Author Description

This Pictorial History of US Navy's Electronic Countermeasures Squadron Two (ECMRON TWO or VQ-2), later designated Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Two (FAIRECONRON TWO or VQ-2) by Angelo Romano and AMHC (AW) John D. Herndon, USN, (Ret.) is the second title of the new U.S. Navy Squadron Historiesby Ginter Books. The photo coverage of the history of the Electric Bats, also known as the Rangers, is comprehensive, both in terms of photography and in terms of historical content. Much of the squadron's mission was top secret, as were many of its cold war missions, but the authors were able to utilize official (declassified) documents and first-hand accounts to write this book. For completeness, it is also a history of the US Navy Electronic Intelligence gathering activities going back to WWII, beginning with the creation of the Cast Mike (Counter Measures) Project in 1942 and the deployment of early XARD receivers aboard aircraft like the Consolidated PBY Catalina and PB4Y Liberator. After WWII, the Navy started to use the Privateers as dedicated ELINT platforms and assigned them to two special units operating jointly with the National Security Group. One of these units, designated Port Lyautey Patrol Unit (NPU), was based at Naval Air Activities Port Lyautey, in French Morocco. It was first assigned modified PB4Y-1s and later, the Martin P4M-1Q Mercator. The NPU teamed with the Naval Security Group's Naval Communications Unit 32 George (NCU32G), which provided the ELINT equipment installed on board and the crew to operate them, mostly for covert operations around Europe and the Mediterranean. When the NPU reached its full complement of four P4M-1Qs, the unit and NCU32G, needed to have an administrative identity for budgetary and logistics purposes. Airborne Early Warning Squadron TWO (VW-2), based at NAS Patuxent River, was therefore selected to be its "mother" squadron. On May 1, 1953, NPU Port Lyautey became VW-2 Detachment A (or DET ABLE).</p