36 |FLIGHTPATH
Saving a Harpoon
ALockheedHarpoonthatwasindangerofbeingscrappedwaslownout of
aremotestripinOctober2010.Sincethen,theoldpatrolbomberhas
remainedactiveasit’sbeenprogressivelyrestoredtoitsmilitaryconiguration.
Roger Cain recalls the recovery of the PV-2D and details its rejuvenation.
W
iththedevelopmentofthePV-2
Harpoon, Lockheed had probably
pushedadesignthatcouldtrace
itsrootstothemid-1930sasfaras
itcould.Admittedly,theendofhostilities
andtheunceasingrushoftechnologicalad-
vanceswouldhaveputanendtothefamily
line,buttheHarpoonwouldhaveheldits
ownforatime,particularlyifthewarwith
Japanhadcontinuedbeyond1945.Indeed,
thetypesawlong-termpost-waruseinthe
agricultural and aerial fire fighting indus-
tries. Lockheed went on to perfect the mari-
time patrol aircraft, but today, despite sev-
eral superb flying examples that catch the
public eye, the Harpoon remains a little-
knownexponentoftherole.
The Harpoon was a redesign of the PV-1
Ventura,itselfadevelopmentoftheModel
18Lodestar.IntendedtoreplacetheHudson
intheRAF,theVentura,whileanimprove-
ment,wasstillfoundlackinginthedaylight-
bombingdepartment.Itfoundfavourwith
maritime patrol units of the USN and USMC,
served with the RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF and
SAAF,andevensawuseasanightfighter
(se eFlightpathVol. 26, No.4). T he Ha r poon
wastobeaheavier-armed,longer-rangeair-
craft,butproblemswiththeextendedwing
ofearlyaircraftledtoaredesignthatde-
layed its introduction to combat operations.
Lockheed’s contract for 500 aircraft was
cancelled at the end of the war.
ThethirdlastPV-2DHarpoon(ofwhich
just 35 were built) off the production line
wasBuNo.84062.Itwas21September1945
andwithW.W.IIovertherewasn’tmuch
needfortheaircraft.Withonlysevenhours
ontheairframebyFebruary1946,itwas
senttoNASLitchfieldParknearPhoenix,
Arizona, for long-term storage.
On 17 December 1956, the USN dropped
’062fromitsinventoryand,inearly1957,it
waspurchasedandregisteredasN9989Z
onthecivilianmarket.Itwasre-registered
N6657D,thenumberitstillwearstoday,on
11 August and moved around between sev-
eral airfields and owners. A belly tank forfirefightingwasadded,alongwithanum-
ber of other modifications, in 1961. For the
next33years,theHarpoonsawsomeuse
asafiretankerandworeseveralpaint
schemes and tanker numbers, ‘101’ being
thelastone,beforeitendedupataprivate
ranch in Hidden Valley, northern Califor-
nia, owned by Ralph Johnson. Johnson,
whohadownedandrestoredanumberof
largeaircraftovertheyears,andhaving
ownedanumberofHarpoons,savedthis
onespecificallytorestoreittoawarbird
configuration. It never happened.
TheoldPV-2satontheranchforthenext
sixteenyears,sinkingtoitsbellyonthesoft
groundandbecomingahometosquirrels,
birdsandwasps.In2001theHarpoonwas
boughtbyEvertsAirFuelofFairbanks,
Alaska, for the engines as they only had
twentyhoursonthem.ThecurrentPratt&
Whitney R-2800-31s were built in 1945 by
Fordandputintocansforstorage.Onlyfive
serial numbers apart, they were hung on the
Harpoon in 1994 prior to its ferry flight to