ORIONS ARE WATCHDOGS OF NEW ZEALAND COASTS

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32975, 22 July 1972, Page 12

ORIONS ARE WATCHDOGS OF NEW ZEALAND COASTS

(R.N.Z.A.F. News Service)

“Contact bearing 250 degrees, 83 miles.” The Orion long-range maritime patrol aircraft descends from its cruising height of 5000 ft. Minutes later the aircraft is skimming the surface of the sea at nearly 300 m.p.h.

The pilot has the vessel in sight and behind him the air ordnance man prepares to photograph it. Seconds later the aircraft sweeps past the ship, the camera operates, the vessel’s name and position are recorded.

Such is one of the functions of the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s longrange maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft of No. 5 Squadron. Ordered to maintain a close watch over New Zealand coastal waters, and in particular the 12-mile fishing limit, these Orions are constantly on patrol around the New Zealand coast. These patrols were highlighted in June when the crews of Orions maintained surveillance over a Russian fishing fleet consisting of a refrigerated cargo vessel and about 10 trawlers off the New Zealand coast. And it is not just fishing vessels that come under the close scrutiny of these Orions; merchant ships are photographed and their positions recorded. Coastal patrols In their coastal patrols, the Orions fly just off the coast. Up to a distance of 30 miles from the coast they photograph and record the position of vessels. Between 30 and 60 miles off the coast the position of the vessel is plotted from radar. For the crews of the Orions, these coastal patrols are long. On one flight recently the aircraft was required to be airborne from its Whenuapai base at 7.30 a.m. for a day-long patrol around the coast of both the North and South Islands. For the 10-man crew this meant an early start. By 6 a.m. the navigator, Flying Officer G. Habgood, of Lincoln, had obtained the weather forecasts for the areas in which the aircraft would fly. Soon after, the navigator together with the captain of the aircraft, Lieutenant L. Labo, a United States Navy pilot serving on exchange with No. 5 Squadron, filed their flight plan. Outside, the aircraft, NZ--4205, was being prepared for flight under the tarmac lights. While the aircraft’s two flight engineers, Flight Sergeant N. Peterson of Auckland and Sergeant D. Straker of Henderson, checked the aircraft externally, the flight and search systems inside the aircraft were tested. Because of the time taken in this task breakfast was prepared in the aircraft’s galley to be eaten before take-off. Hauraki Gulf Precisely at 7.30 a.m. NZ4205 with Crew Four aboard lifted off the runway at Whenuapai and headed out over Auckland city for Great Barrier. With Lieutenant Labo on the flight deck was the copilot, Flying Officer M. Benge of Welington, and one of the two flight engineers. Behind them, alongside one of the two forward observation windows. Master Air Electronics Operator B. May of Whenuapai, sat at the radio. In the aircraft’s tactical compartment Sergeant B. Coutts of Palmerston North, watched intently the radar screen for the first of the many vessels that the air-

craft would photograph and plot.

Alongside him, the navigator and the aircraft’s tactical co-ordinator, Flight Lieutenant P. Sherson of Tauranga, sit at their positions. With them was the air electronics operator, Flight Lieutenant R. White of Wellington. In the rear of the aircraft was the Air Ordnanceman, Sergeant G. Pleasants, preparing his camera for the day’s operations. Search equipment The Orion, one of the most sophisticated maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft in use today, carries a mass of search and detection equipment. The aircraft’s electronic systems are contained in 180 “black boxes” that compute and present information to each of the sensor operators and the aircraft’s tactical coordinator. It is this equipment that enables the longrange Orion to operate effectively in their antisubmarine role. For these coastal patrols only the aircraft’s radar is used, together with a visual search by the crew to detect vessels off the coast. The Orion’s radar, which scans through 360 degrees, give the aircraft the abiilty to search 20,000 square miles of ocean each hour and it was evident in this particular flight that little escapes notice. With the radar probing far ahead it was only 30 minutes after take-off before the radar operator called “contact.” The Orion descended from its cruising height to investigate, and a freighter with its decks piled high with logs was located just off Cuvier Island. While the aircraft flew towards East Cape the radar picked out another vessel. The aircraft descended until it was 200 feet above the water, and moments later a Japanese fishing vessel was

located 18 miles off the coast. A sweep past the stern of the vessel enabled photographs to be taken. With identification complete and the position noted, the Orion picked up another vessel 28 miles away. Within minutes the crew has the fishing vessel in sight and once again the camera held by the ordnanceman whirred away while in the tactical compartment, the navigator plotted the position of the vessel* Throughout the morning the procedure is the same. The radar continued to probe far ahead well beyond the sound of the approaching aircraft. Russian trawler At 9.50 a.m. two Russian trawlers are located off Hawke Bay and at midday, a Russian mother ship is found anchored off Pegasus Bay with three Russian trawlers nearby. Although the vessel, the 9000-ton Shakhalinskie Gory, had been found and photographed by the crews of other Orions, surveillance was maintained by Crew Four in NZ4205. One of the three trawlers was the Pravoved, from which earlier this year an Air Force Iroquois plucked an injured seaman when the ship was 40 miles off the Otago coast. By I p.m. the Orion had photographed and plotted the position of 31 ships including the Russian mother ship, its trawlers and 10 Japanese fishing boats. A further six were plotted by radar.

As the Orion moved further down the coast the shipping activity markedly decreased and the opportunity was taken for a quick meal. The meal was provided by the Air Ordnanceman, from his galley equipped with electric hotcups, electric frypans, a refrigerator and constantly “perking” coffee pot. Even through lunch the

crew remained at their stations maintaining uninterrupted surveillance of the ocean. The patrol continued around the bottom of the South Island and up the West Coast, where the snow-clad Southern Alps provided an exhilarating background to the patrol. Off Golden Bay another two Japanese fishing vessels were located and photographed as well as a small coastal vessel. The Orion continued up the West Coast of the North Island and at 4.55 p.m. the patrol is over. The Orion touches down at Whenuapai, after a flight time of 9 hours 19 minutes. Exacting task Throughout this long patrol in which 42 vessels were photographed and plotted, it was evident that maintaining a watch over New Zealand’s coastal seas is an exacting task, one which the Orions assumed in 1966 when the Sunderland flyingboats were retired from operations. However, these maritime patrols by the Orions are not confined to the coasts. New Zealand has the responsibility for maritime surveillance over an area of nearly 10 million square miles of ocean extending from near the Equator to the Antarctic, and it is over these oceans that the Orions also carry out regular long-range maritime patrols. During this particular patrol, the Orion’s crew photographed and plotted 16 merchant ships from such countries as the United States, Liberia. West Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain; five Russian trawlers, a Russian cargo ship acting as mother ship to the Russians trawlers, and 14 Japanese fishing boats. A further six Japanese fishing boats were plotted by radar.