Bruce Barth was a Navy aircrewman with Patrol Squadron Forty at the peak of seaplane involvement in Vietnam, between 1965 and 1967. A decorated veteran of two operational deployments in the Martin SP-5B Marlin, he participated in the last seaplane-tender operations with the U.S. Navy at Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam in April 1967. In November 1967, VP-40 retired the last of the Navy's seaplanes in favor of the land-based Lockheed P-3B Orion and changed home-port to NAS Moffett Field.

Returning to South East Asia in early 1968, he joined VAW-111 attached to the USS Kearsarge, CVS-33, and flew operational support missions in the Grumman S2F and E-1B early warning aircraft in the South China Sea and in Korea following the capture of the USS Pueblo. At the time of his honorable discharge in 1969, Barth had logged over 1,100 flight hours and completed three operational deployments to South East Asia in support of the Vietnam conflict.

An accomplished historian and author on Martin seaplanes, he served on the board of directors with the Mariner/Marlin Association for eight years and has been a consultant to the Lockheed-Martin Company, Naval Historical Center, National Air & Space Museum, Pima Air & Space Museum and NBC. In 1992 he worked with noted celebrity Jimmy Buffett on his best selling novel, "Where is Joe Merchant," and in 1994 published the first book on the history of the Navy's last flying boat, "The Martin P5M Marlin."

As a director with the Mariner/Marlin Association, Barth was the liaison for the 1995 salvage attempt of a Martin PBM-5 in Lake Washington and the coordinator for the preservation and restoration of the sole surviving PBM-5A at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, AZ (1998 to 2003). He also played a key role in the 2008 restoration of the last Martin P5M-2 (SP-5B) Marlin located at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL.

Anyone interested in contributing information or material pertaining to the squadrons or aircraft are encouraged to contact Mr. Barth at bbarth1@austin.rr.com. Of particular interest are squadron memorabilia, photos, slides, film, log books, technical manuals or operational history of the aircraft.