by Francis Jock

Created on: April 21, 2008

The Navy's World Famous "Hurricane Hunters" of Weather Reconnaissance Squadron FOUR (VW-4) conducted weather reconnaissance missions in the skies of the Atlantic and the Caribbean Oceans from 1953 to 1975. With six Lockheed WC-121 Super Constellation aircraft, this distinguished squadron of Naval aviators, aerographers and scientists made daring and dangerous penetrations into the center of hurricanes, tropical storms, and even Nor'easter snow storms. Their mission was to provide early warning to anyone, anywhere in the path of these dangerous and powerful weather systems.

During the late 1960's and early 1970's, the squadron's aircraft consisted of a long-range aircraft known fondly as the "Super Connie", or simply as the "Connie." Like a classy and elegant woman, these aircraft were sleek, forgiving and flexible. Equipped with additional wing tip fuel tanks, they had a range of some 3,850 nautical miles, able to stay aloft for over 24 hours with a crew of 28 if need be. During the 1970's the aging and tired Connies were replaced with another specially modified Lockheed aircraft, the P-3 Orion. Designated the WP-3, four Orions were place into the hurricane hunting service until the squadron was finally decommissioned in 1975.

The crew's main source of intelligence was a high-powered search radar system featuring a rotating parabolic antenna mounted in a radome beneath the belly of the fuselage. Able to take in over 250 nautical miles in a single sweep, this radar could easily reveal the most intricate features of a hurricanes eyewall or seascape below. On top of the aircraft, in another dome that resembles a popsicle was another powerful radar system, one that could look upward towards the clouds and expose the vertical features of the huge thunderstorms that form the outer bands of a hurricane.

Inside, the aircraft carried highly skilled aviators: pilots, flight engineers, flight electricians, radio operators, navigators, aerographers and radar operators. When in the throes of penetrating the tempestuous eyewall of a hurricane, the aircraft operated under the command of the Combat Information Center Officer, or CICO. His responsibility was to guide the pilots, blinded by the driving rains and darkness, safely into the calm and clear eye using the radar systems available. Eyewall penetrations were made at all times of the day or night, at altitudes as low as 400 feet above the raging seas.

The most famous hurricanes are, tragically, those that have caused the

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