Jump to content

Navy PBY pilot's photos, cruise books, etc.


Bob Hudson
 Share

Recommended Posts

Visited a local estate liquidation store yesterday as they opened several boxes from the estate of a retired Navy commander. I ended up spending too much money :)

 

Cdr. Rolland L. Hastreiter got his flight training in 1939, flew PBY's at Pearl Harbor (he apparently was there on Dec. 7, 1941), later flew in Australia and elsewhere in the South Pacific. He one of the original pilots for VP-101. A PBY log posted online notes that "1942-Jan-03 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 14.8 hours. "Patrol From Pearl". At 1738, unsuccessfully attacked a submarine 315 miles from Pearl Harbor, bearing 200d."

 

Among other things I've learned is that he was Commanding Officer of VPB-131 in 1944, was the Navigator on the carrier Valley Forge during its 1952-53 cruise off Korea, was CO of Fasron 109 in the mid 50's and was Executive Officer of Naval Air Station North Island when he retired in 1966.

 

Among the items I picked up:

 

 

The 1939 "Flight Jacket" yearbook for the air cadet battalion at Pensacola

 

fj39cover.jpg

 

A Navy PBY photo dated 1937:

 

1937PBY.jpg

 

These are 11X14 inch photos with the official Navy stamps on the back.

 

A Navy Grumman F3F-1 photo dated 1938 (it still has some of the color):

 

F3F1938.jpg

 

The cruise book for the 52-53 Valley Forge cruise:

 

vfbookcover.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Here's the cruise book page showing Hastreiter:

 

vfbookhast.jpg

 

A 1955 change of command for FASRON 109:

 

fasron.jpg

 

Three plaques presented to him when he retired as XO for North Island. The first one below is something like 14 inches tall. Interestingly one of the plaques has his name wrong: they engraved Raleigh instead of Rolland (I've decided that it must have been because guys named Rolland were often called "Rollie" and someone probably told someone else to get a plaque made up for Rollie and they got Raleigh instead. Another plaque has his middle initial wrong:

 

hastplaquebig.jpg

hastplaqueshiled.jpg

hastplaquetriangle.jpg

 

 

 

 

I also have a certificate and photo related to his qualifying to fly the Convair R4Y-1. I also got a pre-WWII USN 3-cell brass flashlight (it even had working batteries and bulb in it).

 

In other posts I will show more photos of the Pensacola yearbook and the VF cruise book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice thumbsup.gif

 

the flight school yearbooks from the 30's are hard to find.

 

Kurt

 

This one is especially nice with the gold texture inside and the photo inset on the cover. There's an article in there about the then new changes in the aviation program in which new flyers would no longer be called Aviation Cadets for their first four years of service.

 

fj39cadets.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's some more from the 1939 "Flight Jacket" from Pensacola. This book has some interesting details about the training. It of course has the mug shots of each class that went through during the year as well as sections on each of the different training units the cadets progressed through during their year at Pensacola. One thing I learned was that the air cadets had their initial a screening and basic flight training at one of several Naval Reserve bases throughout the US.

 

fj39a.jpg

 

fj39b.jpg

 

fj39c.jpg

The vintage airplane photos are a real treat. In the 1930's, seaplanes played a big part in the training and Naval aviation in general:

 

fj39e.jpg

 

 

and as with any good yearbook, it has some ads (and photos of social life):

 

fj39f.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Commander Rolland L. Hastreiter lived from une 5, 1916-April 7, 2004 and was 87 in Rancho Bernardo near San Diego. He was born in Los Angeles and was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on Point Loma, which overlooks NAS North Island.

 

 

There's a site about PBY crews (much of the info on that came from Larry Katz, who was a radioman on some CDR Hastreiter's early patrols out of Pearl). Here's log information about some of Hastreiter's patrols in the Pacific (he later did patrols in the Carribbean)/ Look at the long hours those PBY's spent in the air!

 

Date: Position: Action:

1941-Dec-31 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 13.6 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Feb-05 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 9.5 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-06 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 12.3 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-09 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 13.3 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-12 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 14.7 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-15 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 11.3 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-18 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 11.2 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-21 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 11.4 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-24 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 9.8 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-30 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 11.0 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Jan-03 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 14.8 hours. "Patrol From Pearl". At 1738, unsuccessfully attacked a submarine 315 miles from Pearl Harbor, bearing 200d.

1942-Feb-02 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 11.0 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Feb-14 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 11.2 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Feb-20 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 10.3 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Feb-23 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 11.1 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Feb-26 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 10.0 hours. "Patrol From Pearl"

1942-Feb-27 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 6.4 hours. "Pearl To Johnston Island"

1942-Feb-28 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 7.0 hours. "Patrol From Johnston"

1942-Mar-12 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 11.2 hours

1942-Mar-15 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 13.3 hours

1942-Mar-18 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 10.7 hours

1942-Mar-21 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 12.1 hours

1942-Mar-25 Pilot Flight: test - 0.7 hours

1942-Mar-28 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 7.4 hours. "Pearl to Palmyra"

1942-Mar-29 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 6.9 hours. "Palmyra to Canton"

1942-Mar-30 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 9.3 hours. "Canton to Suva"

1942-Apr-01 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 5.6 hours. "Suva to Noumea"

1942-Apr-02 Pilot (PPC) Flight: Patrol - 8.8 hours. "Noumea to Sidney"

1942-Apr-05 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 7.0 hours. "Sidney to Adelaide"

1942-Apr-07 Pilot (PPC) Flight: Patrol - 8.8 hours. "Adelaide to Albany"

1942-Apr-08 Pilot (PPC) Flight: Patrol - 3.4 hours. "Albany to Perth"

1942-Mar-02 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 3.2 hours. "Patrol From Johnston"

1942-Mar-03 Pilot Flight: Patrol - 8.0 hours. "Johnston To Pearl"

 

It's easy to get caught up in collecting the airborne/raider/special ops stuff from some of the more gung ho aspects of combat, but there were millions of heroes in WWII who flew the long tedious patrols, sweated in the engine rooms of tincans, humped supplies to the front lines and otherwise helped bring it to an end. Here in San Diego County I see a lot of old guys wearing the ballcaps commemorating their WWII service. I always try to make it a point to tell them thanks for their service and to learn a little bit about it. Most probably spent the last 60 some years saying little or nothing about it and I have found they generally appreciate finding someone who does care and is willing to listen to their story. For most though, their service will only be recorded , as it was in the newspaper obituary for Cdr Hastreiter, with a line saying, "He was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War."

 

You may have noticed our forum motto in the logo above. We're going to make it shorter and more direct: For Collectors, Dedicated to Heroes. I am really pleased to see how much members of this forum have helped other members find out about the man (and sometimes woman) behind the uniform. Please be sure to keep that info with the uniform, helmet or whatever so that they will not be forgotten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...