PATROL SQUADRON 23

PATROL SQUADRON 23

P4Y-2

P2V-5

Welcome to this site, dedicated to the individuals who served in this squadron during its time at NAS Brunswick ME, as well as Newfoundland, Iceland, Morocco, Malta, Europe and many other various and sundry locations. It is operated as a service to squadron veterans from this period, and is not connected in any way with the U. S. Navy or any other government entity. It is meant to be an avenue for those of us who served during this time to relive some of our adventures (the good, the bad, and the ugly), and perhaps to reestablish contact with old friends we have not seen or heard from for many decades.

This site consists primarily of pictures taken during various activities both on and off - duty, provided by the participants. File sizes have been constrained as much as possible, but some pages may take a while to load on your browser, depending on your processor, connection speed, etc. Several squadron members have provided pictures of themselves taken during their service paired with recent photos.You may view these by clicking one of the “Before and After” buttons on various pages. If you’d like to have yours displayed in that manner click the “E-Mail Webmaster” button at the bottom of this page.

The main portion of the site, which may be entered by clicking the logo at right, consists of various photos of squadron personnel, aircraft, parties and various other memorabilia, primarily from the early to mid-1950s, although other time periods are represented. For instance, the fictional thriller below was written by a squadron pilot who served in P-3s in the 80’s:

BEFORE RED OCTOBER.

Below you will find some features on memorials to our lost comrades in Nassau and Italy.

Click the patch to enter

Nassau, Bahamas MA-5 Crash Memorial

For a report from Butch Brillhart on his annual trip to the memorial on May 25, 2009

CLICK HERE.

May 24, 2008

Prior to her departure for Nassau to participate in the Memorial Day services for this crew on May 26, 2008, Chief Holle’s daughter, Hope Lamb, sent us a poem that she will be reciting at the service. To read it click HERE.

For a report on the 2008 Nassau Memorial Day commemoration

(Posted June 6, 2006)

For a feature showing the monument to our shipmates, who lost their lives in performance of their duties in 1954, before and after its restoration click HERE.

For some pictures of ENS Leland Osburn, one of the crew members of MA-5, courtesy of some of his family members, click HERE.

Aviano, Italy LJ-11 Crash Memorial

(Posted September 10, 2007)

For pictures of the monument in this mountain location before and after its restoration by a wonderful Italian gentleman who participated in the rescue efforts click HERE.

(Added September 11, 2007)

For an Italian web site with a comprehensive account of the memorial service with an English translation and including 22 excellent pictures of the proceedings click HERE (Scroll to the post by “zerofive,” scroll down for the translation, then scroll further down to a post by “Bat 21” for the pictures.)

(Added September 21, 2009)

There is a memorial to the crew of the aircraft that LJ-11 was searching for when it crashed, and the daughter of one of them recently visited the area. See some pictures of her visit HERE.

Below are various miscellaneous features, which you are invited to peruse at your leisure.

Old-timers may be especially interested in the Before & After feature, which shows some

of our former members during their squadron service paired with more recent photos.

You may find Before & After pictures of some of our shipmates at the right:

For pictures from the Reunion of April 2007

To see the February 2002 Reunion Report online click here.

To see pictures from the February 2002 reunion click here.

To see the 2003 group reunion photo click here.

To download the 2003 Reunion Report in Word (.doc) format (200 KB) click here

(Right-click, choose Save Target As, choose a folder on your hard drive, click Download).

For a report on the dedication ceremonies on May 16, 2004 click here

For some excellent pictures courtesy Don Penzine click here.

Known Deceased Members:

MORE MISCELLANEAOUS

Harvey Hop Profile

Harvey Hop Memories

Nassau Tragedy

Rescue at Sea

Flight Crew Pictures

Baldur’s P2V Site

Tops of Clouds

Click the patch at the right for
VP-21, which was based in

Brunswick from 1954 - 1969

For an official Navy history of VP-23 (539 KB) click here.

(You’ll need the Adobe Acrobat reader, which is free and may be downloaded here.)