NAS Jacksonville - Orions and Poseidons

[canberraman]

NAS Jacksonville in North East Florida is the largest USN base in the South East US, and third largest overall. Over 20, 000 civilian and active-duty personnel are employed on the base. Also of note is the fact that a small contingent of RAF personnel is currently assigned to VP-30 as part of Operation SEEDCORN, to ensure that ASW skills and currency is maintained and developed after the demise of Nimrod MR.2, and ahead of the RAF’s delivery of P-8A Poseidon later this decade.

 

With the closure of NAS Brunswick, Maine by mid-2011, VP-8,  VP-10, VP-26, VP-62 began relocating to NAS Jacksonville in 2007 with their P-3C and C-130T aircraft, with all of these squadrons in place by late 2010. NAS Jacksonville also remains home to VP-45 and VP-30 mentioned above. This is the Navy's largest aviation squadron and the only P-3 Orion and P-8 Poseidon Fleet Replacement Squadron that prepares and trains U.S. and NATO/Allied pilots, air crew and maintenance personnel for further operational assignments in the P-8A, P-3C Orion and EP-3E Aries in the U.S. Navy, and P-3B, P-3C and similar variants in various NATO and Allied navies and air forces.  VP-30 is the first squadron to operate the U.S. Navy's new P-8 Poseidon aircraft, and commenced training flight crews and maintainers in this replacement for the P-3C in 2012, with all U.S. Navy patrol squadrons eventually slated to transition to this new platform. NAS Jacksonville is currently in transition from the venerable  P-3 Orion to the P-8 Poseidon and some 70 P-8s have been delivered so far. 

 

There is also a rather excellent heritage part near the main entrance where many WWII and postwar USN aircraft are preserved.

 

I visited NAS 'Jax' in October 2017 where these photos of operational aircraft and the heritage park were taken.It was a great opportunity to see the latter days of the P-3 and the gradual build up of the very impressive new P-8, and  ahead of the type's arrival at RAF Lossiemouth from 2019 onward with reformed 120 and 201 Sqns. 

 

The old and the new share the VP-30 ramp together.

 

 P-3C in the markings of VP-30

 

Recently delivered to VP-30 is this unmarked P-8A BuNo 169330

 

A VP-45 Poseidon seen departing Jacksonville

 

 

A few from the Heritage Park beginning with S-3B Viking wearing the marks of the type's many operators.

A-4C Skyhawk in the markings of VA-106

EA-6B Prowler BuNo 161609 still wearing the USN Centennial scheme

 

F-8A Crusader in the colours of VF-174

P-3A BuNo 151374 with special mks.

 

Hope these have been of interest. C&V always welcomed.

 

Mark

[Snitok1983]

Impressive trip! Thanks for sharing!

Does the FBI wellcome such posts?)))))))))

Edited November 25, 2017 by Snitok1983

[Alpha Delta 210]

Wonderful images, Mark. I'm a sucker for P-3s, so good to see that they're still soldiering on. Thanks for sharing. 

[Latinbear]

Super photos and really helpful background write-up too. Thanks very much for sharing these. 

[canberraman]

Gents,

Thanks all for the comments and likes - much appreciated!

 

Mark

[72modeler]

Mark,

 

Great photography! Thank you for sharing these! The P-8 is pretty impressive looking, but I will be sad when the P-3's are all gone- they have given sterling service for many years. Surprised the Prowler is still in the centennial scheme, too!

Mike

[GordonM]

The BBC announced over the weekend that a RAF plane had landed in Argentina for the first time since the Falklands Conflict to assist in the search for the missing Argentinian submarine. My immediate reaction was we don’t have any sub hunting capability currently, so the obvious question is ‘was this an RAF P8 training crew, using this as a working up drill?’ Or have we sent a C130 from Port Stanley to add additional ‘eyes on’ for wreckage searching? Any ideas from the hive mind?

[Coors54]

18 minutes ago, GordonM said:

The BBC announced over the weekend that a RAF plane had landed in Argentina for the first time since the Falklands Conflict to assist in the search for the missing Argentinian submarine. My immediate reaction was we don’t have any sub hunting capability currently, so the obvious question is ‘was this an RAF P8 training crew, using this as a working up drill?’ Or have we sent a C130 from Port Stanley to add additional ‘eyes on’ for wreckage searching? Any ideas from the hive mind?

Gordon,

 

The RAF aircraft in question was Voyager ZZ333, she was carrying over 3 tonnes of sub rescue gear for the RN sub smash team (who arrived from Mount Pleasant by Herc having travelled down on the Falklands airbridge a couple of days earlier), this was before the sub was declared destroyed.

 

It was a hop of over 16 hours and was one of the longest non stop trips by a Voyager (and possibly an A330-200). So no P-8.

[GordonM]

Shows how little I gained from Auntie Beebs news piece really!

[F-32]

Really cool, I particularly like the preserved airframes

[Red Dot]

Great photos. Was this an air show or a base visit?

 

Andy

[canberraman]

17 minutes ago, Red Dot said:

Great photos. Was this an air show or a base visit?

 

Andy

Andy

It was a base visit we had arranged via the RAF guys.

 

Thanks all for the comments and likes.

 

Mark