CPRW-10's eventful history

Wings of Gold Cover Feature

Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing Ten has a rich and eventful history. It received its current designation in 1999 but was established in December 1940 as Patrol Wing Ten at Sangley Point, the Philippines. A year earlier VP-101, flying PBY Catalinas, was the first of a number of patrol squadrons to arrive at Cavite, the Philippines. The wing flew neutrality patrols and just prior to Pearl Harbor its aircraft were monitoring the expanse between Luzon and Hainan Island (which became a significant site 60 years later when LT Shane Osborn and his VQ-1 crew were rammed by Chinese fighters and forced to land on the island) to investigate reports the Japanese Fleet was massing in that area. "Location of the Enemy at Sea" became the clarion call of the wing.

From December 7th, 1941 through the hazardous days when the Japanese were still on the offensive, it was the reconnaissance efforts of the wing that enabled decision makers to effectively position what forces the U.S. could muster in the Southwest Pacific.

Japanese raids in December made Cavite untenable and forced the wing to move, eventually proceeding to Ambon, Netherlands East Indies. From there the command transferred to Soerabaja patrolling the Makassar Straits, the Java Sea and the outlying East Indies Islands. Subsequently, it moved to Perth in Western Australia where the Catalinas hunted enemy shipping and submarines. In the spring of 1942 two Catalinas, facing greatly superior enemy forces, delivered essential medicines and military supplies to the besieged garrison at Corregidor, evacuating a number of personnel three days before Corregidor fell to the enemy.

At Perth the wing staff coordinated and directed the renowned "Black Cat" operations throughout the Pacific theater. These were attack missions flown against Japanese shipping by PBYs painted completely black. These night attacks became legendary throughout the region, resulting in numerous sinkings of Japanese transports.

The Catalinas' missions included surveillance, ASW, photo reconnaissance, convoy patrol, bombing and strafing. Over an eight month period in 1943 wing aircrews rescued 161 downed airmen and evacuated 414 wounded personnel in the Solomons. Notably, at one point in 1943, of the 45 original and replacement aircraft of Patrol Wing Ten, only three remained.

The wing left Australia in August 1944 and returned to the Philippines where it operated until the end of hostilities. It was disestablished in the summer of 1947.

The introduction of P-3 Orions resurrected the wing in 1963 at NAS Moffett Field, California. By 1965 the growing intensity of ASW and surveillance operations in support of the Vietnam War required that a wing level staff be stationed in the Southwestern Pacific. The Wing Ten staff was restructured and roughly half of the officers and men were transferred to a new wing staff under Commander Fleet Air Wing Eight. For the next seven years, the two wings alternately covered the Far East responsibility on a six-month rotational basis. They operated from NS Sangley Point near Manila and later from NAS Cubi Point at Subic Bay.

After the war the wing remained at Moffett Field. The Moffett Tactical Support Center - the most modern facility for computerized ASW analysis and automated command and control - was developed and gave FleetAir Wing Ten an overall capability unmatched in the Navy. Nonetheless, downsizing led to disestablishment of the wing in 1973 only to be reestablished in 1981.

Significantly, in 1987, the first production Update Ill Orion arrived at the wing with major upgrades to enhance ASW capabilities. Older P-3s were retrofitted with the upgrades. In 1990 a number of wing aircraft deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Shield for surveillance operations. After Desert Storm the wing was reduced from seven operational squadrons to two and moved to its current home, NAS Whidbey Island. The closure of NAS Agana, Guam led to the assignment of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One to Wing Ten and in 1995. VP-1 joined the wing at Whidbey Island after leaving NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii.

Now, with four operational squadrons assigned, Wing Ten supports detachment sites in Diego Garcia; Bahrain; Misawa, Japan; Kadena, Japan; Masirah, Oman; and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They also patrol the Eastern Pacific waters of the U.S.

Copyright Association of Naval Aviation Winter 2001
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