Douglas A/B-26 Invader
P2V
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Douglas A/B-26 Invader P2V |
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P-2 (P2V) Neptune Maritime Patrol and Anti-Submarine Warfare Lockheed 17
May 1945 March 1947 1978 United States Navy Kawasaki P-2J The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (P2V until September 1962)
was a Maritime patrol and ASW aircraft. It was developed for the United States Navy by Lockheed to replace the PV-1 Ventura
and PV-2 Harpoon, and being replaced in turn with the P-3 Orion. Designed as a land-based aircraft, the Neptune never made
a carrier landing, although a small number of aircraft were converted for carrier use and successfully launched. The type
was successful in export, seeing service with several armed forces. Development began early in World War II, but in comparison to
other aircraft in development at the time it was considered a low priority. So it was not until 1944 that the program went
into full swing. A major factor in the design was ease of manufacture and maintenance, and this can be said to have been a
major factor in the type's long life and worldwide success. The first aircraft flew in 1945. Production began in 1946, and
the aircraft was accepted into service in 1947. It was one of the first aircraft to be fitted in operational
service with both piston and jet engines. The Convair B-36, several Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, C-123 Provider, and Avro
Shackleton aircraft also achieved that distinction; it leads naturally to an unusual sound during overflight. During the Vietnam War, the Neptune was used by the US Navy as
a gunship and patrol airplane. The Neptune was also utilized by the U.S. Army's 1st Radio Research Company (Aviation), call
sign 'Crazy Cat,' located at Cam Ranh Bay, as an electronic 'ferret' aircraft. The Argentine Navy had received at least 16 Neptunes in different
variants since 1958 including eight ex-RAF for use in the Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Exploración (English: Naval
exploration squadron). They were intensively used in 1978 during the Operation Soberania against Chile including over
the Pacific Ocean. During the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra
de las Malvinas) in 1982, the last two airframes in service (2-P-111 and 2-P-112) played a key role of reconnaissance
and aiding Dassault Super Étendards, particularly on the 4 May attack against
HMS Sheffield. The lack of spare parts, caused by the US having enacted an arms embargo in 1977 due to the Dirty War,
led to the type being retired before the end of the war; Argentine
Air Force C-130 Hercules took over the task of searching for targets
for strike aircraft. In 1983, the unit was reformed with Lockheed L-188 Electras modified
for maritime surveillance and in 1994 these ones were replaced with P-3B Orions. In Australia, the Netherlands, and the US Navy, its tasks were
taken over by the much larger and more capable P-3 Orion, and by the 1970s, it was only in use by US reserve units. In Canada,
its tasks were taken over by the CP-107 Argus, followed by the CP-140 Aurora. The US Naval Reserve abandoned its last Neptunes
in 1978. By the 1980s, it had fallen out of use in most purchasing nations, replaced by newer aircraft. In Japan, the Neptune was license-built from 1966 by Kawasaki
as the P-2J, with the piston engines replaced by IHI turboprops. Kawasaki continued their manufacture much later than Lockheed
did; the P-2J remained in service until 1984. Civilian firefighting P-2/P2Vs are currently employed in aerial firefighting roles
by operators such as Aero Union and Neptune Aviation Services and can carry 2,400 gal (9,084 l) of retardant with
a service life of 15,000 hours. Neptune proposes to replace them with Bombardier Q200 and Q300 aircraft which are estimated
to have a service life of 80,000 hours. The third production P2V-1 was chosen for a record-setting
mission, ostensibly to test crew endurance and long-range navigation but also for publicity purposes: to display the capabilities
of the Navy's latest patrol bomber. With time, the aircraft has come to be called "Truculent Turtle," but, in fact, its nickname
was simply "The Turtle," which was painted on the aircraft's nose (along with a cartoon of a turtle smoking a pipe pedaling
a device attached to a propeller). Loaded with fuel in extra tanks fitted in practically every spare
space in the aircraft, the Turtle set out from Perth, Australia to the United States. With a crew of four (and a nine-month-old
gray kangaroo, a gift from Australia for the Washington, D.C. zoo) the plane set off on September 9, 1946, with a RATO (rocket-assisted takeoff). 2½ days later,
the Turtle touched down in Columbus, Ohio, 11,236.6 mi (18,083.6 km) from its starting point. It was the longest
unrefueled flight made to that point - 4,000 mi (6,400 km) longer than the USAF's B-29 Superfortress record. This
would stand as the absolute unrefueled distance record until 1962 (beaten by a USAF B-52 Stratofortress), and would remain
as a piston-engined record until 1986 when Dick Rutan's Voyager would break it in the process of circumnavigating the globe. Lockheed produced seven main variants of the P2V. In addition,
Kawasaki built the turboprop-powered P-2J in Japan. Model names after the 1962 redesignation are given in parentheses. General characteristics Performance Armament
P-2H (P2V-7)General characteristics
Performance
Armament
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