Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Long-range patrol bomber

Power Plant:

Two 2,797 kw (3,750 hp) Wright R-3350-30W eighteen cylinder two-row turbo-compound air-cooled radial engines

Specifications:

Armament:

Ten 12.7 cm (5 in) Mk 36 rockets; up to 4,536 kg (10,000 lb) of bombs or torpedoes

History:

In April 1944 the US Navy placed a contract for two prototypes of the Neptune long-range patrol bomber, designated SP2V-1. The prototype XP2V-1 (BuAer 48237) was rolled out at the Company’s Burbank, California facility in May 1945, making its first flight on 17 May. The initial production model was the P2V-1, with the first aircraft being delivered to the Navy in December 1945. The first 22 aircraft to be delivered were powered by 1,716 kw (2,300 hp) R-3350-8 engines. The second production model was the P2V-2 and this was powered by the 2,089 kw (2,800 hp) R-3350-24W engine driving three blade Hamilton Standard propellers in lieu of the four-blade propellers. It had the glazed nose and lower turret deleted and was fitted with a solid nose containing six 20 mm cannon and rocket launchers were fitted to the wings.  Some 92 examples of this model were built.

Subsequent production variants included the P2V-2S (one example built), the P2V-2N (two built), the P2V-3 (40 built), the P2V-3C (12 built), the P2V-3W (30 built), the P2V-3Z (2 built), the P2V-4 (52 built), the P2V-5 (425 built), the P2V-6 (which was equipped for mine-laying), and the P2V-7 (the first version fitted with auxiliary turbojets). Eventually, the system of designating American aircraft changed: the P2V-4 and P2V-5 became the SP-2E, and the P2V-7 the SP-2H. The Neptune was produced under licence in Japan, and it served with the Air Forces of Argentina, Canada, France, The Netherlands and Australia, and the US Navy. More than 1,000 examples were completed.

On 29 September 1946 a US Navy P2V-1 named Truculent Turtle (serial 89082) took off from RAAF Base, Pearce, WA headed for Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland but strong headwinds caused it to land at Columbus, Ohio after 18,082 km (11,236 miles) in a time of 55 hours and 17 mins, being flown by Cdr T Davies and Cdr E Rankin. The take-off involved JATO rockets. At the time it was the longest flight point-to-point flown by a piston engined aircraft and both hemispheres were crossed. This aircraft was the third Neptune built and at take-off weighed 38 tonnes (12 tonnes over design weight), and carried 28,600 litres (6,291 Imp gals) of fuel. The aircraft survives and is displayed at the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola in Florida.

Of the 53 P2V-3s built, two were converted to P2V-3Z configuration to be used as armoured staff transports; and eleven became carrier-borne nuclear strike aircraft, one being test flown from the USS Coral Sea carrying a dummy 4,536 kg (10,000 lb) nuclear weapon. Although stripped to save weight, the “carrier” variant known as the P2V-3C flew from the carrier on 21 April 1950 at a weight of 33,869 kw (74,668 lb). Others were converted for close-support trials, and 30 became P2V-3W airborne early warning aircraft with radar in a ventral dome.

The P2V-4 had revised electronic equipment, fixed wingtip tanks which increased fuel capacity to 15,925 litres (3,503 Imp gals), and late delivered aircraft had water injection for take-off. In 1962 US military designations were changed and the P2V-4 became the P-2D. During the Korean War several US Navy patrol squadrons operated from Japanese bases on reconnaissance missions off the Korean coast, one being shot down by anti-aircraft fire. On occasions they were used for spotting naval gunfire and carrying out night interdiction sorties against land targets and rail transport.

During the Vietnam War Neptunes carried out long-range anti-submarine patrols over the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin; and at Camn Ranh Bay a number of AP-2Es were operated by the US Army to relay air-to-ground radio transmissions. Also at that base US Navy VAH-21 Squadron flew the AP-2H as a gunship with infra-red and lateral-looking, low-light level television equipment and 20 mm cannon, 40 mm grenade launchers and machine-guns in under-wing pods, operating nocturnal missions against enemy vehicles using the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Six were converted in 1948 and used by the US Naval Survey, with the Department of Interior, to map a large part of the coastal area of Alaska. Many on patrol went close to Soviet territory during the Cold War and one P2V-3 was shot down off Siberia on 6 November 1951. Others were fired on, and another was shot down on 4 September 1954 by a MiG 15.

Examples were supplied to the RAF (WX493 to WX529 and WX542 to WX556) under the Mutual Defence Aid Programme in 1952; and examples were supplied to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Canada, French Aeronavale, Royal Netherlands Navy, Portugal and Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force, being licence built by Kawasaki, late-build Japanese P-2J aircraft fitted with 2,283 kw (3,060 ehp) Ishikawajima Harima T64-IHI-10E turboprops.

In 1951 No 11 Squadron RAAF replaced its Avro Lincoln B-30s with Neptunes. The construction of the first two (A89-301 and A89-302) commenced as P2V-4s but they were completed on the production line as close as possible to P2V-5 configuration; and ten P2V-5Fs (A89-303 to A89-312) were delivered in 1951 and allotted random serials, eg A89-592, A89-595, A89-294, A89-545, A89-983, A89-228, A89-589, A89-736, A89-694, A89-236, A89-225 and A89-405 (c/ns between 526-5021 to –5111), later being re-serialled A89-301 to A89-312. They were based at Richmond, NSW, until 1961 when they were replaced by Lockheed P-3 Orions, and the Squadron moved to Edinburgh, SA.

The Neptunes initially had nose, mid-upper and tail turrets and, like RAF Neptunes, were designated Mk 1. Later the nose was fitted with clear-view perspex and a MAD tail was fitted, the mid-upper turret remaining, thus becoming known as the Mk 2. Later the mid-upper turret was deleted, and the type became the Mk 3. When the auxiliary jet pods were installed, it became the Mk 4. Throughout their existence the aircraft were painted midnight blue overall, and it was only in the last few years of service that the upper part of the fuselage was painted seagull grey.

One Neptune (A89-308 – c/n 526-5087) was lost during RAAF service when it crashed on take-off at RAAF Richmond on 4 February 1959. A89-301 (c/n 526-5022, ex A89-592) became Instructional Airframe No 1 at Laverton. A89-302 (c/n 526-5021) and A89-310 (c/n 526-5111 – ex A89-236) were used as Instructional Airframes at Wagga until used for fire practice. A89-302 was later recovered, brought up to display standard and placed on display at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, VIC. In 2019 A89-302 (ex A89-595) was dismantled and conveyed by road to the HARS facility at Parkes, NSW where it is being restored for static display alongside a P2V-7 also in the Museum’s collection. Neptunes A89-304, A89-306, A89-307, A89-309, A89-311 and A89-312 were all broken up at Bankstown, NSW in November 1968.