Flying the West Pac 1959 to 1962
By B.E. Smith
My family and I lived in Japan, 1959 to 1962 and I was stationed at NAS Atsugi, about 50 miles southwest of Tokyo. It was a Japanese air base during WW II turned over to the U. S. Navy when the war ended. I was in a squadron named VU 5, or Utility Squadron 5. Our main job was to tow targets for ships to practice gunnery. Sometimes, though, we did photo reconnaissance for the Photo Lab assigned also to the squadron.
We had many different types of airplanes and I flew most of them—JD1, the navy version of B26, A1E, F9F8, FJ4, F8U, SNB. (I did not fly FJ4 or F8U.)
Once a month we would go either to Okinawa for a week or less frequently to NAS Cubi Point in the Philippines. We towed targets when ships of the 7th Fleet needed to practice gunnery in those locations. We always had a lot of fun wherever we went.
In 1961, I was assigned to Philippines as the Officer in Charge while they were waiting for their permanent OinC to arrive. For about 3 months I was in charge and the only time in the Navy I got to be the boss. I had 5 pilots and 4 airplanes in my little squadron. A blast.
My last big trip in that squadron just after my son Cliff was born, we took two planes to Bangkok and towed targets for the Royal Thai Navy and for the Royal Tai Marines. We stayed there two weeks. Since we had two planes, we would fly one day and then have the next day off. The Thai Navy assigned a team of officers to host us while we were there and they took us everywhere. It was a magnificent trip.
Our itinerary took us from Japan to Okinawa and then to the Philippines where we stayed overnight both coming and going. I was assigned to fly with our commanding officer, Cdr. Lester Morris. One day I would be the plane commander and he would be the co-pilot and the next flight we reversed the role. We had another three air crewmen in the plane with us.
In the Philippines, the regulars there held a big pig roast for us down on the beach. The wild pig had been captured in the jungle by the squadron guys with a bit of help from the local natives.
The next day, we flew from Philippines to Saigon in Vietnam where we refueled and then went on to Bangkok flying over Cambodia enroute. That’s the only time I was in Vietnam and it was the time that the war there was just starting to heat up.
In June 1962, I was ordered to Seattle, Washington, where I was assigned to be Assistant Professor of Naval Science at the University of Washington. Harriet, three kids and I traveled by ship from Yokosuka to San Francisco. It was a great trip despite some rough weather. Living in Japan was less exciting than flying off a carrier but I liked having the family with me there and it was fun too.
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