Establishment and World War II Bombing Squadron One Hundred Twenty Eight (VB-128) was established at
Naval Air Station DeLand,
Florida on 15 February 1943 as part of the build-up of
Allied aircraft engaged in the
Battle of the Atlantic. Under operational control of
Fleet Air Wing Twelve, the squadron took only two weeks to bring aircrew and their
PV-1 Ventura aircraft to operational status, and by May the squadron was able to send a detachment of aircraft to
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to provide aerial cover for
convoys while the squadron moved to
Floyd Bennett Field in
New York City. The squadron's first loss in action came on 7 August 1943 when a Ventura was shot down by a German
U-boat it had attacked and damaged. The pilot, Lieutenant JG
Frederick Cushing Cross Jr., was awarded the
Navy Cross for his heroic actions in saving his crew's lives despite suffering a mortal wound. The copilot, Lieutenant JG Thomas James Aylward III., was also awarded the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross. As the sinking U-boat returned fire, Lieutenant JG Frederick Cushing Cross Jr. received his mortal wounds. His Co-Pilot Lieutenant JG Thomas James Aylward III was shot in both legs, his right arm and received shrapnel wounds to his head and chest. The right engine of their plane exploded during the fight. Although gravely injured, and without a pilot, Lieutenant JG Aylward was able to continue the fight, sink the U-boat and complete safe water landing in the middle of the Atlantic. Lieutenant JG Thomas James Aylward III survived. The German Captain of the U-boat responsible for shooting the plane down, recounted the story to his American captors. Although impossible to verify, the U-boat captain said that a pod of porpoises pushed unconscious and injured Aylward into a life raft. Lieutenant JG Aylward spent the next 8 months in a hospital in Key West, Florida. The complete story as told by the U-boat Captain, Lieutenant JG Aylward, and members of the VB-128 is recounted in the book, "The Navy's Fliers in WWII" by Wyatt Blassingame. Later in August, the squadron was moved into the heart of the fight by switching from coastal patrols to covering a large area of the open ocean from their new base at
Reykjavík, Iceland. Now under control of
Fleet Air Wing Seven, the squadron operated as part of the antisubmarine efforts in the
North Atlantic Ocean, cooperating with
RAF Coastal Command. On 4 October, the squadron recorded its first confirmed kill, sinking
U-279 off the southwest coast of Iceland, where Lieutenant Charles L. Westhofen had spotted it on the surface and bombed it. All 48 hands aboard
U-279 were lost. December saw another change of scenery for the squadron with its relocation to
San Juan, Puerto Rico under control of
Fleet Air Wing Eleven. The squadron's aircraft were refitted with rockets and training undergone in the use of them against surface targets. Upon completion of training, the squadron moved to
Ensenada Honda, Puerto Rico and mounted routine anti-submarine patrols throughout May 1944. With the reduction of the German submarine threat in 1944, the squadron had time for leave and training before being transferred to the
Pacific for service in the
Pacific War, first arriving at
Naval Air Station Alameda, California on 26 September and then at
Naval Air Station Kaneohe, Hawaii on 6 October. Training was undertaken in Hawaii with routine rotations to
Midway Island for weather patrols. Ultimately, the squadron was moved to
Owi Airfield,
Papua on 21 December and by 3 January 1945, its aircraft were transferred to other squadrons to bring them up to strength. The squadron, now designated Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Twenty Eight (VPB-128) received new aircraft on 28 February 1945 at
Guiuan,
Samar, Philippines, from which the squadron began operating daily anti-shipping and convoy protection patrols. A pair of squadron aircraft recorded the first kills against the Japanese on 18 March when one
midget submarine was sunk and another was damaged in
Davao Gulf. Four days later, a strike against the wharf in
Cebu City netted another midget submarine sinking by rockets, though one of the attacking aircraft was hit by
antiaircraft fire and lost with all crew members. At the end of the month, the squadron relocated to
Tacloban,
Leyte, and then on to
Puerto Princesa,
Palawan, continuing with its primary responsibilities of anti-shipping and convoy coverage. At the end of April, the squadron switched to supporting ground operations and began striking land targets selected by the
