Lockheed P-2E Neptune
Lockheed began work on the P2V Neptune in 1943 to replace the PV-1 Harpoon in the maritime patrol and antisubmarine aircraft role, as well as possibly serve as a two-engined land-based bomber. Not much could be done with the design, due to the urgent need for Lockheed’s other designs, namely the P-38 Lightning. By 1945, however, the war was winding down and Lockheed could proceed with finishing the P2V design, which first flew in May 1945.
A good deal larger than the PV-1, which had started life as the Ventura transport, the Neptune was designed for long-range patrolling and submarine hunting: its main weapons were torpedoes and bombs carried in the internal weapons bay, but it could carry rockets under the wings. Early P2V-1s had solid noses and tail turrets, but by the P2V-5 variant, the solid nose had been replaced by a clear nose and/or a nose turret.
Testing went smoothly and included a world record-setting mission around the world, flown by the third P2V-1 prototype; nicknamed Truculent Turtle, stripped down and filled with fuel tanks, this aircraft was only the second to make a round-the-world nonstop flight. The P2V-1 entered Navy service in 1947 and quickly became the mainstay of land-based antisubmarine patrol units, with missions that averaged about ten hours.
P2Vs first saw action during the Korean War, serving in a variety of roles including bombing and minelaying along its normal patrol missions. Neptunes were designed to operate specifically from land bases, though in the late 1940s, a small number were modified as P2V-3C “emergency bombers” to take off from carriers using a mix of catapult and rocket-assisted takeoff (RATO) bottles; these were intended to carry nuclear bombs on essentially one-way trips to their targets, as they could not return to the carrier. They were replaced by the purpose-built A2J Savage as quickly as possible.
As weapons loads increased in weight, the P2V was continually updated to maintain its long-range capability. Tiptanks were added in the P2V-4, and then later two small J34 turbojets in the P2V-5F, which eliminated the need for RATO and gave the Neptune a needed boost into the air: except for takeoffs or high-speed sprints to new operating areas, the jets were not used. This culminated in the P2V-7, the penultimate Neptune, which deleted gun armament, added a MAD boom on the tail, a larger canopy, and radar beneath the fuselage. The Neptune was redesignated P-2 in 1962, with patrol aircraft taking the designation SP-2E/H in 1964.
The P-2 also showed itself open to a number of conversions for reconnaissance, Elint, or other special operations. The rarest known was the RB-69A, USAF/CIA operated aircraft that flew secretly over mainland China from bases in Taiwan: these were extensively modified with a plethora of electronic equipment, ECM, and even the Fulton Skyhook system for picking up agents inside enemy territory, though the latter was never used. The Navy also modified its Neptunes for clandestine missions during the Vietnam War, by which time the P-3 Orion was already replacing the P-2. These versions included the OP-2E, which dropped Igloo White intelligence sensors on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and the AP-2H attack version to support special forces missions. Both of these types received camouflage schemes, unlike the majority of Navy/Marine Corps aircraft in Southeast Asia.
By 1970, the last of the Neptunes had been withdrawn from US Navy service, though ten other nations would also use P-2s, namely Japan, which extensively modernized and license-produced the aircraft as the P-2J, with turboprop powerplant; these remained in service until the late 1980s. Argentina used its P-2Es as long-range reconnaissance and missile guidance aircraft. Today, no P-2s remain in military service, though a significant number were converted to firefighting aircraft. 19 more survive in museums, of over a thousand produced.
This P-2E, Bureau Number 128340, appears to have spent almost its entire career at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, though it saw deployments to Iceland and the Mediterranean. Built as a P2V-7, it was assigned to VP-3 from 1954 to 1957. After a short stint with NARTU Anacostia, it returned to Jacksonville with VP-5 ("Mad Foxes"), finally ending up being transferred to the base flight. It was retired in 1969, and ended up with the collection at the Southeast Aviation Museum at Fort Worth, Texas, but as that museum no longer exists, 128340's final fate is unknown.
Where this picture was taken at is unknown, but Dad visited NAS Jacksonville frequently when he was assigned to NAS Glynco, Georgia, just up the coast, so this may be his photo if this is Jacksonville or Cecil Field. Then again, it may also be Clark Field in the Philippines!
(Disclaimer: I found this picture among other photos in my dad’s slides. I’m not sure who took them; some of them may be his. If any of these pictures are yours or you know who took them, let me know and I will remove them from Flickr, unless I have permission to let them remain. These photos are historical artifacts, in many cases of aircraft long since gone to the scrapyard, so I feel they deserve to be shared to the public at large—to honor the men and women who flew and maintained them.)
