Last Saturday I visited the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola (for the umpteenth time) and went to the info desk to sign up for the flight line tour. I asked this older Naval Aviator, a volunteer working there, if I could tour the flight line to see "the real airplanes, the P-2V's". He asked if I was a P-2 pilot and which squadrons to which I answered VP-28, VP-2, and VP-1. He introduced himself as Bob Dimmit and said he was Skipper of VP-1 in 1960. We had a great chat after that and he got me on the overbooked flight line bus. I looked up a list of VP-1 CO's that I have and sure enough there was R. E. Dimmit. Small world.

The P2V-7 looks good, no damage from Hurricane Ivan, although some of the others still needed repairs; WV-2 missing an aileron and dorsal radome, R4D-5 "Que Sera, Sera" on skis missing right wing, PB4Y-2 damaged empennage and several others missing rudders and elevators. The P2V-1 "Truculent Turtle" was prepped for a paint job. The Museum is making a nice comeback after the hurricane, with attendance really going up this year. Last year there was no place for vacationers to stay, all the habitable places were taken by construction workers as they rebuilt the Gulf Coast, so the museum got hurt financially. Nearly everyone there now are working as volunteers.