VR-24 shared ramp space at each of its homebases with many other types of aircraft. VQ-2, with which VR-24 call both NAS Port Lyautey and Rota home base, operated an interesting platform mix all by itself. U.S. Navy Patrol (VP) squadrons routinely deployed to NAS Port Lyautey and RAF Halfar, Malta before support facilities became available at Rota, Spain and Sigonella, Sicily in 1958 and 1959. The bases that VR-24 called home also hosted detachments of U.S. Navy shipboard airwings and served as divert fields for planes unable to return to their homes afloat because of operational damage or inclement weather. Collectively, these aircraft plus "visitors" from other U.S. and various foreign services provided great opportunities for the aviation enthusiast to to observe, and in some cases, photograph the evolving aviation inventories of both U.S. and friendly forces.