“Lockheed Martin has been a partner with the U.S. Navy and the Maritime Patrol community for many years,” said Charles P. Martello, Director of Aviation Systems Sustainment for Lockheed Martin. “In recognition of our mutual support of the P-3 Orion and the critical maritime mission, we are proud to join MPA as a corporate sponsor.”

The sponsorship by Lockheed Martin will enable MPA to extend a number of opportunities to the members of the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force, including; networking and education offered through a variety of meetings, events and media; awards, recognition and scholarships to those persons who have made significant contributions to this aviation community; and information regarding new developments and accomplishments in the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance community.

Incorporated earlier this year, MPA has grown from wishful thinking to an official Florida non-profit corporation in less than one year. With a membership count nearing 400 and growing every day, the organization is seeing an increased interaction among its members and an excitement for the future of the community that will ensure MPA’s continued growth. Members who register in the association’s first year will be considered “Plank Owners,” a historical tradition in the U.S. Navy whereby crew members of a newly commissioned ship had bragging rights to the “ownership” of one of the planks on the main deck.

A Florida not-for-profit corporation established in 2011 and headquartered in Jacksonville, FL, the Maritime Patrol Association is dedicated to its mission to be the premier professional organization representing the U.S. Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance community by promoting the use of the patrol and reconnaissance aircraft in the United States Navy. Its application for tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code is currently pending.

For more information, contact September Wilkerson, Executive Director, at (904) 563-4036 or info@maritimepatrolassociation.org; or check out the MPA website at www.maritimepatrolassociation.org.

April 4-6, 2011, NAS Jacksonville.

“Adak” was my first book. Since then the Press has published three others: “Sailors in the Holy Land,” “The Last Lincoln Conspirator,” and–next month–”Horrible Shipwreck!”

The last, “Horrible Shipwreck!” is the story of the wreck of the British female convict transport “Amphitriite” off the French Coast in August 1833. All but three on board drowned.

I’m now working on a fifth book, for the moment called “Congo, or the Short Life and Miserable Death in 1891 of Lieuternant Emory Taunt on Equatorial Africa’s Great River.”

It should be published in 2013.

I’d be happy to talk to anyone interested in my books or in writing for publication more generally.

Best wishes, Andy

Andrew Jampoler (VP-19 76-78, NASMF 81-83)

-ENS John Leeds, VP-26

U.S. Navy Photography by Liz Goettee

Here’s a Firefox theme — sorry, persona — that may be of interest to some:

http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/111224