In 1971/72, I worked in Lae. My workshop was opposite the threshold at the inland end of Lae Airport's runway, so I saw everything that came and went. The most spectacular event, by far, was watching Neptunes doing their pre-take off mag checks, then up to full power on the radials- I never knew a tail assembly could shake so much - start the jet engines and away. It never got old.
Thank you for the memories, many, many hours looking thru that bubble from Alaska to South East Asia. Even taped over the warning sign for better pictures. Thanks again 😊
Excellent memories I'm from Brazil and I completed in 1972 my training on the Neptune systems, radar APS-20, ECM, navigation, Magnetic Anomaly Detector and other equipment, but the Neptune would be demobilized from the Brazilian Air Force and I was assigned to a career in ATC radars
Very cool. My dad piloted one of these back in the '50's with VA-HM-13 out of Hutchinson Kansas. They routinely flew over the polar ice cap, to Iceland and then on to Malta. I've seen plenty of them from the outside but never an indoor tour.
We flew the SP-2H with VP-92, an active duty reserve squadron, out of NAS South Weymouth, Massachusetts, until 1974-5, when most were sent to the boneyard at Davis Monthan. Truly a unique, historic aircraft.
I got out of the Navy in the middle of 1975 and the reserves at NAS South Weymouth wouldn’t leave me alone trying to get me to join to work on P-3s they were getting. I did 4 years and got out as an AX2. I was stationed out of NAS Brunswick and was from Eastern Ct. My older brother flew in P-2V 8 years before I was in the service.
I checked into VP-65 in 1972 as an ADRAA. They flew the SP-2H till about 1975. VP-67 kept theirs a couple years longer. I had nothing to do with the secret ASW stuff as an apprentice radial engine mech, ADR but was actually given a secret clearance. But all the black boxes must be why they had to add the 2 J-34 jets.
Just one point to note . The first position behind the cockpit was an AEO postion. He monitored the Ignition Analyser dur ing engine run up to check all spark plugs were firing, and during a sub search monitored the long range sounds on Jezebel equipment and from that gave an assessment of the type of sub they could hear charging its batteries. He also gave back up to the Julie operator during close range sub hunt . If i recall correctly there were 4 operators in the section behind the cockpit and in front of the main spar, two Navs and two AEO's. Ex 10 Sqdn AEO.
@@downunderrob . Are you talking about the P3-C Orion's that REPLACED The Neptune ? The Orion was a Military Version of the Lockheed Electra , 4 engine Turboprop . And the Specific Maritime Surveillance Versions were called Nimrods . The Neptune HAD NO CIVILIAN VERSION . Purpose built Maritime Surveillance Aircraft . Both a Lockheed Product .
@johncunningham4820 All true. But my original objection was more along the lines of, why compare Neptune. A twin-turboprop ASW aircraft from the USA. To the Nimrod, a British 4 turbo fan jet ASW aircraft which didn't enter service until 1969.
@@downunderrob . Well THAT is also a Specific Purpose Built Significant Upgrade of the De-Haviland Comet . More in Common with the Neptune that the Orion in that respect . Pretty sure we AUSTRALIANS never used one either . Oh , also , the Neptune was Not Turboprop powered . Twin Radials and Twin TurboJETS for Takeoff assist .
@@andrewrobinson5837 N'y voyez pas une attaque personnelle surtout loin de moi cette idée ; mais un plein format aurais rendu justice a cette exceptionnelle machine .
@@jcc2133 Je suis tout à fait d'accord. Il y a en fait trois Neptunes au musée. L'une d'entre elles est l'escadrille marine française #566. L'un d'entre eux s'envolera la semaine prochaine. Merci.
You almost got it right. I spent almost 2 years flying in the P2V-7 when I first entered the US Navy. The first position to the left of the navigator that you omitted was the acoustic operator's station. The plane captain had the worst seat in the house having to sit on basically a wooden seat at the entry to the cockpit between the two pilots. It folds down flat with the floor for entry and exit to the cockpit then pulls up and locks into place for his seat.
