Believe it or not, the P-3 had teeth. Not just a furniture hauler or expender of sonobuoys, the P-3 was the only non-tactical aircraft to load, carry and fire the Navy’s supersonic, radio guided, stand-off missile – the AGM-12B Bullpup. Squadrons had to prove, via the annual missile-ex, that they were qualified and ready to do so. In the spring of 1974, the ordnance and flight crews of VP-1 geared up to qualify. The aircraft would be loaded with 4 missiles to enable two crews (PPC and gunner), two shots each, to qualify.
AO1 McCoy, foreground in blue, supervises. I can’t identify the other AOs.The Bullpup missile weighed 2,000# each, but held only a 250# warhead, not much against ground targets but deadly if it hit a ship or submarine at supersonic speed.A very salty Ltjg. David T. Reed lead the mission as PPC. Ltjg Eschenfelder (L) gunner on first crew. The Bullpup was radio controlled by the gunner via a joystick, guiding the missile visually to the target. Just like Davy Crockett – only at supersonic speed!After loading at a remote area of NAS Barbers Point’s ramp, the crew headed for the Barking Sands Missile Range on the remote, western side of Kauai. Our target at Barking Sands would be a small, red boat, remotely guided from shore to dance around and survive. It had to act as target for all 4 shots. But when we arrived, we found that the shore controller had lost contact with the target boat, sending the boat into a pre-programmed tight circle with a large foamy wake. Perfect target.Our first missile impacted in the center of the circle, either striking the boat or the impact energy from a one-ton missile moving at supersonic speed was enough to literally blow it out of the water. The target disappeared. While that ruined the fun for the second crew, no target but a wave to shoot at, it qualified VP-1 as we not only destroyed the target, but successfully loaded and fired all 4 missiles. Good job all!
