{"id":1362,"date":"2010-11-15T21:52:01","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T05:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/?p=1362"},"modified":"2010-11-15T21:52:01","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T05:52:01","slug":"vp-50-memorial-moffett-field-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/?p=1362","title":{"rendered":"VP-50 Memorial – Moffett Field, California"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>VP-50…<\/p>\n

In the language of the United States Navy VP-50 was “Fixed Wing Patrol Squadron 50” – also known as the Blue Dragons<\/strong><\/em>. <\/em>From 1946 until June 30, 1992 they were an active squadron of the United States Navy. I once flew for the U.S. Navy. The death of any aviator or any sailor has an impact on all of us who earned Navy Wings of Gold <\/em>– or any of the other hard-earned insignias of naval service (surface warfare, submarines, SEALS, and the other specialties).<\/p>\n

On March 21, 1991 two P-3C Orions of VP-50 collided about 60 miles southwest of San Diego, CA in bad weather. One aircraft was relieving the other on a normal anti-submarine patrol watch. The aircraft were stationed at Naval Air Station Moffett Field, south of San Francisco, CA. I distinctly remember reading the first newspaper reports the day after the accident – 27 U.S. Navy personnel missing at sea. That is a horrific toll for any Navy squadron, whose total personnel would only be a few hundred officers and enlisted men – especially when it happened in a single instant, in peacetime. I could only imagine the shock and sorrow within the VP-50 family and NAS Moffett Field community that day.<\/p>\n

The cause of the accident was never determined beyond it being a mid-air collision. Pilot error was probably a contributing cause – and weather, crew fatigue, and perhaps a mechanical problem additional factors. The human cost, however, was almost instantly quantified – 27 young souls lost at sea – lost forever to their wives, children, parents, friends, and shipmates. Lost, but not forgotten.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Moffett Field <\/span>Naval Air Station has been closed, but Moffett Field as a civilian airport remains. Located on its grounds is a plaque listing the names of all 27 men who perished in the Pacific Ocean that night. There is another monument to these same men in Arlington National Cemetery.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have included three photographs in this post. One is of the monument at Moffett Field, listing the names of those who perished that night. Another is of four VP-50 aircraft in flight. And one is of two P-3C Orion aircraft flying over the Golden Gate Bridge. These are not VP-50 aircraft, but I know every man who ever flew with VP-50 out of Moffett Field witnessed this view. They loved flying for moments like this.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Please visit the VP-50 web page devoted to the men who died that night at: http:\/\/www.vpnavy.com\/vp50mem_04dec98.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VP-50… In the language of the United States Navy VP-50 was “Fixed Wing Patrol Squadron 50” – also known as the Blue Dragons. From 1946 until June 30, 1992 they were an active squadron of the United States Navy. I once flew for the U.S. Navy. The death of any aviator or any sailor has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-crashes","category-peacetime-naval-accidents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1362"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1404,"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions\/1404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lost-at-sea-memorials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}