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NAS Barbers Point VP-1 P-3 Orion

This “Patrol Squadron 1 (VP-1) NAS Barbers Point” Hawaii Heritage poster art is dedicated to all those who served with VP-1 while stationed at NAS Barbers Point.

VP-1 was the last fleet squadron to transition to the P-3 “ORION” with the first new aircraft arriving at NAS Whidbey Island on 1 July 1969 from NAS Moffett Field. Unlike many other squadrons that initially received the P-3A, VP-1 transitioned directly to the P-3B. After a few months of aircraft familiarization, the squadron deployed to MCAS Iwakuni. During that deployment, their home-port was changed to NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii. Naval Air Station Barbers PointOahu Hawaii also called John Rodgers Field (the original name of Honolulu International Airport) is a former United States Navy airfield closed in the 1990s. It was later reopened as Kalaeloa Airport in 1999. NAS Barbers Point was closed by Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action in the 1990s, with the Navy aircraft, primarily P-3C “Orion maritime patrol aircraft assigned to squadrons of Patrol Wing Two, relocating to Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, now Marine Corps Base Hawaii, on the other side of the island. However, Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, with its complement of HH-65 Dolphin helicopters and HC-130H Hercules aircraft, remained after the Navy’s departure. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point is the only Coast Guard Air Station within the 14th United States Coast Guard District. The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.