Reassignment to VP

Reassignment to VP-57 in 1954

By: Jerry Blackerby

I was transferred back to VP-57 during the summer of 1954. Seven of left Whidbey Island and joined VP-57 on Okinawa. We flew to San Francisco to Treasure Island. This time I was an "old-timer" and knew to drop out as they marched us by the gedunk. We never pulled any details that time.

We flew to Yokusuka, Japan for a few days. We were posted with flight orders and as we were packing to leave, the orders were changed. A typhoon had just passed over Okinawa and all flights were canceled. We boarded a Destroyer Escort for the ride to Okinawa. We spent three days on the ship. They bunked us in the galley. None of us stayed in bed once the cooks began frying bacon, etc. each morning.

Only one of our group of seven had ever been on a ship before. He told us to not skip any meals because we needed something on our stomachs if we became seasick. All of us really got queasy, but he was the only one that actually got seasick.

The ship dropped us at Buckner Bay in Okinawa and there was no one to meet us. When some AP's came by to check that the club was closed, they radioed the base at Naha and had a truck sent for us.

I joined a flight crew as a radio operator in VP-57. We flew patrol missions in a Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune. The P2V is a twin-engine patrol bomber. We were flying patrol off the coast of China. We flew the exact same patrol that the P3 was flying in 2001. We normally flew at about 2500 to 3000 feet and about 20 miles off shore from China. Many times we would be buzzed by Chinese Migs.

Six of our 12 planes had nose, tail and top gun turrets. The other six had a top turret only; the nose was a Plexiglas observation post and the tail had anti-submarine detection equipment installed. The tail looked like a stinger.

Once in a while, a Mig would come from high above one of the six planes without three gun turrets and spray a stream of bullets across the fuselage. This was in 1954, supposedly peacetime. They seemed to know that we did not normally keep the top turret manned.

Our plane would bank and fall away until it was only about 50 feet above the ocean. Our best gunner would man the top turret, which had twin 20-mm guns. The only way a Mig could get to us again was to come in from above and could not get within range to hit us without going into the ocean. They could not get below us. If they came in any other way, they would be within range of our top turret.

Each of the six planes with only one turret was shot at one or more times during a six-month tour of duty flying patrol off the coast of China. When the P3 went down in China, it really brought back memories.

In 1954 the Chinese were shelling Quemoy and Matsui islands. We were expecting Red China to attack Taiwan, so changed our patrol routing. We flew a ten-hour mission out from Okinawa and landed at Tainan, Taiwan. After a day or two we flew another mission out and back into Tainan. Another day or two and we flew a mission out and back into Okinawa. This way we always had two or more crews on the ground in Taiwan, giving the U.S. more justification to protect Taiwan because we would be there.

At Tainan, the security was extremely high. Chang Kai Chek was in charge of everything. We had a barracks and mess hall inside a fenced compound on the base. We were not allowed to walk anywhere. The Chinese Nationalists would take us in a small bus to the hangar where our airplanes were tied down or to the front gate. Otherwise, we were confined to the fenced compound.

Anytime we went into town, we were taken to a specific club frequented by U.S. military personnel on attaché duty. That was the only place we were allowed to exchange American greenbacks for Taiwan money. The club was a nice place to hang out, but part of the time we also went other places around town.

Sixteen years later, while working at LTV, I met and worked with an Air Force Senior Master Sergeant. He was a tall, distinctive-looking person. He looked familiar. He asked me where we had met before. After comparing notes about where we had ever been, we finally mentioned Tainan. He was a young Air Force person assigned to MAAG duty at Tainan when I was there with the Navy. We had met at that club.

The first time I saw the movie, From Here to Eternity, was at a theater in town at Tainan. That was an experience, unlike any other I have ever had. The movie hat the original soundtrack. It had two sets of Chinese-type subtitles, one on each side of the screen from top to bottom. Someone was also translating in some form of Chinese over the loudspeakers. I have seen the movie a time or two since and always remember that first viewing.

One time on Tainan, a couple of us ate at a small, open-air place on a street corner. The cook was frying chicken gizzards and serving it with fried rice. He would flip the contents of his skillet about like I have seen some cooks flip eggs or flapjacks. We had a tasty, filling meal and a beer for only about 50 cents.

We also flew to the Philippines a few times. One trip, a Chief on the trip asked a couple of us to go with him. We went to a club in a not-too-nice place in Cavite City with no other Americans around. It turned out, the Chief was exchanging greenbacks on the black market. He wanted us to be with him because he felt like he would not be robbed if there were three of us together. I was scared to death.

One trip, a couple of us rode a bus from Cavite City to Manila. We were the only Americans on the bus. We found out later, that buses on this route had been attacked by Huks (rebels) during that timeframe. Looking back, we were lucky.

After the tour of duty at Okinawa was complete, we island hopped back to the States. We returned to Whidbey Island in November. A lot of people took leave immediately during December. I waited and took leave during January. I was saving leave time to be paid for it when I got out or reenlisted and had accumulated too much, so had to take it during January.

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