NATOPS Flight Manual; Navy Model P-3A and P-3B Aircraft NAVAIR 01-75PAA-1

Washington DC: United States Navy, Naval Air Systems Command, 1967. Presumed first printing thus. Three-hole punched binder. Good. Vietnam War era Navy Flight Manual. Sections are individually paginated. Approximately 1000 pages and fold-outs (with some color). Cover has wear and soiling. #70 written on front cover. This publication supersedes NAVAIR 01-75PAA-1 dated 1 July 1970, Changed 1 March 1975, and NAVAIR 01-75PAA-1E dated 1 May 1972, changed 1 April 1975. This manual is to be used in conjunction with Supplemental NATOPS Flight Manual NAVAIR 01-75PAA-1A, and NATOPS Aircrew Supplement, NAVAIR 01-75PAA-1.1. The sections are: The Aircraft, General, Normal Procedures, Flight Characteristics, Emergency Procedures, All-Weather Operation, Communication Procedures, Weapons System, Flight Crew Coordination, NATOPS Evaluation, Performance Data T56-A-10W Engine and Performance Data--T56-A-14 Engine and Index. List of Changed Pages Issues with printed changes inserted at the front. This is followed by the Letter of Promulgation dated 15 February 1967 and signed by Vice Admiral Thomas F. Connolly, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air). On the reverse is an Interim Change Summary form with changes noted in ink. Some mimeograph changes laid in. Table of Contents includes a note that the List of Illustrations--Titles Included in Alphabetical Index and a List of Tables--Titles Included in Alphabetical Index. USN P-3A and P-3B series had an NFO Navigator (TACNAV) and an enlisted Airborne Radio Operator (RO). Chapter 8, Weapon System contains only change page 8-23/24. Referral is made to NAVAIR 01-75PAA-1A Supplemental NATOPS Flight Manual. 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. The aircraft is easily distinguished from the Electra by its distinctive tail stinger or "MAD Boom", used for the magnetic detection of submarines. Over the years, the aircraft has seen numerous design developments, most notably in its electronics packages. Numerous navies and air forces around the world continue to use the P-3 Orion, primarily for maritime patrol, reconnaissance, anti-surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare. A total of 757 P-3s have been built and, in 2012, it joined the handful of military aircraft including the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, Lockheed C-130 Hercules and the Lockheed U-2 that the United States military has been using for more than 50 years. In October 1962, P-3A aircraft flew several blockade patrols in the vicinity of Cuba. Having just recently joined the operational Fleet earlier that year, this was the first employment of the P-3 in a real world "near conflict" situation. The only confirmed combat loss of a P-3 also occurred during Operation Market Time. In April 1968, a U.S. Navy P-3B of VP-26 was downed by anti-aircraft fire in the Gulf of Thailand with the loss of the entire crew. Two months earlier, in February 1968, another one of VP-26's P-3B aircraft was operating in the same vicinity when it crashed with the loss of the entire crew. Originally attributed to an aircraft mishap at low altitude, later conjecture is that this aircraft may have also fallen victim to anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) fire from the same source as the April incident.