Lockheed P-2E Neptune
Lockheed began work on the P2V Neptune in 1943 to replace the PV-1 Harpoon in the maritime patrol and antisubmarine aircraft role, as well as possibly serve as a two-engined land-based bomber. Not much could be done with the design, due to the urgent need for Lockheed’s other designs, namely the P-38 Lightning. By 1945, however, the war was winding down and Lockheed could proceed with finishing the P2V design, which first flew in May 1945.
A good deal larger than the PV-1, which had started life as the Ventura transport, the Neptune was designed for long-range patrolling and submarine hunting: its main weapons were torpedoes and bombs carried in the internal weapons bay, but it could carry rockets under the wings. Early P2V-1s had solid noses and tail turrets, but by the P2V-5 variant, the solid nose had been replaced by a clear nose and/or a nose turret.
Testing went smoothly and included a world record-setting mission around the world, flown by the third P2V-1 prototype; nicknamed Truculent Turtle, stripped down and filled with fuel tanks, this aircraft was only the second to make a round-the-world nonstop flight. The P2V-1 entered Navy service in 1947 and quickly became the mainstay of land-based antisubmarine patrol units, with missions that averaged about ten hours.
P2Vs first saw action during the Korean War, serving in a variety of roles including bombing and minelaying along its normal patrol missions. Neptunes were designed to operate specifically from land bases, though in the late 1940s, a small number were modified as P2V-3C “emergency bombers” to take off from carriers using a mix of catapult and rocket-assisted takeoff (RATO) bottles; these were intended to carry nuclear bombs on essentially one-way trips to their targets, as they could not return to the carrier. They were replaced by the purpose-built A2J Savage as quickly as possible.
As weapons loads increased in weight, the P2V was continually updated to maintain its long-range capability. Tiptanks were added in the P2V-4, and then later two small J34 turbojets in the P2V-5F, which eliminated the need for RATO and gave the Neptune a needed boost into the air: except for takeoffs or high-speed sprints to new operating areas, the jets were not used. This culminated in the P2V-7, the penultimate Neptune, which deleted gun armament, added a MAD boom on the tail, a larger canopy, and radar beneath the fuselage. The Neptune was redesignated P-2 in 1962, with patrol aircraft taking the designation SP-2E/H in 1964.
The P-2 also showed itself open to a number of conversions for reconnaissance, Elint, or other special operations. The rarest known was the RB-69A, USAF/CIA operated aircraft that flew secretly over mainland China from bases in Taiwan: these were extensively modified with a plethora of electronic equipment, ECM, and even the Fulton Skyhook system for picking up agents inside enemy territory, though the latter was never used. The Navy also modified its Neptunes for clandestine missions during the Vietnam War, by which time the P-3 Orion was already replacing the P-2. These versions included the OP-2E, which dropped Igloo White intelligence sensors on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and the AP-2H attack version to support special forces missions. Both of these types received camouflage schemes, unlike the majority of Navy/Marine Corps aircraft in Southeast Asia.
By 1970, the last of the Neptunes had been withdrawn from US Navy service, though ten other nations would also use P-2s, namely Japan, which extensively modernized and license-produced the aircraft as the P-2J, with turboprop powerplant; these remained in service until the late 1980s. Argentina used its P-2Es as long-range reconnaissance and missile guidance aircraft. Today, no P-2s remain in military service, though a significant number were converted to firefighting aircraft. 19 more survive in museums, of over a thousand produced.
This P-2E, Bureau Number 128340, appears to have spent almost its entire career at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, though it saw deployments to Iceland and the Mediterranean. Built as a P2V-7, it was assigned to VP-3 from 1954 to 1957. After a short stint with NARTU Anacostia, it returned to Jacksonville with VP-5 ("Mad Foxes"), finally ending up being transferred to the base flight. It was retired in 1969, and ended up with the collection at the Southeast Aviation Museum at Fort Worth, Texas, but as that museum no longer exists, 128340's final fate is unknown.
Where this picture was taken at is unknown, but Dad visited NAS Jacksonville frequently when he was assigned to NAS Glynco, Georgia, just up the coast, so this may be his photo if this is Jacksonville or Cecil Field. Then again, it may also be Clark Field in the Philippines!
(Disclaimer: I found this picture among other photos in my dad’s slides. I’m not sure who took them; some of them may be his. If any of these pictures are yours or you know who took them, let me know and I will remove them from Flickr, unless I have permission to let them remain. These photos are historical artifacts, in many cases of aircraft long since gone to the scrapyard, so I feel they deserve to be shared to the public at large—to honor the men and women who flew and maintained them.)