Hurricane Hunters

From Bob Barker on July 8,2017: AttachedĀ  is a picture of the plane that I crewed on during my stay in the squadron, 1952-1955. It is a Consolidated P4Y Privateer, the Navy version of the Airforce B24 Liberator. That plane has a twin tail. After a year or so the Lockheed P2V Neptune was added to the mix. That is the type plane your picture showed, all rigged out for long distance surveillance. I knew the whole crew and flew with many of them on occasion.

The pilot was Lt. Cmndr Westover, fairly new to the squadron with little or no real hurricane experience. The Co-pilot was Lt. Herlong. His father was in the Florida legislature and a small landing field just north of town, Herlong Field, was used by us for touch and go landings from time to time. He raised heck with the Navy at his loss. Joe Combs, the radio operator, a Petty Officer First class was a crew mate of mine at one time, as was the photographer (forgot his name) an aerologist (meteorologist) w carried on the missions.

The last words received from the plane was “we are hitting a wall of water” (between Cuba and S, American coast) Your picture shows probable cause: Note the two wing tanks at the end of each wing. Extra fuel was needed for extended time on station. It was absolutely essential that all wing tanks be empty before entering extreme turbulence. It was concluded that Westover being a bit “green” may have overlooked this fatal detail.

Except for some debris, no one was ever recovered as far as I know. I had just got out of the Navy and Mom and I were in Middlebury looking for a place to hunker down for my final year there.

As for the house, I couldn’t tell you. Hardly ever saw the front. We were in a little two BR bungalow in the back yard. The only pic of the house I can quickly find is also attached featuring KB

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply