page_title: VP-10
section_title: 1951-1990
hierarchical_section_title: VP-10 / History / 1951-1990
caption_attribution_description: Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
context_page_description: Patrol Squadron 10 is a United States Navy Patrol Squadron based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It is nicknamed the "Red Lancers" and is equipped with the Boeing P-8A Poseidon. It is the third squadron to be designated VP-10. The first VP-10 was redesignated VP-2D15 on 21 September 1927 and the second VP-10 was redesignated VP-25 on 1 July 1939.
context_section_description: February – June 1954: VP-10 deployed to various locations in the Caribbean area during the Guatemala coup d'état and a tense revolutionary atmosphere in Central America. Detachments were located at Lajes Field, Azores, Roosevelt Roads Naval Station San Juan, Puerto Rico, NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and NAS Key West, Florida.
  October 1954: VP-10 deployed to NAS Keflavik, Iceland. During the period of Icelandic patrols, the squadron was tasked with conversion from the P2V-5 to the newer P2V-5F, which necessitated sending crews to Burbank, California, to pick up the replacement aircraft at the factory. The transition was completed prior to the return of the squadron to NAS Brunswick in January 1955.
  1957: VP-10 deployed to NAS Argentia, Newfoundland. During the deployment the squadron participated in the annual exercise Operation Springboard at Roosevelt Roads. Before returning to home base in late 1957, the squadron flew to Thule Air Base, Greenland, to collect valuable information on the location and movement of ice formations in the northeast areas of Canada and Greenland.
  July 1958: VP-10 was split into two detachments. One detachment deployed to Iceland with six aircraft to plot the ice coverage over the Denmark Strait. During the deployment the detachment visited Norway, Denmark, Holland, England, Germany and French Morocco. The second detachment flew to Lebanon and provided support during the Lebanon Crisis. Following the end of the crisis, they visited Spain, Morocco, Italy, Greece, Libya and Malta.
  February 1959: A three-aircraft detachment visited Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. A second detachment of three aircraft visited Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Dutch Guyana. The flights were intended to bolster the faltering democratic governments of South American allies with a demonstration of U.S. military power and the “long reach” of Navy patrol squadrons.
  September 1960: VP-10 conducted a “Hurrivac,” flying to Battle Creek, Michigan, to escape Hurricane Donna. At the end of the month, a part of the squadron deployed to NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, for one week to assist the fleet in Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercises.
  6–29 January 1961: VP-10 conducted a split deployment with six aircraft deployed to Naval Station Rota, Spain, and five aircraft to Keflavik, Iceland. On 27 Jan 1961, the Rota detachment received an unusual request from the Portuguese government to assist in the search for Santa Maria, a hijacked Portuguese liner. The detachment operated briefly from the Isle DeSal in the Cape Verde Islands from 27 to 29 January 1961, before Portuguese authorities captured the ship.
  7 November 1961: A VP-10 P2V-5F Neptune flying on ASW patrol crashed into the ocean with the loss of all 11 crewmen.
  10 October 1962: VP-10 deployed a four-aircraft detachment to Lajes Field in support of the Cuban Quarantine.
  13 April 1963: VP-10 flew SAR flights in an attempt to locate the missing nuclear submarine USS Thresher. After several hours of searching, a squadron aircraft spotted an oil slick at 41°43'N 64°57'W and radioed the position to surface vessels involved in the search. Remote submersible cameras located the wreckage, but all hands were lost.
  30 January 1966: VP-10 deployed to NAS Keflavik, relieving VP-21. A detachment of the squadron also deployed to NAS Argentia. VP-10 was the first patrol squadron on that station with the P-3A Orion. The squadron transitioned to the newer P-3B upon return from deployment in June.
  13 January 1967: VP-10 deployed to NAS Keflavik with five of its new P-3Bs. Four other crews deployed to Puerto Rico to take part in the annual Operation Springboard exercises at Roosevelt Roads. Upon completion, three aircraft deployed to Lajes Field, while the fourth rejoined the squadron at NAS Keflavik.
  15 March 1974: The squadron lost P-3B, BuNo. 152749, in a crash at sea 41 miles (66 km) from NAS Brunswick, Maine. The crash resulted in the death of all five crew members and ended the squadron's record of 95,232 accident-free flying hours.
  9 August 1978: VP-10 deployed to NAS Bermuda, during which 
caption: VP-10 P-3 over a Soviet Victor III submarine
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