O Biographies

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="057285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <B>VP-21 & VPB-111 Veterans Association</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=150 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="056d4c00dkelyh.png"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.vp-21.org/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.vp-21.org/"><U><B><U>Home</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biographies/Profiles"><U><B><U>Back to Biogaphies Main Page</U></B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><U> <A NAME="_o__biographies"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U></B><B><U>(O) Biographies</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="#phillipe_olivier" TITLE="O Biographies"><U>Olivier, Philippe</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#john_w__orrill" TITLE="O Biographies"><U>Orrill, John W.</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="phillipe_olivier"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="arial" ><B><U>Philippe Olivier</U></B></FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="383" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 256 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="20cb8fa0.jpg" border=0 width="184" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="20eb9fa0.jpg" border=0 width="185" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="186"><div> 1962 </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="186"><div> 2003 </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></div> <bR> <div> I grew up in Oakdale, LI, NY and graduated Sayville High School in 1958. Following graduation, I enlisted in the Navy under the "buddy system" with my best friend Rob. We both were promised a navy electronics school. In August 1958, we were off to Great Lakes for basic and then to Norman, OK for Aviation Prep School. We both qualified for AT school in Memphis, started classes there January 1959, and graduated in August 1959. Rob got orders to VA-81. I was assigned to VP-21.</div> <bR> <div> At VP-21, I worked out of the shop fixing and tweaking whatever came in. I attended radioman, sonar, and radar schools but never made air crew. Perhaps that was OK since I often got motion sick. For the 1960 deployment I went to Iceland, not my favorite place. While there, I passed the AT3 exam. I also took the (incredibly easy) entrance tests for NAVCAD. Upon returning to Brunswick I had advanced to AT3. </div> <bR> <div> In September 1960, at morning muster, I learned I had received a fleet appointment to the US Naval Academy (instead of NAVCAD) and was sent to Prep School in Maryland. What an incredible, unexpected honor! (At the time, my brother was in his second year at the Air Force Academy.) Prep School was a purely academic curriculum. After much soul searching I made the most difficult decision of my life. The Naval Academy and a naval career did not feel right for me. I had always wanted to be an electronics engineer. After leaving Prep School I was assigned to VA-81 rejoining my buddy Rob. Talk about unconscious luck! So, we made a Med cruise together in 1961. As 'kiddy cruisers' we separated from the Navy in August 1961 to start college.</div> <bR> <div> After leaving the Navy, I attended St. Peterburg Junior College for two years. While attending SPJC, my AT training helped me get an engineering position at Honeywell Aerospace R&D assembling the Gemini spacecraft guidance system. It was a great time to be in the 'space race'. After graduating SPJC in 1963 I attended the University of Florida graduating in 1965 with a physics/math major. I taught Physics for a year before becoming an electronics calibration engineer at Kennedy Space Center. As part of this job I set up the electronic labs for Apollo spacecraft telemetry. Later, I became involved in real time computer programming of Apollo telemetry systems. </div> <bR> <div> In 1970, budget cuts caused massive layoffs at the Cape, so I returned to graduate school at Florida State University earning a Ph.D. in Psychometrics in 1974. For the next five years I did institutional research for the Florida Board of Regents eventually becoming the Coordinator of Academic Programs for the state universities. I was then offered a position at American College Testing in Iowa. My first assignment was to develop a classification test for the Royal Saudi Navy. To say the least, it was interesting. I went on to develop many other national licensing and certification testing programs at ACT in the newly formed Business Programs Department. I did programs like GM's Mr. Goodwrench, Automotive Service Excellence (used by many dealerships), and the professional engineering exams. I also did testing for real estate salesmen and brokers, mortgage brokers, insurance actuaries, building construction trades, and many more. In 1992 I retired and now travel when I can pursuing my hobbies in photography, music, and web site programming. Retirment is OK but I enjoyed the action (but not the pressure) when I was working.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_o__biographies" TITLE="O Biographies"><U><B>BACK TO TOP OF PAGE</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="john_w__orrill"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>John W. Orrill</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="626" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 256 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="2104dfa0.jpg" border=0 width="333" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="212bcfa0.jpg" border=0 width="188" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="214bcfa0.jpg" border=0 width="188" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 18 WIDTH="233"><div> 1926</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="189"><div> 1951</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="188"><div> 1970</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> Born in the big city of Pleasant Hill, Illinois and lived there through high school.  