teakettle31

The purpose of this website is to serve as a place for my remembrances of a career in aviation, the aircraft, the people and the places. It’s named “Teakettle 31” because that was the side number and callsign for the DeHavilland U-6 Beaver assigned to the US Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS), where I taught for many years. As you can read in my remembrance of the U-6, the airplane is one of my favorites and–though quite an old design–represents one of the key attributes of a world-class Test Pilot School.

But, what about “Teakettle”? I don’t know the origin of the callsign, used during my initial time at the school, but I believe it had been used for many years. TPS…Teakettle. Strike (the fast jet test squadron at Pax River) was “Salty Dog”. And so on. Unfortunately, somebody (I don’t remember whom and it’s probably good because it might end the friendship…kidding) decided in the late 1980’s timeframe that “Teakettle” just wasn’t strong or cool enough. So, the proposal was to change it to “Tester” (meaning all the school’s 50-ish aircraft of 13 different type/model/series would have a side number–01, 02, 03, 04 for the first of 4 F-18’s, to 10, 11, 12, etc for the first of 6 T-38’s, 20-series for the first of 5 T-2’s, etc–would be “Tester 01”, etc). I was against the idea but was a Junior Officer at the time. I lost the argument and, since then, the school’s callsign has been “Tester”. Later, as the Commanding Officer of the School, I considered going back to “Teakettle”. But that would’ve been petty. So, this website is one way to harken back to the history of this great institution. A history stretching back to World War II.

Speaking of the history of USNTPS, one of the special experiences I had during my time at the school (and after) was getting to know the man who started the school during WWII, Captain Sydney S. Sherby, USN. You can read more about this amazing pioneer at: https://www.somdnews.com/enterprise/community/features/u-s-naval-test-pilot-school-celebrates-its-diamond-jubilee/article_d9444958-91f7-572b-a470-52f10e5fac57.html

Special Thanks to

Erin McKinney, an amazing young woman who helped me build this website, taught me how to use and update it and, without her help, this website would not exist. Erin also designed the Teakettle 31 Logo that adorns the website. Thank you Erin!