page_title: VQ-2
section_title: Establishment
hierarchical_section_title: VQ-2 / Squadron History / 1950s / Establishment
caption_attribution_description: A Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune of Naval Air Station Jacksonville (Florida, USA) in flight in 1952.
context_page_description: Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron VQ-2, also known as "Batmen" and later "Sandeman," was an air reconnaissance squadron of the United States Navy was established on 1 September 1955 and based at NAS Whidbey Island, previously at NAVSTA Rota, Spain, flying Lockheed EP-3 aircraft. The squadron was disestablished on 22 May 2012.
context_section_description: VQ-2 was commissioned as Electronic Countermeasures Squadron TWO (ECMRON TWO) on September 1, 1955 to provide the United States with an improved defense posture. The squadron took over VW-2 DET A's spaces and hangar at NAS Port Lyautey. Through the 1950s, VQ-2 would continue to fly missions throughout the European Theater operating from Cyprus, Germany, Libya, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. At commissioning, Commander Morris L. Kalin led a total complement of 24 officers and 78 enlisted men.
  The squadron continued using the six P4M-1Qs as mission aircraft. In addition, they obtained three Lockheed P2V-5Fs. The P2V-5Fs were reconfigured onsite from the standard maritime reconnaissance to similar electronic suites as the P-4Ms. Of note, the P2v-5Fs had the same dash speed capability as the P4Ms from two Westinghouse J34-WE-34 turbojets mounted on their own nacelles outboard the Wright R-3350-32W Cyclone Turbo-compound radials. The squadron used the P2V-3 for pilot training and logistics, since it was not configured for electronic reconnaissance (this became a standard squadron practice when possible; using a "bare bones airframe of one of its models for training and logistics). The four Neptunes would serve alongside the Mercators until 1960.
  In September 1956, a new and faster carrier-capable A3D-1Q Skywarrior was delivered to the squadron. The A3D-1Q, nicknamed "The Whale" was a reconfigured A3D-1 with the bombay closed and an electronic reconnaissance suite installed similar to those of the P4M-1Q and P2V-5F. The Whale was a carrier-capable high-wing, twin-jet aircraft with a crew of four. The A-3 was also one of the fastest non-afterburner aircraft in the US Armed Forces with a service ceiling significantly higher than the Mercators and Neptunes which gave the aircraft a greater area of coverage. The squadron also received an A3D-1 which it use like the P2V-3. Although the pilots and navigators came to the command after carrier-qualifying, the squadron operated the A-3 from land bases until the next decade unlike her sister squadron VQ-1. With the high tempo of operations and depot-level maintenance for the three models back in the continental United States (CONUS), it is unsurprising that on 1 June 1957, the command had three P4M-1Q,, two A3D-1Q, two P2V-5F, one A3D-1, and one P2V-3 reported in its table of organization (TOE).
  The Lebanon Crisis in 1958 on 15 July 1958, saw a p4M-1Q and aircrew shift south from Incirlik to fly out of Beirut while the US Marines and US Army were deployed there at the behest of Camille Chamoun, the President. VQ-2 operated out of Beirut Airport through the remainder of the summer and into the fall, departing with the withdrawal of US forces after stabilization in October 1958.
caption: P2V-5 with nose turret in 1952. The Lyautey P2V-5Fs had additional turbojets mounted on nacelles where the rockets are in this photo.
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