With a population of about 1,000 folks, it was a great place to be a kid.  While a senior in high school, I picked up an issue of <U>Flying</U> magazine that was devoted almost entirely to Naval Aviation.  I was already a bit nuts about airplanes, but that pushed me over the edge.  In December, 1943 I was accepted into Navy's flight training program (V-5), but was immediately told that I would initially be assigned to the college training program (V-12) for some period of time before entering the flight training program.  This was, of course, a good deal - but it didn't sound so hot to me at the time.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1944</U> --  Graduated from high school in June and was immediately thereafter ordered to Mississippi College for V-12.  </div> <bR> <div> <U>1945</U> -- Finished three semesters (60 semester hours) and was sent to St. Mary's College in California for pre-flight school in June.  WWII ended in August and I opted to leave the program.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1946 to 1948</U> - Attended University of Illinois.  B.S. in 1948, then accepted an offer from the Navy to go back in to the flight training program as an Ensign.  (Good decision!)</div> <bR> <div> <U>1949 to 1951</U> - Flight training.  Basic in Pensacola, flying SNJ's - including 5 landings on the carrier.  Flew PBM seaplanes in advanced at Corpus Christi.  Received wings in March 1951.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1951 to 1952</U> - Assigned to the Naval Station, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, for 12 months.  (Obviously, I had a lot of influence in BuPers.)</div> <bR> <div> <U>1952 to 1954</U> - Survived Kwaj and was assigned to VP-42, flying PBM's and home ported at NAS San Diego. Made a six month deployment to Kodiak and the Aleutians, during which time we lost two of our nine aircraft.  Operating seaplanes in that environment was a challenge.  Exciting time.  Traded our PBM's for P5M's upon return to San Diego.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1954 to 1956</U> - Flight and ground training instructor at NAS Corpus Christi. </div> <bR> <div> <U>1956 to 1957</U> - Line School at Monterey, California.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1957 to 1958</U> - Air Intelligence/Photo Interpretation/Radar Target Analysis School, Washington, D.C.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1958 to 1960</U> - Air Intelligence Officer, COMFAIRWINGSLANT Staff.  NAS Norfolk. </div> <bR> <div> <U>1960 to 1963</U> - Maintenance Officer, VP-24, NAS Norfolk.  VP-24 was assigned to Task Group Delta during a major part of that period.  That meant <U>lots</U> of sub time, which was certainly good experience.  The squadron was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall of 1962.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1963  to 1964</U> - Postgraduate course at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  MBA degree.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1964 to 1966</U> - XO and CO, VP-21.  What a great experience!  Maybe, at my advanced age, I tend to forget some tough times, but I'm certain that this period was the absolute highlight of my time in the Navy.  It seemed that we were always busy, but nevertheless found time to appreciate the situation.  There were certainly many commitments, including several exercises and a split deployment to Keflavik and Rota.  There was an Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI), which is usually kind of a painful time.  Seemed to me that the whole squadron “played the game” during the ORI and maybe even enjoyed at least major parts of it.  Incredible!  I could go on, but we need to keep this somewhat brief.  Many, many thanks to all who were in the squadron during that time!  Hope to see you all at the next reunion.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1966 to 1967</U> - Naval War College, Newport, RI - Naval Warfare Course.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1967 to 1969</U> - Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D. C. - Head of the Naval Research and Technology Programs Branch.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1969 to 1971</U>  -- COMAIRWING THREE, NAS Brunswick.  Chief Staff Officer.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1971 to 1975</U>  -- SACLANTREPEUR Staff, NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.  Great experience.</div> <bR> <div> <U>1975 to 1978</U>  --  CO and Professor of Naval Science,  NROTC Unit, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.  (Retired in the summer of 1978.)</div> <bR> <div> Following my retirement from the Navy, I loafed for a year.  (Liked that a lot.)  Then went to work at Frasca International, a local firm that manufactures a complete line of fixed wing and rotary wing flight simulators, and markets them world-wide - over 70 countries.  My title is “Director, Special Projects”, but I don't exactly know what that means.  Mostly, I deal with the overseas representatives, which is sometimes exciting.  I've been a part-timer for several years now.  Great schedule.</div> <bR> <div> Pat, my dear wife of some 50 years, passed away in 1998.  Daughter Barbara and her family live in Switzerland.  Daughter Deb and her husband are in Dallas, Texas.  Both of those families treat me much better than I deserve.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_o__biographies" TITLE="O Biographies"><U><B>BACK TO TOP OF PAGE</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>