Thanks for that. I wondered what the wooden panel on the floor was for. By the way, you can hear the Fokker Trimotor running up its engines! Did this on the fly with my phone, so I will see if I get the chance to do a better version next visit.
My parents both worked on the P2V-7 at Lockheed Burbank and I flew in the P2V -5 and -7 out of NAS Alameda, California from 1962 thru 1965. This trip through this Neptune brought back many memories of long hours in these great aero planes. Thank you.
As an ordnanceman, while everyone else on the crew had their own station, I had the whole back half of the plane. The aft station was my kingdom. Two turning, two burning. Two shaking, two baking. They used to tell us that 8% of the thrust developed by those big 3350s was from leaking oil. When the Japanese started building their P-2Js (pressurized!), they eliminated the wing beam and hung turboprops on the wings. Loved that old bird! I was in VP-67. the last Navy squadron flying P-2s out of Memphis, keeping the Mississippi clear of Soviet submarines. When VP-67 was ready to transition to P-3s, they trained and turned over to Argentina all 12 of their P-2s, but by that time I had transferred and transitioned to P-3s. There was a rumor that one of those P-2s fired the Exocet missile that sank the Sheffield in the Falklands war. Can't confirm that, though. Thanks for this walk down memory lane.
that was the Neptune 2-P-112, but he did not sink it, he was the one who tracked the British battle group and then guided the 2 Super Etendart who finally sank the Sheffield.
Is this Pete Lister? Oh, yeah! I looked closer at your picture. Jim Townsend here. AW2 when I showed up in Sep 79. I was on Crew 4, or as we called ourselves, “Mother Tucker’s Lucky Fellows”, or something like that. CDR Jim Tucker, LCDR Bill McDonough. Ralph Smith, Randy Johnson, Earl the Squirrel Chiasson. Bruce Swanson. Worked with Jim Simmons, Don Dyer, and a cast of characters! Charlie Calkins, Dave Prince, and Famous Amos Lambert! VP-67 was a great place, and though I missed P-2s by a single PCS rotation, I feel like I knew them well.
@@jimtownsend7899 Jim, great to hear from you, shipmate. I know we crossed paths more than once over the years. Didn't you do a class at ResASWTac while I was an instructor there? I hope the world is treating you well.
@@pdlister yeah, I was stationkeeper at NAS WG 76-79, then VP-67 79-82, VP-91 82-86. Then I was at RESASWTRACEN (the new name!) 86-89, then back to Moffett in the VP-MAU, then Wing PAC staff, then finally VP-66 92-95. As stationkeeper in the SRU, I got to rub elbows with Paul Wintje, Don Poitier, Ron Ritzman, Carl Randall, and worked for Don “Rip” Stinson for a while. RESASWTAC Pipeline was fun, with Danny Lalk, Buster Williams (worked for him in 91) TD O’Shea, Lee Brucker, among others. Lots of other mutual friends, and I heard plenty of stories about you over the years from certain unnamed sources, but I conveniently forgot them all! Doing well. Retired in 95 as a Chief. Met my wife, YN1 Nancy Owen at 67, and we’ve been married 41 years. She retired as a Senior Chief. Living 10 minutes from what used to be NAS Willow Grove. Breaks my heart every time I drive past the old place. Good to cross paths once again with you. Be well, and hope we talk again.
Thank you for this walk through. I have sent it on to my father, who was a P2 crewman during the Cuban Missile Crisis....he has great stories of flying around Soviet freighters who somehow nanaged to quickly change their names (the dripping paint was visible) during patrols 😂
Interior tours of the P2 with military furnishings are scarce and I was pleased that my son was given a tour of this aircraft while visiting friends in Albion. I was a PPC with VP-2 1963-1967 @@andrewrobinson5837
if you could find an amenable pilot on a minimum crew flight (rare), it was the greatest seat for takeoffs and landings, too. Not NATOPS-approved, though.
