ORION THE HUNTER

  • Published
  • 439th Airlift Wing
Occasionally Westover is visited by Navy P-3 Orion aircraft. Its mission is to patrol and detect enemy submarines. It has a distinctive “tail stinger” or “MAD Boom”. This stinger uses the fluctuation in the Earth’s magnet field to detect subs beneath the waves. 724 were originally built and the P-3 airframe joins the over 50 years in U.S. military service club - along with B-52 Stratofortress, KC-135 Stratotanker, and C-5 Galaxy. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Malcolm Tevanian)