Thanks Zab for the addtional comments, I am happy to know that I still remember a few things from my days flying a Sky Pig.
Probably the only point I'd disagree with......The M&M radome would either rip off and possibly create a hole in the fuselage or dig into a swell and create a violent pitch-down. Or maybe nothing would happen, but my money would be on something catostrophic (as if a ditch isn't that already).
I remember this distinctly from Ready Room/O'Club discussions with the pilots (yes, those actually serve a good purpose, and it is a great time to brush up on your foosball game). This particuar point came up several times and most guys were not too concerned about it, they thought the impact would shatter/disintegrate it. They were worried about the antenna but you are screwed anyways if you are ditching. BTW, did all the Aussies make it out? Another good ditching story is the Nimrod that went down on its acceptance flight from depot, it was a green SIGINT bird. All made it out.
Like I said in my earlier post, I was retired by the time this happened and got my information second hand. I guess it's a different mindset now. When I was flying what used to be termed "parpro" missions in straight P-3s back in the mid to late 1980s, we would have ditched. Our rules for flying off N. Korea, China and N.Viet Nam made it quite clear we would not land there under any circumstance. It was not that they were afraid for the crew, they were afraid of the compromise of information, technology and crypto. That is probably why the O-4/5 types you talked to felt they should have ditched. Times change.
I agree, times do change. There were no hard and fast rules about where to land. Osborne did not violate orders by landing in China, there were no orders like that. We knew the risk of each country that we flew off of and knew the dangers associated with each, and I would have landed at all bu tone if faced with that or a certain death. The N Koreans are nuts and I would have taken the chance of ditching over landing there, a fast vs a slow death. I disagree that there was too much risk of a compromise of info. Procedures for handling that kind of situation have improved since the USS Liberty and the military as a whole knew what to do to mitigate the risk. Not a whole lot of chance of reading someones mail of they changed addresses :icon_wink . And who is to say the PRC actually got the stuff in the first place?
BTW, only a few O-4/5's disagreed with the crews decision, only two that I can think of off the top of my head. Also, the JO's flew 90% of the missions in my squadron without an O-4/5 on the crew. We deployed as individual crews and the O-4/5's would stay at home and do all the paperwork. Only one of my six crews had an O-4 MC and he was a Super JO when he showed up to my squadron and was not a DH. I would go with the most experienced.
Do the VP/VQ folks have rafts ? Do they get tossed out as part of the bailout drill? Self deploying?
P-3/EP-3's have more than enough rafts for everyone in addtion to the SV-2's, but you have to deploy them manually. And there is no guaranty the rafts will work. The P-3 that went down off of Oman one of the two rafts would not inflate, they all got cozy in the other one. And none of the crew took what they were suppose to when they got out, they just got the hell out (someone brings a water bottle, another a parachute, and the Nav is suppose to bring his charts.....which I always wondered about, what is he going to do? Navigate the crew across the Pacific to safety like Captain Bligh?)
The whole flight station DIDN'T get AMs??? And the tube rats did??? Are you f-ing kidding me?
I am sorry for not making myself clearer. Everyone on the crew got a meritorious Air Medal but Shane Osborne, who got a DFC instead. The rub was, and the point I was trying to make, was that 3 pilots flew the plane during the emergency and only one got a DFC, the other pilots got what everyone else got. Fair? In my opinion no. Shane and the senior enlisted guy on board, an FE, aslo got an MSM as well. I think it was for 'exceptional leadership' or something along those lines. A bit much but I was not the one deciding that.
Any other questions, other than exactly what secrets they were carrying?