United States Army, including
Itu Aba Island,
Brooketon, Brunei,
Kudat,
Seria, and Tagai Town. During this period, the Navy changed its policy on patrol squadron designations, and the designation was changed to Patrol Squadron One Hundred Twenty Eight (VP-128) in May. On 21 June 1945, the squadron was transferred to the operational control of
Fleet Air Wing One and relocated to
NAB Tinian resuming its traditional role of sea patrol. It conducted such patrols daily until the surrender of Japanese forces, though it later undertook regular weather patrols. The squadron was moved to
Okinawa, Japan and redesignated Medium Patrol Squadron (Landplane) One (VP-ML-1) before finally returning to the United States in March 1947. The following year, back at home, the squadron participated in
RIMPAC, a multi-national exercise in the Pacific Ocean, while preparing crews on the AIP aircraft. The squadron's next deployment came in 2001, and in addition to normal antisubmarine warfare missions, the squadron was active in the search and role efforts in several exercises. These included participation in the Hong Kong Search and Rescue Exercise and the Maritime Sea-Surveillance Exercise. The latter was the first trilateral exercise involving the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States. Antisubmarine exercises included work with the
Republic of Singapore Navy,
Royal Australian Navy (Operation Tandem Thrust), the
Royal Thai Navy (Operation Cobra Gold), and battle group and amphibious readiness group. Deployed to Diego Garcia again from June 2001 to June 2002, the squadron operated in support of
Fifth and
Sixth Fleet areas, operating detachments in Manama and Masirah. During this deployment the squadron flew more than 6000 hours in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom and
Operation Southern Watch without incident in close cooperation with all branches of the United States military as well as several foreign air forces. Returning home, VP-1 completed a successful inter-deployment training cycle (IDRC) before a six-month deployment to the Western Pacific began in December 2003. Operating as part of
Seventh Fleet, the squadron operated primarily from Misawa and Kadena in addition to smaller operations from six other airfields as they took part in a number of international exercises, including locations in Australia, Guam, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. More than 3000 hours were compiled during the deployment. The squadron repeated its Japanese deployment in December 2005 on the heels of winning the Arnold J. Isbell award for ASW excellence during their IDRC. During the deployment's 4700 flight hours, they participated in exercises with the
Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, operated with five major US Navy groups, and deployed detachments to Australia,
Brunei, Guam, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. Upon their arrival, the squadron celebrated 135,000 hours without a mishap, a feat extending over 23 years of operations. They participated after their return in RIMPAC 2006 and
Mojave Viper exercises and supported the , , and groups. Several aircraft from the squadron returned to the Middle East in 2007 in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and
Iraqi Freedom, while exercises such as Empire Challenge and Valiant Shield helped the rest of the squadron ready themselves for deployment and demonstrate further capabilities of their aircrews and aircraft. Deployed to Kadena in November 2007, VP-1 aircraft additionally were detached to Misawa and the Philippines. After exercises with the Royal Australian Navy (TAMEX) and the
Republic of Korea Navy (LINKEX), the squadron was cut to only four operational aircraft as the Navy's Red Stripe program came into effect, withdrawing operational P-3 aircraft for overhaul. This reduced complement did not excuse the squadron from its operational commitment, and the unit was able to uphold its participation in further exercises including Snapdragon Red, Distant Thunder, CMPOP, and Cobra Gold, as well as detachments to Guam and Thailand before returning home in 2008. Patrol Squadron 1 detached a pair of aircrews in January 2013 to Kaneohe Bay for participation in Undersea Warfare Exercise 13-1. The crews worked in cooperation with both fellow American forces as well as the
Royal Canadian Air Force. By May 2019 VP-1 had completed the transition to the
P-8 Poseidon Designations, assignments, and aircraft == Awards ==