japan. The Squadron patched together a thirteenth crew headed by PPC Dave Stephens, PP2P Gary Howell, Navigator Jack Morris and crewmen Bill Gunter, AMS3 Everett Nelson Whitmire, ATR3 Paul Michael Goslin, ATN3 Larry James Creighton, ATRAN Charles Marcel Goetz and AOAN Ronny Lynn Steen. Thirteen Crew then helped fulfill the Squadron's commitments around the South China Sea. Crew Thirteen launched late in the morning for a rocket firing exercise. They flew west of NS Sangley Point, Philippines to Scarborough Shoals where they put a floating smoke buoy in the water -- this was their target to fire their eight rockets at. Unfortunately, on one of the firing runs, the rocket ignited on the SP-5B's wing and exploded, blowing the wing from the Marlin. The broken plane fell, impacting the water near the smoke, killing all aboard shortly after noon. When the plane didn't send its scheduled hourly position report, another Marlin was launched to look for the missing bird. The search plane found floating remains near Scarborough Shoals and a Navy ship went to the site to look for survivors. Some remains of the aircraft were recovered but no human remains were found.
During the 1966--1967 WesPac deployment to NS Sangley Point, Philippines, VP-50 assumed a number of commitments around the South China Sea. Beside flying combat missions in Vietnam, VP-50 was also expected to perform Ocean Surveillance and ASW patrols in the South China Sea and fly buffer missions in the Formosa Straits. Five or more planes were attached to a Seaplane Tender (Pine Island, Currituck or Salisbury Sound) based at Cam Ranh Bay, Da Nang, Con Son, or Phu Quoc in RVN. To help accomplish all these commitments VP-50 scrounged at thirteenth SP-5B Marlin -- probably from the Konan rework facility in Japan. The Squadron patched together a thirteenth crew headed by PPC Dave Stephens, PP2P Gary Howell, Navigator Jack Morris and crewmen Bill Gunter, AMS3 Everett Nelson Whitmire, ATR3 Paul Michael Goslin, ATN3 Larry James Creighton, ATRAN Charles Marcel Goetz and AOAN Ronny Lynn Steen. Thirteen Crew then helped fulfill the Squadron's commitments around the South China Sea. Crew Thirteen launched late in the morning for a rocket firing exercise. They flew west of NS Sangley Point, Philippines to Scarborough Shoals where they put a floating smoke buoy in the water -- this was their target to fire their eight rockets at. Unfortunately, on one of the firing runs, the rocket ignited on the SP-5B's wing and exploded, blowing the wing from the Marlin. The broken plane fell, impacting the water near the smoke, killing all aboard shortly after noon. When the plane didn't send its scheduled hourly position report, another Marlin was launched to look for the missing bird. The search plane found floating remains near Scarborough Shoals and a Navy ship went to the site to look for survivors. Some remains of the aircraft were recovered but no human remains were found.
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