|
MEMORIES OF HARVEY HOP Most of us remember CDR Hop (1917-1999) as the CO of the
squadron, and like your
|
|
Sonny Wiggins |
|
Shortly after Hop became our commanding officer he was with us (MA5) up around Argentia and Goose Bay. We were leaving Goose Bay and climbing out when we heard a communication between the tower and an incoming AF plane. They were descending toward us as we were climbing. It must have been night time or overcast because we couldn't see anything. CDR Hop called the tower and reminded them what was going on and to get the other plane out of our way. They said they were trying to contact them but couldn't raise them. This exchange went on for a short while. We missed one another and CDR Hop turned around and landed at Goose Bay to have a piece of somebody's butt. Being an enlisted man I didn't and don't know to this day what recourse one pilot has over another to cause some disciplinary action to taken but we were all satisfied something was going to happen because he was upset and wasn't in the mood to let it slip by.
While we were up in Argentia the CDR would ask a lot of questions of the crew. I had evolved into the radar operator in our crew and had lowered the antenna and was just looking around with the radar. The CDR ask me to tilt the antenna down so I did tilt it a little and you could see the ground return coming into view and I stopped tilting. Cmdr Hop had a screen up in the cockpit and was looking at it. He ask me to tilt some more. I replied, “Sir you won't see anything but ground clutter.” He told me that he knew what he was going to see. By this time I heard someone on the intercom say Wiggins, do as he says. I think to this day it was Mr. Moore. The CDR was in the pilot's seat and we had a clear vision of each other. He leaned over toward me, pulled his earphones over to the side and told me in a kindly but firm manner to tilt the antenna all the way down. I did.
On this flight or another in that same time frame, as we were going or coming from somewhere CDR Hop told us he wanted to make a mining run at a little jut of land, on a particular course and drop at a particular distance. As the radar operator it was my job to get us on course, making corrections for wind, etc. The navigator gave me the data to crank into the system. It had been some time since I had done any mine run practicing but I lined us up steady and we made a good drop. He was very complimentary and must have told other people because I had other operators coming around for weeks wanting to talk mine laying. I felt a lot of satisfaction getting a compliment from CDR Hop.
|
|
Bob Moore |
|
(Ed. Note: Captain (RET) Bob Moore recently sent this pair of stories about Harvey Hop, which he has granted permission for publication here. This gives many of us, especially those of us who didn’t know him very well, an additional insight into his character, and why he is so fondly remembered by all who knew him – BR). I didn't really know Harvey Hop well as he arrived in Argentia to take over the squadron a few months before I was due to leave. I was assigned by the then skipper Vic Blandin to check Harvey out in the P4Y, which was kind of a joke as he had so much more flying experience in the airplane than I did. Crew 5 had spent a large part of the deployment as a one plane detachment at Goose Bay doing ice reconnaissance for the ships supplying the base being built at Thule and so we were pretty experienced at that. We left Argentia for Goose with me in the left seat and Harvey as copilot. Everything went smoothly on that leg, and after a night at Goose we took off the next morning for Frobisher Bay in lousy weather (I'm still in the left seat). About two hours out, flying in the goo we lost number 3 and things kinda’ turned to worms. We got it feathered OK and turned around to go back to Goose. I decide we needed a little more altitude (I don't remember high we were) and asked Harvey for 36/24 which didn't seem to give us much rate of climb so I asked him for a little more power. That was when he finally decided he ought to give me a lesson or two and quietly said "Bob I think we might do better to stay at this altitude and baby those three engines...we really don't want to lose another one". Properly chastened I complied. The trip back to Goose was uneventful but I was scared shitless that I was going to do something else wrong. As it turned out I made a pretty good approach and GCA and he seemed happy when we got on the ground. They sent another plane up from Argentia to pick him up and I stayed with the crew until we got the engine changed. But the next story is the one I really remember.
After I got back to Argentia I went out on another FAM hop with Harvey in the left seat but with me in command because he was not formally qualified in the squadron. I can't remember just what we did during the hop but when we got back to Argentia the weather had really closed in. Harvey made the GCA and boy was he smooth. We broke out in the scud at minimums (maybe a little below minimums) and he greased it on. We turned off on the taxiway and he said "that was fun Bob lets go and do another one". I was in a quandary. I knew he could make minimum GCA's all day, but I also knew that regulations didn't permit practicing GCA's when the weather might go 0/0 at any minute especially with a neophyte plane commander in command and the prospective Commanding Officer in the airplane. I had to make up my mind fast and said something like, "No sir, take us back to the flight line. This is not the kind of weather we should be practicing GCA's in". As soon as I said it I could tell he was pissed, but he taxied back to the line and that was that. I could hardly sleep that night but when I got to the squadron the next morning he took me aside and told me that he had been really upset the day before when I refused to let him make another GCA but that after he thought about it, he agreed that I had done the right thing under the circumstances. What a relief for me and what a great guy he really was. I last saw him, shortly before his death, at a VP-23 Officers reunion in Portland Maine and he still remembered the incident when I reminded him of it. |
|
Jerry Ristow |
|
I flew with CDR Hop for about 2 years, 1952-1954. I was with him the night we buzzed Holland, Michigan (his home town). We were enroute to NAS Brunswick from a weekend hop to Madison, WI. Harvey decided that we ought to wake up the folks in Holland, so we buzzed the town very low and illuminated it with that big spotlight in our right tip tank. Bet those people are still talking about that. |
|
Eldon McDonald |
|
I was sorry to hear our old CO, Harvey Hop, had passed away. After my naval service I seldom encountered any of my shipmates, but while on a consulting job in Ft. Lauderdale I was having lunch at a small airport in Hollywood, FL and noticed the "Hop-A-Jet" building. Well, as anyone who ever served under the good Commander would, I decided to go over and check it out. It was of course owned by our ex-CO. I introduced myself as an ex member of VP-23 and he seemed a little cool. Anyway, he asked for a card and I left it with him. A few days later, he called and invited me to lunch. We had a chance to talk about those long ago days. He felt his experience at VP-23 had not done his Naval career any good, but he had put most of that behind him as he had gone on to a successful career in private industry. We had occasion to have lunch a couple of times after that and discuss operation of business jets. I had run a business jet overhaul and outfitting company several years before and had done a lot of work with Lear, so we moved from Navy stories to General Aviation which did not raise any controversial issues. He still was a gung-ho guy, even at his age in 1992, but he was more realistic than I remember him. I wish him well. |
|
Herb Blair |
|
When we got the P2V’s, I got the first radioman job on the squadron’s first P2V-2. CDR Hop was getting checked out on the aircraft when we lost an engine & landed on one. He took the crew home to Pensacola with him to meet his lovely wife & two young boys. He immediately took us to the back yard & asked them to show how high they could climb a knotted rope from a sitting position. Many happy memories. |
|
Jack Malone |
|
Seeing the e-mail of our
old CO, Harvey Hop, brought to mind a few dusty memories. First was the
countless volleyball games on the hangar deck, naturally Harvey would serve
(right down your throat). The other thing that immediately came to mind was
the first time I flew with Harvey. It was your typical Brunswick cold February day. What do I spy on the hangar
bulletin board? Commander Hop is taking a familiarization flight to Bermuda this
weekend, anyone wishing to fill in for crew members please see the Leading
Chief (affectionately known as Mother Elfring). Not having been a member of a
flight crew I jumped at any and all opportunities to fly. |
|
|
