60 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION PATROLLERS AND AIRLIFTERS
LOCKHEED
Type: Seven-crew medium-/long-range reconnaissance and anti-
submarine aircraft
First fl ight: May 17, 1945; entered RAF service January 1952
Powerplant: Two 3,250hp (2,424kW) Wright Turbo-Cyclone radials
Dimensions: Span 104ft (31.70m), length 78ft 3in (23.85m)
Weights: Empty 39,900lb (18,099kg), all-up 72,000lb (32,659kg)
Max speed: 353mph (568km/h) at 9,500ft (2,896m)
Range: 4,200 miles (6,759km)
Armament: Two .50-cal guns in the nose, two .50-cal guns in dorsal turret and
twin 20mm guns in tail. Bomb load: 8,000lb (3,269kg) plus under-
wing rockets
Replaced: Short Sunderland
Taken on charge: 52
Replaced by: Avro ShackletonLOCKHEED NEPTUNE MR.I
O
riginally built for the US
Navy as a patrol bomber, the
first Lockheed Neptunes
were delivered just too late for
wartime service.
The aircraft followed in the
tradition of the company’s Hudson,
Ventura and Harpoon and was a
dedicated long-range anti-submarine
machine. However, it differed
from the earlier designs by being
much larger and having tricycle
undercarriage.
The prototype first flew on May
17, 1945, and it soon established
distance and endurance records.STOP-GAP ORDER
By the late 1940s it became
apparent the RAF was in urgent
need of a maritime patrol aircraft.
The Sunderland flying boats were
reaching the end of their careers and
with the Avro Shackleton still some
years away from entering service,
the decision was made to order a
‘stop-gap’ fleet of Neptunes.
The variant chosen was based on
the US Navy’s P2V-5, dubbed the
Neptune MR.1 in British service.
The P2V-5 was the first Neptune
to have moveable guns in the
nose (as opposed to a ‘solid’ gun
arrangement) and also featured
larger tip tanks, with a traversable
searchlight – slaved to the nose
turret – mounted in the front of
the starboard tip-tank. An AN/
APS-8 radar was fitted in the nose of
the port tank, and an AN/APS-20
search radar was installed below
the fuselage.
A total of 424 P2V-5s were
constructed, 52of which were
delivered to the RAF.
The first British examples arrived
at RAF St Eval, Cornwall on January
27, 1952, and entered service with
217 Squadron. In April that year
the unit moved to RAF Kinloss in
Scotland, where it operated missions
over the North Sea, searching for
Soviet ships and submarines.Right
RAF Neptune WX505
banks away from the
camera showing its load
of under-wing rockets
and the original twin-
gun nose turret. This
aircraft later served
with the Brazilian Air
Force’s 1°/7° Grupo de
Aviação. KEYBottom right
Although no ex-RAF
Neptunes are preserved
in the UK, the RAF
Museum Cosford
exhibits this former
Netherlands Royal Navy
P2V-7. Following Dutch
service, the aircraft
was fl own to Cosford in
1982 and loaned to the
museum; the temporary
status changed to a
donation in 2007. STEVE
BRIDGEWATER1918 2018NEPTUNE
1952 TO 1957