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They may have spotted icebergs, but the plane was designed for anti-sub warfare.

That's a blast from. The past 5 years before I was even born. I did see one while visiting Pensacola Naval Air Museum. I did see my share of P3's and the occasional Royal Navy Nimrods transiting RAF Mildenhall while I was stationed there from 1990-'92. Our Navy could at least let me put pax and mail on their Orions if there was anything destined for Keflavick. Not so much on the Nimrod.

The Navy called them the P2V Neptune. In 1962 one was doing recon up near Vladivostok Russia and during the mission he began to have engine problems. He started loosing engines. It had two big recips engines and two small jet engines under the wings. In quick order he was running on one engine and was unable to maintain altitude and was going down in the Sea of Japan. The aircraft was out of Navy Atsugi Japan. He was sending a May Day call via mores code. I was working radio direction finding on the northern tip of Hokkaido Japan. I was receiving in May Day and was shooting a direction finding bearing on him. The radio operator, in mores code, said we are ditching now. He lock his transmitter on and I was shooting a bearing when they hit the water and the radio signal stopped. Fortunately my bearing wasn't need because they put it down right in the middle of a Japanese fishing fleet and the Japanese fishermen rescued all on board. The aircraft remained afloat long enough for the crew to get there equipment and intel out of the aircraft.

It's a P2V Neptune assigned to VP-4, stationed at Barbers Point, Hawaii.


http://joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries18.html

great story @Harry -- keep'm coming

USAF C-121WR and Navy WV-2 Super Constellations had far more range and far more endurance than the P2V so I wonder the wisdom of having the latter doing the same job. Can anybody shed some clarifications.

Chalet what you say is correct but I didn't quite give the whole story. It wasn't just flying near Vladivostok, he had been flying at low altitude and flying in Vladivostok Harbor taking photos of Russian shipping. The Navy did such things with the P2V.

This P2V incident was during the Cold War and things went on that most will never hear about.

Chalet, my best guess would be that the Neptunes could deploy sonobuoys and had a bomb bay(torpedoes)

Some of these birds are still being used in fire fighting.

Excellent aircraft

I believe the full type identification is "P2V-7". The jets and this tip tank model identify it as a -7. I flew these with 407 Sqn. RCAF out of Comox, BC. We had exchanges with crews from Whitby Island, WA.

Brings back memories! I flew aircrew on the P2V out of NAS Los Alamitos for ASW in the late '60's.

At this time, the P2V was designated by the Navy as a SP2E, and SP2H after rework/overhaul, depending on ASW gear.

Ken Mitchell3 days ago
It's a P2V Neptune assigned to VP-4, stationed at Barbers Point, Hawaii.

This is actually YC-5 from VP-2 out of Whidbey Island, WA. I was the Jezabel operator on this aircraft. The "official" purpose of the flight was iceberg patrol in southern Alaska but the real purpose was to land in Adak and load up on crabs of the O-Club mess. True story LOL VP-2 was the last U.S. P2V-7 squadron when it was decommissioned in 1969.

The bomb bay of a P2 was multi-purpose. It could hold two 6000 gal fuel bladders for the long, long flight across WestPac to SE Asia or depth charges. In the rear were sonobouy racks and discharge tubes. The ordinance men were responsible for loading the correct channels and releasing them on the TACCO's command. I sat next to him on the flight deck, which consisted of enlisted Jezabel operator (me) and the Julie operator. The other officer was the navigator. The plane inside was jammed with electronic gear which required the two J34 jets outboard of the R3350-32W recips for take offs. There were also 8 rocket racks under the wings, two fuel tip tanks with one having an incredibly powerful searchlight in the front of it. The biggest gripe from the crew was having to crawl over the wing, which ran through the center of the fuselage, to get to the head in the back.

For all that wonder if jet engines can burn gasoline, there you go.

I spent several years in VP-30, (replacement aircrew training squadron for P2V-5(SP2E) and P2V-7(SP2H) aircraft). The pic is a -7 or H model. The bubble cockpit windows above the pilots is the easiest way to differentiate as they both had the jets installed and the ASW gear was identical. Wondering if the 6000 gallon tanks is a typo as that “truck” would be larger in diameter than the aircraft and darned near a long? Probably 600 gallon. Ahh yes , overwater nav training (lobster) flights to NAS Brunswick and to the Bahamas for cheap booze.(empty sonobouy casings were perfect to hold 3 or 4 fifths)

Mr. McIntosh, you say, "The 'official' purpose of the flight was iceberg patrol in southern Alaska but the real purpose was to land in Adak and load up on crabs of the O-Club mess." LOL!

I can relate to that! When EA-6B's first arrived at NAS Whidbey (they shared a hanger with the P2V's), the favored destination became Rome, NY, where the real purpose was to acquire fresh Lobster. A stop somewhere in Colorado was also popular, back when distribution of Coors beer was limited. However, the most common refueling stop, for convenience and speed, was Fargo, ND, home of the Happy Hooligans of the ND Air National Guard. Good times!

Back when there was ICE....

I was in the AF on Adak back in 1947 and 1948. This was the airplane that flew off Adak and went over towards the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula. Their purpose was to take air samples. Hence, our then President, Harry Truman, was able to announce the first Russian Atomic test explosion before even the Russians did. I can't remember the squadron number, but they rotated out of Whidbey Island, WA.

My Dad flew out of Norfolk in the mid-60s, VP-24 around the time I was born. I always enjoyed hearing him tell me about all the mundane and sometimes crazy shit that happened or that they did, e.g. dumping garbage on the deck of a Russian "fishing boat" somewhere in the North Atlantic! I also recall him telling me about the nuclear depth charges that they carried on occasion. Whether they were ever used, I was not told, but as a kid that was coolest and scariest thing I'd heard at that point! He died last year, but digitized his pictures from that time including some of their aircraft, which I recently found posted
https://www.verslo.is/baldur/p2/135550_LR12_1_640.jpg.

@Harry Ellett, awesome story! Thanks for sharing, I've always wanted to see Hokkaido, maybe someday...

@ Chalet: The Lockheed people built a wonderful long range patrol a/c in the Neptune. They also built the beautiful Connie. The P2V flew at very low level, the Connie at 10K minimum. Different missions require different designs BUT the world record for unrefueled multi-engine flight was long held by the Neptune, more than 11 thousand miles done as I recall in the late 40's, Australia to the US.

On a personal note, I sat in the nose on an eleven hour mission looking for a sub. We never got above 200 ft. Now the P-8 flies at 30 thousand, far more comfortable.

I remember reading about that 11 hour flight from Australia to the US and abut it flying at 200 feet. Thanks for the report from someone who was on that flight. Great aircraft; one of those long history birds like the DC3, the C130 and the B52. Thanks to all for their inputs.

use to see them in/out of Moffett Field NAS VP-19