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 afabulous venue to wrap up the gathering with a fantasticbuffet diner and an opportunity to mingle and renew oldfriendships.

The guest speaker for the evening, Mike Lavelle, gave afascinating talk on the “first continental f light”accomplished by Cal Rodgers. Mike gave life to the subjectwith his insights of personal circumstances that were partof this historic event.

a celebration of lifelong friendships

What an amazing success it was for the VP-69 biennialhosting of the “Patrol Squadrons of the NorthwestReunion.” We had 139 paid participants coming from 9states and British Columbia coming back to our old “hometown.” Capt Al Wykoff and his wife Barbara traveled thefurthest from Venice, FL. AK1 Mike Baldwin coming infrom Pennsylvania was a close second. Never seeming tomiss a reunion regardless of where he lives was AECRonKravitz, who proved that he can still fit into his uniform,

Capt Paul Kuntz, former CO of “69” (1985-1987), gave the Friday evening presentation onthe history and time line of the commencement and buildingof the Boeing P8A Poseidon. The new patrol plane is beingbuilt on a redesigned Boeing 737airframe. The project beganabout 10 years ago and shortly we will see them beingintroduced into the VP community.

Prior to the P8 update, the microphone was passed around the gatheredShipmates. This gave each an opportunity to introduce themselves and give theirversion of personal time in the Navy.

What started as a short intro began to get “legs” and at times sounded like “seastories”. Most people enjoyed hearing the stories, as this gave a little differentside to their experiance than we had known prior.

The “Feed Back” forms suggested that we keep this time of sharing as a futurepart of the opening day, albeit more controlled.

Saturday morning was reserved for visiting the PBY Memorial Foundation Naval History Center at the SeaPlane base. Capt Brian McGuiness and AOCS Ed Hammond have been very involved in the creation of thismuseum. The displays included historic articles from WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War as well as thePBY-5A Catalina.

Many memories were brought back while touring the display. There was an opportunity to practice yourflying skills in the PBY flight simulator. Most people agreed that it was more difficult than anticipated andmany crash landings occurred.

Capt McGuiness

P8A Update

Introduction of Veterans

PBY Memorial

The Totem Pole is edited and publishedby Ph1 Daryl “Flip” Phillippi

Photos by the editor &AOCS Ed Hammond

Comments and suggestions may beaddressed to darl_p@juno.com

Thanks to all for attending andmaking this a memorable occasion.

Remember ... with out you, no matter what thecommittee did, it could not have happened.

“Reunion 2013” will be held on WhidbeyIsland. Think about it and offer some

suggestions.