Squadron returning after six-month trip

OAK HARBOR – A naval air squadron with eight airplanes and 400 people is scheduled to return to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Friday morning after more than six months deployed in support of military activities in Iraq and elsewhere.

Patrol Squadron 46 flies P-3C Orions, propeller-driven aircraft geared for submarine hunting and radar surveillance.

The squadron split and set up four operating locations, two in Japan and one each in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Airplanes from one of the Japanese operating sites supported Valiant Shield 2006, one of the largest naval exercises in the Pacific since the Vietnam era.

Squadron personnel in the Philippines flew dozens of sorties supporting other military branches, and those in Southeast Asia flew 1,200 hours in support of forces in Iraq.

Over the last year, the squadron flew more than 6,700 hours, boosting a safety record over 42 years to more than 292,000 flight hours without a serious accident, a naval station spokesman said.